Bellepioom Blooms

Cozily encased in the beginning part of Gwanggyo Lake Cafe Street and near the Sang-hyun Dong Catholic Church at Sang-hyeon Dong, in Yong-in, a small yet intriguing watercolour studio called Bellepioom has been open for around 3 years. Out of the three years nearly two were spent defending the studio in COVID-19 attacks. With one pupil working fervently at the long table inside, I talked with the owner and tutor for fifteen minutes about the kind of artwork she does and wants to engage in at the place.

 

She introduces urban drawing and flower painting as the two artistic media chiefly used in the studio's weekly classes. "With urban drawing you have to make art into something like mathematics. It is a set of formula. Try this a few times and you will know it can be easy to teach yourself before drawing and painting for real."

She passionately says it's just like an "urban landscape". "It's not detailed work and yet in this kind of landscape there could be little cars beside the building, and people, trees and a little bit of everything. So, a lot to learn."

 

As for flower paintings, she says doing flowers together gives comfort to both the pupils and herself. "After taking a shift from creating, I began again painting flowers and found happiness in them. I uploaded my work to instagram and so many people pressed "like" with heart emoticons I was so uplifted.

 

"I hope the people coming to my class will feel a little happiness and their hearts warm up and find solace in the artwork." She warms up to the idea of creating an illustrated book, "but that will only happen if we work harder."

 

 Lessons are 200,000KRW excluding paper, which the pupils need to buy, consisting of 4 weekly lesson per month at two-and-a-half hours. Two months of basic classes, intermediate classes for two months as well, and after that the artwork class. There are discounts for artwork pupils.

 

Any Christmas or New Year event? "I feel cautious with creating something like an event. Those already familiar to the studio draw or paint a Christmas wreath, but with newcomers and the coronavirus you have to think twice, at such a special event."

 

For watercolour zealots she recommends Mijello Gold Mission watercolour paints.

 

Lastly, she confines this to first-timers in watercolour art: "First-comers are amazed at what they can actually produce. And in the process of drawing and painting immersion happens. When one of your artwork is finished, what you find you can feel and do is happily manifest in them. And that can give you great satisfaction. I want to tell you this: At first what you've created may not seem so satisfactory, but keep on, and voila! a bespoke work of yours is completed."