Back from London

I'm glad this is just a blog. Not a plant or a pet. After almost 2 years of neglect it is still here for me :P I have moved from London back to Vancouver few months ago. I must admit it was very hard to pick up the paint brush while I was in London. There were just so much other things to do. I had met many Lovely friends through Lomography and often went out shooting photos with them (check out my Flickr for the photos I took over the years with my analogue cameras) Either that or I was too busy trying out new restaurants or doing shopping on Oxford street. I felt bad, I really wanted to paint more but I felt that I just couldn't do them anymore as how I liked before I went to London. I must have changed I thought!

And then I moved back to Vancouver and somehow I started to paint again. I used to carry multiple cameras in my bag everyday when I was in London, so I wouldn't miss any photo opportunities. Now I put my moleskine back in my bag, together with my pens and brushes. I found it very hard to shoot here, I'm just driving everywhere, I don't walk on the street much. I miss walking in SOHO passing by all sort of men, women, men dressed like women...etc. Time seems to be passing very slow here in Van. A lot of time I go to the same cafe and sit at the same window seat just stare outside at the same old tree. I think painting fit in much better in this life style. Of course I miss those weekend trips to different European cities too. Traveling seems to be a big deal here in North America and there aren't many places I can just go for a weekend. And I miss all my friends in London :(

Hampstead Heath

Alright, it's been a looooooong while...since I last update gosh!! It's nice to be able draw again:) Went to Hampstead Heath today with my friend Justin. It was a nice and sunny day and we had a lot of fun!

Morocco

Just came back from a trip to Morocco. Very exotic place with too much stuff to see. I only manage to capture few of them on my sketchbook here :)

Some quick sketches

Some quick sketches I did in the past weeks and today. It's good to be back in London, there are just so many places I can go and draw :)

Did this 2 weeks ago just outside where I live along the riverside.


Went to the British museum last week and did this quick sketch by their Gift shop.


Went out with Justin today, walked along the Thames by the Tower Bridge.


Did this one super quick as we realized its actually quite cold to sit outside.


Sat at Strada by the river, they have a fabulous view of the Tower Bridge and the Thames.

From the Trip

I went back to Vancouver for 2 weeks last month and went on a road trip with parents to Banff for 5 days. Only did these 2 sketches, was kinda a rushing trip, especially with parents, they always want to get from place to place, wanted to see every single mountain and lake :P Oh well... it was a great trip, the Canadian Rockies were truly amazing, everyone should go visit at least once I think :)

Weekend sketches

I bought a new fountain pen, as I always wanted, I finally got it, the pink Lamy :) And I did some sketches, I like the uneven ink flow of the fountain pen. Since I have to press slightly harder for the ink to come out, it gives my sketches this comic look.


I tried to paint over my sketch, didn't realise the ink is not waterproof :P so I went back to my Pigma Micron pen for the watercolours. I shall order some waterproof ink next time.

Lunch time sketch

female

This is another study I did from a photo I found on the internet. Before I dig too much into colouring I thought I should practice more with shading.

At work

This is Wayne who sits behind me at work. I did this a week or so ago. I realize even though we sit so close to each other, I rarely turn around, I would send him instant messages and hear him typing his to me, but we would not turn around, why is that?! A bad habit everyone seems to have in this industry.

woman portrait

I find it extremely hard to paint female portraits, they never look who they were supposed to be, so I'm not even gonna say who this is meant to be, assume this is just some woman portrait I paint off a picture. I still enjoy it alot, especially the colouring part, I wish there is a colouring book for adult water colour enthusiasts, like me :) So I don't have to sketch them myself in order to paint. I do enjoy sketching as well but it can be discouraging when it doesn't turn out looking so womanly.

