In Plein Sight

A collection of Hong Kong paintings

My art book, In Plein Sight, is a 72-page collection of sketches done on location with watercolour, gouache, and ink. Order the book through an annual subscription to Beck At It or via Gumroad (includes tracked surface shipping).

Dear reader,

For me, painting started as a way to spend time without screens. It was the pandemic, and there were only so many Netflix series a girl could take. Besides, I wrote for a living. How freeing would it be to paint, something I completely sucked at? I’d exceed expectations every time because there were no expectations. So I bought a humble set of colours and turned to Watercolour Basics on YouTube and Skillshare.

While tutorials often boasted grandiose landscapes, I was more interested in the everyday, mundane sights. Bilingual street signs, red taxis, orange trash cans that define Hong Kong’s charm. I wanted to capture the city in a way a camera - my other hobby - couldn’t. Painting allowed me to romanticize and appreciate life here.

This new sketching endeavor encouraged me to visit Hong Kong’s parks, street corners, and sunlit piers in hopes of finding new subjects to paint. It urged me to visit new districts. It introduced me to new friends from groups like Urban Sketchers Hong Kong and Warrior Painters. It also led me back to the online world, first by posting through Instagram, which snowballed into a YouTube channel and a Substack.

While scanning 526 paintings from the last three years, I realise I remembered each and every one of them. Most of these paintings were done en plein air, or outdoors from life. Plopping myself in bustling pathways with an easel for at least twenty minutes is ample time to soak in the scenes’ minutia. I’ve lived in Hong Kong for over nine years, but it was only through translating life onto paper that I could recognize its planes and shapes, evanescence and permanence:

The 茶餐廳 that served the best 茶走. 

The staunch trees toppled by Saola. 

Ice cold 檸檬茶 on a scorching summer day.

The green-white Star Ferry skating across Victoria Harbour.

Leafy shadows on the West Kowloon Bus Terminus.

My friend's Husky, Jake.

And the girl with an easel standing firm in bustling paths. 

Yours creatively,

Becky

The book is a limited run of 300. Shipping starts April 18.