Trendy Cafe

 

Aroom Cafe in old downtown 120 Tai'an Lu , near Huashan Lu, Shanghai district. The owners, 2 couples, collects old things from their travellings and most of them are displayed as decorations in the cafe. Very cosy and coffee is quite good.
It was raining very heavily outside so we decided to stay a bit longer and makes some sketching.

 

Chicken

We brought some chicken for our studio few month ago. We start to rearrange our backyard garden for the chicken, order pack of dried corn bits, melon and cabbages. These chicken are called '贵妃鸡‘ in chinese, originates from England. We called them 'rock stars chicken' as most of them has this hairdo that resemble rock star singer. It has been 3 months and they have grow to be so pretty so I decide to paint them.
And we have a duck too.

Car Service Center

Went to a car service centre to check some noises in one of my tyre. The mechanic was test driving the car round and round trying to figure out what cause the noise. After 20 minutes, they decided to dismantle the tyre and its brakes to do a complete check. While waiting, I makes some sketches on the underside view of the car which very often we do not gets a chance to see....interesting details.

Old tea cups

Autumn Harvest

It was a Sunday afternoon, while waiting for the chicken soup to be ready, I decide to draw what we have harvested from our friend organic farm in YangZhencun , a small village about 50km north east of Beijing city.

The Oxygen

The Oxygen , Royal Victoria Dock, London

View from The Oxygen apartment at Royal Victoria Docks, London. It was 8pm and while it is still quite bright, I drew this sketch of the quiet residential blocks across the road.

Farm house Pinggu District China

Proposed design and plans for our new farm house in Pinggu District China. Work started wednesday 5th september 2012. Worker will be transporting 190 cubic meters of stone from the nearby river beds to built our fencing walls. The construction for the farm house is expected to be complete within 2 months before the weather gets cold. Hopefully, we can at least have the walls and roof up with all the electrical and sanitary fittings and fixtures.

Lakes District England

Lakes District England

Arriving in the town of Hawkshead in the Lakes District, England. Just visited the Beatrix Potter Gallery in the town.While waiting for our the bus ride back to Windermere, I took out my sketch book and start drawing the church on a small hill across the road. The church was said to be 400 years old. Such a wonderful place to sketch here ! Every little lanes and building are so interesting and inspiring.All the small cottages and houses have stone walls, slates tiled roof and have beautiful rock gardens. Flowers grow almost eveywhere, by the road side, on the roof even in between gaps on the stone walls. I did a sketch of a bunch of flower display on the table in the restaurat we have lunch earlier. the restaurant owner said these are from her kitchen garden at the back.

Lakes District Windermere Town England

Monday, September 10, 2012

Lakes District Windermere Town England

Going on a day trip today to Ambleside and Grasmere village in Lakes District. Our guide went into the office to fill up some registration while we waited for another couples to arrive. Temperature was pretty cold this morning. It has been raining ever since we arrive 3 days ago and hopefully, the weather can be better today. The trip will takes us to some slates milling site, Woodsworth museum and ferry trip across the lakes. The sketch I drew was a nice bed & breakfast hotel called The Lamp Lighters. Beside , there is a small lanes leading into another 2 little hotel. Across the road is a 'Kankku Off road' driving adventure tour office , a jeep rental outlet. It was another half hour wait at the jetty for the ferry to takes us across the lake so I did another sketch of the wooden boats and th wild birds.

Victoria & Albert Gallery London

Victoria & Albert Gallery London.

Preston station Lancashire England

Monday, July 16, 2012

Train Station Lancashire England

Preston Station in Lancashire on the way to The Lakes District in Windermere.

Read about this place in a local magazine and we set off last Sunday to Huairou District, Jiaojiehe village, approximately 80 km from beijing city in search of this building. Got lost along the way as it is not clearly on the map however after 2 hours drive, some wrong turns, ask some villager along the way, we finally manage to arrive before the sun goes down. Roll out the picnic mat and we enjoy a short afternoon of coffee and biscuit with Leng, my wife and my 2 nieces. Did a quite sketch with a foutain pen. It just amazing that the architect, Li XiaoDong actually uses local materials from nearby villages and the surroundings are kepy intact as it was before.The trees, plants and flower are just starting to grow after the long winter. I plan to visit this place again in late autumn to enjoy the change of color in the surrounding landscape. Check out

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/18031/li-xiaodong-atelier-liyuan-library.html

Monday, December 5, 2011

Organic farm

Weekend visit to a organic farm to buy some free range chicken and eggs for
a steamboat dinner. Brought my 2 nieces along to see how the chicken are raised
here.
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Labels:
Beijing, organic
farm, Teo
Cheng Huat, TianBei Lu in ShunYi District

Chinese new year decoration

Chinese Lunar new year decoration at Rachel's place. Welcoming the Year of
the Dragon.
Happy Chinese Lunar New year and wish everyone a happy and properous new
year.