A memorable restaurant to end an excellent holiday我的假期接近尾聲

Today my parents, uncle, aunt and I went to the Spring Natural Vegetarian Restaurant, in Taiching, for lunch. The restaurant is so popular that you have to book a table in advance. They have 150 different kinds of vegetarian dishes, and it has an "eat much as you like" approach. The main attraction is the buffet section offering a selection of salads, soups, cold appetizers, main courses, drinks and desserts. You can choose the vegetable you want and then ask the chef to cook it for you, on the spot. The resulting taste is simply divine and fresh. Making the Spring Vegetarian a really wonderful restaurant and experience.

I had 6 different types eggless cakes. These cakes are so light and fluffy it almost floats off of the plate. They are very delicious too. A Wonderful end to a brilliant holiday. I will bee setting off soon to return to the UK.

Bright Lights and Lanterns

Little cowherd and cattle

After I arrived in Taipei, by high speed train, I took my luggge to a friends home. He took me, by motorcycle, to the Lantern Festival. After the Lunar New Year we now have the Lantern Festival. I am at the one held in Taipei but they celebrate this festival in the cities in Taiwan. The 2009 the Taipei Lantern Festival take place between February 6 and February 15 at several venues, including the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and Taipei City Hall.

I have not been attend the Lantern festival for 12 years. I met an ex university friend and we went to see beautiful lanterns. The lantern festival was really just a big competition (and exhibition) of lanterns made with crepe paper and wire in all kinds of shapes, some of them really were quite big. There was also a net of lights to which people tied wishes to.

The festival was crowded but we could see many different lanterns. I was so happy while watching the beautiful lights that appeared to be dancing the evening's darkness. We also we read statements associated with individual lanterns. The Majority related to the OX as we have now started the year of the OX. There are always food stalls at this kind of event, in Taiwan. Wherever there were crowds there will be food! My friend and I chatted until 2am. The talk was interesting and we had a wonderful ttime.

The ride of my life....Taiwan High Speed Train

It is noon and I am taking my first ride on Taiwan's new high speed train. Heading towards Taipei from Taichung. The train is very impressive. Its design lines give it a sleek appearance and it is so smooth. This really is a special experience as the scenery flashes by. Beautiful rice fields and the breath taking mountains. The journey only takes 35 minutes whereas it takes 2 hours on the "fast trains". The ticket is not cheap but compared to UK rail prices it is not that expensive.

The seats are comfortable with plenty of space and the staff are very professional. The train ride was very smooth ride and enjoyable.

I was a very impressive experience and I look forward to taking the high speed train again, soon.

Lantern Festival 元宵節

It is a tradition for Taiwanese people to eat rice balls in celebrating the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first month of the Lunar lunar calendar.

My parents and I visited the Taichung Lantern Festival. we enjoyed looking a different kinds of lanterns.

Cirque du Soleil 太陽劇團

After relaxing at the Pekoe, we had renewed our energy ready for our next event. That was at night; We went to go watch Alegria (the current cirque du soleil show that’s touring Taipei right now). It was very entertaining and the acts contributed in making a fantastic show. Regardless of which group you see, or where you see it, a mixture of music, light, performance and excitement. We thank Wan Yu as she bought the 4 tickets for her, my parents and I.

Pekoe 食品雜貨鋪

My parents, sister Wan Yu, and I visited my sister Nico's work place Pekoe in Taipei. Pekoe is a good store that has a good range of products such as tea, food, tableware and cookery books. There is a café too. The cafe is only small but more than adequate. You can sit and have a coffee, while your other half has a look around the store. If that's what you like to do. It’s a bright and spacious and very relaxing. The shop is well situated and is always clean and tidy. Their prices are generally fair, considering the quality of the products. Macaron 杏仁小圓餅

Honey Vanilla Pudding 蜂蜜香草布丁

A special day for mother - Yunlin 媽媽的故鄉-雲林

When we got up the air very clear: We had a local breakfast with Taiwan coffee then we decided to go for a walk. We had the choice of two different walkway paths. One was the Literature walkway path and the other the Coffee walkway path. During the daytime, hoards of people make the trip up the mountain to eat breakfast, or just enjoy the atmosphere.

We walked on both sides of the Literature Walkway, there we saw the twelve megaliths on which the manuscripts and works of famous writers, from Yunlin County, are engraved to correspond with the surrounding landscape of mountains and rivers. We completed the Literature walkway path. We then decided to follow the Coffee walkway path.

The scenery is fantastic but the path is quite steep, however it is worth the effort for the sheer beauty. We saw coffee trees on the sides of the walkway path. It was a sunny day but we walked through the shaded betel palm tree forest. The wildlife is spectacular, especially the brightly colored butterflies. It is a lovely peaceful town. My mother bought some home grown orange and waterlilies. From there we drove back to home.

A special day for mother - Yunlin 媽媽的故鄉-雲林

On the second day of the Lunar New Year it is the time for married woman to return to their natal home. We awoke early so that we could return to Yunlin, my mothers birthplace. We were invited, by my mother's brother and his wife, to a restaurant for lunch.

On the way to the Linnei Township in Yunlin County, wthe traffic was very heavy and the roads were jammed. So instead of taking about one and a half hours for the journey the time was doubled and took three hours for us to arrive at the restaurant. My mum's brother and his wife and their children were pleased to see me as we had not met for a long time. In the restaurant two tables had been set to accomadate the twenty guests expected.

The food took about fortyfive minutes to prepare but it is well worth the wait as it is really delicious. This is one of my favourite restaurants and the food is always excellent. After lunch we went to my uncle's home, where my mother grew up. The house has changed a lot but the rice fields, around the house, are still being farmed. For one hour we all chatted and time passed quickly as the talk was so entertaining.

We then went to the Gukeng Green Tunnel it is two kilometers long and mango trees, aged about fifty years, provide a green canopy over the road. This gives a nice shaded area and we strolled along, which was very relaxing, as we explored the food markets along our route. We also tasted some of the food, probably too much.Next was a drive to the Bed and Breakfast (B+B) on Huashan Mountain, which is 1304 metres high. The Huashan area is Taiwan's best-known coffee-growing region . After settling in at the B+B, we wnet out for a local dinner and watched the lights of the nearby towns and cities. We also saw firework displays from the mountain. The view was stunning. It was a clear night. My sister, Wan Yu, saw "The Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper" in the sky, then told us, it's the Dipper, it was the first time I had seen it and it was fantastic.

Lunar New Year - A day of peace and tranquility

Today is the First day of the Lunar New Year; My parents, two sisters and I visited the Wunchang Temple and Mazu Temple, in Taichung, to attend the New Year services, held this morning. There we pray for a good year which belongs to the OX. It was very crowded but even more so inside but it was done in an orderly and graceful manner.

Then we visited another temple in the Sioushuei Township. This is a 40 minute driving from Taichung City. There my female cousin (my father's brothers daughter) is a Buddha nun. We arrived at this amazing Buddhist temple, Cosmos, the fields of flowers at the front made a very nice picture.

When we entered the temple, everyone is smiling and holding red candles. The sweet smelling scent of the burning incense sticks and the heavenly mixed sounds of Buddha music and the buddhist nuns singing made an everlasting impression. My parents are very sincere worshippers of Buddhism and I am always amazed at how they carry out the steps of their worship to exact detail.We spent fifteen minutes praying for peace, health and prosperity. After that we admired the architecture and decoration of the temple. It was truely a memorable and heart warming ceromony.

Lunar New Year family party

After an early breakfast my parents, my sister, Wanyu and I went to the Temple of the Land God to offer our prayers and receive blessings. When we arrived back home, my other sister Nico and arrived from Taipei so we could all eat lunch together.

The biggest event of all Lunar New Years is the New Year Eve dinners. The families hold it as a reunion celebration. I really looked forward to this as I had not been to one for twelve years. We went to my grandmother's home. I noticed on the journey, a thirty minute drive, that the district, in three years, has changed considerably. Several large building can now be seen.

It is good to see my grandmother, who is 101 years old, even if she cannot rememer me. At least she is in good health. I am glad that, after two years away, I can now spend the Lunar New Year celebrations with all my family and relatives.

At our Lunar New Year's Eve dinner there were too many dishes to mention. All were very good and we can thank my mum, my auntie and the wifes of two of my cousins, as they prepared all the food. All excellent Cooks.

During the meal we watch the firework displays. My aunt put coal into a pot, under the dining table.Afeter the meal we were all full-up sp decieded we needed some exercise. My cousin as a Wii game, with a sports disc. It was good fun. I played tennis but I am not a good player. It was funny and we were all laughing. My cousins two children showed up their paintings. Lovely pictures with big smiling faces. Everyone had a good time.

Spring Couplets - Desires and Objectives

My dad is hanging Spring Couplets

During the Lunar New Year celebrations families are busy pasting spring couplets to their front doors. My father thinks that calligraphy is an elaborate art of writing. He writes spring couplets every Lunar New Year. They generally consist of lucky words and short poems. On creating them he and my sister, Wan Yu, hang them one the sides of the gateway. (Pictures 1).

We visited my grandmother's home and saw many large pieces of red paper embellished with beautiful Chinese calligraphy, written by my cousin. These had been pasted on the walls and doors. (Pictures 2-3)

Every family decorates their walls and doors, with spring couplets, to reflect that families own interests, hobbies, culteral tastes, goals and offering good wishes.

Childhood memories兒時回憶

My parents and I are very busy preparing for the Lunar New year! Yesterday my father, sister WanYu and I visited the house of my aunt and uncle. We take gifts to relatives and friends for the Lunar New Year, plants, flowers or food. It is nice to chat with my relatives and see them as I remember them before I left to complete my education. I spotted a little wooden rocking horse (picture attached) and I had vague memories of riding it when a small child. I asked my aunt if I had played with it as a child and she confirmed that both my sister and I use to ride the rocking horse. The horse is fortytwo years old. In my mind I can imagine myself riding now.

Green Tea Treat 清香綠茶味

Yesterday my sister, WanYu, arrived home from Taipei rather than Friday. The traffic on Friday will be extremely busy, many traffic jams, as people return home to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Before returning home Wanyu called in to see my other sister, Nico, who works at Pekoe in Taipei. While there she bought two cakes one chocolate cake and the other green tea cake. I had some of the green tea cake, it is so lovely and very elegant indeed. There was a really fresh green tea flavour to the cake. Most delicious.

A beautiful morning 美好的早晨

We arose at 6am and went for a walk around the Taichung Metropolitan Park 臺中都會公園. As we walked the cool, fresh morning air, was enjoyable and refreshing.

As we walked through the park we noticed turtles sunbathing on the rocks below. It was heaven, a natural sight as if the family of turtles were there on holiday. My mother said that she had watched the turtles laying their eggs.

The trees, in the park, are full of birds singing their morning chorus. Unfortunately, I forgot my hearing aid so I could not listen and identify the bird's song.We were walking in the park for 3 hours. A most enjoyable time spent with parents and nature.

Morning Market 晨間市場

My parents set off, from home, at 6:30am for the Shueinan Market 水湳市場. A typical Taichung large morning market. It is a 10 minute drive to reach that market. The morning market allows you to buy fresh produce be it: vegetables, fruit, or livestock such as chicken. There are a lot of vendors, of all ages, selling their goods and therefore the market is very busy as people are looking for fresh and cheap produce.

It is a busy time here, presently, as people are preparing for the on-coming Lunar New Year. They are making new clothes, decorating their homes, preparing food and buying presents. Parents being parents mine returned from the market with lots of fresh vegetables and meats so they can spoil me while I am still staying with them. God bless mothers...

Postman's Knock 郵差來敲門

I was planning to take a coach to my hometown Taichung City, but my friend Wei said his wife wants to go to my hometown to buy Taro cakes, Sun cake for Lunar New Year, because there are very famous bakeries here. These specialties with delicate gift boxes, are good for giving gifts for the Lunar New Year.

