happy diwali!

pigments&paints workshop

this is a workshop for the radical self-reliant artist: make your paints from sratch! all you need is terracotta bricks, egg and water! 
egg tempera paint has widely been forgotten because it can't be preserved (meaning can't be mass produced and sold). used by monks in the medieval times to paint the elaborated initials of bible transcriptions, it is a highly resistant paint that makes beautiful bright colours when applied in layers. recipe here: http://wunderkinderhongkong.blogspot.hk/2013/08/mix-it-yourself.html

discovering bricks and clays: 
there are endless variations of the colour 'burnt sienna': bricks found on the beach, ground into powder and bound with egg yolk, using water as a thinner. and the hues and tints of clays found in south lantau: ground into powder with a mortar and bound with egg yolk, using water as a thinner. 
further reading on 'burnt pebble beach red': http://liinaklauss.blogspot.hk/2013/03/burnt-pebble-beach-red.html

discovering plants:
the bright red flowers of 'sleeping hibiscus' (bot. malvaviscus) make a beautiful purple tone. leaves of malvaviscus when crushed in a mortar make a slimy green substance that can be applied directly onto paper without water nor binder. the leaves when mixed with water have the same quality as soap: foamy and slimy, they can serve as hair conditioner or shampoo. and as if that is not enough the petals of the malvaviscus flower are edible and make a highlight to every salad or desert!

you find more of my thoughts about colours here: http://liinaklauss.blogspot.hk/2013/03/the-real-thing.html

for further reading on the subject of making your own paints please refer to the following literature:
Cennino Cennini: 'The Craftsman's Handbook' / 'Il Libor dell'Arte' witten in the early 15th century, cennini reveals the secrets of the painter guilt with detailed instructions for egg tempera, under paintings, coatings etc: highly recommendable!
Victoria Vinlay: 'Colour' written by a SCMP journalist, vinlay tells personal stories as well as historical facts of paints and how they were invented, discovered, traded and used: good read!

mind-your-head

'mind your head' is my workshop contribution to imagine peace festival 2014 on lantau island, hongkong. we let ourselves be inspired by the extravaganza of nature and create head-pieces made from the beauty that surrounds us: lush leaves, green grass, fresh fruit and flowers. and off we go to find all of these adornments on our walk along the beach and through the beautiful wetlands of pui o. apart from natural objects we find bottle caps, fishing nets and a lot of broken down pieces of plastic. we take our findings and turn them into bouquets on each other's heads, just like children adorn each other. it is an act of giving and receiving. by adorning our heads with beauty of the natural world and the throw-aways of the human society, our heads are decorated on the outside. on the inside we start to think: why is there so much rubbish in nature? where does it come from? where does it go to? questions like children ask. honest questions hard to find a simple answer to. 

 the process of adorning each other with the treasures of nature honors ourselves and is a deep prayer to the beauty of mother nature herself. let her be healed. and let us heal within her.

last-minute Lai Tse!

Sometimes it's good to live so 'inconveniently' far away from stores: instead of buying the traditional red 'Lai Tse' envelopes this year, I spontaneously decided to make them by hand. Reusing newspaper for the envelope and a sponge floor mat as a stamp, I created 20 pieces in just about an hour. So if you still don't have your Lai Tse prepared this is the perfect solution!

*For those not living in Hong Kong: 'Lai Tse' is a red envelope handed to children during the Chinese New Year Celebration. The envelopes contain a new money bill, for example HK$10 or HK$20. 

Have a wonderful Year of the Horse everyone - so fast, wild and free!

The biggest canvas on Earth

We are very fortunate to live on Lantau. The children can run free and experience the expansiveness of nature. On the beach we find everything we need for our art class: the sand is our canvas and using twigs as pens we draw a huge planet Earth complete with trees, houses, a school bus and a huge rainbow. Sadly we also find a lot of man-made waste in nature. It's composed of anything that floats: bottle caps, toothbrushes, drinking bottles ... the list is infinite.  We use our findings to make all kinds of insects and fantasy creatures. "Why is the toothbrush on the beach?" asks one of the students. A very good question. It's a long story to tell... 

Stranded goods to Christmas tree goodies

Last year I was given a shell by my dear friend Philine with a hemp string wrapped around it and a loop at the end. "Put it on your Christmas tree", she said. Such a simple and decorative idea! I found out that the name of the shell is 'Tower Shell' or 'Turritellidae'. Now we simply call it 'Turritelli', a word rolling wonderfully over your tongue. For this year's Christmas I couldn't resist to copy the idea for my Wunderkinder class. Making a few alterations, we are using soft wire instead of string. And we are adding gold and silver glittery glue plus glitter (there can never be enough!) to make the ornaments sparkle - now they almost look like icicles! 

Follow the steps as shown in these pictures. It's easy! 

Peaceful and happy Holy Days to all of you:)

Origami: the Sacred Lotus

Yes, I do adore Lotus flowers!(bot.Nelumbium speciosum) They seem to glow from within, flowers so beautiful they seem from beyond this world. It is hard for any artist to capture something that beautiful, something that perfect. I'd like to show you a version that comes close to the original and isn't that hard to make: the origami lotus.

 

Instead of using origami paper I prepared sheets of newspaper that I tinted with wood stain pigments beforehand. These pigments give off warm colors that look very natural. The folding of the petals is actually easy, it can be done by 6 year olds. Here is a YouTube video that's easy to follow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYNG2YikxA

The trick is the larger the paper petals the easier the folding. For our lotus we folded 12 petals (purple) and 4 outer leaves (green) but you can also go with 8 and 4. Tying the bundle of petals together and then inverting them is a bit more challenging and needs the help of an adult. 

Our hands being coloured purple after folding so many Lotus petals!

This photo I took in a temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia this spring. Even withered the beauty of the Lotus still radiates.