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Amahs in Hong Kong & Relief Effort for Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines

November 14, 2013 Kim Minichiello

This is a view of just a tiny portion of Hong Kong where I lived.  Imagine there is likely an amah in each apartment in these towers. — This is a view of just a tiny portion of Hong Kong where I lived. Imagine there is likely an amah in each apartment in these towers.

There are things you don’t know about places in the world until you visit or live there. One such thing is how important an amah is to some citizens in Hong Kong. When we knew we were moving to Hong Kong, I had a few people ask me if I was going to get an amah while we were there. I had no idea what they were talking about. It wasn’t until we were looking for apartments some furnished and some not, that in every one there was a very small room, and a separate small bathroom for live in amahs.

An amah is a live in domestic helper whose duties involve everything for taking care of a household and beyond: cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, taking care of children, taking children to school, and even washing cars and carrying golf cubs. You name it they do it. Many become permanent members of the family and are with them for years. In some families, they are loved like family members and in some are treated more like employees. I didn’t have an amah while living in Hong Kong but got to know a few of them in my building and while shopping in our local market.

Sunday is their only day off and Hong Kong transforms itself on this day when all the amahs meet each other in parks, and line the sidewalks of major streets with blankets. They visit, have picnics, sing, dance, play cards and enjoy themselves. It literally feels like a crowd lining up for a major parade. The noise in the air is so intriguing with a mix of their native language, music and laughter.

The majority of the amahs in Hong Kong are women from the Philippines. Many leave their own families, including their children, behindto be cared for by family members in order to earn more money in Hong Kong to support them. With the recent devastation of Typhoon Haiyan, many still don’t know if family members are still alive or safe.

Hong Kong Happy Hour

$175.00

Price Includes Shipping

Limited Edition Archival Print Giclée Signed and Numbered, Edition of 300

Original Painting is SOLD.

Image Size: 12” x 18,” (30.5 cm x 46 cm)

Quantity:

I would like to invite you to help in any way that you can support the relief effort for those in the Philippines! I will be donating a portion of the proceeds for all sales of prints and note cards on my web site for this relief effort through the Red Cross for the rest of this month and December. You can visit my print shop on my web site by clicking here. You can also make donations directly to the Red Cross relief effort by clicking here.

Thank you for your interest in my work and your support!

Artists on Fire Exhibition, 127 SoBo, Winter Garden Florida

November 7, 2013 Kim Minichiello

I am very excited that my local community of Winter Garden Florida is establishing an art association in the old fire station in historic downtown Winter Garden. This painting, Waiting in the Wings, will be on exhibit and for sale in their inaugural exhibition, “Artists on Fire,” which will run from November 7-November 30. Opening reception will be Thursday, November 7, tonight, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The address is 127 South Boyd, or now referred to as 127 SoBo. The sale of all the art will go toward, this wonderful new, non- profit art organization that is going to be such an asset to local artists and the community! Hope to see you there!!

This is huge for artists on the west side of Orlando. Most art centers, life drawing opportunities, classes, galleries, and art happenings aredowntown or on the east side of town. I hope to do workshops, participate in shows, and volunteer for a wide variety of art events. If you are a local artist please support this wonderful new venture in downtown Winter Garden!

Chinese Puppets were Waiting in the Wings

October 15, 2013 Kim Minichiello

This painting Waiting in the Wings was inspired by my jaunts to Cat Street Market off of Hollywood Road, near Man Mo Temple in Hong Kong. A few of the vendors there sell Chinese Opera marionette puppets. Like the embroidered slippers, I was immediately attracted to them for the variety of color, pattern and personality!

I was happy with this painting when I did it. After recently getting it out and living with it a while again. I decided to do some tweaking. I felt the background was too much the same value as the rest of the painting and wanted to make the puppets stand out more. I also played around with more value changes on the puppets themselves as well assome lost and found edges. With a stencil I created a slight vertical striation very subtly in the background to represent the puppet strings without being to literal.

Waiting in the Wings before tweaking

I’m happy with the tweaks. A painting I thought was finished has a new lease on life! The title has become even more appropriate. :-)

Watercolor Sketch: Sai Kung, Hong Kong New Territories

October 1, 2013 Kim Minichiello

Some watercolor sketches, even though they are sketches I spend a bit more time on. Others when you don't have the time, are what I call quick and dirty! Not that this sketch is dirty, I guess it's just one, of many, of those expressions from my midwestern upbringing.