Wei gave me a lift to my home, it took 2 hours from his home. I asked my sister WanYu to keep my parents at home to wait for me. They did not realise I had arrived in Taiwan early. My sister said to my parents, please wait at home for a post parcel, but it's not really a post parcel, it was me. When I rang the door, I saw my father's huge surprise on his face. He had to come from the third floor to the ground floor. He said he thought it was a postman. He was going to say to the postman, I'm coming down, I'm coming down, please wait, but he heard no response from the postman, until he saw me. He had such a huge surprise, because he said he felt like sending me from UK to here by email though the computer, hahaha. He called mum down and said that our son is here now. Mum was on the 3rd floor when she said to him, which son? We only have one son. She came down and got a big surprise too. It was well fun! My friend and his wife said to me, Kai you are a naughty boy!

Then we went out for lunch not far from my home, Wei's wife said you are lucky as you live in such a good place, easy to get what you want, to eat, shopping. We ate a lot and I was very pleased to eat Taiwanese local food here again. Then they went back home.

I am in Taiwan 終於回到臺灣ㄌ

My flight to Taiwan was fine but 18 hours duration. Luckily I had a seat for the upper deck. To pass the time I read, watched in-flight movies and had a nap. Wei, his wife and son collected me at the airport. Which they live near to. I am staying at their home. I met Wei at a university. I bought his son some chocolates (personally I don't like chocolate).

At the moment I am having difficulty in sleeping, probably due to "jet lag". Tomorrow I will take a coach to my hometown. My parents will be suprised as they thought that I was not leaving the UK until 22nd January.

Picture: This is the view from my friend's home

Art is all around

It was funny at the BT exhibition today. Everything went well, Karen arrived at BT earier, she is my sign interpreter. At 5.00pm drinks and canapés were served. The wine was nice as were the canapés and I enjoyed talking to the people present. Then at 5.30pm we were welcomed by the BT CEO representative, Sally Davis. At 5.40pm we had the Art Tour conducted by Abbie Cooke, a director of Gig-Arts. She talked about my painting and me. People made very appreciative comments about my art work.

Karen and me

So a good day in all as well as the spectacular view of London from BT. I could see St Paul's cathedral, Tate Modern and the London Eye. It was all so beautiful.

Retail therapy and country stroll

My friend Peter, who I have known for over 10 years, visited me from Birmingham. We chatted using the British Sign hand Language. Peter, Vincent and I went to Bicester Village at Oxfordshire; it’s a designer outlet village selling luxury and premium brands at discounted prices. We were driving for nearly half hour to arrive there.

I bought a pair of Levis jeans and a Paul Smith’s shirt that I thought was expensive for that designer centre; I think I was little over excited to worry about the cost. It was made for me and I can wear it when meeting future clients or giving private shows. It will enhance my appearance.

When returning home Peter, Vincent and I went for a stroll with Patchy. We decided to go to the hill which is not too far from my home. Peter keeps say how beautiful the areas looks with the trees, in full bloom, lots of meadow flowers., especially buttercups and a lovely country smell in the air. I had to agree a perfect day.

My home made coconut pudding 烤椰香布丁

When I opened the fridge, I noticed that I had an opened can of l coconut milk. I had already used half of it to make a prawn curry the previous day. It was such a hot day that I decided to make a coconut pudding; I love the smell of coconut and the pudding is fun and easyily made at home. It takes 10 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to bake. When baked remove from the oven and leave to cool. Decorate with mint leaves and icing sugar, and serve with sliced strawberries. The taste is divine when eating it I am in heaven.

Who is eating my lavender? 是誰在偷吃薰衣草？

Before

Today

Two months ago we went to B&Q to buy some plants. I wanted to buy more lavender; We have some in the garden but I wanted more as the rabbits had eaten some of the lavender last summer, I bought the lavender and planted them in pots that I placed high up, to prevent the rabbits from reaching them. I saw lavender buds and was so happy. I cannot wait to see purple lavender flower. Then I noticed that the buds were disappearing and the leaves were being eaten. Who is eating my lavender? Is it the deer or the rabbits or something else? I found the answer to that question one lunch time. I saw a rabbit eating my lavender buds. It seems that the rabbits are determined to eat my lavender; hopefully the wire mesh that I put over the plant pots will deter this now. BUT why does my dog, a Jack Russell, not bark at them? Unlike most of the breed he may like the rabbits.

Painting Alfresco

Today I have been painying outdoors, in the sunshine, just like Van Gogh did in Southern France. Sometimes, when I paint, i use oils mixed with resin; It gives me a headache and makes me feel intoxicated. The fumes cam make you feel light-headed so I need to go outside for the fresh air. It is the first time that I have painted using oils and English distilled turpentine. As it was such a nice day, I decided to paint outside and enjoy the fresh air as I painted. I feel that my communication with nature and the atmosphere gave my painting a lively and joyful feel. If you look at my picture you can see that I am wearing gloves. That is because the oil and resins can be harmful to my hands.

A Place in Time and Space

Workshop "Make your own clock" at the Wallace Collection today.

Patchy had his operation and is ok

It looks very sore!

Patchy had his operation and is now starting to wake up slowly. He has been asleep for about 3 1/2 hours, but the actual operation time was around one hour. They have inserted two pins to keep the growth plate and the bone together. The alignment is much better than before but not perfect. To make it perfect, they would have needed to cut a lot more muscle which would have been bad for his recovery.

Mango and coconut cheesecakes

I like making different desserts. I like to be creative, as in my painting. This makes me very happy. I recently made a mango and coconut cheesecakes. The results appeared to be excellent and when tasted it did not disappoint. It was smooth and had a really nice taste. That made me feel ecstatic.

Artweeks Oxfordshire 2008 video

I put my video recorder on, then videoed myself. I talked with British Sign Language to the camera about my Artweeks, but I kept saying the wrong things. I didn't like the way I said it. After about 20 attempts, it looked as I wanted it to.

See my video "Welcome to Artweeks 2008 Oxfordshire" is in British Sign Language (BSL) with English subtitles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAiEndmAiak

Chinese helmet workshop 11 april

Helmet Making: Modelling a helmet of the early Ming dynasty

April Snow 6/4/2008

We are now in the Spring Season. It is April and there is snow on the ground. This is unusual but a beautiful scene. Patchy is always happy jumping around and playing but this is the first time he as seen snow. We played as I made snowballs and threw them at Patchy but he hid from them. I made a snowman a new friend for Patchy. It was good to see the snow shower and watch it lay. Then as time passed it melted away. This game me an idea for my painting.

living room 30 March 2008

I am preparing for the Artweeks in early May. We have removed the carpets in the dining and living rooms to prevent them getting dirty, when the visitors arrive. This shows the wooden floor and makes it look like an exhibition area. We sanded the wood floor twice then we applied a coat of varnish. After waiting three hours then applied a second coat of varnish. It looks great, especially during the day, when the sun reflects through the window.

Easter Bonnet‏

I made an adorable bunny hat, because Easter's a perfect time for Patchy to show off his fashionable Easter bonnet!! He is very good natured to let me dress him up & photgraph him.

Daffodil

I live in big garden and many Daffodil, A very popular spring flower. It is prolific and very bright and colourful. They grow in big clumps, a few flowers there are many of them all in a large group. A famous Englsih poet wrote about "A Host of Golden daffodils". Wordsworth. I cut some daffodils from the garden and brought them into the house. They look good indoors.

Training for Almshouse

Today was the training for the almshouse tour. It was nice to meet up with Serena and John as we are long term friends. It is always pleasant to see them again. Laura was the Education Officer and she explained the history of the almshouses; What is it in the almshouse and how they were used as long ago as the 18th century. It was good to understand how people lived and it was like walking into another person's home. I found the training very interesting and instructive. It will certainly be of use in the future for my workshops within the Geffrye Museum.


After the training , Serena, John and I felt hungry; We walked along the road to look for a suitable place to have lunch. We found a nice cafe serving organic food. Over a pleasant freshly prepared meal we chatted. It was good to talk to my friends.

Tang Yuan - Lantern Festival

Glutinous balls (Tang yuan -mandarin) - a Great Taiwanese snack

Be Mine - Patchy

Today I made a heart-shaped collar. Just to look pretty/funny/interesting.

Love is in the Air at the Wallace Collection

Make your own embossed and stencilled Valentine card.

Lunar New Year Eve

Pancake‏

Today is Pancake day, I made one, Yum!! The recipe I have is: mix together self raising flour, milk and 2 eggs. To get a smooth not too thick or too thim mixture. Heat a frying pan and put some of the mixture in to form a thin disc and let it heat up. toss the pancake to turn the sides over to cook the top side. and then remove.

Patchy is my ears

I sat in the living room reading a book. The sky was blue and Patchy laid on my lap. Suddenly Patchy jumped from me and went to the wall. His nose was touching the plug-in door chime with flashing light, used by deaf people to show that there is some one at the door. I did not notice the flashing light due to the strong sunshine shining into the living room. It was the postman with a parcel for me, for which I had to sign to acknowledge receipt. I am so glad that I have Patchy. He is my ears.

Baklava with coconut and honey syrup

THE OXFORD OPEN

My painting is on display in the museum at the Modern Art Oxford, from 12 January to 17 February 2008.

Brave Snowdrops

Today as I walked in the garden, with Patchy, I noticed something small and white in grass. As i investigated i realised it was a Snowdrop. a small bulb that produces a little white flower with droopy leaves. These are known as "Maids of February" and are a sign that spring is very near. When the snowdrops appear it mean that spring in near and winter will soon be over. They are one of the first signs that spring is near; At a time when there are not many flower anywhere, I like snowdrops as they are small but brave the spring weather and bring the promise of new life.

Interview at the Geffrye Museum

Yesterday I had my interview at the museum, in London and stayed at my friend's home. I thought this would help me relax and build up my energy for the next day.

The interview was okay but I thought my answers could have been better. At least I tried and will know the outcome in two weeks time. I had not seen my puppy Patchy for one day but I think he likes me. When I arrived home he saw me and his tail was wagging and he was jumping up to greet me.

Sign Language - Painting Brush

Sign Language is an essential means of communication between the Deaf. Signs are not static but move and flow to convey subtle meanings and nuances. I find that the motions I make when signing are similar to the motions I use when painting with the brush.

Football new star

Today we took Patchy to the garden. He likes to play with a ball and run fast in the garden. And he has developed. Now, when I call his name and clap my hands and come over, he can recognise his name. He likes sleeping in my arms while I lie on the floor, very very sweet indeed.

Shower Patchy

The first time I took Patchy to get a shower using dog shampoo I was very happy with him. I thought he would not be that thrilled with it and he still jump over the bathtub. Next day he watched me in the shower. It means I am in the showering too letting him understand that we both can use the shower. After one week, he is so quiet in the shower, and no problem. I put a towel on top of him and dry him thoroughly. I am gradually getting him used to the dryer. After a shower, he runs around the rooms, he looks very happy after a refreshing shower and now he looks so white.

New Studio

After getting my Doctorate, last November, this became my Studio. It was my friend’s conservatory; He agreed to remove some plants to create more space for painting. I created a storage area for my paintings (see photo of right). It’s a good place for painting, as the studio provide plenty of bright natural light. I can also see the woods from the studio. I can feel the change in colours as the spirit of the day reflects the weather and atmosphere. It’s good for me to go out and walk in countryside. The fresh air clears my mind and helps me unwind should I have spent too much time painting.

New Year Boy

Glad Patchy is better now after worm in his stomach on 28 december 2007 last year, and i made new hat for new year 2008, it's his first spend new year as he is 2 months ago. wish he is all happier stay health in new life with us and good future new year.

