Video call with Stacey, whom I took part in the Red Gate Residency (Beijing) with. We exchanged our conceptual approaches to our body of work, and I found myself visualizing my sketches in physical collages. This idea was encouraged further by Kathleen at our weekly check-ins later in the day. Things are moving along..!

My possessions - books with traditional and modern binding, scallion in a glass jar, mug with a mix of traditional Korean painting tools and a single ball-point pen, and rolls of paper in the back.

The Japanese washi paper holds the paint much better, although the weight of the paper is still not quite right. Need to do further research into the specific type of mulberry hanji paper used in Korean minhwa paintings, but for now it will do.

What does it mean to produce 'chaekgeori' (books and things) paintings in this day and age - specifically as a Korean-Canadian living in Montreal, QC during self-isolation? The Korean folk painters during the Joseon dynasty would have also had to draw inspiration from their interior surroundings. My windowsill has a lot to offer... (thank you Kathleen, for inspiring me to look outside my window and pursue my interest in piles of books resembling buildlings!)

Vid call studio session with Dave. Started with filling in the colours of the books and their decorated cases (layering one colour after another at times to try our different colour combinations), and then spontaneously explored painting a scene from Oakville inspired by Dave's watercolour landscape painting he was doing with me. A part of me felt 'wrong' to be painting in such an abstract manner as this is not the intended purpose of 'Asian watercolours', but at the same time - why not?

Bleeding occurs as I apply ink onto the delicate hanji calligraphy paper. Not the right paper to use, but it was worth the experiment. I will try using watercolour pencil crayons to add more colour.