From shopping bags to shoppers’ behavior

 My “shopping bags make over” project is approaching its first month. Since I been collecting the shopping bags at the large local mall near my studio. I also discover some rather interest facts about our Canadian shoppers’ behavior:

 1)      Most high end shoppers shop on Saturday: I found more shopping bags from high end stores on that day than during the week and they usually were discarded within steps from the store.

2)       Our Canadian Shoppers are the modest ones: They do not like to hang on certain type of bags, such as Victoria secret bag which in bright pink might attract too much attention. My guess is women do not wanted people to know they just brought under garments. Another one is the Abercrombie bag which has a bare chest image on both side of the bag. I think the shoppers likely consider as being too sexy. So on any given days, I found many of them.

shopping bag make over

 3)      The less expensive stores’ bags are harder to come by as the shoppers would keep it and take home with.

4)      Monday and Tuesday are the slowest of the shopping days and once around Thursday business start to pick up again. Most shopping is done on Saturday.

5)      Some shoppers would wear their newly purchase clothing after trying it on and discard the ones they came in as soon as they left the store. ( I had found jeans, shoes in some of those bags and sometime even small changes.)

6)       Shoppers are not interested in Cosmetic samples or store catalogus often are discarded as soon as they walk out the store.

Shopping bag make over

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Shop Nothing

Before I started the “shopping bags make over” project I used to constantly going to the art supply stores. There always paints, paper, brushes or canvases I needed to get. Every year, after Christmas I would take advantage of the post Christmas sale and would spent a consider amount for art supplies.

However, this year I haven’t been spending any money at all. All the shopping bags I used had come from the shopping mall near me. If one seeing me leaving the mall might think I had been shopping with a large shopping bag in my hand. In fact, they are discarded in the recycled bins. More than once, I even found money in those bags. Mind you, they were just small changes but still they are monies never the less.

 

Tomorrow, “From shopping bags to shoppers behavior”

Painting with Coffee

  Last years, I read on the web some artists been using coffee for painting. I decided to experiment it myself. First, I made myself a supper strong coffee, I used double amount grounded Starbucks coffee to make one cup of coffee. Once the coffee was cool I try to use it as how I paint in watercolor but the color was too light. I left the coffee overnight hoping it will make the color more intense. The next day when I used this day old coffee it has the intensity I wanted and I painted an orchid painting which  turned out well.

However, I don’t see any advantage of this coffee paint than using watercolor or ink and  with the price of the coffee  it actually cost more so unless I at a situation I don’t have my watercolor with me and I would not try this again.

A day of reflection

A day of reflection

Today, January 23, 2013 is an important day for me because on this day our family arrived in Canada and this year’s anniversary is more significant it reaches the 40^th years mark.

I still remember the excitement of my first time being on a plane the long flight from to Hong Kong to Canada. During our long flight mother broke down because she has left her mother behind, perhaps she knew then we would never seen her again

For weeks I had been thinking about today. As I had done before I would paint a painting to commemorate this special occasion:

Two years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Beijing China to visit my friend Michael whom he was working there.. One day, after my visit the Forbidden City and I came across an unusual named “The Working People’s Cultural Palace” (It used to be the ancestral temple for emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to offer sacrifices to their ancestors.).

I was all alone at this former imperial temple and standing in front of the lotus pond looking at the reflection of the marble bridge in the water. It took me back to my Chinese history class back in Hong Kong.

One day, instead of teaching the ancient history as he was purpose to, our teacher announces, “In 30 years Hong Kong will be return back to China!

It was 1967 and at the height of the Chinese Cultural Revolution although we were children but we had heard from our parents the stories of our relatives, what they had suffered during that time back in china As children born in Hong Kong under the British rule we thought we were different from the Chinese from the mainland. Knowing how our parents had to left their homes and families in China to start their lives all over again in Hong Kong and to think of one day we will back under the mainland China just stuck terror in me. I was thinking to myself, 30 years I would be so old and I Hope I won’t be in Hong Kong then.

However, forty years is a long time and many things had changed since then and my understanding of China changed as well. This year, is the first time my father no longer to be with us to mark the anniversary. The house we been living in the past 35 years is all quite, all my sisters, brother had moved out long ago and had their own families.  I became closer to my mother. After my father passed away, we travel to China together for three weeks; we went to the Great Wall.

Our parents came from southern China so we were the only ones ever travel to the north and the capital city.

Looking back, the only one thing remain the same was my passion to make art. I don’t remember a single day gone by I did not spent some time to create art.

Today, I see how much Canada has change and how much China has changed and wonder where would be my future home would be?

Hollister Bag Make Over

An Arctic air mass continues to cast a deep freeze over our great white north. This morning in Toronto with the wind chill is -28 and the City has issues another extreme cold alert. I haven’t been over the shopping mall to look for more shopping bags the last couple of days however I have plenty collected already.

Today my make over is a Hollister bag. On the bag is a image of open shirt young man. I had some fun and turned his bare chest into a dog. The bag is 15.5”x13.5. this is the biggest one I done so far

Banana Republic Bag Make Over

Day 21 of my shopping bags Make Over, I think this is # 25,  I add the cut out Elephant to go with the name. the bag is 9″x12″.

 

A moth on your face

 

I saw the cover photo of this give away magazine which gave me the idea to transformed it to a moth. Just having some fun on a cold windy day.

 

Panda for the Eagle

Day 18 of my shopping bags make over project. Today’s shopping bag is another  American Eagle bag, I added the cut-out  Giant Panda  to go with the eagle logo. The bag is about 10”x10”.

Day 17 of my shopping bag make over

Day 17 of my shopping bag make over:

Geox shopping bag

Today’s’ shopping bag is from Geox Respira a men’s clothing store at Eaton Centre. I cut out a Pelican in flight for it. This is my #24 and the bag is  12”x16”.