As I mentioned in my blog before, one of my favorite places to visit and sketch is the Pak Tai Temple in the Wan Chai area of Hong Kong.  A few of my smaller sketches have inspired larger paintings.  This pencil sketch is one of them.  The day I did this one was particularly memorable for me.  Our time in Hong Kong was winding down and I knew I would be leaving soon.  This visit, I knew would be my last while we were living there.  I did a pencil sketch of this guardian lion statue and before I could apply anywatercolor the keeper of the temple came up to me and we started chatting.

We talked for over an hour about a variety of things.  He was kind enough to write the name of the temple in modern and ancient script in my sketch book, next to the sketch plus a faint impression of the actual temple chop.

While I painted the larger painting of this statue it invoked so many wonderful and memorable memories of my visits there.