The artist’s spectacular watercolor paintings depict cities around the world

Chinese artist and frequent traveler Kwan Yeuk Pang captures the world around him in a series of spectacular watercolors. Her use of desaturated colors, restrained palette, and carefully constructed layers of washes work together to create rich, atmospheric scenes. From the bustling streets of Shanghai and Hong Kong to ornate cathedrals and European cityscapes, each painting manages to capture a multitude of delicate and fleeting moments.

The urban sketching movement invites artists to document their daily lives with quick drawings and paintings in journals or sketchbooks. Even though the process is often quick, talented urban designers like Pang are able to freeze the moment and amplify his qualities. For example, in an image of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, he basically uses two colors to construct the scene: a peachy orange for the sky and architectural highlights, and a bluish purple for the shadows and foreground. Many tourists and locals are caught in the scene, along with the iconic Venetian pigeons, scattered around the wide cobbled plaza or taking flight into the cloudy evening sky.

In another piece depicting a wintry cityscape in Hangzhou, China, a flame of fiery orange and red shows the street warmly lit by garlands of glowing lanterns against the cold blue night sky. The umbrellas of passers-by reflect the light from above in crimson and yellow, while white spots show the snow falling gently, only to melt into the dripping street.

When not drawing in the city, Pang shares his skills by teaching regular classes to up to 60 watercolor enthusiasts. You can see more of his awesome paintings on Instagram.