March 7: Fine Arts–Am I Squiggly Line or a Giraffe?


I visited the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. The Museum did not have a lot of exhibits open, but I enjoyed what I saw. My favorite exhibits were the scratch and sniff (you scratch the picture and it smells like the title of the painting) and the artist sketching with a blindfold. The artist sat at a table blindfolded and a museum visitor sat across from him. He drew the person based on his interview of them. The picture at the bottom reflects all the drawings he did during the project. I think I would be one of these pictures. Cannot decide if he would draw me as the giraffe (determined to eat all those leaves) or if I am more like the squiggly lines (a bunch of disjoined crazy experiences when put together make me who I am). I guess if you know me you can decide!

Spent the afternoon at one of Taichung’s most famous tourist attractions (traps). Rainbow Village in Nantun District, Taichung, Taiwan. In the video, I say someone bought the village and painted it to save it. That is not accurate–the English on the signs was not perfect. Actually, Rainbow Village in Taichung belonged to a war veteran Mr. Huang. His village was going to be torn down, so he started painting it with bright colors–animals, dolls, airplanes, manga characters. He did save it. A must visit if you are in Taichung, but be prepared for a lot of people!!

You cannot make this stuff up! I was taking a picture of how the black dog laid down and blocked the entrance to the village. People were walking around him. When I looked at the picture later, I saw he was laying in front of a black dog–looks like I set up this picture. I just got lucky. Black dogs are considered lucky and can walk around freely.