You may have seen her on street corners and sidewalks with her own set up, painting and sketching in the early mornings and late evenings. But today, Artist Yao Ling Lee was setting up her exhibition to promote the second edition of her book, Beautiful Belize, a coffee table book of paintings inspired by Belize city's history. Jomarie Lanza stopped by the exhibit today to find out more about the event and the artist's work, here's that story.
Each splash of color to every sketch gives a deeper story of the true - sometimes hidden - beauty that Belize City has to offer, and artist Yaoling Lee has successfully captured this in several of her most recent creations - which are on display in a new exhibit at the Mexican Cultural Institute. Each is inspired by numerous scenes scattered across the city, from busy intersections to the water's edge, her exhibition includes a bit of everything she believes has a uniqueness to it, more than just the ordinary, making it worthy of a canvas. She recently compiled many of them in her book:
Yaoling Lee, Artist, Watercolor Exhibition
"My book is titled Beautiful Belize City and that is the title for this watercolor exhibition, Beautiful Belize City. then let's talk about the book. You see right here this part those are the watercolor urban sketches that are featured in my book so those are the sketches, I travel around Belize City and I sketch them in water color and in order to make this exhibition even more interesting I brought in some nude studies, figure studies and some flowers over there."
"I do painting, so I do a lot of sketches, pencil sketches and then I use watercolor as sketches as well and then I like oil, maybe I am intoxicated with the linseed oil, turpentine the smell but that's the way how I do, it is just a regular practice, I can't tell you how do I, but the light is what is most important. My subjects, I do all kinds of things and now we have urban sketches meaning that I go out and I paint landscape, cityscape and then I do figures as well, we have a figure study which I sitters. I prefer to work from life meaning that whatever I do my subject is always in front of me so I have sitters in my studio to pose for my work and that is how I do with my figure study. And if we talk about watercolor, the flowers I have 1/3 of our water color here in this exhibition that are flowers so I set up a table in my backyard then I paint what I have in my backyard. And then sometimes when I go out I see some beautiful pot flowers I buy them and then I sketch them."
"Its hard to say but it just has to tickle me, maybe it looks really really nice but there is a little things that say Yao Ling you need to paint it."
The sketches are all part of a second edition launch of her book. This particular copy has a softer cover and is slightly cheaper, meant to be more than just a collectors item. Lee explained why she chose to work with watercolor, despite how unpredictable it can be at times.
Yao Ling Lee, Artist, Watercolor Exhibition
"I love watercolor, it is really hard to control, you have to set it free. But then somehow I use transparent, there are different kinds of water color, opaque as well but I love transparent meaning that it is very, you can see the light it is very different than the medium of oil. Oil is heavy and it is almost like you are doing a sculpture with the heaviness and wet but water color is so light it is almost like a bird but it is very difficult because once you letdown the color you can't take it out but it is so exciting because sometimes there are so many surprises when the color meets each other it is just beautiful so there are very different ways to do it but water color the one I am showing for this exhibition these ones are small, these are called sketches so lets say if I talk about those urban sketches all of them are small but one can take from one hour to 3 hours."
And with each colorful landscape there is a bit of history to accompany each painting. She says the exhibition provides a passageway for guests to see the potential in Belize city's history as art.
Yao Ling Lee, Artist, Watercolor Exhibition
"There are 22 Urban Sketches featured in my book Beautiful Belize City. I also wrote about my reflections, I am not a writer, I do painting but then who can write my experience? Who is the best person? Me so then I wrote about my experience and field notes and then I said well those 21, urban sketches I want to know about their historical background so then I recruited 22 Belizean writers."
"Yeah I am kind of doing this book for myself because I really want to know about Belize City and somehow I think it resonates to people, a lot of people we get to learn a lot, we share what we see and then you also get to see what I see."
The exhibition will open at 7:00pm on Friday and will also feature a book signing. Lee's books can be purchased online, or you can reach out to Cubola Publishers for a copy.