Sick Patchy

Last night was a drama, because I got Patchy last afternoon, I was excited and happy, but he was in pain last night. We gave him food last night, but he would not eat it. His body was shaking and his belly was swollen. He smelled the food for a while and then I noticed he started to vomit. After he vomited, I looked at it and there was a worm in it.

Now I know he has worms and today we took him to see a vet, because he has not eaten his food this morning either. We took him to a vet, nurses saw him and said how sweet he is. They gave me some antibiotics for him to take for 3 days to make him feel better. I gave him a different food type, he ate it and we gave him a tablet to eat. Tonight he did not vomit and he seems better.

New puppy 28 December 2007

I got a new puppy at 4:30pm, and took him home by car. He kept on looking out of the window of the car and his body kept shaking. He's in brand new surroundings. I arrived home and told him this is your new home. He is surrounded by lots of brand new things, smells, sounds, and people. He's probably a little nervous and unsure of himself. We cuddle him, talk gently to him, and give him time to adjust. Then, after about half an hour, he played with me.

Snowdonia North Wales

My diary had not been updated for a while; I have been very busy. With my Final show and proposals as well as entertaining my parents and relatives who had come to the UK for my Graduation Ceremony. Mum came over in October and then later my father, an aunt and uncle joined her. So it was December before they returned home. It is not very often my family visits UK so I took them on a tour. We visited Snowdonia, Wales; The area is so beautiful; with castles, green mountains, lakes and the rugged sea coast. We enjoyed a nice meal of lamb and mint sauce. We had a trip on a steam train from Caernarfon to Rhyd Ddu. The view was wonderful and there was a pleasant smell of wood with in the carriage. With it being the end of the year the days were short. The sky was dark so early.

博士論文口試VIVA 22 June 2007

My VIVA (Oral examination with British Sign Interpreter) was scheduled for 11:30am on 22nd June 2007, so I arose early to reread my thesis. Then set off for the college; arriving there at 10am. To help calm my nerves I had a drink of oolong tea as I was waiting for the designated starting time. I did notice two external examiners in my exhibition space and on the door a notice saying “Assessment in progress. Please do not enter”. With Karen, my British sign interpreter, we practiced the possible questions and responses during the thirty minutes preceding the examination. My tutors, Geoff (Doctorate director) and Peter (AVA director – Architecture & the Visual Arts) are not allowed into my exhibition space but wished me good luck.

At 11:45am the examiners, Tim and Pete, invited me into the exhibition space. There were four seats, Karen, Pete, Tim and myself. I sat down, took a deep breath and smiled at the examiners. We were ready to commence the oral examination.

The examination lasted 90 minutes; the first question they asked was very difficult to answer. From therein I was bombarded with questions. For example, they asked why I leave the top and bottom parts of the canvas unpainted - white. My answer was that for me white means silence; I apply colour to 40-60% of each canvas in a series so as to create intervals in which the image can breathe and resonate.

I was upset when Tim asked a question and whilst answering Pete said that is enough but I tried to keep a smile on my face. All the questioning made me feel tired but I persevered. On one occasion I noticed Pete shaking his head, it made me think that I had not answered that question correctly but I tried to remain confident. I realised that I had to focus carefully on the questions and construct my replies without being too hasty. I told the two examiners they may need to rephrase some of the questions as English and British Sign Language are not my first languages. It was a long day and very draining. I was longing for the questions to stop. On the positive side both examiners said that they liked my work and found it very interesting.

I was then told to come back at 2:30pm and they would inform me whether I had passed of failed. Karen and I went to the restaurant for a lunch break but the two examiners were there and asked if we would leave as they wanted to discuss my oral examination. As I sat outside watching the planes take off I was both happy and nervous. It was tough just sitting in the campus waiting for the appointment time to arrive. Eventually Karen took me to the art office.

Once there Peter ( AVA director) asked me to wait outside until Geoff arrives. I was so nervous waiting to hear the outcome. Karen said hello to Geoff but I think Geoff did not speak to me. This made me think that bad news would follow. We all entered Peter’s office with the two examiners. I spoke to Geoff and from his facial expression I assumed that he did not know the outcome too. The examiners passed a note to Peter, which he read out. “ Sheng-Kai Chou we gave you an Unconditional Pass no further work required”. I did not understand what had been said. Had I got my Doctorate Degree? Karen said yes. A broad smile covered my face and Geoff too. I thanked Geoff, Peter and UEL for everything.

On leaving Peter’s office I was jumping and hugging Karen as I thanked her for translating for me. I then asked Karen to help me call my family, in Taiwan, as I needed to tell them the good news. I had tears in my eyes; I have worked hard for the last three years trying to achieve this moment. My parents have supported me. There was one occasion when I returned to Taiwan and did not want to complete the course as one critical teacher said that my theory was not Doctorate level work. Also I was struggling writing thesis in English. Once I had to re-write the same piece 20 times until my teacher was satisfied with the final version. My family supported me and said whether I pass or fail I will still have learnt how to develop my art work and that is more important than a Doctorate degree diploma. In the first year I made a video, in the second year paint long paper and in the final year produce cinematic paintings on canvas. A long, hard but pleasurable journey.

Workshop - Painting on the plate on 10 Feb 2007

Using glazed tiles and ceramic paint to paint a picture, which would link in well with the theme of the Deaf Visions Day of Renaissance Crockery. And to show them my work in progress, some examples from the Wallace Collection, and let them know how to paint the tiles. I will introduce them to images of traditional English flowers, then instruct them in the technique of painting onto ceramic tiles, then encourage them to paint their own interpretations of these images onto the tiles.

Different project

One Day Difference

Acrylic on canvas

183 cm x 61cm 2007

In a different project I am trying to create space within the canvas around the main thematic place. I apply colour to 40-60% of each canvas in a series so as to create intervals in which the image can breathe and resonate.

I really feel that this has liberated the art from the constraints of the frame of the canvas or the edges of the paper.

ICA show

I subsequently had the opportunity of displaying the paper scrolls again as part of the exhibition “Vision” at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA, The Mall, London), organised by the ICA and the British Deaf Association (BDA), from 5 to 7 January 2007. This was an exhibition of works from deaf contemporary artists. It was an ideal exhibition space for the scrolls because of the high ceiling, which meant that viewers had to raise their eyes from floor to ceiling to see the scrolls. This time they were displayed vertically, cascading down the wall.

hospital bead

Today I went to hospital, cracked shoulder like a cup where you can see a line but it is not yet broken, but the cup doesn't grow back together, my bone will grow back together but it needs rest. i will have to learn to be patient! Nurse said 2 weeks maybe 4 weeks, just be careful sleeping.

another idea

I tried to develop the idea of discontinuity by painting a larger piece on canvas, and then isolating predetermined areas with a frame. The un-chosen area of paint is a discontinuity, which if the work has an inherent rhythm, can be filled in by the mind of the viewer. If some concept of musicality was present in my work then the continuity of the disrupted piece would be evident.

Headache after tutorials

Tutors gave me too much advice, and argued with me for 2 weeks, for 2 weeks, my brain nearly exploded. I really cannot paint new style, I need to find a breakthrough, so I can paint in a new style. Maybe after a break from London I'll be able to have a fresh approach to it.

new idea

In one project I got a natural canvas scroll and painted on it while it was on the floor. This allowed me to paint on a much larger scale than on the narrow paper scrolls. I painted in areas but would not cover the entire space; and saw where it took me. Blank areas of canvas left spaces for imagination, space to be filled by the mind.

Cracked Shoulder

On 2nd November, I fell down the stairs on my left shoulder, because I was rush to college. I have a crack in my shoulderblade and bruised my shoulder and arm. I had my left arm in a sling for four weeks. I used to type with one hand and painting was difficult (mixing paint and so on). very difficult to change my clothes. I will need to get used to dealing with this, but it will take some time before I manage everything ok.

Goal- Hehuan Mountain

I was awaken up around 5 AM by my mobile vibrating alarm. Naturally my hair looked stupid. I had showered last evening then slept on it. It was a nice morning and the sun was really shining bright outside.

My dad drove us, my mom, my 2 sisters, Nico and Wan Yu, and of course me, up the mountains, up and up. Eventually we ended up Hehuan mountain which has multiple peaks. Total of seven peaks. It was fantastic, we were wearing shorts, but after driving for 3 hours up Hehuan mountain it became cold, and we had to put coats on.

We went to Shimen mountain 3236 Meters high, then to Hehuan east peak 3421 Meters high. But before going to east Hehuan peak, we had lunch to recharge our batteries eating food prepared by my parents last night, and kept warm in boxes. Subsequently we walked up a very, very steep alpine-meadow type slope. You can imagine what kind of terrain it was.

As we got higher and higher it became even colder and harder to breath. We had to walk slow and breath so deliberately. Along the path to the top of the east peak, it was so nice to see the beautiful Yushan bamboo which only grow to knees-high as adaptation to the climate and environment there.

After 4 hours we finally arrived at the top. We took many photos, and enjoyed the view of the surrounding mountains from the top of the peak. My mom had said that she was determined to get to her destination, the east peak. She thought, she is old, and would not know if she would have time to come back again. Hence she kept walking up even when she had to do it very slowly. After arriving to the top she had felt great, and ecstatic. It is like the feeling of people who study and work hard, and never give up till they get to their goal.

Walking in the Clouds

My parents and I went to Da Syae Shan 大雪山(Big Snow Mountains) National Forest in Taichung country, which is about 2.5 hours drive along winding roads up into the mountains.

Standing on Ya-Kou observation post (2600M), we felt our vision and minds widen as we looked towards Yu Shan 玉山(Jade Mountain) in the distance, Taiwan's tallest at 3997 meters high.

A sea of clouds appeared which is common at high altitudes; sometimes fog came along the footpath and made me feel like I was bathing in mist. The changing weather contributed to the picturesque landscape.

Whilst walking into the forest, we saw a lot of the air resident-epiphytic plants; I always take a close look epiphytic plants when traveling. The natural beauty of the forest also provides the habitat for wildlife. I saw butterflies and bees flying amongst the flowers, Mikado Pheasant and many different species of birds. My father used a telescope for bird watching and could hear the birds singing. We found ourselves energized from fresh air rich in pythocidere.

As we drove back home from mountains the fog was very dense and it was hard to see the road. My father said I should take a nap as we had been walking for 8 hours.

Next time we will go to Mount Hohuan 合歡山(3500M).

Wild Vegetable in the Mountains

My father was going to Douliou on business at 7:30am, so he dropped my mother and I off in the mountains in Lugu, as it was on the way.

We went for a long walk in the soothing breeze and the beautiful scenery. It was sunny in the morning but the weather changed in the afternoon and the area became misty, it looked poetic.

At 4:30pm my father collected us and we all went to a very nice restaurant called Bamboo Inn (竹棧) for dinner. We were surrounded by the pleasant fragrance from the tea plants and bamboo trees which grow on the mountains. We had wild fish, river prawn, wild pork, bamboo shoots, flower buds and different wild vegetables; it was delicious. I had never eaten such nice food before, as I grew up in a big city. The owner of restaurant was very nice and talked with us.

BrokeMind Mountain

The painting is on canvas 91x73cm, I drew the design from shapes while hiking in the mountains and transformed it onto canvas. I paint on large canvas using windsor blue paint to make my lines flow.

At this point I will leave it to my imagination where the painting will go.

Walking in the Mountains, 26 August 2006

Today we got up early and ate homemade bread which my dad made. The smell was very nice, and it tasted even better because my dad had made it. Then we had the energy to go to Sitou (溪頭) for mountain hiking.

My father and mum love Sitou a lot, because we can breathe fresh forest air and commune with nature. Everyone is very friendly here, they said a hello, as mountains friends do. My father is very sociable and the people shared what they had made for lunch with us.