This one was done on a sketch outing with my friend Gladys. We drove up to Sai Kung which is a peninsula surrounded by the South China Seanorth of Hong Kong Island in the New Territories. We had painted at another location and then drove over to the Hong Kong Diving Club and decided to paint there. This one was done in 15-20 minutes. These quickies are good to do just to get an essence of the place without focusing too much on the details.

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"An Affair of the Art, 2013" to Benefit Ryman Arts

September 27, 2013 Kim Minichiello

Hong Kong Happy Hour

$175.00

Price Includes Shipping

Limited Edition Archival Print Giclée Signed and Numbered, Edition of 300

Original Painting is SOLD.

Image Size: 12” x 18,” (30.5 cm x 46 cm)

Quantity:

Available at "An Affair of the Art, 2013"

I was invited to be a participating artist in “An Affair of the Art 2013,” to benefit Ryman Arts, which takes place this Saturday. I attended this event every year when I worked at Walt Disney Imagineering.

Available at "An Affair of the Art, 2013"

Named after Artist, Designer and Mentor, Herbert D. Ryman, Ryman Arts teaches skills in art and life to teens in a nurturing studio environment. High school students interested in pursuing a career in art can take classes and get guidance to help them prepare for college and a creative career in the arts. The program is free to any student based on their ability and commitment, without regard to their families financial status.

Herbert D. Ryman or Herbie to those Imagineers who had the fortunate opportunity to know and work with him, created the first overall illustration of Disneyland, as Walt described it to him. This illustration was used to pitch the concept to get funding for the construction of Disneyland. Herbie worked on every Disney theme park until his death in 1989.

Hong Kong Gatekeeper, 6" x 6", Watercolor on Paper — Hong Kong Gatekeeper, Watercolor on Archival Paper, 6" x 6"

Available at "An Affair of the Art, 2013"

The Affair of the Art, is hosted by two of the foundersof Ryman Arts, Leah and Marty Sklar in their home in Southern California, mid September 2013. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of all the art in the show, will go toward Ryman Arts. Marty was head writer for Walt Disney, and was the head of Walt Disney Imagineering up until his recent retirement a few years ago.

I'm extremely excited to be a part of this event and joining the company of many talented artists. One other watercolor and print making artist, Belinda Del Pesco, is also participating. I am a great admirer of her work and have followed her blog since living in Hong Kong in 2007.Unfortunately I will now be attending but have many friends who will be my eyes and ears! I hope the evening is a huge success to benefit this great organization!

For more information on Herb Ryman click here.

For more information on Ryman Arts click here.

For ticket information click here.

To preview the artwork in the show click here.

To preview silent auction items click here.

Watercolor Sketch, Peel Street Lanterns, Hong Kong

September 12, 2013 Kim Minichiello

This sketch I did sitting on my stool across the street from a lantern and funerary shop on Peel Street in Hong Kong. Looking at this sketch takes me right back there! It was one of those days that was so full of sensory overload: shoppers bustling up and down the street, smells of food being prepared from the neighboring dai pai dongs, and being serenaded by Chinese opera music from the shop I was sitting in front of. Some artists have a problem painting with so much activity. It doesn’t really bother me. I enjoyed the atmosphere and at the same time I can focus and tune it out. The next week I went into the shop to buy something and the shopkeeper recognized me and wanted to to see the painting!

This sketch has inspired a larger painting I am currently designing. It has been on and off the drawing board with all of the goings on this summer. When things quite down the end of the month, I will get back to it!! I think it’s gong to be fun to paint. I can’t wait!

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Watercolor Sketch: God of Longevity Shou Star

September 5, 2013 Kim Minichiello

There are three deities in the Taoist philosophy that represent good fortune. The personified images of these three are Fu star, Lu star and Shou star. They are referred to as stars because of their ties with chinese astrology. You will see statues of these three stars in almost every temple in Hong Kong and in many homes, restaurants and shops.

Shou star or I believe, Sao, in Cantonese is the God of Longevity. He has a high domed forehead, carries a staff in his right hand and holds a peach in his left, which represents immortality.

