The Bund at Night, Shanghai

Walking along the Bund was a pleasurable experience.  It felt like being in two places at once because of the contrast in the sights of the two sides of Huangpu River.  Facing Huangpu River, Shanghai's skyscrapers, including the iconic Oriental Pearl Tower, come into view.  Turn to the other side and go back in time with the sight of historic structures.  Once the sun is out, lights are turned on to bring everything to life, offering quite a different, yet equally dazzling sight, from what is seen at daytime.

I chose to sketch one of the historic buildings along the Bund, the Customs House, at night.  One trivia I learned from the audio guide we rented while inside Oriental Pearl Tower is that the clock on the Customs House is the largest one in Asia.  Anyway, this was my first time to sketch at night.  I thought the experience would not differ so much from daytime sketching, but I was wrong.  I could not see the color of my pencils and had to look closely at the color labels for me to recognize the colors.

Derwent Watercolor Pencil on 125 lb. Hahnemuhle Mixed Media Spiral Pad

The lights made the structure really attractive that I became determined to capture it in my sketch even though I was feeling lazy.