We went along an eight story high, 180-meter long Sky Walkway; it was funny as we can touch the trees by walking amidst them instead of just looking up from the ground. You can closely observe the symbiotic relationship the trees have with ferns.

The Sanyi Wood Carving Festival, 24 August

My dad is off work this afternoon because he wants to take us to visit Sanyi 三義as it is venue of the annual Sanyi Wood Carving Festival from19 to 27 Aug. Sanyi is in Miaoli Country, about 40 minutes from Taichung city and is Taiwan's wood carving capital and also home to master craftspeople. We visited wood sculpture museum and saw many great wood sculptures. I was impressed by one particular piece of a bee with water lily leaves; it looked so like life. I was also very interested to understand and learn from the worldwide culture of wood sculpture. Also we saw a wood sculptor at his artwork; I could hear the sound that the tools made when he was carving wood.

Afterwards we visited a street where different styles of wood sculpture were for sale and we bought cheese tofu and meat cake, as it is local food.

Later we visited Shengsing Train Station 勝興車站. It is the highest train station in western Taiwan. We visited the remains Long Teng Bridge 龍藤斷橋. This iron bridge was built after the disastrous Taichung earthquake in 1935. The remains of the original brick-built bridge can be seen from the east of the iron bridge. It is the most famous attraction on the old Mountain Line.

Then we drove back to Shengsing area to eat local food. The restaurant is very traditional; I remembered my childhood life. The menu card is very special; it was made from bamboo and did not state the prices. They gave us free plum wine, which tasted very good and made me feel relaxed. The meal which was of local food was also very good.

My Mum's Home Made Spring Rolls

My mum made spring rolls today. Spring rolls consist of various types of vegetables such as; sliced carrot,cabbage, mushroom, chicken, fried egg and spring onion,ground peanuts, sesame power and dried laver are rolled inside a thin pancake type wrapper and deep fried for a crispy outside. My mum knows I have not eaten them for 8 years; she spent a long time preparing the different of types of vegetables, then I chose the fillings and added a lot of ground peanuts. They were delicious, I love my mums cooking.

Lost & Found

I went to Panchiao to visit my friend Wei who had got an MA in Art in Edinburgh University last saturday. When I arrived at his home I went to give him a BSL Finger spelling alphabet note, the note was in a book, Wassily Kandinsky's Point and Line to Plane. I opened my bag but could not find the book. I remembered that I was reading it while on the way to Panchiao from Taichung on the coach. Oh, I did not put it back into my bag; it was on the seat while I read it. So I asked Wei's wife to call Panchiao coach station, they said please call to Taiching lost and found office.

After 3 days I went back to Taichung. I asked my mum to ask if any book was handed in at Taichung lost and found office. They said they did not have it, so they said they will call Panchiao and would see what happens the next day. I thought that if they cannot find my book, I will buy new one in Taiwan or London, as I had borrowed it from my college.

The next day my mum told me that they had found the book but it was still in Panchiao. So my mum asked the driver to take book to Taichung on the Taichung coach, where I was able to collect it. Thank goodness I got my book back.

Visit to My Old University, 21 August

Today I visited my old university- Culture University in Taipei city with my friend. The university is on a mountain in Yangmingshan National Park 陽明山國家公園. We took a bus north from Taipei train station and talked for 40 minutes on the way. It was a lovely day with a blue sky.

My friend asked me if I had been to the national park before. He said he been to the national park while he was a student. I told him that I miss my student life. The park contained outstanding beauty spots. We ate chicken and wild vegetables, and saw a beautiful view at night from the top of the mountain. It was very relaxing.

When we entered the campus, I was surprised because a lot of buildings had changed and they were building new ones. We visited the new sports center. From the building, I could see a river flowing down a mountain. We also visited the new computer center. It looked very cool, like a futuristic space. We also bumped into Lee Fu, chairman of the Fine Arts department. I was very happy to chat with her and wished I was back at university.

We also visited the resource room – I used to work there part-time. We met a teacher, Chen, who helps disabled students. Chen asked us to go out for lunch with him and we had a nice talk.

Taipei County - Pingshi, Shen Keng - Tofu, Tea and Trains. 20 August

Bill had planned a trip for us as we have not met up for 2 years. He wanted to see the old towns that he knew. I love seeing the old villages in their natural surroundings and Pingshi 平溪 is one of the best to visit.

There was quite a large group of us, 20 people with 5 cars so we all met at Kunyang metro station and set of by road, Bill leading the way to Pingshi.

As we drove along I saw beautiful mountains along the road and the fresh air made me feel very energy, because I was up late chatting with old friends until 3:30am.

After about 30 minutes we arrived in Pingshi which is in Taipei County, inland from the northern tip of Taiwan's northeastern coastal scenic area.

The town was once an area that bustled with coal-mining activities but today only an old railway line threads its way through the mountains and forests and is all that is left from those glorious bygone days.

There is only one train an hour, so we can walk along the railway line. There were people saying, "Rail come, rail come", which I guess meant a train was due then other people said, "Rail come, rail come", as the warning was passed down the line.

The railway station is of wooden construction and its architecture is entirely of apanese style. The longest coal cabinet in Taiwan can be found opposite the railway track. Here also they sell a lot of sky lanterns which are miniature hot-air balloons. It is a unique local custom in Pingshi to release the sky lanterns, at the time of the Lantern Festival, two weeks after the Lunar New Year. I saw one family buying a lot of sky lanterns and making them ready to fly.

Most of the food here is of traditional local origin. We sat down and drank iced maei cha - pasty tea and ate rice-flour noodle, dark plum juice and fruit ice. It had begun to rain and this was very relaxing to watch as it poured in the old village.

We moved on to Shen Keng to buy tofu for take away dinner. ShenKeng 深坑 is a small town near Taipei city and is famous for tofu and tofu cuisine. What makes Shen Keng's tofu so special? Because they follow the way of the ancients, blending salt into soybean milk to bring out a smoky flavor and making all the tofu by hand.

I had to cue for one hour to buy 9 boxes of cooked tofu, and then we went to a tea house to eat the tofu and chat and play Chinese chess. Big black asked me, do you want to play Chinese chess, I said yes, and he said, they want to talk with me, until I turn my head back, I did not notice they were planning to buy a birthday cake for my birthday on 31st August, so they celebrated my birthday early, I was surprised and I felt warm in my heart, we sing happy birthday to you with Taiwanese sign language.

I had a wonderful time visiting the towns and villages that are set in the local countryside.

met old friend Wei

Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung

I visited Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, its great architect and a nice park and also a nice indoor desigh, l like grey and shape. Lovely mix of hard and soft shapes, with sympathetic materials to match in the form of the angular, rounded and hard surfaces seen in the old worn appearance of statue, contracted with the audacious angling out of wall, oppsite the statue. The stark stone used in the main building structures emphasising the effect. Overall it produces a clean pleasing result.

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

My Friend from Kaoshiung-Taiwan is a Heaven for Eating

My friend from Kaoshiung came to visit me in Taichung. Taichung is about 2.5 hours by coach from Kaoshiung. At university, I was a volunteer in a Taiwanese Sign Language club that ran evening classes for a Taipei deaf school. I taught him math, art, and geography, and we became good friends.

He brought me home-made chicken soup and a hand-made ring. Since my mum is a volunteer with the National Museum of Natural Science, she got us free tickets for the 3D Theatre. We saw the films ‘Tree Robo’ and ‘Fighter Pilot’. We sat at the back of the theatre, wearing special glasses to appreciate the 3-D effects. While watching the film, I saw lots of the audience's hands move and dance, as though they were using sign language.

We also visited the Botanical Garden opposite the theatre and saw various plants. We took a lift to the top of the glasshouse, where we had a good view of all the plants.

We went to the Fengchai night fair, which is the biggest night fair in Taiwan. My friend bought 6 T-shirts and 1 pair of shorts. I did not buy a lot, just one pink T-shirt and sunglasses to match. Then I bought some food - sliced noodles, oyster thin noodles, oyster omelet, and fruit juice. After eating, we were so full it was hard to walk. We ate so much my stomach was about to explode. I think Taiwan is a heaven for eating and shopping. My friend said that the Fengchai night fair sells things cheaper than in Kaoshiung. He was very happy and enjoyed his visit.

Book- A Great Revolution in the Brain World

I read a book entitled A Great Revolution in the Brain World, by the Japanese doctor Haruyama Shigeo. The author of the book seems to think that happy people are healthier people. I think that is the point of positive thinking leads to good health he is trying to make. It is probably true, but I do not know if it is scientifically proven.

A face from the past

I recently met my old university friend - we had the same part-time job at university in Taipei. We have not met for 7 years.

We met at my sister's Aria di caffe in Taichung in Taiwan. She ordered Alleviating Herbal Tea, while I ordered Sakura Imperial Iced Green Tea. She liked the café and the tea made her relaxed and sleepy. We had a long chat about our friend's lives - most are married and have children. Time passes fast as we grow up. She still looks the same as 10 years ago - still young and slim. She said that I am so slim and tanned. She was surprised that my read lip-reading Mandarin is still good since I was in the UK for a long time.

We laughed a lot and she took a cushion to throw at me, as we used to at university.

We will meet again soon.

Meat ball

Sitou forest trip

Today we went into the forest. It was about an hour and a half drive by car with my parents and sister Wan Yu.

My parents picked wild vegetables, and added noodles, fish balls , and other thinks to the wok. The wok is very special and has a pretty handle. We were happy to have a nice lunch, and used a burner to cook the wok on.

In the forest, it was wonderful to see monkeys jumping in the trees. We think they wanted lunch also!

we had a fantastic time in the forest together.

kiki restaurant in Taichung

The food looks tasty! I am feeling very satisfied after a spendid meal. We were very full, because we called a lot of food.

Soy pudding

Soy Pudding

Shopping- bring your own shopping bag

I went to a supermarket to buy some fruit, vegetables and fruit juice , which I love to eat as they a good healthy foods . The supermarket is also a good place to cool down as it has air conditioning....haha. I think people in Taiwan spend a lot of time shopping in the supermarkets and malls as it's a free way to stay cool!

Book - Why We Eat Salt

My father has recommend a book to read it called: “Salt Food a Method of Preserving Health”, written by Japanese a professional.

The book talks about how to keep body and brain clear. A sour body can get very sick. vegetable is more calcium,

One of the functions of the diet is to help balance the levels of fluid in the body, which helps to maintain normal blood pressure and keep nerves and muscles working properly. It is important to replace salt and fluid lost through perspiration, particularly in hot weather. It is a good book for understanding how to keep good health, so our life will be great.

88 Happy Father's Day

Today is Father's day in Taiwan. I made a card for him and hid it in a travel magazine. I gave him the magazine and asked him to turn over the pages which he did and then he saw the card and was suprised and smiled. He liked it a lot and said it was a good painting.

My sister Nico came home from her café, because she wanted to see me and celebrate my father's special day, and we had a nice dinner together. My other sister WanYu will come back home this Friday.

We went to a night-time fair (FenChai Night-time fair) for a walk around, it's the biggest night-time fair in Taiwan as it's not far only 5 mintues walk away. At the fair there were many people selling different things; fruit, juice, food, clothes, dvds…etc. I have bought some new sandals as the weather is so hot here.

Ghost Festival in Taiwan

Today is Ghost Festival in Taiwan, people always want to remember dead mothers and fathers etc, and this gives a way to do that. For example,yesterday my parents and I bought food from supermarket, nice and special food ,for for a feast!

visit my grandmother in Taichung country

My grandmother's house looks very interesting and unusual, spacious!

Today I went to visit my grandmother. She is 98 years old and sometimes looses her memory but today she remembered me and said, " I always give you a red envelop when you leave Taiwan for the UK." Then she looked in her pockets for some money to give me, this made me laugh because she is so sweet, at least she can remember who I am. I told her; "Please don't give me a red envelope, I am only here to see you." My father translates for her, as I cannot speak Taiwanese.

