27February2017

I tried to get up before dawn in the chill. At the lounge of the residential building I met one of the park regulars, she said to me that the main gate of the park has been blocked to shut down for renovation. She advised me to enter the park via the side gate opened near the high way. I did not mean not to believe her, but my curiosity urged me to find out the cause and the situation she described. Wind blew on the dim and quiet precinct, as I approached near the main gate of the park meeting people travelling to and fro while the gate was opened wide. After the usual snapshots I walked along the straight path in alert but nothing unusual was found. Since I was delayed at the lounge that daylight was turning too bright for me to capture the branch shadows cast on the paper. So I took my time and casually depicted shadows of a few branches at the top page and my shoulders at the bottom corners. The crowd of oldies soon arrived to enjoy exercising in the cool breeze under the large paper skin tree that I was depicting. The pine leave on the tree was dark green with some fresh green buds spouting at the tip of the bunches, however, with the limited hue left on the palette box, I found it difficult to mix the range, which finally turned out muddy….

5February2017

I lingered on bed waiting for the alarm clock to ring. But it did not ring until dawn. So I quickly dashed to the park while most of the park regulars have gone. One of the nasty women saw me and she kept turning her head back to stare at along the way to the park. She then climbed up to the viewing platform sweep my plan to paint there. The oldie on wheel chair arrived at the cluster of the metal canopy ahead of me while I stepped on the watery jogging track. It was too bright to collect shadows to paint with no time to waste I painted the view in front. This time I tried to project the view further so that the scales of the object might be smaller. Though, as mentioned by the Solar Terms, spring already began a few days ago, yet instead of seeing fresh buds on the trees, I saw dried oranges leaves hanging swing on the stark branches. And so as the paper skin tree at the front, which dull and grey color responding too tire to revive. Under the bright daylight I clearly saw the color hues on the palette box but finding it difficult to mix paints in vibrate but watery hues, which looked similar to those painted for shadows. I did not use color pencil to sketch but painted directly with the brush and lucky enough to capture the object in proportion. Soon after I settled on sorting the view to paint, the nasty guy carrying his noise radio arrived to flip his body on the bench next to me. Feeling annoyed, I fail to put up with the nuisance, and then I packed without deriving any painting issue for the morning’s work.

21December2016

Today is the “Winter Solstice” of the Chines solar terms. Which is the shortest day of the year, while the position of the sun is located at 270 ^o of the solar orbit. Breezy wind blew on the cool and dim quiet precinct when a few people enjoyed wandering at the entrance of the park. Besides the Hot Topic group, I found not too many people visiting the newly renovated viewing platform of the soccer field, perhaps they could not stand the left behind stinky chemicals like me. Under the navy blue sky I carried my weary footsteps heading for the cluster of the metal canopy, while on the way meeting the Tai Chi and the Gossip group warming up their bodies busily. Thick dark clouds overwhelmed the sky leaving a gap for dawn to break through and I saw a couple of guys  taken the other two benches next to mind, exercising in the gloom. To avoid hearing to their nasty and provoking conversation that might make me feel anxious to leave, I put on a pair of earphone before starting to paint. The earphone did not scan too much noise, and I felt amazing to find that the sounds of the program from my recorder swapping in alternate with the chats of the guys’. The sounds vibrated flicking within my ears urging me to choose what to hear…. Weak daylight emerged through the clouds changing the hue of the scenery according to the intensifying brightness. When I was in the mist of sorting out the changing hue, a woman slip in the area in front of my painting view. She enjoyed stretching her body while I felt unbearable to work any longer….

13December2016

I worked up early by the sleepless night. At the entrance of the park a few people dashed from behind while I was taking snapshots. The coach of the Tai Chi group stretched her body at the rail at the side of the soccer field while the gossip group departed early. When I arrived at the cluster of the metal canopy, the guy sat exercising on the bench at the other end. It was so dark that the shades of the branches cast on the pillar were the most prominent images revealed in front of my eyes. I actually painted subconsciously what I saw at the fronts as patches of colors and forms without considering the objective nature of the scene. It was then a groups of old guys arrived to chat joyfully about their past events, I lost my direction of sights and packed to leave.

12December2016

I woke up without hearing the alarm clock and so I jumped out of bed to set off to the park immediately. On the dim, cool precinct people wearing short sleeves wandered up and down. The entrance square of the park was clean and clear while people enjoyed jogging on the track and walking on the pathway. Along the way to my painting station at the cluster of the metal canopy, I did not see the coach of the Tai Chi group and the gossip group dismissed. I heard chats wafting from direction of the basketball field, where I vaguely saw a couple of oldies stretching their bodies in the gloom. I quickly took the unfinished picture and continue to paint while daylight gradually turning bright. Under the faint daylight I saw the scenery in layers of defined tones quite clearly though the color hues were not sure. I rapidly captured the moment to identify the trees at the foreground and those plants in the middle ground by laying down various green hues in terms of warm and cool, so that a sense a depth would be created. However I painted the frontal hedge plants too big to hide the sketchy lines of the perimeter fence behind creating a problem to sort. And then I lost my patience to handle the problem when I heard the oldies murmuring nasty comments on me and I decided to pack.

11December2016

People strode on the cool breezy precinct. It was still very dark and quiet at the entrance square of the park where all the stinky materials have been used up. I took my route at the back of the viewing platform wishing that it might also be opened to the public too. But disappointingly to find a few blockages stood at the front of the staircase where reduce remains. I made no other choice but head for the cluster of metal canopy. On the way I met the coach of the Tai Chi group warning up, but the gossip group was absent. I carried on my way with weary and cautious steps on the empty pathway, and to find the nasty woman talked loudly by the side of the basketball field. I did not bother to pay attention to them and began to measure the view to paint. In order to avoid their eyesight, I chose to paint the view shifting on the left hand side. The large paper skin tree posed in the middle and the pillar of the canopy on the left hedge of the paper made a contrast on scales to the scene at the rear towards the other of the basketball field. The high pitch woman left the group behind to mutter, and also left me quietly at the empty cluster of metal canopy. I made a line sketch in details with no hurry to paint… But then I laid some colors to make the different area before leaving the rest for the next morning to paint.