Sketching at Nam Sang Wai 速寫南生圍

Sketching at Nam Sang Wai, a wetland in Yuen Long, with art buddies. I like the cluster of vertical tree trunks packed together and the lights and shadows created by the afternoon sun.

 

Sketching Charming Beetles (Volkswagen) 速寫甲蟲車

There were so many charming beetles and so little time so I decided to do a collage sketch to capture as many beetles as possible in one single sketch! 

速寫甲蟲車。下午時間有限，就盡量將現場見到的甲蟲車畫埋同一張紙上。

Sketching Volkswagen 速寫甲蟲車

What a great morning sketching the bugs and listening to pops from the seventies! Thanks Ben for inviting and thanks to the car owners for letting us sketch all these amazing vehicles!

天色清朗，陽光充沛，係戶外速寫好日子。多謝甲蟲車會比我哋畫足一日！

Old Village House: East-Meets-West Style 中西合壁慎德居

This is a close-up sketch of the entrance of a large village house in Yuen Long.  The interesting bit is how the Roman columns are incorporated into this old traditional house and they mix really well together.  

元朗慎德居大門，中西合壁。
還有好對聯，慎言是則，德行為先。

Sketching at a Wetland in Yuen Long 南生圍寫生

We went out to sketch today at a wetland area in Yuen Long, Hong Kong.  The weather was humid and rainy.  Thanks to the covered wooden dock built on the water, we could safely sketch the surrounding without getting all wet.

今日一班畫友相約到南生圍寫生。天氣悶熱，時晴時雨。好彩濕地上築有一間木造小亭 ，可供避雨兼寫生。

Reconstructing the Front View of An Old Pawn Shop 重畫晉源押

"Chun Yuen" Pawn Shop was the oldest pawn shop in Hong Kong. It was built more than two hundred years old using traditional green bricks and large cut-out slabs of rocks. The shop was huge when compared with many pawn shops in Hong Kong, signifying that Yuen Long Old Town was once an important economy in this area of Hong Kong. It ceased to operate after the second world war and the shop has since remained closed.

Since the front door is facing a narrow alley, drawing the front view of the entire building is not easy. The front view drawing is based on photos I took there.

晉源押是香港現存最古老的當鋪，至今已有二百多年歷史。晉源押的規模頗大，但二次大戰完結後結束營業，現時重門深鎖。晉源押以青磚建造，用麻石作基層。現已被古物古蹟辦事處列為一級歷史建築。

晉源押面向小巷，店面正面都是根據實地拍的照片重構畫出來的。

34th World Wide Sketchcrawl: Burning Offerings to Gods 二帝廟前祈福

It was a nice experience to sketchcrawl around Yuen Long Old Town, a place that we could still see a number of traditional brick-bulit houses and temples. In the sketch, a man was preparing offerings to be burned at the burner. Written on the burner was three traditional Chinese characters, representing the three gods, god of good fortune, god of prosperity and god of longevity.

元朗舊墟內保留了一定數量青磚建的老屋和廟宇。此二帝廟前的大火爐上寫上福祿壽三字, 好讓村民前來祈福。

Huge Banyan Tree Swallowing an Abandoned School 錦田樹屋

Kam Tin Tree House is a huge Banyan tree (Ficus microcarpa) that has been growing for more than a hundred years at the site of an abandoned village school in the Yuen Long District. The arial roots of the tree grew along the beams, pillars and walls of the abandoned school. Through time the whole school is "swallowed" completely by the tree as the arial roots slowly thickened into hundreds of supporting trunks. The entwining trunks are really a sight to behold! Truly a living sculpture!

據說錦田樹屋原是書齋, 書齋荒廢後，旁邊的榕樹慢慢長大，氣根沿書齋的牆壁和橫樑擴張，終於變成今天的樣子。