This is our last day of painting for the Desheng International Canvas Week and it was a huge success for all! Starting Saturday, we will be painting in a new area.
Our morning spot was the famous Ganzhu Power Station. Opening in January of 1971, Ganzhu Power Station was the first and biggest tidal power station in China! The very first tidal power station was in France in 1966. These amazing stations generate electricity by harnessing the oceanic power created from the tide as it ebbs and flows. This station here in China is still a world leader in harnessing this powerful energy of Nature.
The land around the Ganzhu Power Station is rural, peaceful and beautiful. We felt relaxed and eased into our first painting of the day. Some of us painted the boats on the river, some the little streets of the village, but all of us enjoyed the quiet countryside and the beautiful morning. .... And it really showed in the amazing paintings that were created!
Once again, as each painting was finished Cassi and her crew of Dudu, Gordon and others, whisked the painting off to be instantly framed. Before we left for lunch we once again had a mini art show of the morning's masterpieces. WOW!
Lunch was at a large and popular local Gan Lian Mansion restaurant famous for it's Cantonese Cuisines and over looking the very river that we painted all morning. The view was magnificent and so was the food. Are my pants getting a little bit tighter or is that just my imagination?
Here are some of today's masterpieces.
enjoy!
Ken Dewaard's:
Clayton J Beck III's:
mine:
Nancy Crookston's:
Bill Chamber's:
Ken Cadwallder's:
Zhiwei Tu's:
Kurt Anderson's:
Next stop, the Xi Jiang Fishermen's village. This is one of the best kept secretes of the area and a hidden gem in Longjiang. It is tiny but, as Ken Dewaard said over and over as he shot hundreds of photos.... " this is a candy shop"! It was hard for most of us to settle down to one spot, too much temptation to paint it all! The village is very tiny, so it was hard to find a spot that was not in the way of the local people and shops. Nancy Crookston was well under way on her painting, only to discover that she had unknowingly set up in an area of the local restaurant. With hands flying wildly trying to express himself, Nancy realized that he was needing to wash the sidewalk so he could set up his tables. Sadly, that painting of Nancy 's didn't get finished, but she did to a little gem of a fish hanging in the sun to cure.
It was a good day. No, a great day. As the sun was turning a brilliant cadmium red (light), the river, a golden hue and the sky spreading into a gentle peach, we hastened to finish our paintings, turned them in to be framed and climb back aboard our lovely bus for dinner.
Each night we have dined in the finest restaurants that you can imagine, and with important officials, but this night was the finest. So there we were, sweaty, sticky, hands full of paint (until we washed them of course), and dining with Zhang Xin Jie, the new governor of Guanddong, Alan Chau, the General Manager of Guangdong Desheng Creative Park, Luo da Quan, the director of Cultural Promotion Bureau of Longjiang and Eddie Liu, our director and leader for this prestigious event! Let me tell you, the wine glasses were kept full and we had one toast after another! Today the Governor just won the election and his term starts tomorrow. Three cheers! We also toasted to our very successful three days of paintings. They are very thrilled with our paintings and excited about our exhibition that opens on Friday. Tickets are selling quickly!
Tomorrow is a day of touring, our brushes will lay quietly in their boxes as our exhibition is finalized.
The excitement is building!
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