Oh to be in England in the summer time

This summer, for the first time in nearly 3 years, I returned to England to visit friends and family and do all those chores you have to do when you have been absent without leave!   When I went away on September 5th 2012, I reckoned I would be back for a visit after 6 months but I would give Vietnam one year to give it a fair trial!!!   Ha ha ha!  Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!

Well, I think everyne knows I have had an amazing time and have achieved more than I could have dreamed of and all because:-

1. Vietnam is currently a land of opportunity that welcomes anyone who help it to flourish

2. My wonderful friends back home have been filling in for me, covering up for me, fixing things, storing things, researching stuff, giving advice, communicating with me, watching me, keeping me on track, encouraging me and making it all worth while. I am so blessed. Thank you all.

This summer, in England, I have seen Leeds streets bathed in sunshine, the Northumberland  fields warmed by the evening sun, The Northumberland coast sparkling in the afternoon and the midnight skies, at Holy Island, still light on Midsummer's Day.

Donkeys on the Mablethorpe beach

I have seen Scarborough showing off in the sunshine, its beach covered with day trippers come to see the air show above the bay on Armed Forces Day. In Lincolnshire I walked the dunes and marshes and watched as a baby seal flopped to the surf for its first swim, nearly exhausted by its endeavour in the July sunshine. 

In West Yorkshire we basked in the glorious lunchtime sun  as we watched a silver band parade through an old mill village and on through the hills followed by mums and children from local schools. 

And, whenever possible I have collected the meadow flowers along the way. The collection on the right is from the beautiful Lancashire hills by Blacko.

The colourful blooms on the right are from the meadows behind the dunes on the Lincolnshire coast

I cannot remember a June and July like this for years. It has been almost continuous sunshine with only a few short showers and the occasional thunder storm. That is remarkable!  Even the Wimbledon tennis is benefitting form the settled weather.

So, I m sorry I stayed away so long and I am sorry I haven't been able to see absolutely everyone on this visit. Four weeks has flown by and it has been completely marvellous!!!!   I will be back next summer and it won't be so hectic next time. I am already looking forward to it!  Ha ha!! 

DynamicSaigon

Saigon Museum of Fine Arts

So ...... Ho Chi Minh City has been voted the 6th most dynamic city in the world according to one survey. 

The factors that are taken into account are such things as Inward Investment, how many international companies headquarters there are,  growth in the property market, connectivity, economic growth, new business start-ups and higher education. 

But, they don't measure how lively the arts are, how many galleries, theatres and orchestras the city has. In my view, I don't think any city can be considered dynamic without a well supported and vibrant arts scene.

Number one is London which has one of the most vibrant art scenes in the entire world. The art museums all rank highly in visitor ratings and are free to enter.

At number 2 is San Jose, USA. Their city art gallery costs $8 to enter but they offer lively program of exhibitions, events whereas Saigon museum is only 50 cents but many of the art exhibits have been languishing on the walls for a few years now.

Beijing ranks third and offers more than one public art museum. Entry to the National Art Museum is free and the collection is astoundingly varied and beautiful.

Shenzen, also in China is placed fourth. It does have one art museum but it is ranked in the bottom third of attractions in the city. I don't think I have ever heard of an art museum coming so low in the rankings. I wonder what they got wrong?

Shanghai, in China again, has three art museums and they rank highly as attractions on Trip Advisor. Well, Shanghai is currently the biggest city in the world so its galleries ought to be good!

At number six is Ho Chi Minh City. It is the 31st largest city in the world (by population). We have one Art Museum  and the  entry fee is very affordable at  10,000vnd. It is ranked  #15 out of nearly 100 attractions in the city which is quite something. The exhibits are from over three hundred years of fine and decorative arts and tell a story of life in southern Vietnam that is rich and varied. The whole is housed in a fabulous mansion which is an experience in itself.

In the past three years, I have seen the art scene in Saigon grow and become more lively. I know from personal experience that artists from Hanoi and Hue are moving south to be a part of an artist-led blossoming of the arts in our city. San Art brings a, much needed, dimension to critical thinking in contemporary practice in the city and provides a focal point for all artists. Commercial galleries provide support for more established artists through cultural programmes and by taking Vietnamese art overseas to international art markets. 3A Station is trying to create an 'arts quarter' where live performance and street art rub shoulders with independent designers which raises the profile of the arts amongst the young and there are pockets of vibrant arts lighting up the cultural landscape all over the city.

What would add some real dynamism to the arts is to use just a small amount of the revenue from all the new inward investment, and inject some cash into our beautiful museum and local arts to make them as dynamic as the economy.

Spotting the wildelife on Son Tra

 Near Da Nang,  on the Son Tra peninsular there communities of Red Shank Duoc langurs living in the tropical forests. They are only found in Central Vietnam, and in adjoining forests of Cambodia and Laos.  On the peninsular there are about 500 langurs and about 1,000 Assamese Macaque. 


