Talking Colour/ Talking Pattern –Zhenxiang Yu
Our group project collaboration
The five members of the group each drew a picture, and then put them together. The wig in question was bought at the market.
About Dalston marke
Over there, there are many wig and fruits stalls, and there is also a stand Chinese miracle drugs.
About field
While we were walking to the field, we passed by this restaurant and liked its decoration.
Mural & flower
A flower below the Hackney Peace Carnival Mural.
Other parts of London–Chinatown
I like Chinese lanterns and traditional costumes. Chinatown has many red and yellow elements.
Drawing class
We tried to draw with our eyes closed and ended up using various media.
Visit the Horinmaon Museum
Overall, I think it’s quite interesting！I extracted patterns based on the architecture and this flower.
Talking color
For “talking color”, I mainly extract color directly by observing natural things or some buildings and cultural relics, and imitate its texture through the combination of various materials. For example, in my sketchbook, I use the Chinese embroidery I saw in the museum as Inspiration, extract the pattern and color of the embroidery, and then draw it on a very thin colored paper. Or try to use transparent paper, and superimpose this transparent paper with other works after painting, so as to find different color effects. And just like the wigs seen in the market, I can directly make some collages with the material of wigs as my inspiration. Later, I found that many plants use contrasting colors, such as green to orange or purple, pink to blue, and I learned about this color matching. At the same time, in the painting class, we learned a new way to paint colors, that is, close your eyes, feel the material and shape with your hands, and then draw as you like. For me, this is a new way of painting, and it is very useful, because I find that such painting will produce very Unexpected matching, and then the second creation can be carried out through color extraction, which will make the work more in-depth and to the point.
Talking pattern
For the theme of “talking pattern”, I think the most important thing about pattern is the extraction and generalization of the shape. For example, I tried to extract the structure of the building to produce a way of arrangement and combination, so as to use it as my pattern. For pat For tern, symmetry or the repetition of a single thing is very important, just like the columns of the building and the patterns on the plants, so I also try to explore the “pattern” mainly with the shape of flowers and patterns as the core points of inspirational creation in sketchbook’s works. In the class on “pattern”, I learned that we can use the copier to quickly try to do more patterns under different arrangements and combinations, so I used printing technology to repeat some arrangements and combinations in my portfolio, or then do some overlays through paper cutting. . And I tried to take the damper in the building as inspiration, because the damper itself is a kind of thing that keeps shaking, so I extracted this shaking pattern and used it on plants. I will also create paintings about pattern for the second time, and add some textures or colors about plants, which will produce a very good effect.
8th November 2025 @ 7:05 pm
Peer review:
From looking at Zhenxiang Yu’s work, I could see that he experimented with a range of medians and materials, which I could see includes watercolour, pencil, wig and oil pastel (?). I also like the drawing of architecture where he focused on the structures, especially the shadings of where the light couldn’t hit. This brings out the dimension of the building/art, which are often ignored by many. I can also see researches and art works based on cultural relics and the Chinese culture. This shows his enthusiasm and ambition when drawing out his art works, clearly demonstrating his focus when selecting references.
I admire his confident with colours, I aften see him using colourful backgrounds for basic sketches, highlighting the sketches itself and bring it to life. It also applies visual impact as the colours are vibrant, a direct contrast to the monochromic colours of the pencil. From observing, I realised his favourite median to use is watercolour. For his talking colour, I found five drawings, which is not wrong, but it would be great if he could potentially explore with other medians more.
As for he talking pattern, I only see a few that matches the pattern description, most of them are full art works which doesn’t match the requirements. However, those that counts are fantastic. I like the sketches of tree’s leaves and structural repetition patterns. I find them unique and experimentative, as it is very rarely seen and very expressive. The pattern using human bodies as simple lines is also very interesting and fun to look it.
Overall, I find Zhenxiang Yu’s work impressive and inspirational. His way of working and processing his surroundings is very personal, different to how I view them. Therefore, I really enjoyed looking at his work. I will also take some inspiration from him as I really like the idea of using vibrant colours over monochromic colours.