March 22, 2016. 48 x 55cm.

I went to Taiwan once a week from HK for 2 days to take drawing lessons. For the rest of days, I need come back to Hong Kong to work.

Yes it sounds very crazy. It is crazy.
My teacher is a renowned painting master, Yim Mau Kun. 

He is my 3rd painting teacher. At the first year I didn’t taken painting seriously. I went to night class for 2 hours every week after work. In the second year I developed a keen interest to learn therefore I researched and tried very hard to find a good tutor. But in Hong Kong, art is underdeveloped and one can’t imagine how difficult it is to find a decent learning envioronment. I don’t blame anyone. Teaching art privately or running art schools must be a losing business and people will have better choice based on business reason. All in all, I failed to find myself a suitable mentor therefore my second and third year were mainly a self study and prastice of sketching and painting. It was the background why I went so far to Taipei to seek lessons.

These trips were expensive, exhausted and sometimes a total waste. It happened I flew a long way to Taipei and unable to attend classes because of typhoon. It happened I went to class and found out master was sick and absent. Nevertheless, whenever I successfully entered the classroom, there was magic in the air making me fuel with determination to accelerate. Learning was half fun, half pain and totally difficult. People sitting around me had been following the master for 20 years and practicing painting for 20-40 years. It was expressed that not everyone may pass even the fundamental level. It was bloody. But it didn’t  stop people from trying. Art was a drug.

 Master Yim’s studio

   
Myself and Master Yim at the 3rd month of my Taipei studies. Master Yim had normally 40-50 students in one class and he would paint portrait while students could benefit from seeing his wonderful demonstration. There was why he could barely take care junior sketching student like me. Actually for the 6 months lessons in Taipei, Master Yim had only talked to me for a few times. But I benefited from his teaching anyway. He was the most experienced teacher I had ever seen. A big gratitude as his student. Even though for a short short term.

I had finally some progress after 3 months flying to Taipei. I was lucky. I was the lucky few who could pass the test. That meant I would have the chance to become a professional artist. 

The Apollo sculpture was the first sculpture life drawing that I felt I were doing right. And the first one in my almost 100 pieces of sketching artwork I were willing to sign. March 2016 was a memorable milestone in my long long art journey.

 I had done a lot of plaster statues sketching in 6 months. I took about 15 lessons. And I had learning very important knowledge. This was frankly an eye opening experience.