Korea Journal Page Five

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 As I mentioned on the first page of my Korea Journal, everyday Ivan walked up and over a mountain to get to school and then back over again to get home.  Along the way was Sunamsa Temple, situated along the winding fire road that was forbidden to all motorized vehicles.  Ivan worked at a new five story school and it was a shocking contrast to leave that modern building, walk up an inhumanely steep hill, and find yourself at the foot of these temple stairs. It was like walking into another world. And, during a downpour, it was also the first place I saw the emerald frogs with bright scarlet feet celebrating the rain. 

That's what struck me about Korea all the time: the contrasts. For instance, you could walk directly from a crazy busy street straight into the forest! Or, an elderly woman, dressed in clothes from another century, would be sitting on the sidewalk selling lettuce as she chatted away on her cell phone.  We don't have those kind of contrasts in Canada everywhere you go.  So... back to Sunamsa Temple.  Whenever  I walked past this place I felt I just wanted to live forever at the foot of these stairs.  I made it a priority to set a day aside to paint them.  It probably took me about five hours to do this painting. I met many people as I worked since often passerbys were curious to see what I was doing. Foreigners are not common in Busan and that alone can get you a lot of attention...never mind if you are a foreigner sitting on the ground with pencil and paper! One man politely asked if he could take a photo of me with his cell phone. I agreed to his request because recently complete strangers had already asked to have their photos taken with me so I knew I was a novelty. I think for some people it was so astounding to see a westerner in real life that they wanted to record the moment. But, I can only guess at this since we only lived in Korea for four months and that's not long enough to understand everything. One thing I can say for sure and that is that people here were incredibly kind and friendly to us.  I will never forget the graciousness of friends and strangers alike.

 "Stairs Leading to Sunamsa Temple" (above)

 







Drawings From My Sketchbook
These next several drawings are from my sketchbook.  
With this website I can share work from my sketchbook
that usually nobody sees but me.

 







"Street Corner" (left)

This street corner is across the street and up a steep hill
from where we lived in Busan.

 

"A Day at the Museum" (right)

Ivan and I visited a museum one Saturday afternoon and I did
these drawings there.  These artifacts were 3,000 years old. 

 

 "Crowns and Earrings" (left)

Crowns and earrings at the museum.  These crowns were
astonishing!  My drawings barely do them justice. I'm sure
when the wind would hit the many small pieces of flattened
gold suspended outwards on tiny coils of wire that the
crowns would shimmer and tremble like aspen in the
autumn.

 

 

"Korean Crowns" (right)

More crowns from the museum. The one on the left was very simple
and elegant. It was fashioned from thin and flat gilded bronze. Cuts
were made inwards like on a feather and then each piece was twisted
to create this stunning crown.  In some ways it's more crudily made
than the others and yet so perfect for a forest queen or king.

 

 

"Entrance to the Children's Park" (left)

This is the entrance way to the Grand Children's Park
located just up the road from where we lived. Through
this archway we had access to amazing mountains and
forests. The pigeons congregated on the arch, always
on the look-out for the people who wanted to feed them.
And, there seemed nothing that delighted two year olds
more than running towards a group of feeding pigeons
just to see them ascend, all at once, in a flurry of flapping
wings.

 

 

"Culvert Along the Fire Road" (right)

Up in the mountains close to where we lived were
"fire roads"...these were roads winding through the
mountains built expressly to give fire trucks access
should a forest fire break out. Except if there was a
fire these roads were for pedestrians and cyclists
only. I would often go meet Ivan on the fire road as
he was walking home from teaching.  This culvert
was along the way. 

 

 

"Driveway at the Edge of the Forest" (left)

This is a driveway leading to a highschool that's tucked
into the foot of the mountain. It's also one of the ways
through which you can get to the fire road and countless
ancient stone staircases and trails that crisscross
through the mountains.

 

Korea Journal Page Five
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