Yesterday at 44C in Richmond was a bit on
the hot side! Alan had suggested that I drop round to Price House as
Sonny, a Chinese friend who had sat for us at one of our 'painting
practices' was coming over, and with some photographers as well... we
weren't sure what for!
Sonny is from China, and she imports some special teas from a certain region of China, where tea cultivation, preparation and drinking is an artform with similarities to our western love and appreciation of wines! It turns out that her husband (who is from England) had recently participated in a tea making competition in China... against some highly prepared commercial contestants, and against all odds had won!
So there was a small photographic crew from a Chinese TV network following Him around doing a documentary of him and his teamaking in Australia. He prepared a special tea for the four of us, with tea I think from some of the ancient (1800 year old) tea plants, which had been stored in a dried mandarin, which we drank from some of Alan's antique cups and the whole event/ceremony and chat was recorded by the film crew.
The film team was sweltering in the heat (it is winter over there) but fortunately the Historic old house feels like it has air conditioning... even though it doesn't.
I don't know if any photos will turn up from this unexpected event, but I do have a photo from the charcoal drawing I did of Sonny when she was sitting for us
Sonny is from China, and she imports some special teas from a certain region of China, where tea cultivation, preparation and drinking is an artform with similarities to our western love and appreciation of wines! It turns out that her husband (who is from England) had recently participated in a tea making competition in China... against some highly prepared commercial contestants, and against all odds had won!
So there was a small photographic crew from a Chinese TV network following Him around doing a documentary of him and his teamaking in Australia. He prepared a special tea for the four of us, with tea I think from some of the ancient (1800 year old) tea plants, which had been stored in a dried mandarin, which we drank from some of Alan's antique cups and the whole event/ceremony and chat was recorded by the film crew.
The film team was sweltering in the heat (it is winter over there) but fortunately the Historic old house feels like it has air conditioning... even though it doesn't.
I don't know if any photos will turn up from this unexpected event, but I do have a photo from the charcoal drawing I did of Sonny when she was sitting for us
