Announcing My New Store . . .

Captivating sold

I have just launched a gallery on DAILY PAINTWORKS, and have posted a group of smaller paintings there. More will be added in the coming days, so visit often! Most of these paintings are for sale by auction. This painting has sold.

Early morning in West Lake Park, Hangzhou

Early every morning men gathered here to visit. Some carried cloth-covered bird cages. Suitable branches were quickly found to hang cages in trees near by. Once the coverings were rolled to the tops of the cages, the owners walked up this little path to join their friends. The air filled with the soft murmur of their conversations, mixed with frequent sounds of laughter and the singing birds. A delightful way to start the day.

Between the sketch above and the June 4th post, there was a large, square platform surrounded by short walls. Openings on each side allowed entry. People began to arrive around 6:45 a.m. They were all dressed for work in the business world.

By 7:00 a.m. loud speakers came on, blaring music from the West, and the people began to dance together, ballroom style. They danced for nearly an hour. Then suddenly the loud music ended. Once again the soft murmur of voices mixed with laughter could be heard, and the dancers stepped out onto the grass-covered ground. They left as they had come, some walking and some riding bicycles.

A wonderful, rainy day . . .

On Friday our professor at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts hired a bus and took us to several of his favorite villages. It was a wonderful, rainy day and the bus ride was the wildest to date. We saw many men in hats like the one in my last post.

This sketch shows a fisherman waring one of them in the village of KeQiao, The City of Bridges. There were many little boats like this one in the canals in Shaoxing. As we walked along the canal, we passed many fascinating doorways. Some had older people sitting in them. Most had open doors revealing people going about their daily chores inside. A man in a Dutch-style doorway saw my pin, smiled and said, "Artist!" as he tipped his head toward my pin. These were given to us when we arrived at the academy. We all wore them.

Then there was a woman washing food in the canal – a reddish-brown chicken strutting alnog the path – I wanted to sit on the groud and paint them both!

Painting in West Lake Park, Hongzhou, China

During our stay at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, I walked to the lake early every morning to sketch and paint before breakfast. Here I am wearing one of the "fisherman" hats mentioned in yesterday's posting. Wondered why all the women who walk by would all smile and giggle . . . I later learned that women don't wear these, only the fishermen. Well, they worked so well in the mist and rain, all of us wore them. The image below is what I am painting in the photo above.

8 x 10

oil on gessoed museum board

On this morning one of the little boats was tied along the shore. Graceful branches from the tree above almost touched the water. The view took my breath away. I had to stop, take out my paintbox and  catch the moment. 

Sketching on the train . . .

I was looking through some of my travel sketchbooks yesterday. These are from a 1993 painting trip to China. We spent several weeks in the Yangtze River Delta area. Our train rides were in cars with little tables between seats that faced each other, and tea was served on each trip. A delightful way to travel with friends.

On our ride to Hangzhou, Darrell was seated at the table across from mine.  The sketch below is from a later ride to Shanghai. Roseanne sat with me. One of our new hats is on the table. The fishermen all wore these. The are made of very thick felt and the rain simply does not go thru them. We all liked them so much, our guide bought one for each of us.