Then I went out for a walk and to look around the area. It has changed a lot since I was last here, there are less fields and the countryside is now being repalced with many new buildings. Also I visited my aunt and said hello.

arrived in Taiwan

I took a new type of plane back to Taiwan, it was a B777-300ER, which has wider seat space, that was good for me as it was such a long flight! I had my own video screen and watched 8 films on the flight which were in Chinese with subtitles.

The meals were good too, but why Eva Air offer 3 meals. They kept offering me chocolate too, I don't like chocolate ! argggg....

It was exciting to see Taiwan by night from the air as it was evening when I arrived. When I came out of the airport, my dad and mum were there to greet me and waved their hands and then I gave them a hug.

Delayed action to Taiwan because I had to attend important lecture

There were lot of hearing people on the BSL guide tour at Tate Modern, the main speaker said," deaf people sit the front, because we need to look at the sign interpreter."

The art talk- Kandinsky was very interesting, a lot of art work displayed in one week. I planned to go back to Taiwan on 29 July, but delayed my trip because of the lecture that was worth the wait.

pack my luggage

I am packing my luggage today. I have had the same luggage case for over 10 years. it is the same one I used when I came to the uk for the first time. I borrowed 2 books from the UEL l library on Kandinsky's theory. I also took some clothes and gifts for my friends and family.

Watering Andrea's Jungle

My friend Andrea is away to Canada for 3 weeks so he asked me to look after his plants and water them. There are many plants on 2 floors. I go there on Monday and Wednesday, because the weather is hot and the plants need more water, his home look like a jungle....I hope there are no snakes !

Knee Injury at Asda's

I went to ASDA from my friend’s home last night, the weather changed to rain, the road was wet, and I walked very carefully. I looked at my watch to check the time and left 20 mins before the supermarket closes. When I got to the shop there were no rubber mats on the floor and I slipped and walked into the door and fell cutting my knee and got blood on my shorts. It’s so nasty, while foodshopping, I checked my knee to make sure the bleeding had stopped.

I used a wipe to clean the wound on my knee area until it was dry and then applied a dressing to protect the wound. I should sue the company for personal damages!!

Falling Angel

Tate Modern 3rd Floor

Today I met my good friend Phil from Paris. He came to London last Friday and stayed until today Monday. I did not time to meet him when he arrived last Friday, as I was busy, so we arranged to meet today.

We went to St. Martins in the Fields for tea, and from there we made our way to the Tate Modern. We had a pleasant walk along the Thames Embankment and talked about art as we walked. He bought lunch for me at member room at Tate Modern, which has a good view over the balcony to St Paul’s Cathedral. While we were eating he went to take a picture of me on his mobile phone but unfortunately he leant too far back and fell off his chair. As I am deaf I could only feel the thud as he hit the floor! But no serious damage.

Afterwards we went downstairs to see some of the artworks until it were time for him to go and get the Eurostar train back to Paris where I saw him off. In all I had a very nice day.

St. Martins in the Fields

I had a nice cup of earl grey. I liked the ceiling in the crypt downstairs where the café is which is lit up by bright lights and feels very atmospheric.

You can have your cake and eat it too !!!

I enjoy making cakes because its like producing a work of art. Unlike any other work of art , the cake is not around for a long time so has to be appreciated right away.

When you bite into the cake you can taste the dedication , tenderness and beauty of the work put into creating it. Just like my Raspberry & Orange

shortcakes for example , for a few hours a tolled with the ingredients, each careful measurement adding body and substance to my work of art. My work of art would grace any gallery in the world, though this cannot happen , why ? you may ask. I will tell you why , because I ate it and i can tell you it was the most delicious art I ever made!!

Deaf Visions. The A-B-C of porcelain

Today’s workshop was called: Deaf Visions, the ABC of porcelain.

I arrived at 10.00 to prepare for my workshop which starts at 2pm. Before the workshop I attended John and Tomotos art talks at 11.30 and 12.30. Then it was my turn at 2.00pm.

I wanted the students to understand how to enhance their creative work. The workshop went fairly well, not only was I delighted to have had the chance to learn some new art skills but also I enjoyed their participation.

It is a pleasure to do a workshop with them. Working with clay, drawing and painting, is good for children and their parents.

The following are verbatim quotes from my workshop.

2-2.10pm "Before we go to the workshop room, we will go to see the Sevres display to have a quick look and choose which one you would like to copy onto paper plates." (Give out clipboards, coloured pencils and paper plates) 10 minutes only.)

2.15-2.45pm.
"During the break, please go to see Betty Woodman’s work before coming back at 2.45."

2.45-4.00pm.
"What do you think this looks like? We would like to make a model using different materials: - cardboard, paper, and modelling clay.Paint a picture on the flat card side of the ceramic, colour it from your emotions.Next take the sheet of paper and roll into a tube. Please don’t paint the tube now.Then fix the painted card to the tube using glue stick or staples making the completed pot.Make a clay base on the board because it is easy to paint round around.Use white cocktail sticks to join the base and the pot together by sticking the sticks into the clay base, then paint."

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Home made ice-cream

Today I made crunchy raspberry ripple terrine from the August edition of the BBC's Good Food Magazine .

Because there is a heat wave we wanted to eat some sweet to make us feel like we are in heaven!

We went to Sainsburys and a market to buy things for making crunchy raspberry ripple terrine. Raspberries, golden caster sugar, double cream , meringue shells and eggs. It is really like a good quality ice-cream with lots of double cream.

During the every hot and humid days here, that the cold sweet really tastes good, it

makes me feel better and gives me more energy. It did not turn us into angels but it will make us fat !

My day at the seaside on the Kent Coast, 26 July 06

I wanted to see the sea before I go back to Taiwan on 5th August; I have not seen the sea for one year.

So I took the train from Victoria station to Birchington. There is a nice coastline path for a walk to Herne Bay; about half way you can see the Reculver towers.

It taken 1 ½ hours by train; I’ve always loved railways, not just the boarding of a train and the excited anticipation of a journey, but watching from the train making its way across the land, there is a very nice view from north Kent rail line rolling hills and different coloured corn field and bales of straw, it looked very similar to Italy.

I arrived at Birchington, it’s very quiet place, and many old people live there. Then I walked towards the coast from the station, because I want to see the sea. It took about 10 minutes. It was good to see the sea, my heart opened… wow and I smiled all the time.

While I was walking I saw many beach huts and many people on the beach, as there is a heat wave. I wanted to take some pf pictures of beach huts, because of the lovely colours that they are painted but I did not take a picture, because the sun was in the wrong direction. I saw many families eating sandwiches, having and BBQs and other food, yes, we don’t need to go to Italy and Spain for a holiday, because England has beautiful coastlines and lovely weather.

When I sat on the beach for a break, I took my shorts off but kept my underwear on and waded into the sea. The water came high up my legs. I was happy; as it was so cool, my legs felt better from all the walking. I did not notice wave come fast and soak the back of my underwear, so then I had to lie on the beach and let sunshine dry me out. I took a nap for about half hour. It’s good sleep on the beach because of the sounds of the sea and wind; it was very relaxing.

I got enough re-charging, and then went to Reculver to see historic Roman remains and had a nice homemade lunch sitting on the beach next to Reculver towers on the nearby hillside.

I also saw he twin towers of St. Mary's Church which are a well-known landmark for sailors and local people alike along this stretch of the North Kent Coast between Herne Bay and Birchington. At Herne bay I also saw a wind-farm with many turbines.

I then walked into Reculver Country Park, when I turned my head and look back, I saw a wonderful view of fields and on the horizon, the tops of hills. I could see for miles around. I had a wonderful day and was very glad that I made the trip.

I arrived Herne Bay station; it had been a 6 hours walk of 15 km. I had a wonderful day and was very glad that I made the trip.

Thirsty Butterfly

A brown butterfly flew into my room to take a drink of water from a plant pot but afterwards it could not find it's way out so I had to get a cardboard box to cover it then I slipped a piece of paper under the box and let free to fly away out side. I was glad the butterfly had a drink but he was lucky that I am a caring person and didn't squash it!

Cruising With A Stiff

My friend John and I went to Kensington and Chelsea College (KCC) to collect tape. We had a nice chat on the way and after we went to KCC, we went to Brampton Cemetery where is not far from the college.

London's cemeteries are well worth a visit. The Brampton Cemetery is a Victorian. I went there because of nice arches and buildings, there is also s park.

I saw guys walk along the under the arches who were crusing to death, very appropriate in a grave yard haha ! It also gives a new meaning to the word stiff ! It is an especially busy for crusing on sunny days.

Teapot Kai

Richard and I cut out 26 tea pot shapes for my workshop, because I did not want to let children use knives and scissors. It was good fun doing it in the sunshine and very relaxing to cut the white cardboard. I then arranged the cut-outs around me, it looks like I am sitting in the middle of a teapot mosaic!

Dysfunction

I watched a theatre show called Dysfunction (about deaf family), I was very impressed by the play that I saw; most time I watched the play in the hearing world.

Imagine you are a hearing person visiting a different country where they don't speak English (your language). You find a play you would like to see, but it's being performed in the language of that country, which you don't understand. The theatre has two interpreters to interpret the play into sign language. The interpreters stood on the side on stage in the dark, so as not to disturb the hearing audience, impressed me. The interpreters also joined into play to give deaf Nigel's foot massage and Sue's best friend,

The story is about Deaf couple Nigel and Sue who are battling their way through their 23rd year of marriage and like many couples, their past is riddled with things that they’d rather forget. When Nigel’s brother comes to stay their darkest secrets come back to haunt them. It’s good to see deaf player singing with the music, as they cannot hear, it was good to see their facial expression and body language.

At the end of the show, I waved my hand to say congratulations. I believe that Deaf people should have equal access to theatres and performances as their hearing peers.

Big dance in London

On Saturday I went to Somerset House there were many families with their sweet children were playing in the inset fountains and many workshops for them.

Then I went to Trafalgar Square to watch the street dancers; there were a record number of people dancing. It was very entertaining with water ballet in the pond of Trafalgar Square and many other colourful dancers dancing together. There was a very good atmosphere and it looked good fun.

London has many different festivals, I think the aim is to promote cultural awareness and to celebrate the cultural diversity of London, plus it is summer time, the weather is hot so there will be different festivals in many weeks.

I was embarrassed because HOT

Today I went to see the Wallace Collection in order to collect some ideas for my art workshop. When I arrived, I looked at my watch and it was 1:30pm. I arrived early! It is 30 minutes before I am due to meet Emma.

Before I met Emma, I went to FCUK- it's sale time! I am hoping I can find brightly coloured clothes to match the lovely weather. I liked a colour mix of green, brown and blue in the t-shirt. It was £45, reduced to £20- a bargain! I tried to wear it in the fitting room and... Yes, it looked great! Then I took it to the paypoint, and put my credit card into the pin machine. Oh No! I forgot my pin number. I cannot believe I forgot it. I was so hot and embarrassed, so I paid with another card which did not need a PIN number. I felt that the number would be forever seared into my brain. When I escaped from my embarrassment, coloured t-shirt with me.

I went walking with James in Hyde Park, sitting on the grass close to the pond. It was very nice, with a cooling breeze. And when I put my feet into the pond and made my whole body fresh. It was good. I even forgot my embarrassment. All was well again. And, I had that t-shirt!

The Emirates Stadium

Today I went to the new £390m Arsenal football ground in Ashburton Grove Islington with my friend Bidi and his children, I told him that this was my first visit to a football stadium. Its official title is the Emirates Stadium as part of the costs was from a 15-year £100m sponsorship deal with the Emirates airline company.