Proms

Went to the Proms at Royal Albert Hall last night, the music was great, I had a great time :) I painted the hall while enjoying the music. I think I really enjoy painting so much more when listening to classical music, shall do that more form now on.

lunch sketch

Did this today sitting at Curzon cafe next to work. I really like their cafe, it's never too crowed even during lunch time, nice soft cushion seats, big glass windows, I like the music they play in the background too, it's always air conditioned which is very comfortable especially in this very hot, polluted soho area. Oh I know why no one comes here now, their coffee are more expensive than other places that's true, but I do like their Americano, perfect thickness, I much prefer coming here for a break than the MilkBar everyone goes to, I still not quite sure why everyone goes to MilkBar, their coffee doesn't taste very good (I only drink Americano though, the closest thing I can find to filtered coffee, not many places do drip coffee in london, strange isn't it) and they never fill the full cup, always just give you half cup, staff aren't very friendly either...

Weekend sketches

Sat we went to the Welcome Collections at Euston Square. This is the view outside their cafe. Don't really like this painting at all, didn't use the colour well, kinda lack of depth :S oh well... though I'd post it anyway,


Later in the afternoon we went to Starbucks at Carnaby street for a rest before dinner.


Did this painting of Angus at 606 club Sat evening, it was a nice Jazz club, I enjoyed the music, food was average. On Sunday, we went to Carluccio's at Canary Wharf again for the best Tiramisu :) It's really a pleasant place to hangout for the afternoon, staff were very friendly, Tiramisu is the best I've had in London.

Face studies

All of sudden I become obsessed with drawing faces, I just really want to be very good at it but I know it takes practice so I guess I'll just have to draw a lot of them, I'm getting faster though.

Varies studies of Alper, I like the first one better.




This one is drawn from a photo Justin took at the Karate Kid Premiere at Leicester Square, I hope this looks like who he supposed to be... well, if not then blame Justin, it's not a very good photo he took! :P

Inspired!

I randomly came by Wendy Macnaughton's Blog yesterday and got very inspired. So I painted this from a picture. Man... portraits are hard!


Did this in last night's video cam meeting. I sat at the back row.

The slug and Lettuce

It was very hot last Saturday. I went to Canary Wharf station, where all the restaurants are, sat across from "The slug and Lettuce". I've never been there, perhaps it is because of their name, just doesn't sound very delicious :P

at the park

I did this one sitting at Seven dials in Covent Garden the other day.



This is was in the Soho park at lunch time, some quick gestures. each of them took 30secs to a min. I like when London is sunny and warm so I can just sit outside and draw :D

Japanese Album Vol.01

Finally!!! After 2 months, my first Japanese album moleskine is done! The London Tube project is finally done

I've always been complaining not have enough time to draw, where did all my time gone? I spend average 70 minutes a day being in the tube staring at strangers, so I figured I might as well draw them. It's been hard and weird trust me, how would you feel if you know someone stares at you every 5 seconds? I donno, I've never been stared. Some of them would be very kind and nicely pose for me, many of the others would just pretend they were not aware by simply closing their eyes or starting to read, where few of them would just move away... I only draw the person right in front of me, I guess it's less obvious that I'm staring. Some of these sketches are really bad, like... REALLY BAD! Wrong proportions, extra shoulder/arm, or missing head and feet:( Oh well, I did my best, hope you guys enjoy it too. I think I'll have to do at least 10 books to be able to see the improvement, in the mean time I'll start my second book :)

Here is the link of the long scan I did of the Book, as well as these pages below:

These are some stuff I did over the past few weeks, just didn't have the chance to upload them. Not the best sketches, wish I can get out more and do more of them, but sadly here in London the weather's not been always pleasant in weekends. Now that it finally is, I'm too busy watching world cup :P


Went Sketching with Edison 2 weeks ago when he's here in London with me.


I always got caught up in details and ended up never finish the whole picture, so I timed myself on this one for 10 minutes from across the street and this is it.


Another timed sketch and somehow I managed to get the prospective totally wrong. Oh well, it's the corner pub I visit at least 3 times a week. It's just around the corner from where I work. Everyone from work goes there. We call it the "Golden usual" place.


The lazy man playing his game on Sunday.


I'm so excited that I'm almost done with the Japanese album project that I started 2 months ago. I think within a week or 2 I'll upload what's actually in it :D YAY!