Countdown to China!

View from London Bridge towards the east

In 48 hours I will be on the flight from Amsterdam to Beijing. It feels rather unreal how quickly the days have passed since the time I found out that I am one of the lucky artists who have been invited to Beijing for 4 days for the Opening Ceremony of the 7th Beijing International Art Biennale.  I still can't believe it. This will be my third trip and my second participation in the Beijing Biennale.  Unlike the first time, I know what to expect and how organised our reception and schedule will be for the four days. I have already been sent the schedule and printed it off today.

On Monday I went back up to London to collect my visa. It was a wet day. The trains from Tunbridge Wells to Cannon Street (nearest station to the China visa office) were non-existent so I had to walk from London Bridge station across London Bridge to Cannon street and then to the visa office. Suddenly rain pelted down and I was without an umbrella! 

View from London Bridge to the west (St Paul's Cathedral to the far right)

Though I already had a visa in my passport from last year's trip to China, I had to get a new one because the purpose of this trip was as an invited artist (with an official invitation letter from the Biennale) so I needed an 'F' category of visa.

This time we are staying at the Qianmen Jianguo hotel, which looks really lovely. I believe that there are about 200 invited artists. I will meet a few old friends from last time and make new ones! It should be exciting and also very inspiring. I am going to take a small sketch book with me.

On Friday morning I fly first to Amsterdam and then on to Beijing. I arrive at 6.15am local time, and we will be collected from the airport and taken to the hotel. I leave at 9.30pm on Wednesday 27th September, and my journey is rather an odd one because I travel first to Guangzhou airport (southern China) and then have a horrendous flight (near 14 hours) to Heathrow.  I don't really like flying at all, I like my feet on the ground, but will think about Art. Last time I watched a marvelous film about the artist Soulages and that kept my spirits high because I began imagining my next paintings. I am hoping there may be similar art videos.

My next posting will be on Friday 29th September and will include the first installment of photos of the trip!