We were fortunate enough to be taken for a tour of the birds and primates of the penisula with a friend who is an ecologist and worked with Dr. Larry Ulidarri of the Son Tra Douc Research and Conservation Project. he researched the Red Shank langurs for 4 years and said that SonTraPeninsula is the only place in the world where these rare animals are living in the wild.

THis photograph is not mine - but they are so hard to see that I had to pinch a photo from the internet. Mine, as you can see, are not as good at all!




This strange shot was taken through Luc's (the ecologist) spotting scope and the one below is from my camera. You can see a large langur swinging through the branches of a large tree where the family had been sleeping.




In the picture, below, you can see a rope bridge that has been slung across the road to help the langurs move around the peninsular. 

Luc planted ficus trees to attach the bridge to. the idea is that the trees wil grown and will form ther own bridge across the road . Luc looks forward to showing off this project to his children one day - if he can find the right girl to marry!

















Views from the peninsula looking towards Da Nang and across the estuary to Hai Van Pass which cuts through the mountains to Hue. 




The peninsula was a military base during the war and is a relatively untouched habitat. We saw only two or three other people during our morning on the mountain so it makes a welcome break from the bustle of Da Nang and Hoi An if you fancy getting a little closer to nature.

At one time, all of vietnam would have been covered with forest and jungle like this area but the indiscriminate use of Agent Orange stripped all the hills and mountains of trees and undergrowth and the whole of central Vietnam is largely naked to this day. A visit to Son Tra reminded me what a tropical paradise this country used to be.

Here is another poor photograph of a Red Shank Douc langur, some eary mornign butterflies and a red Sun catcher.

We saw many more beautiful creatures but I wasn't quick enough to capture them

 Luc does private tours of the peninsular on request. His specialist knowedge of this habitat is unique and he is a charming guide. 

Send a message on his facebook and mention my name.

https://www.facebook.com/luc.nguyen

Me, Pandy and Luc

TV appearance in October 2014

New art classes for 2015.

After a year of wandering around Vietnam and letting all the whispers of Hoi An, the shadows of Hanoi and the hearts of Sapa wash over and through me, I am back in this city I love so much. I love its energy, I laugh at its relentless noise and it laughs at me as a totter around on my electric bike looking for adventure! We are well suited I think.

I am based in Thao Dien and am busy trying to publish two new books  about Sapa and Saigon. The artwork for Sapa is almost finished and I have started to write down my thoughts and experiences to tell the story of my four months in the mountains.

The artwork for the Saigon book is also, nearly finished but it has been in that state for over a year now!!!  The problem is that the city keeps shape shifting. They are building an underground train network and roads have now started to disappear, buildings too and now, there is a massive, landmark statue on the move. It makes a writers job very difficult! Ha ha! 

I am happy to be giving art lessons again and I am taking on some new challenges for 2015. the first is a series of lessons about portraits. We will be experiencing that journey in Watercolour but the lessons apply to oils and acrylics just the same.

Well, nearly the same. Oils are far more obedient than watercolours. Watercolour is a a greater intellectual challenge; it simply isn't forgiving and you have to learn to 'let go' in the Buddhist way.


The Watercolour Portrait Classes run every Tuesday afternoon 2-4 at Vin Space art studios and in each lesson we will tackle a new portrait and a new style until the last two when you will work on your own subjects. details will appear on the web site soon.




The Short Drawing Course will run in Phu My Hung, Ditrict 7 from 22nd January for 8 weeks, taking a 2 week break for Tet. I am still looking for somewhere to deliver these classes so bear with me. This has always been a popular course and has successfully helped lots of students to draw even when they had believed, for many years, they had no ability. 

I believe if you can write, you can draw

The Basic Watercolour Course will run in An Phu, District 2 from January 21st - every Wednesday morning 9.30- 11.30 am. There will be a 2 week break for Tet. The price of this course includes all you materials so it is very good value.

Adult Painting classes which have been running in District 2 for a number of years, are being extended to Phu My hung which is good news. I don't know when these will start because we haven't found the ideal premises yet. Again, if you know of anywhere, let me know.

Drop me an email for prices, the curricula and more details. I will be delighted to hear from you.

Absentia

My goodness it has been weeks since I last posted so I had better give you a whistle stop tour through the past four or five weeks.

On Saturday 10th May, to mark the end of my 7 months in Hoi An, I had an exhibition of my work at Ami Galerie in the beautiful old quarter of the town. The gallery is at 46 Nguyen Thai Hoc, in a listed building that will have, originally, been a merchant's home or a 'shop house'. It is a beautiful structure constructed of wooden pillars and beams. It floods to a depth of about a metre every year during the wet season so there are hatches in the ground floor ceiling to make it quick and easy to lift everything up to the first floor for dry storage.

I had lots of helpers on the morning of the exhibition to get everything framed, labelled and hung. Here are Pandy and Susan doing the framing. 

Here is Tuan (too-an), the artist from the space next door who is helping My (mee) with the technical complexities of our French-styled framing system.   On the right you can see My talking to Mikayla and Asia who are labelling all the pictures.