It is a beautiful concrete, stainless steel and glass complex that will seat 60,000 spectators. Looking up at the building I could see the reflection of the clouds and sky in the vast areas of glass, it is so large that it makes me feel very small.

London is Hot!

Today is the 19th. July 2006. I am here in London and the weather is very hot and dry. The temperature reached 36.3 degrees Celsius and it looks like there is more hot weather to come. I was on a bus earlier and it broke down because of the heat and we were asked to get off. Apparently it is worse on the tube trains as the temperatures there are reaching over 50 degrees ! There are no fans or air-conditioning on London buses or tube trains even thought many of the buses are new.. There is nearly always a problem during the summer here with the heat, why is this the situation in a supposed developing and modern city? Other cities around the world such as Taipei and Taichung, sorted out their infrastructure problems 20 years ago!

I take a bottle of cold water that I kept in the 'fridge with me everywhere I go...I think I will go to Trafalgar Square and bathe under the fountains...I am so hot!

The Rotherhithe Festival

Today is the Rotherhithe Festival. I went there to see a picture library where there are many old photographs of day-to-day life and work in the area.

There was a free bus ride around the Rotherhithe area, which saved time in getting to explore other places of interest.

Docklands, where my college is it is now a relatively quite area but it was once a very busy trading area a long time ago.

I visited another museum, which is about domestic life in London many years ago and saw old washing machines, vacuum cleaners, cookers, irons...etc.

I saw some traditional Africa dance, which was very loud, and lively, it made me want to join in and dance.

I also saw some art workshops. There were many happy people with their children.

My day at The Royal Botanical Garden at Kew

Today I had a good time at The Royal Botanical Garden at Kew. I was last there 3 weeks ago for a photo trip course. I did not walk all around the gardens because the weather was very hot and I wore sandals so I could take them off and walk on the grass. I was lucky because my friend James has a Friend of Kew card, which gave me free entry.

I was impressed by the painted planet over wall and ceiling in the Picnic room at Queen Charlotte's Cottage, it was very to look at relaxing.
I saw some beautiful golden pheasants that are allowed to roam about the gardens with no fear of people.

We then stopped for a nice picnic, of muffins, fruit juice, raspberries and strawberries it was very relaxing sitting eating in the sunshine. There were water-sprinklers nearby and I wanted to let the water spray onto my face and feet, to make me cooler but there was not enough of it, haha!

It was very hot in some of the greenhouses, especially the Palm House; going through them was like walking through many different countries, some warm, some tropical, and some cool.

We went upstairs in one of greenhouses and had a good view of the

gardens below.

I liked the water lily house and it is my favourite flower too.

it's marverous , because of size and alegance. irneyt trsiint. I like the lilies, it are just amazing flowers, the photo from your water lily is very good, I love the purple colour superb shot!

Although the gardens date back beyond the sixteenth century, much of it as we know it today was built during the Victorian era and this gives a feeling of stepping back in time. Kew is a unique place having every known plant in the world.

I also went to see the new Sackler-Crossing that I had seen the last time I was there. It is a very modern bridge across one of the lakes. When the sun shines, lines shadows are cast on the walkway of the bridge by the slat-like sides, which give it a further dimension.

I would like to go there again, if a place is nice, you want to go more than once.

Private Photographic Exhibition

Today is BTEC photography level II private show.

Getting ready for the show, I am trying to decide which shirt to wear. Should I wear the red one or the blue & white one? I look in the mirror and decide that in keeping with my photographic work, landscape green field with blue sky that the blue & white one will look best.

The show starts at 6.00 pm and I arrived 40 minutes early as I like to be punctual.

I donated wine and a banana bread for refreshments and in return the visitors bought fresh fruit and snacks, includind some nice home-made mediterranean breads. Many different photographs were on display by both Hearing and Deaf students completing their BTEC courses. Some were figurative while others were more landscape.

They liked my photographic display as there are many bright colours in the works and it made them feel like they were in the countryside. I thanked them for their appreciation and suggested that they tried to take some pictures too, I am sure they will find it entertaining.

The show was very good but I had to leave as it became very warm and crowded so James and I went to Westminster for a walk along the Thames embankment where it was much cooler and I felt refreshed.I am very pleased at the way the show went today it makes me feel good.

Preparing for the show

Today we prepare the wall before hanging our photographic works. I arrived at KCC by 11:00 am. All nails, hooks, and screws needed to be removed from the walls, we spackled the holes and the walls were sanded down and repainted. We waited till the wall had dried after which we put the wire line all over at an eyeline of 165 cm.

After lunchtime, we helped each other to hang our photographic works and we checked whether they were in the right position. While doing it we laughed a lot and we had lots of fun, it was good.

At 4:00 pm, we agreed to go out for a cup of coffee and have a nice chat. Florin suggested to go a place called the Planet. The food and the coffee was organic and we really liked it.

Dancing on The Sofa With Kandinsky

Kandinsky

Composition VII 1913, Oil on canvas, 200 x 300 cm

I went to the Tate Modern to see the Kandinsky Exhibition. On display were over 50 paintings and 30 works on paper that he painted during a period of almost 20 years.

The vibrant colours and abstract forms represent many different things from portraits and landscapes to music. It is his later work that I enjoyed looking at most.

I sat on a sofa and studied the paintings that created a feeling of movement in my mind and body, I felt like I wanted to dance to the rhythm of the flow of the geometric shapes; the warm colours contrasting with cooler tones and sharp lines were like listening to jazz, counter pointing different moods and then seeing something new each time I looked.

It was one of the best exhibitions I have seen and made me feel very happy.

Warning ! - Don't drink on an empty stomach !

A Gallery Speaker Melissa Mostyn gave a lecture entitled: "Speed in Art". It was very interesting talk; many people attended both hearing and deaf people.

Afterwards Marcus from the Tate Modern invited us all to a free drink on level 7, in the glamorous East Room, with panoramic views over the City of London. They also gave us a free Tate Modern guidebook, a notebook and a badge.

I made some new friends and met friends that I had not seen for a long time. I was very happy and had a nice wine but I did not realise that I had drunk 6 glasses of white wine!

Andrea knew I had not eaten and that I had drunk too much on an empty stomach so he did not wish me to take the tube, because of what might happen to me, so I took a bus home.

When I arrived back home, I drank a lot of water, and then vomited. I had a bad headache and couldn’t sleep.

I have learnt from my silly mistake and have told myself that I should not drink wine again, just orange juice and water....

Soldier Kai

Wallace Collection
Here is a picture of me dressed a tudor soldier. I am wearing an iron helmet that is very heavy and a leather tunic that goes under the rest of the body armour but that was too heavy to put on as I thought I would collapse under the weight.

Europride 2006

Mayor of London leads EuroPride

It was a perfect day on Saturday for Europride. Many people joined in the biggest, best-looking and most colourful Pride Parade ever. The long procession was a mix of colourfully dressed queens, people in special clothes, community groups, shirtless guys of all shapes and sizes, guys in small dresses, feathers and anything really camp. Some of the gay guys in the military and police marched in their uniforms. Everyone was very friendly including the many spectators. It was so crowded that it was much easier to walk on the road than on the pavement! I took my camera as I love visual beauty and like to take photographs of things that look beautiful or interesting. I managed to protect the camera from getting wet from the water pistols shooters just long enough to snap some photos of the parade.

Afterwards, at the Pride Rally we heard some moving and motivating speakers and there were four BSL (British Sign Language) interpreters. There were also several bands playing music.

Later we wandered around the festival in Trafalgar Square and in the nearby streets of Sohos gay village that were packed with guys in their sexiest clothes.

Daunt Books for Travellers

The most beautiful bookshop in London, designed for travellers who like reading.

End of Term

It is a big relief to hand in my work book that I have been working on for 5 months. It contains many different projects; exposure control, depth of field, movement, lighting effects, film and lens research, black and white print, exhibition plans etc. These exercises are very good and useful for developing my camera skills practice.

Exploring at Kew garden

Yesterday I prepared what I would wear today, as I thought the weather would be good, so I matched short socks and blue shorts. having made my preparartions, the weather forecast said it would be wet and cloudy, so I decided not wear them, wearing long trousers instead.

The weather changed to warm sunshine around 12 noon, so I rolled up the trouser legs to my knees, making them look like shorts, and the fresh air was able to circulate around my legs to keep me cool. I hope the sight of my legs didn’t scare away too many visitors!

My English friends tell me this is typical English weather, changing all the time, but there were many people at Kew Gardens today, prepared for any weather conditions, as it is a very popular place for locals and tourists.

Our tutor took us to see the exhibition of “imagine yesterday ...today“ and asked us to write about the exhibition layout, answering questions such as “is it effective?”, ‘analyse images in terms of technical factors’, and “what is your favourite image and why?”. Then we looked at their photo works in the exhibition and entered into a discussion with my classmates and the tutor.

After spending one hour looking at the art work, we sat outside for a picnic, sharing our food. I made banana cakes and it was nice weather for a picnic. Our tutor said to me “your face smiled all time, I can see you are very happy!”, i said “yes, because of the lovely weather and sweet air everywhere here.”

After lunch, we began our discussion about the three questions. It was good to take part in the discussion group.

After the discussion it was time to start taking photographs, but, before beginning this, the tutor wrote ‘red, ‘yellow’, ‘blue’, ‘purple’ ‘black’, 'brown', 'white' and ‘pink’ on small pieces of paper which we could not see. Each of us then chose two pieces of paper and the colours chosen were those for our individual assignment, based on the colours to be found in the gardens.

The two colours I chose were black and red, but because black would be difficult to find amongst the flowers, I chose another piece of paper which gave me purple. I was able to photograph different flowers displaying those colours, and whilst doing so I learnt the names of flowers I had not seen before, so it was very enjoyable.

We got back together at 3:15pm, and had a nice discussion about my photo shoot trying to capture the colours I was assigned; it was good. The tutor had to leave at 3:30pm, so I spent more time exploring around the garden, because I loved the weather today and the surroundings looked perfect.

I knew a nice new bridge had just opened there, and I walked to find it. It is called ‘The Sackler Crossing’, opened as recently 17 May 2006, so a very new bridge, just a few weeks old. The smooth, curved shape makes it interesting, and the construction and use of timber makes it look very smart.

I was at Kew Gardens from 10 to 7pm, so a very busy and enjoyable day.

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Howard Hodgkin at the Tate Britain, 18 June 2006

Howard Hodgkin -In the Bay of Naples

When I went to the Tate Britain to see Howard Hodgkin’s exhibitions, and I entered the room, I could feel visual rhythm, colours jumped and danced in my eyes, when I look at his artwork it makes me feel happy, it has a feeling of good factor.

Tate Britain前的雕塑花園

Tate Britain in Pimlico is right next to the river Thames and has one of the most envied art collections in the world.

storm rain

We had some rain storm but still very warm, it was blue sky, but the rain arrived quickly and passed quickly. I was pleased, because we have a water shortage, we need lots of rain, but wish it would rain all night and then be nice all day, that's better.

fever football fan - kai's helmet

England 1-0 Paraguay

The result was good but they didn't play well, will have to improve! They can play better than that and when they don't play so good I get frustrated.

I love David Beckham, he is beautiful, he has a great face--sexy lean body and beautiful hair--I like his different hairstyles, and his voice is like a girl - beckham looks very manly but his voice is light and soft ( most my friends told me, as I cannot difference voice between man and woman), and he is gay friendly. H shaves his pubic hair--kinky!!

I am supporting England, because i live in London!

Fever Crazy England flag

The English flags on cars and buildings are because of the Football World Cup. The flags always appear like that when there are major sporting events which their country is competing in.

People don't bother to fly them at other times though!! I am interested in World cup football so I am flying England flags.

The flag is called the 'cross of St. George'. The red cross represents the flag that St. George, England's patron saint, carried into battle hundreds of years ago. In Scotland they have a white flag with a blue cross going from corner to corner. This is the flag of St. Andrew, Scotland's patron saint and is called the 'saltire', but I don't know why!

