Quickies in Shanghai

Being kindly offered by my boss to embark on a quick 2-day business trip in China before the Thanksgiving holiday, I was able to join my family in Shanghai 3 days earlier than schedule (Thursday night instead of Sunday night) I originally meant for the trip to visit my ailing grandpa, who had been hospitalized for several months. Unfortunately he passed away one day before my scheduled departure, and by the time I touched down, all the proceedings have been completed. (My family has been prepared for this for a while now, but the thoughts of the upcoming business trip did not let me fully react to the news emotionally... I'm still struggling to come to terms with my own reaction (did I under-react during the phone call? Was the right call to drop the business trip and head to our hometown first? In reality, I was afraid to call my mother directly for some weeks now in fear of hearing her breakdown after picking up the call

Anyway, here are some quickies (using a brush pen) I did while in Shanghai during the TG holiday. It was unbelievably cold (even though I've been through Canadian winters wearing my uniform skirt). You could feel the freezing damp air pierce into you.

 While resting after shopping for some books. Haikou Rd

The backstreet of Jin'An with the Shanghai Exhibition Center (formerly Sino-Soviet Friendship Building) looming in the background. It is already very rare to see a non-high rise old neighbourhood in the high-end Jin'An district, let alone one with such a dramatic backdrop! Worth braving the cold for this one

CalDay 2015!

Since this is going to be my last CalDay (university-wide open house for prospective students, communities, visitors alike) as a student, I went around campus sketching people!

First off, North Gate. There was a small info tent. And the enthusiastic girl was busy answering questions while munching on her lunch sandwich in between. That's some work ethics right there!

Next I went up to my own department's building. No matter what the events are, we always have the competition vehicles (SAE, solar vehicle) up front to attract the visitors. The labs downstairs were also filled with people, reminding me how I spent my entire afternoon in the basement too last year.

Lastly, the iconic Sather Gate. The flow of people just never stopped during the day! Had a quick chat with a pair of passer-bys when I was almost done with this painting. And one of them left me with, "Never stop drawing like that!" Much gratefulness for the kind encouragement!

Scenes from Tokyo: Kanda

New Year prayer crowd for Kanda shrine (the queue behind where I was standing wrapped around more than 2 blocks...) All the salarymen were probably out to enjoy their only idle afternoon in the sun of the year

One of the two staff/cook at Kikanbo Ramen. Delicious spicy ramen!

Displays at Beaty Biodiversity Museum, UBC

Fun museum at UBC with tons of displays to sketch! I ehm....only had time to get through 2 aisles, out of more than 30

Borrowed the crayons (in the kids activities section) to colour~

Scenes from Seattle: Space Needle, Fremont Troll, Pike Place Market, I-5 North

Space needle with the holiday lights on top. Fremont troll under the bridge, somebody decided to paint one of its eyes bright red (which is quite...eye-catching in the grey and rainy Seattle weekend ;A;)

Afternoon sun at Pike Place Market (more like afternoon-cloud-with-5-mins-of-weak-sun) w/ I-5 north by its side

Marin Circle Fountain, Berkeley

Lived my fifth year at Berkeley yet haven't seen this landmark up close before. (Since it is in a purely residential area) The vague shapes on the fountain are bears standing side by side (with holiday red ribbons around their neck) To bad the sun shone through for only about 3 one-minute sessions...which means my fingers and knees were freezing after this 1+ hr session ;A;
Thankfully a handful of kind passer-bys offered their compliment :D

Hawk Hill overlook, Marin Headland, SF

Second time on Hawk Hill and first time seeing the bridge not covered by fog! The lights on the bridge and from the cars started to show through as dusk set in. The Bay bridge is also visible in the distance on the left...and I crammed the hills on the right together just to fit in the TV tower haha

Sunset before Thanksgiving!

I used to get restless during sunset everyday because I could see the setting sun getting reflected by the building across the street from my apartment window. Now I need to get out of my apartment building to get any decent sunshine...
Some rare splashes of autumn colours in Berkeley!

Farmers Market, Ferry Plaza SF

Finally remembered to replenish my (unfiltered) honey stock this Saturday! And...I just realized I forgot the colour in the cute Corgi standing beside the second tent from the right lol

Kearny at Columbus, San Francisco

From the all too colourful and interesting Columbus Avenue. Was sent out as a postcard. Glad that it made it all the way to Singapore!

SF City Hall

Extra windy at the San Francisco City Hall! (which made talking on the phone almost impossible) Nice Giants banner!

