Last Day in Asia

These past few days in Bangkok have been really fun, mostly walking around and sketching with fellow Seattle sketcher Gail Wong and her husband John, as well as sometimes Suta Lee from Tennessee who also attended the Singapore symposium.

Yesterday we took a great 2 hour boat trip along the river in Bangkok, stopping at the picturesque floating market for a quick sketch.  

Color to follow, but here are a few images.

Floating market, Bangkok, dark and under a train bridge...almost medieval, packed
with people and amazing foods cooked on the spot.

Can you see it?  My quick pencil sketch of the market boats.

 Today, we headed out to the Grand Palace and to see the Emerald Buddha...an complex of temples, stuppas, and various other buildings, they are all covered in tiny mosaics of mostly colored glass or ceramic pieces...and packed with sweaty, selfie taking tourists.

I managed around 8 pencil sketches today--no time to watercolor and it was also too hot and crowded--mostly very quick sketches.  Late in the day, I headed on my own back to the Wat Bawon not too far from our hotel.  It's a very beautiful, comparatively simple collection of buildings, also where we went out first night here to mark Buddha Day, so to me, it's a special place!

Gail, a bit of John, and me at the Temple with the emerald buddha (actually
jade)...it's super hot and humid, and we actually got a bit of sun today for a change.

 Trying to squeeze in so much onto one piece of paper...bells clanging, people everywhere, extraordinary heat, a true visual and audio overload even for me...exhausting and exhilarating!

 Three quick sketches of smaller (ha!) spaces...really complex buildings to draw, especially
at midday.

I'll continue to post images and sketches from Italy, Holland, Singapore, Cambodia, and Thailand in the next few weeks...it's been quite a summer of travel and sketching--I LOVE it and am so very grateful for these amazing opportunities!