I'm BACK!

All right, it's been awhile. I have been BUSY. And Blogspot is still blocked in China. But I'll try and write more and post more. More often. I have however been sidetracked by Instagram. Ingridmojo. It is very addictive.

This is me on an electric motor scooter. They are a LOT of fun. But dangerous because they are so quiet and people drive like crazy monkeys here in China. Not this man though. He just drove by and I flagged him down and asked for a ride because I have always wanted to ride one. I do know him. I am sitting on the tiny back seat that is meant for kids (his kids to be more exact).

Dangers of being a taxi driver

I was on my way with a few colleagues to North Market yesterday morning travelling in a van on Renmin Nanlu. In front of us was a taxi and the morning traffic all around was brisk and heavy. Suddenly the passenger side door of the taxi in front flew open and a man threw himself out of the moving taxi, crashing and rolling onto the pavement and then leaping to his feet. We slowed down and drove carefully around him, avoiding hitting him. He didn't have any shoes on and had a switchblade in his right hand. He was in his 20s and stared wildly around, brandishing the knife in the air. As we drove by we could see the astonished face of the taxi driver staring at him. The last thing we can see through the rear view mirror is the crazy man jumping onto the roof of the cab as all the other cars try to drive around the stopped cab....

Kommentar till avslutad kurs - Malmfälten

Tack Nina (och Per) och alla medkursarna för en fantastiskt tid och mycket god support och värme. Det har varit oerhört lärorikt, roligt och spännande. Ni har alla varit mycket generösa och stödjande med era kommentarer, alltid i positiv, konstruktiv anda. Det har också varit mycket intressant att få se era bilder och hur ni har löst samma uppgifter. Man lär sig så mycket av varandras skapande och fantasi.

Jag rekommenderar alla som funderar på att gå kursen att absolut göra det. Trevlig sommar allihopa!

Polis polis potatis gris

©Paddy Booz

I love this sign, Paddy took a picture of it in Danba, Western Sichuan. Poor Police, I hope they won't be arrested by the Ice Pol for bad spelling...or global warming....or going out stenciling after a night on the town.

Assignment 15 Malmfälten: Konst på distans: Landscape

Li River at Xingping, Guangxi

Detail, abstraction of nature, bamboo

Assignment 14 Malmfälten: Konst på distans: Portrait

Burton, 14, tired, teenager.

Assignment 13 Malmfälten: Flower

Geraniums, another "typical" flower. This was painted after hunting for inspiration in watercolor books, so in no way is this picture "mine". I will post the book I got it out of tomorrow. I have found it very challenging learning how to use watercolors. So darned difficult. You have to mobilize all of your brain cells at once and then pounce! before the paper dries, the colors disappear and everything dies. Very difficult but wonderfully delightful when it works.

Assignment 10 Malmfälten: Konst på distans: Washes and wet on wet

Chinese kites

Yak skull

Hibiscus

Carp in lilly pond, Bamboo Park, Chengdu.

The top two pictures were painted specifically for this lesson. I had a huge amount of problems because of the almost total lack of light in wintertime Chengdu. The kites were painted from a photograph I took in summertime. The teacher commented that I should add more washes to create more shadows and depth. The yak skull is from a skull I have in my workroom, but I would have loved more light to create more interesting shadows. Both were done with Van Gogh watercolors in a tube.

The carp in the lilly pond was my probably my first attempt at watercolors. Painted a few years ago on very poor paper lacking both weight and structure. The hibiscus is my second watercolor, a hibiscus outside our bungalow in Thailand, three Christmases ago. Made on proper cold-pressed watercolor paper, Cotman paints, nothing special. Boring subject (HOW MANY hibiscuses have been painted in this world??) but an easy flower to paint. It's important to feel good about your paintings!

Assignment 9 Malmfälten: Konst på distans: Seasons

Winter

Summer

Spring

Autumn

Watercolor - color! Express the Four Seasons in watercolor. Color interpretation and seasons are very personal. The teacher thought my autumn was aggressive, threatening, meat-eating flowers! I only thought of the colors of autumn and depressing winter around the corner.

Assignment 6 Malmfälten: Konst på distans: 2-point Perspective

Burton and I spent a wonderful day at Wenshu Temple drawing and painting. The goal was trying to figure out perspective (hmmmm). The best place to sit and draw was in a corner of the teahouse. Here we had an excellent of a tea pavilion which we both drew. I thought I might dive in and try a little watercolor too. At top you can see Burton with a few young admirers. Not too nosy, just quietly curious. My goodness, Chengdu can be lovely when the sun shines!