I guess I'm numb to packaged goods in our modern society, and this trip to Tibet I was easily fascinated by raw materials and goods with organic forms. This tiny shop with only one person turn-around space was filled with all kinds of packaged products like liquor, cigarettes, instant noodles and varieties of snacks and sodas. And the only product that was sold without any packaging and wrappers was these blocks of rich bright yellow yak butter that were bigger than the owner's head.
I found all the beautifully printed wrapped goods looked rather dull comparing to the exposed blocks of yak butter. That organic form and human touched texture on those yak butter evoked my shopping interest. How nice it is to be able to see, smell, touch and ask exactly the part you want to buy.
The shop owner was not that happy because she saw how I was eyes wide opened by those yak butter but knowing only locals would buy them. I could feel her, she wanted to charge me for taking photos of her golden yak butter.
This illustration was done in just pencil and yellow art markers. On Feb. 25th, 2011.
I just love how this noodle shop is unassuming.
This is a shop in a busy market in Lhasa, and it caught my attention because there's no any kind of advertisement. There's no store sign indicating what they're selling, and the owner's not even in sight. But standing in front of the shop, you see it clear; that one and only display case in the storefront filled with all kinds of noodles without any unnecessary packaging. It's truly what-you-see-is-what-you-get. And the rest of the shop filled with equipments and tools and ingredients, you can be sure they're professional because they only make noodles.
This is the kind of shop I'd go for my noodles. All the makings are directly from the shop itself, and I don't need to pay more for packaging that I can't eat that'll end up in the trash and become pollution in our landfills.
While I was appreciating this raw noodle shop, I noticed there's this very chilled Chihuahua sitting on the storefront step without making any movement for the whole time I was looking around. He had a Tibetan style collar around his neck claiming he's local, and he looked at me in a way as he ok'd my visit but not happily. I think he's cuckoo in the head, he thought he's a Tibetan mastiff.
This illustration was done in art markers on Jan. 14th, 2011.
A mom and her kid. They walked peacefully and I was following them quietly... Boy, they had good hearing, they both turned and looked at me with a hateful stare like they're the celebrities and I'm a paparazzi. So, I sensed the tension but at the same time quickly clicked, clicked, clicked taking their photos and ran away.
I wished I can ask them couple of questions, like where they're heading? What for? Where's the dad? What's it like to be a yak? But with that stare, they probably would tell me to get the f**k out of their sight if they could speak. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to talk to animals? So that we can know things directly from their perspective.
I started this illustration with washed-out India ink to create that grey background, and then drew the yaks and trees with color pencils. This was done on Dec. 17th, 2010.
I was impressed with all the debating monks in the debating courtyard of Sera Monastery. Because they had to concentrate on debating while being watched and photographed by a huge circle of tourists all along the courtyard walls standing or sitting or walking around with the camera in hand like visitors in a zoo.
Gosh I felt bad for the monks couldn't be left alone! But I couldn't stop myself and my camera moving closer and closer to them. I hope they didn't notice me. Especially this group had a lot more monks involved, and they're so focused that the whole time I was watching them, I didn't see anybody look away towards tourists. The kind of focus drew me in, I liked that energy right there. The kind of focused energy made all noises around them disappear.
This illustration was done on Dec.11, 2010.
Was it a pure coincident or the Tibetan Gods were trying to tell me something? I was just walking on a street filled with passersby, and this very quiet group of pilgrims sitting at a door front made my eyes shift back at them... because five of them wore the colors of blue, white, red, green and yellow, just like the prayer flags in my "Talking Prayer Flags" post.
This combination of colors really got me for some reason, I guessed the Tibetan Gods were trying to tell me that I was a Tibetan in my previous life. This illustration was done mostly in brown-color erasable pencil on Nov. 29, 2010.
