When I arrived in Beiing I was lucky enough to spend three months in a fascinating area called Dong Ba. This area of north east Beijing is an old hutong which in 2008 was yet to be engulfed by Beijing's rapid expansion. It was full of magical sights and sounds. Dusty streets with bikes and dogs, beautifully carved doorways with painted doors, washing hanging out to dry and food frying.
I decided to use some of my remaining scrolls to draw the buildings and people along these streets and capture some of the atmosphere. I spent a week drawing the main street in Dong Ba during which time I was invited into houses for endless cups of tea, asked to draw wives and babies, given gifts and generally welcomed into local life. I had such a wonderful time creating this drawing that I decided to draw some of the adjoining streets to create a hand painted tour of the area.
Please view images of these streets by using the link below -
http://duncanmckellar.com/Streets/index.html
This piece was directly interpreted by the pupils of Eardisley CE Primary School in the creation of the Eardisley scroll.
During 2008 Bristol based artist Duncan Mckellar made a journey by rail between London and Beijing. Throughout this journey Duncan created a continuous drawing documenting the scenery and people on route using a device called a Pantoscope. This 540 meter drawing, now complete with watercolour has been filmed to create a rolling animation of the journey. This epic artwork now forms the basis of the Scrolls in Schools.