This watercolor sketch is from a Sao statue on a wall at Hung Shing Temple thatI would pass on my way to my framers on Queens Road East, in Wan Chai. This is just a small street side temple that used to face the water front until Hong Kong expanded outward! There seemed to be a revolving display of deities on this wall, because every time I passed by there was something new to see. I enjoyed taking photos of whatever happened to be there. It would have been impossible to sketch at this location as busy as Queens Road is and the temples proximity to the street, so I did this one in the studio because I wanted a memory of this temple in my sketchbook. I’m planning on a series of temple paintings featuring the other stars! Stay tuned.

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Watercolor Sketch: Aberdeen Floating Village, Jumbo Restaurant & Sampans

September 2, 2013 Kim Minichiello

My watercolor sketch travelogue continues in Hong Kong with one from a floating platform next to the Jumbo restaurant in the Aberdeen Harbor. I was very fortunate to make friends with a few artists while living there. My friend Gladys and I would try to go out once a week to sketch. The day we scheduled to go was a gloomy day in December but we went for it anyway. We headed down to the Aberdeen marina and took a sampan over to the Jumbo Floating Restaurant.

This was an experience in itself just crossing the harbor. Like many things in Hong Kong there are a number of ways to go about doing something. Lining the harbor are private sampans for which we had many offers of taking us over for 50 -100 hundred Hong Kong dollars, or as Gladys would say, honkies. She is a local. :-). This equates to about $6-$12 US dollars. These are nice if you want a 30 minute tour of the harbor, but we just wanted a one way jaunt to the Jumbo. If you are a tourist, you may think this is the only way to go. However, I had the advantage of being with Gladys, who knew a way around this! If you know where to look there is a public sampan you can take to the other side for around .25 cents US! What was even more amazing you can scan your Octopus Card, Hong Kong’s, public transportation card, for the fare. A mix of modern technology with the old world.

The Aberdeen Harbor and the Aberdeen Floating Village has been and still is home to Hong Kong’s boat dwellers, descendants of which were said to have arrived in Hong Kong around the 7th-9th century. If you would like to immerse yourself in a traditional Hong Kong experience this is a great place to visit.

Another popular attraction which was our destination was the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. Established in 1976, it is one of the renowned tourist attractions in Hong Kong. In the lobby is a photo gallery of the who’s who of the many people who have visited over the years: Queen Elizabeth II, Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, and William Holden during the filming of “Love Isa Many- Splendored Thing,” and the “World of Suzie Wong,” to name a few.

Gladys and I settled our selves on a service platform behind the restaurant to paint boats in the harbor. It was actually great to sketch on a grayer day. A great exercise in mixing grayed color. It started to lightly drizzle so we cut the day short and headed over to the Aberdeen Marina Club, in a sampan of course, for some hot Jasmine tea, and an incredible Dim Sum lunch! A perfect sketch day with a great friend!

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Watercolor Sketch: The Bank of China Building in Hong Kong & Feng Shui

August 28, 2013 Kim Minichiello

In Hong Kong, I loved just up the hill from the Hong Kong Zoological Gardens and Botanical gardens. Both just a 5-10 minute walk from my apartment building. Living in one of the most populated and bustling cities on earth, I was amazed at how many opportunities there were to connect with and be in natural environments. I walked through and enjoyed these gardens often, as did many locals and expats. I had my watercolor kit with me one day and decided to do a sketch of the Bank of China building. One, because it was designed by architect I.M. Pei who also did the glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris and I like his work. Two, because it is such an iconic building in the city.

The Bank of China Building designed by I.M. Pei, image via wikipedia

There was some controversy surrounding this building, at the time it was built. It is the only major building in the city to have bypassed the normal practice in Hong Kong of consulting with feng shui masters on it’s design prior to construction. According to feng shui principles it’s triangles, sharp angular features, and many “x” shapes have negative symbolism.

The HSBC building designed by Norman Foster, image via Wikimedia Commons

When another iconic building in the Hong Kong landscape was built, the HSBC bank building, designed by famed British architect Norman Foster, metal rods were installed on the top pointing directly at the Bank of China building to protect it, by deflecting the negative energy right back to Bank of China. Take that Bank of China! Hmmm, that sounds like a good idea. I’d like to have something like that to deflect negative energy.