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Deaf Visions Planning Meeting – 5 June 2006

Deaf Visions Planning Meeting – 5 June 2006

Today we discussed the “A-B-C of Porcelain” for 2nd Deaf visions on 29 July 2006 Attendees: Padraigin NiRaghillig (Interpreter) Emma Bryant (Wallace Collection) Tomato Lichy (Lecture Theatre talk) Sheng-Kai Chou (Practical art workshop) John Wilson (Gallery talk)

Before the start of our discussion, we made coffee and tea or drank water. Feedback from the previous event – Emma said my first workshop was great, and then we began the discussion about the content and subject of each part of the day. Gallery trail (Emma) – Re-use ‘Going for Gold’ for adults and include a new children’s trail. Lecture Theatre talk – This would involve talking about contemporary porcelain. Gallery talk – This would look at both the contemporary and the 18th century Sevres. Art workshop – Using air-drying clay (Kai). When I told my colleagues what I want to do for the workshop, I had to explain my idea in detail. Emma said that, in the first workshop, the plasticine was hard and this made it difficult for the children to change it from hard to soft. It was lucky that some adults were there to help, so it might be better to use clay. I said that was a good idea, but it won’t dry fast enough. I would get some clay from the workshop and take it home to practice, and would then give my final decision as to whether it was suitable for use by the children later.

Tate Modern, 04 June 06

Josef Albers Rhenish Legend 1921

I had a wonderful experience today. I visited one of the most popular art galleries in the world - the Tate Modern. It is showing an exhibition of Albers and Moholy-Nagy and is entitled 'From the Bauhaus to the New World'. I was lucky as it was the last day of the exhibition.

There were crowds there but I managed to see most of the exhibits. The main theme of the exhibition was art through glass and it was inspiring just to see how the artists portrayed all sights and sounds in this art form. I was mesmerised as I stood and stared at the glass art showing such style and colour. The light reflecting on the various pieces of glass was truly amazing.

In one of the rooms, a special five minute video film was showing. This showed how one of the artists, Moholy, displayed light on reflective surfaces, with beams of light casting dramatic shadows - something like a moving painting.

The exhibition was about light and colour. When you look at things in a different light it means you look at things in a different way.

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/albersmoholy/

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

photo trip 03,June, 06

Arrived in Welwyn North staion, started in Digswell, walked up through the woods to Burnham Green, then down to Tewin and eventually Welwyn Garden City.

Two train crash -- between welwyn North station and Knebworth, a coal train from Newcastle coming down hit a mail train going north, middle of the night. those big brick things are air vents , when trains go through they push the air up, so they are just a hole to let the air out,

The place was where the accident was, and it was so bad it actually knocked a hole in the side of the tunnel , and what you was was all the earth that got moved, Like having a hole in the lid of a saucepan.

I was taking photo of landscape when some inquisitive horses arrived. They came quite near .. I was very happy....I wanted them to come over..... you see... they run around....my outstretched hand beckoning them to approach.

disagree...about .....

I just chatted with my sister Nico who runs a cafe and she suggested that I should show all my paintings. She thought that if i showed my paintings and photography it will make people confused about my main subject. I told her that photography is relative with painting, and also with video and sculpture, but she thought it was better to show all my paintings when I am ready. I was feeling a bit down because I want my parents to see my shows in Taiwan.

FALLOUT

Robert Knoth

I went to the Oxo Gallery to see the photography exhibition, Fallout: The Human Cost of Nuclear Catastrophe by Dutch photographer Robert Knoth.

It presented good information about the accident and it’s aftermath. From my viewpoint the photographs depicted nothing new, many similar ones have been published by others reporting from Chernobyl e.g. Chernobyl Legacy by Paul Fusco (1999, Magnum Photos ).

It was more like a newspaper report than art photographs. Certainly black and white photographs are more suitable than colour to show this kind of disaster. However, the presentation was not very impressive: too many photos crowded in a small space. It's a bit tiring to see them particularly if there are many people in the viewing room! For showing such a disaster fewer pictures would leave a deeper message!

It would have been more interesting and effective to have reduced the number of photos displayed and bring them in context with today’s events ( i.e. Iran’s nuclear activities ) by some short, concise critical writings beside the exhibits to show the power of destruction in the hand of human beings for instance.

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Royal College of Art show

Today I went to see RCA degree show, some stuff really good, nice to see ideas of fresh minds.

The world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, specialising in teaching and research and offering the degrees of MA, MPhil and PhD across the disciplines of fine art, applied art, design, communications and humanities

Pink Frog 粉紅色青蛙, 24 May 2006

Today only 3 students attend at darkroom printing lesson so I was able to ask the tutors many questions.

My goodness, the other students forgot to bring their gloves so it was up to me to take three chemicals from bottles and dilute for use in the processing trays. While I poured the chemicals wearing safety glasses and very pink gloves. I was glad I was in a darkroom - they were not the height of latest fashion! I felt like a 'pink frog' in a strange dark world.

Now there were fewer students it was easier to see the BSL interpreter's hands so I asked the tutor if I could do 'one to one' in future. While he explained the process I asked him if I had set it up correctly? Then I tried my first exposure alone. I was ready to do a "test print" of the image using a base exposure plus several additional step exposures to evaluate the tones of the image. Like film, photographic paper is sensitive to light. The more light it is exposed to the darker it gets. Which one is better, 4 secs, 8 secs, 12 secs, 16 sec. I showed my results to the tutors about 3 times; failed and had to do it again. Then we choose the 12secs exposure on the test print. With this test print we can now evaluate what the final exposure of 12 secs for the finished print will be. The finished photo looks great, i am happy with it!

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

My self portrait photograph

Taking photographs of other people, landscapes and flowers is a joyful experience. I also like taking animate, atmospheric pictures of myself in different enviroments, some close to nature. I should make it clear I don’t love myself, but it is quite exciting to do it. It is interesting to see my own expression and the body language I project. Is this really the Kai I know? say my close friends, even my mother said 'is this my son?'

I feel very relaxed in front of a camera, never tense, I feel very close to nature and always relate to the subject matter, never appearing intrusive but communicating with the camera and adding dynamics in some scenes and tranquility in others. Perhaps I should consider being a film producer! location, location, location! with the added benefit of me as the focal point hehehe!

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

My first time to use darkroom printing, 22 May 2006

It was my first time to learn how to do black and white printing in the darkroom today. I have been waiting for a long time, because I could not do lip-reading in Mandarin and read the notes. I could not hear when I was in Taiwan and London, until I attended the photography course in Chelsea. There they offer a BSL (British sign language) interpreter. Wet darkroom printing is part of photography course.

I arrived there before the course started leaving 40 minutes. I was so exciting about that.

The first time the tutor told us to check that we are aware about health and safety before we went into the darkroom.

We were in a darkroom lit only by a dim, red-coloured light which illuminates the expressions of anticipation around me. However there was not a nice smell from all the chemicals.

The BSL interpreter was wearing white hand gloves, so that we can see his hand talk from the red light. As there was only a very small light, we have to remain close to him and watch his hands.

The process of making the photographs was as follows. We had to first choose the paper grade. They we had to focus the negative and make a test trip. We then had to develop the paper image. The final process was to fix and wash which makes the image permanent and removes the chemicals from the paper. Once the paper is dry we can see the image.

It really was very interesting to learn how to do this and was a wonderful feeling to have made my own photographs, from start to finish.

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Making Banana Muffins

I have been looking for a recipe to make home-made banana muffins on the BBC food website. I really enjoy eating sweet things.

First I had to make sure that I had all the ingredients to make the cake. These included butter, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar and of course, 3 ripe bananas.

First I had to heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Then I melt the butter and allow it to cool. The recipe told me to mash the bananas well. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a large bowl, add caster sugar and stir through. I then beat together the eggs, vanilla extract, melted butter and milk in a second bowl. I then had to add the mashed banana and stir through. I then had to bake the mixture for 20 to 25 minutes or until the muffins come away from the side of the pan when touched. The smell of the cooking was so great and made me feel really hungry!

After removing the muffins from the oven, they looked nice and brown.I always make quite a few cakes at one time, and I can have them for my lunch at studio at college. I like to make sweets with my own hands. It is more creative and gives me a good result and a big smile when I am eating it!! Actually, the banana muffins were so good, I ate them all in 6 hours!!

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Gardening accident

In the summer, I like to do gardening. The garden is quite big and needs a lot of work every week. There is always a lot to do like watering the flowers and plants and cutting the grass, which grows very long at this time. By the way, the plants look so fresh and green. There is a lot of tidying to do, as old flowers and leaves are replaced with new ones that grow in there place. I was pulling out dead leaves in the garden, and unfortunately I did not notice that I had squashed a snail’s shell in my right hand. But yes, it is still alive! I felt very sorry and guilty. I have been outside several times and saw that it needed some help. I am so sorry about the snail's shell. It was so colourful and a nice shape!! I was wondering what I could do to help it. I wondered if there was a hospital for snails in London. But I don’t think there is! I thought, I will have to take the snail to bed with me and care for it tonight!!!

Flower

Spring has arrived in London now. The sun has been shining brightly and the leaves have grown on the trees. The flowers have started to bloom. I enjoy looking at their different colours while relaxing at the beautiful different Parks in London such as Hyde Park, St James’s Park, and Regents Park.

I think flowers are great for people. They seem to be smiling at us, and make us all feel happier. The colours are bright and a mixture of red, orange, yellow and pink. From a distance they look like a colourful carpet. In general, just the exposure to growing a plant, or nurturing a plant, is what's important. It makes us feel better and brightens up our homes or gardens. The colour spectrum of flowers, symmetry and their odour is attractive to us. It can also make artists want to take photographs of them or paint them.

Flowers are a way of showing emotions. They are used at different times in our lives like weddings, birthdays, but also if people are ill or have died. We give flowers to our friends and relatives. They are usually happy to see the colours and it can be a good way of showing how much we care and love them, or maybe if they are ill, then it can make them feel better.

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Photography trip in the Chiltern Hills, 18th May 2006

My original intention was to visit Norfolk. With It’s gentle undulating landscape, big sky and fenlands it would have been perfect for my project, but the weather forecast was continual rain so we had to confine our photography to the counties of Herts and Bucks.

We drove to a beauty spot in the Chilterns called Ivinghoe Beacon, there was a solitary tree on a steep hill, ‘a single note on the horizon, a lonely ballad’. We climbed the hill to get the best perspective for our photograph. It was very hard to get to the right place, because there was no footpath, and we had a difficult climb. We waited for right time to take the photographs, because we wanted a combination of blue sky and white clouds. The wind was so strong that we had to use a tripod. When we finished taking the photo of the tree, we looked back and wow! There was such a nice view from the top of the hill, with varying fields of colours from cloud and the sunshine. I was really pleased with the photography the tree, it looked so dramatic and solitary and made a wonderful study, I think I shall always look upon it as ‘Kai’s tree’.

Our next visit was to the Tring reservoirs at Marsworth, it was an atmospheric place, there were ‘white horses on the lake, with wild ducks and geese, a wide vista and an open sky, we found a lovely corner with marsh grass and the semblance of a beach, and took a series of pictures.

We then drove to Cheddington ( famous for the great train robbery!) on the Grand Union canal. I took some photos of a rape field, I was able to use perspective and depth, and I used a long focus 100m-shot, so the photo will be abstract. I don’t think it’s a total success because the sun was in front of the subject. I tried to find a better place to take the picture with the sun behind me, near the summit, but ended up walking through a bed of impassable stinging nettles and tall rape, the end result was a pair of black jeans decorated with yellow dye from the rape! It was unfortunate that the time of day was wrong. Because otherwise the sky and land would have combined in a glorious silent symphony.

