Qile Ni

Talking Pattern/Colour

Qile Ni ⋅ 3rd November 2025

1. I saw many ancient buildings on Brick Lane. On these buildings, I noticed many traces left by history. This is a door lock. I used an extremely fine pencil to depict its shape and details.

2.These are the apples piled up at home. I carefully observed the changes in their color shades and patterns. It is not a round sphere; it has an indented shape. I recorded it using oil paints.

3.At home, my mother baked some salmon for me. I noticed that the color and shape of the salmon changed when it was cooked and when it wasn’t. In this picture, I show the shape of the cooked salmon. It has a darker color than usual and the texture of the meat is firmer. The watercolor painting better captures this characteristic.

4.This picture shows the different colors of the chicken legs when dipped in various seasonings, and the surface glossiness of the chicken legs also varies.

5.The color of the liquid wine in the glass varies in depth, and its shape changes along with the shape of the glass. Watercolor paintings can mix many colors, blending the colors with different shades together.

6.Last weekend, I visited Big Ben and took many photos. Before visiting it, my impression of it was just a clock tower with no special features. After observing it closely, I could notice that there were many windows on the clock tower with uneven patterns. I sketched the pattern of Big Ben in a quick drawing style.

7.This is my breakfast – bread, apples and tomato sauce. I simply drew them down.

8.Last weekend, I ordered grilled bread at the restaurant. The bread was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Due to its hard exterior, it had a shiny appearance, which could be well depicted by a marker pen.

9.This is the pine needles I captured in Xiamen, China last summer. From a real perspective, these pine needles are extremely large. I shot this scene from an elevated viewpoint, ensuring that leaves could be seen at all four corners of the picture.

10.This is how I observed the pine needles up close. In the previous picture, I viewed it from the overall perspective. This picture shows me observing the patterns on the branches in detail. The structure of the branches is robust, and the trunk part has alternating deep and shallow variations.

REFLECTION

From this “taking patterns” theme, I have learned a lot. I started by observing the small things around me, and gradually developed to create textile pattern designs. I learned how to view things from different perspectives.

From the perspective of magnification and reduction, in my first painting titled “Talking Color”, I zoomed in to observe the walls of Brick Lane. I could see the traces of erosion caused by rain, cracks in the walls, peeling paint on the surface, but when I magnified and carefully observed the walls of these ancient buildings, I could observe more detailed details. The wall plaster fell off, some walls even exposed the bricks inside. Additionally, there were faint signs of mold and color fading on the walls. In “Talking Pattern”, I focused on depicting the mottled state at the door lock area.

I also observed the overall appearance of the trees and the textures of specific branches. I believe this can help me learn how to observe things from different angles and develop patterns from different perspectives. I also tried closing my eyes to feel the texture of the branches, which was rough and uneven. I used various oil painting tools to represent them. For the special texture of the branches, I chose to use oil pastels to depict it.

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Taking colour

Qile Ni ⋅ 12th October 2025

This painting is based on the eye makeup look that I really like, which features orange eyeshadow. I used a mixture of orange and red colors throughout the painting to showcase the colors of the orange eyeshadow look.

2.This Friday, I went to the Brick Lane market. As I passed through a residential area, I was immediately drawn to a wall. The wall was painted in a large area of pink, but it looked extremely dilapidated and had been eroded and decayed by water. There were large areas of the wall that had been naturally damaged, exposing the bricks inside. All these signs clearly indicated the long history of this building, perhaps a historical relic sitting in the city. I stopped to admire this scene and took pictures to commemorate it. So, I drew this wall in a colored pencil painting style on a piece of paper.

3.While visiting the fabric exhibition, I noticed a scene where large pieces of fabric were flying around. The silk fabrics were light and flowing, presenting a very gentle and graceful scene when scattered in the air. I used watercolor paints to depict the changes in the shadows of the silk as it fell from the sky, with different shades of colors.

4.Last Monday, I went to the market in Dalsdon, London. As soon as I got off the subway, I noticed there were an extremely large number of wall paintings. On almost every wall, you could see paintings on the wall. There were artistic words, childish paintings, and realistic human faces. These street artworks were very creative and interesting. So I copied a colorful wall painting that I particularly liked. It used the artistic technique of interweaving color letters to complete the wall painting.

5.It was still in the market of Dalston where there were many small vendors selling various items. There were those selling fruits, some selling fish, and some even selling jewelry and clothes. There were also carpets. When passing by this fishing net stall, I saw the owner tying a pile of colorful fishing nets to the storefront of his shop. So, I drew them using crayons. At the same time, I noticed that on the table at the stall, the owner was wrapped in a camouflage cloth. I emphasized their colors with a marker pen.

6.In the Dalston City area, I took a large number of photos. Through these photos, I learned a lot about color application. Similarly, by using these different-colored foods, I extracted the colors of these foods and drew their shapes.

7.This is the intersection I pass by every day on my way home. At six o’clock in the evening, I can always see a pink sunset. I take pictures to record it and also draw it with colored pencils. I selected several colors of the sky and mixed them by hand to create the effect of the distant sky’s diffusion.

8.Last weekend evening, I went to see the night view of Big Ben. I noticed that under the moonlight, the glass of the church near Big Ben showed different reflective effects. On the shadowed areas without light, the design of the glass was a mosaic of broken glass, and this design would display different shades. While under the moonlight, the glass had different reflective sensations, like a mirror-like appearance.

9.When I arrived in the financial district, I saw such towering buildings. I used a colored fiber pen to depict the perspective effect in a sketch style, and emphasized the variation of colors in different depths.

10.On the route that I had to take to the subway station, I came across such a sign. The sign was red, and the contrast between the red and the grey of the land was very striking. At that moment, my mood had plummeted, meaning that I needed to take a much longer detour to reach the subway station. I used a marker pen to draw the visual impact caused by the sign and the land.

REFLECTION

In this project, we explore the concept of color. This is not merely a discussion about colors; rather, it is about learning to observe life and, when going to different places, learning to record one’s thoughts and ideas. I used various devices to record videos, take photos, and even do sketches to depict all kinds of natural landscapes and other things that I saw in my daily life.

Perhaps it’s necessary to try different painting styles. In this set of ten paintings, I used several painting tools such as watercolor, colored pencil, crayon, marker, and felt-tip pen. It’s very important to choose the appropriate painting style and tool for each painting of different subjects.

Try to pay attention to the coordination of colors. Additionally, I believe that colors can better reflect the mood and personality of the painter. Using warm colors and cool colors will result in different styles. I have learned to explore the combination of different colors and the diversity of painting. For instance, when two colors that are completely opposite are combined together, it creates a strong contrast and visual impact.

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About Qile Ni

Posts by Qile Ni:

Talking Pattern/Colour

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Taking colour

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