Me and Adam decided on the best photo to use for the final portrait and I created the linework portrait before adding the watercolour splatters.
Whilst many of my participants seem to have been struggling with picking their colours, Adam immediately chose his and produced a pdf with the following information:
Red
Red is widespread throughout Chinese culture, including during my own childhood in Hong
Kong. From its use in Chinese lanterns, to traditional red envelopes, and even food - Char Siu
Bao is a particular favourite of mine - it remains one of my favourite colours to wear today. It is
also worth mentioning that red is the main colour of the Hong Kong flag today.
Blue
Blue represents migration and travel, being the colour of both the sky and the sea. I grew up on
the coast, in the New Territories of Hong Kong, and to this day I find it very comforting to spend
time next to any body of water.
Green
As a child, I was fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time in open green spaces. After having
arrived in the UK from Hong Kong, I was schooled in Gloucestershire and Somerset; both of
which are regions filled with green fields, hills, and forests. Importantly, given its prominence in
Irish culture, the colour Green also represents my Irish adoptive mother, who grew up in Dublin.
Grey
One of my earliest childhood memories is the noisy rattling of a plane as it hurtles down the
runway. My early years were spent travelling between Hong Kong and the UK with my mother,
prior to emigrating in 2002. For me, the colour grey represents the concrete of a runway, and by extension international mobility. Of course, travel remains an important part of my life as a
musician today.
I then set to work on the oil pastel portrait design for the final painting. There are some revisions I want to make, but overall I am happy with how it turned out.
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