Stars

Remind yourself of Van Gogh's Starry Night. (The McLean song for Van Gogh is here.)

Draw stars. As many and as various as you can create.

...when you run out of ideas, watch Vi Hart, then start all over again.

Collage

Recall an emotion you have experienced. Sadness, anger, delight, frustration? Try making a collage which expresses that feeling.

Go through old magazines, pick out printed ephemera, choose fragments of colour that represent your emotion, and so on, until you have a good selection. Bring them together and glue them down to form a complete and coherent whole. Look at your finished piece. Did you capture the mood?

Wiki describes a range of materials used in collage. I guess there is no limit to what you can find to stick down.

If you work in a scrapbook, we can take your assemblage home.

Chinese landscape painting

One of the art genres I've enjoyed finding out about since we arrived in Hong Kong is landscape painting.

I like the idea of a long, scrolled painting, assembled like a narrative for the arm chair traveller: one that tells the story of a journey, the different people you meet, the physical places you pass through, and the different emotional and thinking states you experience.

Think of a journey you have made, and how it affected you. Were you in haste when you began? Worried en route? Relaxed? Sad? Angry? Could you tie your ideas into a landscape? Can you draw the entire story, from start to destination?

If you want to research styles of drawing, look at some Chinese landscape painting through the centuries. The Hong Kong Museum of Art has an excellent range. If we can't make it to a collection, find some inspiration on the internet.

El Greco

When I first laid eyes on a painting by El Greco I thought it had been hung it in the wrong gallery! It was out of style, out of time, out of place: human shapes were distorted, the light-dark contrast was shockingly exaggerated, the faces were deeply expressive. I loved it, immediately.

And I would run through time to give him a big smackeroo for Gentleman with hand on his chest.

What do you think the man's hand gesture signifies? Is it a secret sign? Is he swearing an oath? Are his fingers fused? Is he forming a letter shape? Is this a Christian symbol of the cross? Does it mean nothing at all?

What about the golden top of the sword? Does that influence the meaning of the hand? Or his facial expression. Does it fit with his hand? Then the sloping shoulder... is he in movement, his form exaggerated by clothing, or is his shape significant in another way?

I adore it all. Especially how there are no answers. It's one of those paintings that keep me guessing.