It was a veritable hive of activity and everyone joined in so enthusiastically. Unfortunately, Pandy had to fly back to England that afternoon so she missed the opening party that evening. 

The launch party was great! About 60 people came along and I sold 7 pieces of work. Considering how small Hoi An is and how few tourists there in town (because of the Chinese drilling rig dramas), I think it's not bad. The press and a TV crew turned up and I appeared on Saigon TV the next evening! 

Hoa serves her delicious drinks and cakes

Two children play in the doorway after their art class

Over the next two weeks, very few people came through the doors of the exhibition and no further work was sold but I got to know the local children and enjoyed the quiet streets of Hoi An.




This is the view from Ami Galerie through to the old courtyard that is used by Tuan to display some of his paintings. On Saturdays, he give free art classes to local children, in the space upstairs. 

Next ................

I cleared out the lovely little house we had been living in, stored my boxes and cases and flew down to Saigon to make some progress with my next book with my lovely Graphic Designer, Ani Petrova. Whenever I see her she always gives me more work to do that I ever I've her!  How does that work?!!  I left with a list of jobs to do while she is in France this summer. Ha ha!  The drawings are almost complete so now i must write the stories that will make the next book come alive.

Whilst there, I received a phone call from Heritage magazine (the inflight glossy for Vietnam Airlines) asking me to write an article about Hoi An and send some examples of the paintings I did there. Fantastic! I only have 4 days to do the writing but I sent it off on time and hoped it would be ok.  Two weeks later, I heard that they loved the story (printed in English and Vietnamese) and had chosen a detail from one of my paintings for the front cover!!! 


This is the second time they have featured my work and it brings such a lot of enquiries for me. Thank you Heritage!

Back in Hoi An, I dismantled the exhibition, was paid for the work I sold and prepared to move to Sapa for four months to be the artist in residence for Sapa Rooms boutique hotel in the land of clouds and mountains.

A few months ago I met a fascinating novelist from Scotland - one A.D.Scott. After only three meetings, Deborah (her real name), introduced the idea that it may be interesting for me to go to Sapa for an extended stay and told me about her friend Pete who owns a hotel up there.  

Pete, an Australian who studied Japanese, Buddhism and Anthropology at a Japanese university, opened his first business, a small hotel in Sapa, after discovering a derelict building with a wonderful view near Sapa market.  He invited a Vietnamese artist to be his business partner and together they make amazing art, delicious food, connections with Sapa communities, and differences in the lives of children in the mountains. 

It is an inspiring business model that is truly based on that Utopian ideal that 'if you do the things you are passionate about, a successful business will emerge'. So, I went up to Hanoi to meet Pete and to listen to his stories. 



I discovered that he has always wanted to write a cookbook based on the recipes used in his businesses, that no-one has published a good pocket guide of Sapa, that they need some sort of sustainable income to pay for every day running costs at the school the sponsors.

So, in a moment of pure clarity, and with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc in hand, I volunteered to make some of those wishes come true. Pete puts a roof over my head ( and a goose down duvet) and good food to eat (prepared by his chefs) and all I have to do is draw, paint, talk, write and wander around discovering things........... sorry, what I really meant to say is, produce the drawings to illustrate his cook book and design and illustrate the pocket guide.  

These two items will be sold to fund his education projects. I am also going to work with the ethnic minority children to produce some artwork (hopefully) that will be turned into good things for the tourists to buy. Then, I am going to design some upmarket products for the women to make that can also be sold to fund young futures. 

We are calling these projects 'Art for Communities' and 'Are for Education'. I am so honoured to be involved in this work and proud to be associated with this exhilarating business that touches so many lives in different ways



Also................ my dear friend Jennie came all the way from Leeds (with her mate Mandy) to find out what the heck is keeping me away from home all these months ( 20 now!!! ........ that's  about 632 days ..... oh my word).   

We had a blast in Saigon then they went to Siem Reap while I went up to Hoi An where we met once more. Then I flew up to Hanoi where I met then two days later. We 'did' the town and saw some amazing countryside. Mandy flew home and then I brought Jennie up to Sapa for her final week accompanied by Mr. Sapa Rooms himself, Pete Wilkes. 

With Jennie by my side and with the aid of a Red Dao (red zow) guide we discovered the beautiful valleys, stepped with rice paddies and topped with rain forest, that runs south west from Fansipan mountain (Vietnam and Indochina's highest peak at 3,143 mfrs). Cloud swirls around these peaks and changes the weather from moment to moment. Sometimes you can see the glory of the whole valley and sometimes you can hardly see across the street! Often it rains and sometimes you are praying for a cooling breeze. At the moment the temperature is about 70-80 degrees every day even when it rains.

Jennie also brought a wealth of experience and practical ideas to help with Pete's educational ambitions for the local people. Her college is interested in forming partnerships in SE Asia and maybe she has met some of the kinds of people who can help to make that happen. The potential is overwhelming! 

So, forgive my absence - I have been distracted by some exciting projects!  

  

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