Pyramid Alehouse, Berkeley

Went for another Thursday night sketching with the Bay Area Urban Sketchers. I was the only one who braved the chilly night outside (need to keep watch over my bike), which wasn't bad at all since I had my bike helmet on. But there was some people idling around on the other side of the street...with hard metal music thundering through...that was interesting. But for the palm trees outside, it's all worth it!

There was no one on the 2nd floor, so I took a sneak peak into the kitchen from above :P

SF Fleet Week - HMS Calgary

A Canadian ship docking at San Francisco's piers! Stirring up all my patriotic feelings! Beautiful weather too!

Queue for the tour of the ship

Nightfall at Fentons Creamery

First time sketching in the new sketchbook I sew together! And first time drawing on professional 140lb paper! (hence the shaky brushstrokes lol) This is the view across from Fentons creamery. The sun was still visible when I coloured the church on the left, but it was completely dark when I got to the right. (my ice-cream totally melted when I was too absorbed in the drawing...)

This time looking towards the creamery when standing in front of the church! First attempt in capturing a night scene in colour! (definitely needs a lot of work!)

Point Reyes

I remember seeing a photo a friend took of this stunning view, and this past Sunday was the perfect time to visit! Got to the entrance just before 4, just got enough time to get a quick stamp (always my main objective!), have a friendly chat with the NPS staff at the visiter centre, quickly finish an ink sketch from the overlooking platform, before dashing downhill to see the lighthouse before it closes at 4:30!  (on the right is the much weathered fog signal building.) Love the colour of the roofs!

Lunch break scribble!

Did this quick scribble while munching on my lunch sandwich. Since the cafe is right across from the crosswalk, I basically take a bite while the light is green (while people is walking) and as soon as the light turns red, I identify a target to sketch while he/she is waiting for the light~ Timing is perfect!

Sketchcrawl at Preservation Park & Pardee Home Museum (Oakland, CA)

I went for a day sketching with the Bay Area Urban Sketchers at the Preservation Park and the Pardee Home Museum right across from the street! Apparently neither of them are normally open to public... It was quite a surprise to find such a serene and perfectly maintained neighbourhood (or more like an extended driveway) in Oakland! But there was barely anyone except the 10 or so sketchers scattered around the neighbourhood. Judging from the nameplates, almost all of the buildings are over 100 years old, most of them now rented out as offices. (The one in the drawing in the White House, built in 1875, now serving as the office of Preservation park and cafe)

Couldn't resist doing a panorama of part of the place. Judging from everyone's sketchbook at the end, the palm tree was clearly the crowd favourite lol! (from 10AM onwards, there were people continuously trickling into the Nile Hall, apparently a speech or rally is going on there. And everyone who drove past were giving us sketchers the @@; confused look)

I'm actually not sure what this structure is for....but it is in the backyard of Pardee Home Museum, the original resident of former Oakland mayor (also Californian Governor) George Pardee. The slanting sun was amazing! but also gave me vicious sunburns ;A;

Food Chain Display at Keelung National Museum of Marine Science & Technology

This is drawn after a very well-made food chain model display at the Keelung NMMST while my friend was off watching the featured 3D film (I get motion sickness from them) I had to manoeuvre carefully around the kids who were jumping and screaming and crying, but it was fun all the same. I meant to put in lines to label the food chain (the model has lights displaying the prey and predator of the species you choose), but I was short on time... I like how Keelung chose to build a museum for marine science instead of an aquarium. Personally I find informative displays and models more practical and engaging than dolphin shows and live fish tanks. But it really depends on whether the audience prefers to be entertained or actively engage themselves in being educated... Also, since I've been learning bits and pieces about the deep sea for sometime, I really liked how the entire first floor was dedicated to this topic! Learned a bunch of stuff!

Scenes from Taipei (trip made during O-bon holidays)

Young pastry cooks at work at Din Tai Fung. 1 rolling out the dough, 2 scooping in the fillings, and 3 finishing the folds and sealing the bun. Yum! (as an onlooker, I could only distinguish them from the numbers on their hats...)

Taipei Confucius Temple. Not at all crowded and there was this retrofitted arcade game that you're supposed to ride a horse-drawn carriage and shoot the boar (?)

View from the main gate of National Taiwan Museum. To clarify (also for the future me), the yellow shapes on the street are taxis and the black ones are motorcycles (I was pretty short on time that day...)

Lotus pond at Shukugawa Community Center

Despite the overwhelmingly famous Cherry blossoms at Shukugawa (even the local JR station is named as Sakura Shukugawa), the lotus pond was still worth the visit (and the mosquito bites thereof) There's even Nishikigoi swimming between the weeds!