Trading paintings for lodging, budding itinerant artist Lin Yu-te (林祐德) has been traveling in Matsu since late last month as part of his plan to see the entire nation and capture his experiences with drawings.
Lin, an 18-year-old student from New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), said he made a resolution last year to travel across the nation by exchanging paintings for accommodation.
He has visited Kinmen and Penghu, creating many pen-and-watercolor paintings of the scenery, Lin said.
Screengrab from Lin Yu-te’s Facebook page
An art student since junior-high school, Lin said his parents are teachers and it took some effort to convince them to support his project.
Lin is visiting the islands of Matsu for his summer vacation and has explored Dongyin (東引) after having completed the Nangan (南竿) and Beigan (北竿) leg of his trip.
He plans to produce 100 paintings of Matsu’s scenery this summer, he said.
Lin said he had done his homework before visiting Matsu and found hostel owners willing to be paid in paintings.
To get to interesting locations to make sketches, he travels by bus, arranges rides with local residents or hitchhikes, Lin said.
“Because of its location, Matsu has preserved its Mindong (閩東) style architecture and frontier garrison town features,” which he finds quite special, he said.
“The Formosa sikka deer on Daqiu Island [大坵] are very cute,” he said.
“Discovering those things in Mastu has been terrific,” he added.
He hopes to capture scenes of beauty from the places he has not visited before he graduates from high school next year and publish his work, Lin said.
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