This afternoon we visited the amazing art community of Songxianqiao in Chengdu. While there were many antiques and craft shops what caught my attention were the many artists studios of all traditions. We especially enjoyed meeting several oil painters who were so kind. Most did not speak english but welcomed us in to their studios and somehow we communicated with them and had a wonderful afternoon.
Kelsey has met this artist on a visit on the weekend and he was happy to see her again. He invited us to sit down and he showed us many of his paintings and his listings in major shows and reviews of renowned artists. He showed us his painting process and also showed us where a beautiful river and treefilled village he likes to paint is located an hour and a half south west of Chengdu. We actually might go visit there if we have time next week when Kieran and Rob arrive.
These artists can speak some English. He showed us paintings he has done of Tibetan people as well as portraits of his mother and son. His wife is a wonderful charcoal sketcher. He is famous in Yunnan province where they lived for several years. While we were there they were wrapping up artwork to send to Shanghai. He showed us his oil paints and explained how he uses a nontoxic solvent for painting and linseed oil. He also uses soap and maybe citrus oil to clean his brushes.(Something I learned to do when I oil painted my house many years ago and couldn't tolerate the chemicals in terpentine). Kind of like I used to do my oil paintings here. Unfortunately I didn't know there was an art store at this artist village that I could have bought some of the nontoxic citrus solvent and some real non-additive linseed oil which apparently helps paint dry quicker. He uses the citrus stuff to thin the paint for the underglaze and linseed oil for overcoats.
Here are some of the other artists we met--they were so kind!
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