Watercolour & pen on-site location sketch of my view of ‘Aberdeen South Typhoon Shelter’ which includes the famous ‘Jumbo’ floating restaurant, a major tourist attraction until the pandemic caused it to close in March 2020.
Aberdeen is situated on the south side of Hong Kong Island & is the largest ‘town’ outside of the main urban area. The harbour used to be filled with ‘Tanka’ people who used to live on boats. Now only a few do, with some providing site seeing tours on their ‘sampan’ boats.
The main challenge with this sketch was the unsettled weather including strong wind gusts, drizzle & (bizarrely) blazing hot bursts of sunlight. I was holding an umbrella with one hand, whist sketching with the other and balancing my sketch book on my knees! I felt Windswept, damp & sunburned all in one day! Such are the joys of location sketching!
Richard Crosbie is an Artist originally from South Wales, UK, and has been living in Hong Kong for the past 25 years. He enjoys sketching and painting where he draws inspiration from our local cultural surroundings, transforming his work into high-quality affordable art prints that make perfect gifts to those who love and have a connection with our city home. As Richard says:
"I love living in Hong Kong and everything about it. I enjoy seeing the vast vistas and the tiny details, from cityscapes and harbour views, bustling market and street scenes to observing reflections in puddles and slowing drying paint on fire hydrants, I love it all,".
Richard's work encompasses both 'urban sketching' and 'en plein air' painting created on location as well as detailed works of art created in the studio. He uses both pen, ink, acrylics, pastels, and watercolours and is continually inspired by Hong Kong's many different aspects. He goes on to say:
"I've been told that my style is quite distinctive. The words 'perspective' and 'detailed' come up a lot. I suppose that may be from my design background as I was a product designer for a number of years. Now that I am creating art, I feel like I have awakened and can see Hong Kong anew. My art has taught me to observe carefully my surroundings. The more I look, the more there is to see".
