Printmaking with #christieslates

Today was my second time at #ChristiesLates, and although I expected that, just like with any other event series, it would be the same thing. It was absolutely not. It was a different set up, a different theme, a different set of activities and a different attendance.

The event focused on Chinese ceramics, works of art and textiles, which are due for auction this month. The walls were full of silk robes from the 19th and 20th centuries, anywhere from £1,000 to about £5,000. My most favourite one was a brown robe with minute yellow and pink embroideries. I did not expect the yellow patterns to come out so well on the brown silk.

Then there were the most recognisable blue and white ceramic plates and vases that inspired the blue Isnik when the Silk Road was wildly active on foot or horses. But the bowls that attracted my attention were with the yellow patterned backgrounds.

Glased ceramic vases, copper, wood and bamboo works were also displayed. The prices here go wild and beyond my imagination.

The #ChristiesLates, however, are not only for buyers or collectors. If you are an art lover, enthusiast, critic, or an artist, there is something for everyone. For example, at the first #ChristiesLates I attended, I made a 20-minute attempt at live drawing. A beautiful brunette girl, with a most voluptuous and really amasing body. As it was my first time, my drawings don’t do her justice.

This time, I did my first woodblock print. Unfortunately not from scratch, so I actually used a perfectly carved plywood block and under the guidance of Dr. Weimin He, a printmaker artist. I’ve learned something that surprised me: although printmaking was invented in China during the Ming Dynasty, it wasn’t used for artistic purposes until later in 1930s.

I am quite looking forward to the next #ChrstiesLates on the 7th of June and excited to be surprised.