Friday, December 6, 2013

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).

Saturday, November 12, 2011

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....

Sunday, May 15, 2011

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!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

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.

Monday, May 9, 2011

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!

Assignment 5 Malmfälten: Konst på distans: ONE POINT PERSPECTIVE


This was supposed to be one-point perspective, but midstream I realized that there are several vanishing points. Good exercise in practicing those nasty ellipses though, darned difficult!

Assignment 4 Malmfälten: Konst på distans COMPOSITION

Ammonites, Chinese ink and pencil
Tools, with background, pencil, graphite stick.
Tools without background, pencil.

COMPOSITION

Ammoniter
Nu var det komposition vi skulle träna så jag valde en lite snabbare metod att få fram en bild - tusch. Visserligen har jag inte bemödat mig med att i detalj gå in och jobba med skuggorna men jag tycker att jag har fått fram form och struktur någorlunda tillfredsställande. Jag tecknade först i blyerts och hade enormt svårt att få till ellipserna. I första vändan låg alla "toppar" felskruvade! Genom att titta och måtta och titta och titta och titta blev det äntligen klart. Det är två olika ammonitfossiler jag tecknar, varav den första avviker från de följande fyra. Kanske avviker den lite väl mycket. Jag tycker om svärtan och snabbheten i tusch. Men det sitter där den sitter och det finns inte mycket man kan göra åt det när den väl sitter där.

Verktyg

Två versioner, en innan jag lade in bakgrunden och en efteråt. Jag föredrar den häftigare bakgrunden för den förankrar föremålen bättre och förstärker formerna tycker jag. Jag tycker också den får verktygen att vibrera lite som om de jobbade, åtminstone hamrarna. Jag tycker jag kunde vågat mera och tecknat verktygen från en lägre vinkel med enpunktsperspektiv men jag fegade. Läraren tyckte bäst om bilden utan bakgrund.


Assignment 3 Malmfälten: Konst på distans SHADOWS


Head of a Terracotta Warrior statue. Black gel pen, Chinese ink.
Aralia
Pencil and charcoal.
Pencil, Chinese ink.

SHADOWS

Här skulle vi lära oss att lägga skuggor på rätt ställe och på ett realistiskt sätt. I Chengdu vintertid finns knappast skuggor då det finns nästan inget ljus! Hela belysningen i Chengdu under vintern är grått, grått, grått. Överhuvudtaget finns det ont om starkt ljus i denna sänka som vi bor i, hela året om finns ett gråvitt distäcke över himlavalvet. Enbart mjuka skuggor blir det om ens det. Det finns ett talesätt här som säger att när solen äntligen skiner och bryter igenom molntäcket och diset då skäller hundarna då dem blir rädda för sin egen skugga, för den har de aldrig sett och tror att det är en annan mycket större hund.

Jag kämpade så att hitta skuggor. Terrakottasoldaten fick bli med stark konstgjord sidobelysning. Läraren tyckte jag kunnat öka med ännu mer svärta på högersidan. Håller med. Jag ville koncentrera mig på ansiktet med de stela ögonen och kraftiga dragen (det är en staty). Det var roligt att förstärka ljuset med det kraftiga tusch som är så härligt svart.

Paraplyaralian står ett fönster och när jag tecknade bilden spelade ett fint skuggparti över golvet. Den ville jag fånga. Även bladens skuggor. Nu blev kanske inte skuggan vad jag velat och läraren Nina har berättat så trevligt hur jag kan mörka lite här och var så blir bilden lite bättre men jag är faktiskt ganska nöjd med den. Det är första gången jag har tecknat en växt utan att förhäxas av alla löv och pinnar och grenar som "står i vägen" och rör till det för mig. Jag var helt slut efteråt men glad!


I samma veva gjorde jag den tredje bilden där fönsterräckenas skugga spelade över golven. Samma paraplyaralia från sidan. Nina lade märke till att jag har vänt den ena skuggan, tänkte inte alls på det själv! Det fanns en stolpe bakom skuggan som jag inte ville ha med och då ritade jag tydligen utan att tänka hur arabesken var vänd. Roligt!

Assignment 2 Malmfälten: Konst på distans BASIC SHAPES

Dried lotus pod, charcoal
Sichuan bamboo chair, pencil
Turritella shell found in Thailand at Christmas, pencil

My course was all in Swedish but I write my blog in English so I will alternative between the two to keep everyone happy. If anyone has any objections please let me know! I will concentrate on the most interesting assignments (Assignment 1 was learning how to resize digital images, scanning etc). Assignment 2 is "Drawing basic shapes and finding them in common everyday objects": sphere, cone and cube.

I början satt jag helt låst inför den nya kursen, hur skulle jag börja? Jag är omringad av duktiga konstnärer i den förlängda familjen så jag har alltid koncentrerat mig på den fotografiska bilden då den egna tecknarförmågan inte höll måttet. När jag väl lugnat ner mig och lyssnat på lärarens goda råd lossnade det lite. Varje uppgift tog lång tid. Jag var helt slut efteråt. Men upptäckte att det går faktiskt att lära sig att avbilda saker om man bara lär sig att SE. Nåväl, det är i alla fall ett första steg framåt på en lång resa.....himla roligt i alla fall!