On the way back to the car I felt invigorated, and in a mad moment wanted an ‘action shot’ of me diving into a field of rape, things did not quite work out and I fell flat on my stomach with a stinging nettle rash on my chin a bruised body and no accurate pictorial record of the proceedings! Not a pretty sight!

This was the first time I had used a polarizer to enhance contrast and skyscapes and I look forward with eager anticipation to the results!

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Visit to a traditional fun fair, 13 May 2006

Today I went to very traditional Fun Fair where i saw over 10 steam engines. Most of the ones today are in the 70s style, and the engines are very old, the oldest from 1902. They have black smoke coming from the exhaust. They put the coal into the fire which makes the engines run, the fire makes the steam - the pressure drives the piston. WOW! Coal- fire- water- steam-pressure-power.

I love steam trains/rollers and engines, because they are beautiful. Steamrollers are usually found only in rural and farming areas, and not usually in in towns. They were only used on farms back in the old days. I prefer the steam driven locomotives. They are so impressive and powerful, and I could feel the heavy power from the motion in my body.

The fairground organ was rather like an old computer - the holes in the punch cards give instructions as to which sound the machine can make. One of the organs was made in Germany in 1850!

When I saw many children eating Candy floss, it reminded me of many happy times as a child. Nobody sells it anywhere in Taiwan too, but fairs and amusement parks are the same there.

I saw a very old fashioned and cute ice cream van. The make of the van was a Morris and was quite popular in the 1950's/1060’s. Many of the children smiled and were very happy when they got their ice cream. Summer seems to be here now!

What about the amusement arcade, where all the machines were pre-1971, since they used old pennies ( or to be precise copies of old pennies ). Lots of very interested and amused children seeing these machines for the first time. They were much more interested in these mechanical machines, which worked by pulling levers and knobs, than the modern digital and automatic world of computers and computer games.

It is good for people who forget that these things are part of England’s cultural heritage or indeed anyone who is younger than say 45 years old and would never have experienced these machines and vehicles at first hand, being able to touch and play with the knobs and controls. It was the first time I would have seen one of these.That’s why people like these fairs - where they see things from recent past.and most important machines still running today sometimes over 100 years after they were made. How many modern machines will still be in use 100 years from today?

The History of Steam Engines : Thomas Savery (1650-1715) http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsteamengine.htm

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

BlueBells in West Wycombe, 13 May 2006

One of my favourite flowers is the bluebell. I think they grow wild in the countryside. They smell nice and look very beautiful! The bluebell creates a beautiful perfume in woodland areas!

I had not seen them before, as they grow wild. They probably grow in big parks aswell. When I visited West Wycombe, I saw hundreds all together in Cockshoots Wood. I told my friends who were with me to come and see. We were speechless. They looked like a huge carpet of purple in the forest.

The colours of the bluebells danced in my eyes. In the setting of the trees, the light and shade through the leaves on the trees combined with the green grass and purple flowers.

I don’t know why this flower is called "Blue" as its colour was not blue. It is really purple. Perhaps who ever first called it "blue" thought it would sound strange as "purplebell"!

I tried to grow some in my pot at home, but they died. I think it is natures way of saying they should be left to grow wild like a free spirt. They should not be brought into a city or town full of houses and pollution, but left in the open forest.

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Annual Art Award, 10 May 2006

My painting of aeroplanes was shortlisted for the Annual Art Awards for 2006. I had a nice drink and food at the event, and also met new people.

Before the awards were given, my friend and I discussed the other short-listed artwork that was being displayed and tried to guess which ones would win the prizes. It turned out that we were wrong!

I talked to one person Tim, he said he works as a member of staff at the City airport and because of the loud noise from the planes, he now has to wear a hearing aid on his left ear.

Another man talked with me. He works as an engineer at the airport. He told me, that he liked my artwork because of the colours and movement. It reminded him of the aircraft. My painting was of the sunset over the airport and used a lot of orange light.

After one hour, they asked us to go to a meeting room to receive the first, second and third prizes. I felt quite nervous while I heard the Director reading out the names of the first and second prizes. I did not win an award, but everyone was a winner as it was a really good experience.

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Workshop at the Wallace Collection, 06 May 2006

This was my first experience as a leader of the workshop at the Wallace Collection. The hands on experience producing fine arts using different media facilitated conditions where the children explored their abilities in painting and three dimensional constructions. The children also played happily in this environment. The inclusion of a parent/guardian, to accompany the child, to participate together and give drawing guidance enhanced the children’s rich imagination. Using Plasticine as the medium they could mould, rub, push, press and so on until they got a satisfactory result from their own efforts with their hands. For example I showed them how to make orange from primary colours, red mix with yellow. I didn’t want them to copy the colour from the painting of ‘Scarborough castle’, just follow their feelings.

When I saw how well they paid attention to the artwork it made me very happy; it's most difficult to communicate with children and I had to adapt to them before they would interact with me.

One boy asked me how he could make the man bending down to catch the crab. He found it difficult to accomplish. I showed him how to make the man's back bend down; The boy was smiling and thanked me.

As this is not a serious academic course the play method of learning is quite appropriate so I tried to encourage them to do this.

I found I needed extremely good patience and determination in my leadership role. The sign language interpreter was essential to aid the communication and interaction between myself, the children and their parents/guardians. Some parents commented on the wonderful facilities and interesting surrounds of the work room.

I gave the group 20 minutes before the finish to let them go upstairs to explore and look at artworks because I wanted some time to join the foreground and background into one masterpiece.

At 4pm. they came down and admired their work. They wanted to take some Plasticine works and paintings home.

Next time I will need to bring plenty of bags and boxes to let them take their work home without breaking it.

I think it was a good workshop to complete two different art forms at the same time; the painting and the three dimensional work; and it was a gratifying experience for me. I was surprised at the end of the day how the artwork was made so beautifully.
I will now concentrate on my role for the 29th July and have learnt much from this first experience.
© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Borough Market, 29 April 2006

Today I attend the Borough’s international market. There were stalls from Sweden, Spain, Germany, and Switzerland. The Borough Market has exisited for 250 years. They have always had a fruit market here since the Roman times. Because the bridge was too narrow for horses and carts, they had to unload on the South Bank and then sell and carry shopping across the bridge. The market under London Bridge is called 'Borough Market'!! Borough and Barcelona market are sister markets, and the buildings are of a similar design and architecture.

The food there is very fresh and interesting, but very expensive. Normally a snack will cost you more than 3 pounds. I do love the smell of the homemade bread, cheese, olive oil, green tea etc. I can try the food and it was a good atmosphere. People visiting the market had happy faces as they visited the various stalls. I bought a snack, and sat in the garden by the Church which is close to the market. It was so relaxing.

Borough market introduction
www.boroughmarket.org.uk

Deaf Day at the City Lit, 22 April 2006

On 22 April I went to the City Lit, which celebrated the 10 years Anniversary- Deaf Day. Here people can get different information about education, employment, communications and art… etc.

I was stupid, because I had not booked a free ticket by email, so I had to line up to get a ticket if they had space for different speeches. I wanted to book places for teacher training, sign a story, hearing dogs for the deaf, but they were all full. The staff suggested that we should wait if someone did not make it. We were lucky in that we could attend the “teacher training” speech. It was great a lecture. They offer BSL interpreter, also typer, if people don’t know how to sign but can read type. There were different places at the City Lit. For instance, I saw police officers who can use sign language. It’s easier to communicate with deaf people if they have any problem.

I met my art friend who was showing his art at the City Lit. It was great, and he showed his printed and draw, and he made his business card, silver writing on the card, very special and different. I thought it’s free, it was 1 pound for his business card, but he is my friend so he sold me it for 50 pence! Ha ha ha

I went to the book place. It included many books to talk about signing, deaf history, and to learn BSL. I was impressed with one book, it’s English-BSL(British sign language) dictionary. I think it’s the best to check English-BSL from DVD and visual language.

I saw some hearing dogs for deaf people. They are so sweet, but it really is an amazing and intelligent role played by the dog and one that is hugely appreciated by their owners.

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Woburn Gallery Private show, 24 March 2006

I visited Woburn Walk to display my work in the Woburn Gallery. I found it to be very peaceful with a pleasant atmosphere created by the early Victorian buildings designed by Thomas Cubitt housing restaurants, galleries, and bookshops which feature large bow-fronted windows preserved to a high standard.

I like to feel the atmosphere, usually created by the smells of old buildings and furniture.

Thanks to do Timothy for all his efforts to make this exhibition a great success.

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Lake District, Sep 2005

First time i saw i thought it looks like Scotland. well bigger mountains in the highlands of scotland, well they are very similar really, I feel more trees in the lake district.

I like the countryside, nice villages an towns, clean air, beautiful all year. The colour of the leaves on trees changes in Autumn.

Grasmere, a nice village, but very busy with tourist, the surrounding hills and lake are very beautiful. small ginger bread shop there, a lot of people know about it and buy from there.

Kendall is a busy market town. it is quite old fashioned, old church which is very peaceful.

We climb up the hills and look at the lakes from above, the gold sun shining on the water, wind in the trees making the leaves make a visual sound, Autumn leaves fall off, and I can feel the leaves under my feet when walking, I was relaxing, from tiring with all the walking.

That poem is by William Wordsworth:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

I think his poems were written when he was living in lake district, so they make me think about the countryside there

http://www.lake-district.gov.uk/

http://www.grasmere.com/

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Tate Modern- final open evening 25 July 2005

I had a long time at Tate modern Final Event- open evening. I went to Tate Modern in the afternoon to rehearse presentations in the Landscape Suite from 3 to 6pm. Because had to match with the British Sign Language interpreter who did simultaneous signing while I gave the presentation. I chose three paintings; they were Monet’s water lilies and Pollock’s summer times and Yellow Islands. The two artists are very different, but similar, for example, the oriental idea and space, also related to the state of mind and emotional life of the artists.

They chose people with an interest and influence in the field of Deaf and disabled art and people from different galleries and museums. There were over 60 people. I was impressed because I saw 2 people lip-reading the interpreter. Their lip-reading was quite clear and slowly, careful they say about S.K…etc…

5 students give presentations. My turn was number 3. ^___^

In the evening there was a drinks reception in the concourse, with a free bar, I wanted to drink red wine, but I could not, because I didn't want be drunk when I give the presentation. So I drank 3 glasses of lemon water to make me calm down.

After number first and second students' talk, it was my turn… I smiled to them, said welcome to Tate Modern, my name is Kai, come and follow me….I had to wait until all the people had sat down, then started to talk about Monet’s water lilies. I asked them, what they could see the surface from this painting, and gave the people time to look at the pictures. Anyway, I know it did not make things easy for me, because I could not imagine the kind of questions that would be asked. But I was faced with them then they prompted me to think about how to answer them, but I was right about getting more confidence.

What a drama, Tate Modern opened 5 years ago, I saw Pollock’s paintings, I hate them, because I think “ A child of five could do that”, now I choose his 2 paintings to talk, he is my favorite artist.

After my talks, they shook my hands. I felt I did not give a good presentation, because I did not say all that I intended, and felt that my British Sign Language was a mess. During the drinks reception a lot people come to say, 'wow', someone said he was impressed by my presentation - very brave - and that my talk and my British Sign Language was very clear. He said he wanted to book my service…etc. I still respond to say thank you, hope you come to see my art talk in the future. Funny that I got almost drunk with three glasses of red wine! It's funny that I had been talking about Pollock’s problem with alcohol drinks. ^___^ Big smile!

I recalled my first time-presentation 5 months ago. I was very nervous, and my hands and legs shook. I talked too fast with my hands, because I wanted to finish early. Now I think it is very different. I have learnt a lot. Not only learn art history and to be a gallery guide, but also I learnt how to mix socially.

Tate Modern:

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006