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!

Sichuan Art Museum and Funny Hat Day

Photographer Tianfu Square, Chengdu 090221 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Yesterday was a grey,  rainy day (yes the rains have begun) so we decided to go to Sichuan Art Museum just west of Tianfu Square here in Chengdu. Lo and behold, upon arriving at the Art Museum there was no more museum left. The building looked completely abandoned inside, all the exhibition halls were chained shut and everything was dusty and depressing. Are they between exhibitions or is this it? Nada mas, meiyou, inget mer?? Couldn't get an answer out of anyone. 

If someone can tell me what has happened to the Art Museum and if it will ever open up again please post a comment. If you at the same time can also tell me when the Sichuan Provincial Museum will open up I'd be most interested. It's been years now since they tore down the old one and the new building next to Dufu Cottage looks promising from the outside but it looks like nothing is happening on the inside. I think that a city like Chengdu, with a population of over ten million people and a provincial capital to boot, doesn't have a proper art museum and and an open and functioning provincial museum is quite pathetic. Look at the vibrant art scene and all the museums and galleries in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and even Guangzhou. Come on Chengdu, we can do better!

Around the corner from the Art Museum however was a gallery with Russian art. Very nice, well lit and interesting. After visiting this we walked over to Tianfu Square to watch the musical fountains (Emy said the pattern the water made "looks like onions"). We came across this smart photographer in his "anti-drizzle hat". I like the "camo-pattern" on the underside. Very chic!

# 10 Today's picture 090206

Monolith, Vigeland Sculpture Park, Oslo, Norway ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Wood block print exhibition Beijing

Rain II ©Ralph Kiggell

Lotus No.9 © Chen Qi

Faramita No.1 © Chen Qi

Don't miss the incredible group exhibition of work by artist-printmakers at Amelie Gallery in 798 Beijing. Runs until March 6, 2009. A definite must see.

More here.

More Miche Booz

© Miche Booz

Another lovely painting from my brother-in-law, just posted on his Facebook page. 

Panjiayuan Market Beijing

Panjiayuan Market, Beijing ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Panjiayuan Market (潘家园旧货市场 Panjiayuan Jiuhuo Shichang) in Beijing is one of the most interesting markets in China. I try and pay a visit to Panjiayuan every time I come to Beijing, and every visit is different from the previous, with new bargains to be had and new trends to be caught. Much of the souverirs that you find in other tourist shops in Beijing are sourced here by shopsellers, at much lower prices and in a greater selection. Panjiayuan has seen huge development in recent years, but many years ago it started as a cheap market with all the goods laid out on the ground. Locals knew it as Dirt Market or Ghost Market (because of its early morning hours). Today Panjiayuan is an established market area with covered walkways and numerous enclosed shops. The prices are still much cheaper than regular stores but the end price is up to your skills as a bargainer. You can find just about anything here to tickle your fantasy of recreating a little bit of olde China back home: "antique" furniture (newly produced in old style), lanterns, ceramics, sculptures and buddha heads (an entire parking lot full of them), embroidery, boxes, knick-knacks, paintings, trinkets and doo-dads, you want it, they've got it. A recent trend are fake paintings of famous Chinese painters. The originals sell for millions, at Panjiayuan you can get them for a few hundred. Name your artist or just bring a picture of the painting you want to grace your living room wall and they will produce it for you. You must, of course, leave your morals and intellectual copyright scruples aside.

Panjiayuan is open all days of the week, but it is only on weekends that all the stalls are open and all the small sellers that lay out their goods on the ground are present. This is the time to visit. Come as early as possible, the first weekend sellers arrive at 4.30 am! Weekdays: 8.30 am - 6 pm. Caveat emptor: 99% percent of the so-called antiques at Panjiayuan are fakes, set your initial offer price with that in mind.

Address: Southeast corner of the Third Ring Road, just east of Longtan Park (潘家园桥西).

©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Ralph Kiggell prints

All prints/photos  ©Ralph Kiggell/www.ralphkiggell.com

Here are a number of Ralph Kiggell's blockprints. I have deliberately left out the names of the prints. I want you to go to his website and explore it and see all the wonderful images there. For more about Ralph look at the entry from Jan 4, 2009 "Woodblock printmaking with artist Ralph Kiggell". Please enjoy. 

More geckos

Drawing ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn/Burton Booz

Here is the original drawing of the tokay gecko before manipulation (see below "Geckos galore"). Burton (11 years old) did the pencil drawing, I colored. 

Geckos galore

©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

One of the joys of the tropics are all the friendly and sometimes not so friendly creatures that want to share your days and nights with you. Geckos are the best and centipedes, spiders, scorpions, mosquitoes and cockroaches are the worst. Here in our bungalow on Koh Chang we have very few mosquitoes, only one poisonous centipede in the bathroom and no cockroaches but oodles of geckos and one big tokay gecko. The geckos make their own sound that is a little bit like their local names ching-chong or chick-chack but the large, colourful tokay has it's own distinct mating call - a tight, high pitched tok - kay, tok - kay, tok - kay from which it gets it's name. The sound is repeated and if you hear it speak 7-8 times some say it means good luck. The tokay gecko is the second largest gecko species, nocturnal and native to SE Asia. They are looked upon positively by most people in Asia, so much so that the Chinese consume them for medicinal purposes. They feed on the many small insects and rodents that might want to pester you, so please welcome them. But they do poop a lot!

Illustration: Drawing of a gecko (with only four fingers, they actually have five) that my son Burton and I did together, painted, then fooled with in the computer.