Malmfälten folkhögskola Konst på distans/Internet art course

For the past 16 weeks I have participated in an art course at Malmfälten Folkhögskola in Kiruna, Northern Sweden. Since you know that I live in Southwestern China you might wonder how on earth this could be?? The Internet of course! It has been absolutely wonderful - the entire course is online. Every week we are given an assignment, reference material (books that we have bought at the beginning of the course) and a due date. We complete the work, scan it and then send it in. We have wonderful teachers who then send us back personalized comments and encouragement. We can also share our work with our "course mates" via the school's internal blog forum. One of the last assignments is putting your work "online" for all to see and comment. So here goes!

LINKS
Malmfältens folkhögskola:
http://www.kiruna.fhsk.se/

Art courses/Konstskola på distans
http://www.kiruna.fhsk.se/kurser/konstskola-pa-natet/

18 weeks/study rate: part time (50% of full normal schedule).

Definition of Folkhögskola:
"Folkhögskola" is a Scandinavian form of adult education. The first school was founded in 1844 in Rødding, Denmark.

Bloggar på nytt/Back on the BLOG!


Hej! Det var ett tag sedan jag bloggade. När blogspot blev spärrat i Kina för mer än ett år sedan tappade jag farten. Nu har jag skaffat möjlighet att blogga igen och ska försöka bli lite bättre.

Hello everyone, after a LONG hiatus I will start blogging again. We'll see if I can keep up the pace of previous years. I will begin with this shot from a winter holiday in Thailand. Khao Sok National Park.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Emei Facts

Map of Emei from 1938

Unesco World Heritage site since 1996.
9.519722° N, 103.3325° E

Highest summit: Wanfo Ding (10,000 Buddha Summit) 3099 m.
Middle summit: Qianfo Ding (1,000 Buddha Summit) 3085 m?
Tourist/traditional summit: Jinding (Golden Summit) 3077 m.

Some sources claim Jinding and Qianfoding to be the same summit, others that there are three separate summits. In actuality there seems to be two main summits with a small outcropping between them. But is this Qianfoding or something unnamed? Please enlighten me anyone who knows!

Emei Moutain is one of the Four Buddhist Holy Mountains of China (The other three being Wutaishan, Putuoshan and Jiuhua Shan).

The patron saint or house boddhisattva of Emei is Samantabhadra (Puxian 普贤菩萨 in Chinese). Puxian is the Boddhisattva of Action and the Protector of the Lotus Sutra.

The meaning of the name Emei 峨嵋山 is subject to much speculation. Emei is said to mean "high" or "lofty" but has traditionally been translated as "silkworm-moth eyebrows". According to James M. Hargett in his excellent definitive book on Emei Mountain "Stairway to Heaven" , State University of New York Press, SUNY, the earliest reference to this name is Li Daoyuan (d. 527) "Although Mount Emei is 1,000 li south of Chengdu, on clear, autumn days if you gaze at the mountain from afar, its two peaks seem to face one another like moth eyebrows." Hargett: In other words, the mountain's twin peaks resemble the arched, antennae of a silkworm moth (e 蛾) and so the name was adopted as the name for the mountain.

Emei Mountain Conquered!

Naughty macaque that stole a milk package from Chinese tourists.
Macaques patrolling their turf between Leidong Ping and Jieyin Tai.
Following the abandoned monorail. Not for the faint hearted at 6 meter drops.
Paddy, Minna, Jari and one of our faithful construction workers engulfed in the bush.
Golden Summit with statue of Puxian (Samantabhadra) on his elephant.
Golden Summit from Wanfo Ding
Wando Ding summit (3099 m) with swirling clouds
Flat summit of Dawashan from Golden Summit
Clouds over the plains of Sichuan from Golden Summit

View from Wanfo Ding (10,000 Buddha Peak) past Qianfo Ding (1,000 Buddha Peak) over to Jinding (The Golden Summit). All images above ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

After 25 years and several trips to this mountain I finally "conquered" the highest peak of Emei: 3099 m Wanfo Ding! :-) A small triumph but great fun nonetheless, as the weather is usually so very fickle on the top. My last three trips were socked in with fog and even snow and ice! When we got to the top and found a couple of construction workers who knew the way we couldn't resist bushwhacking over to the far highest peak of Emei, something I have been wanting to do for years. Paddy and I and two Finnish friends Minna and Jari headed off along the path beside the abandoned Monorail. 22 meters of elevation (the difference between the Golden Summit and Wanfo Ding) made a difference and the view back onto Jinding was breathtaking. So now I have been on both "moth eyebrows"! What a day!

Posting again!

After a long hiatus I have decided to brave the cyber police and begin posting again (it's called a VPN, Blogspot is still blocked in China). I have soooo much to tell you and so many new photos to post. Please be patient, months have gone by since my last posting and I have BEEN PLACES!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Blogspot still blocked in China

Sorry to say that Blogspot is still blocked in China, thus no new postings from me since August! Today I am in Bangkok where I - for the moment - have a temporary cyberwindow. But tomorrow I will be back in China. It is a very sad scenario indeed.....