#60th World Wide SketchCrawl at Seoul Central Mosque

 facade of the Seoul Central Mosque, pen and watercolor, (29.6 x 42cm)

left part of facade of the mosque, pen and pastel, (29.6 x 42cm)

Praying Hall for the Muslims, pen and watercolor, (29.6 x 42cm)

going up to the mosque, pencil and pastel, (21 x 29.6cm)

a village scene from inside the entrance of the mosque, pen, (29.6 x 42cm)

neighboring village scenery looking from the courtyard, pencil, (29.6 x 42cm)

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Last Saturday, it was midsummer with the sweltering heat and humidity. For the 60th World Wide SketchCrawl, we Seoul sketchers met at the Seoul Central Mosque (서울중앙성원) located in Hannam-dong (한남동), Yongsan-gu (용산구), Seoul. The Seoul Central Mosque built in 1976, was established to be a place to worship for Muslims in Korea as well as to educate the larger public about Islam and Islamic cultures. The Seoul Central Mosque is a place of religious, and Islamic rules and customs should be respected, so we cared about every move during the sketch time inside the precincts of the mosque.

The beautiful mosque is famous for its characteristically Islamic design in the middle spot between the Han River and Namsan, but will be scheduled to reconstruction in modern style sooner or later. 

Outside the mosque, there were many halal restaurants and shops where we can watch a lot of Muslims and the public convenience, Islamic bookstore, consists of a halal supermarket, travel agencies.

I sketched the symbolic mosque from various angles, exotic surrounding scenes in and outside the precincts. It was an exciting sketch time overcoming the terrible heat.

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서울중앙성원은 도심에 숨어있는 이국적 모뉴멘트~~

우리 문화와 이슬람 문화가 공존하는 이태원의 오아시스

호텔, 상가와 주택가를 잇는 이색적인 정경과 인간미 넘치는 곳....

이슬람의 세계를 스케치하며 무더위를 잊은 하루였습니다.

60th World Wide SketchCrawl

part of facade of Seoul Central Mosque, pencil, watercolor, A 4

group tourists, pencil, watercolor, A 4

scenery seen from the inside of the entrance, pencil, watercolor, A 4

scenery seen from the inside of the entrance, crayon pencil, watercolor, A 4

sketchers under trees, pen, watercolor, A 4

visitors resting for a while under tree, pen, oil pastels, A 4

Seoul Central Mosque looked great with its characteristic Islamic design. It was my third time to visit there. But every time I could find different scene to draw. It may be caused by different seasons and visitors from all nations.

Yesterday the temperature was 36.9 degrees at Seoul. Cold water kept us cool down all the while sketching. Passion of the sketchers to capture the beautiful building might have been rewarded by their excellent works. We were all the winners against the terrible heat. Thank you all!

최고점을 찍어가는 요즈음의 날씨에 과연 몇분이나 나오실 것인가 했습니다. 새로 오신 분들을 포함하여 열분이 모여서 그린 날이었어요. 일당백이라고나 할까요. 수백, 천여명의 문하 제자가 있는 여타의 고승과 달리 조주 선사의 문하에는 수도 제자가 7명을 넘지 않았다는 이야기를 들었어요. 그러나 그 한분 한분이 일당백이었다고 합니다. 어제의 그 더위에 아무런 냉방없이 나무 그늘만 의지하고 그림 그리시는 스케쳐들을 보며 그 생각을 했습니다. 그 투지라면 못할 것이 없겠다는 마음이 들었습니다. 아름다운 성전 건물만큼이나 감동적인 모습이었습니다. 새로 오신 분들도 자주 뵙기 바랍니다. 감사합니다.