In contemporary figurative painting, often layered with thick paint, sketching seems to serve merely as a process of gathering material: a collage of different scenes, pieced together through a slow studio process, eventually resulting in paintings rich with narrative and suggestion. However, compared to more strategic and conceptual contemporary works, sketching is more akin to a series of artistic experiments, emphasizing the artist’s presence and reaction before the subject being painted. Presented by "Celestial Serendipity," the solo exhibition The City of Shimmer by Taiwanese artist Ellie (Yu Siyi) showcases her recent world sketching works in watercolor, taking the audience back to the pure essence of painting and intuitive beauty. The artist measures the world with her feet and captures the minutiae of life with her brush, depicting what she sees and feels in the ebb and flow of light and shadow. As she says, "The best moments are on the road, and the happiest encounters often unfold when least expected." Unlike basic sketching materials or even digital tools, Ellie has invented her own "grass brush": sharpening plant stems into fine brushes or binding multiple plants together to form a painting tool. The use of grass brushes and ink imparts a unique, rough-edged contour and an impressionistic touch to her works, distinguishing them from the precise lines typical of architectural sketching. Each piece presents a dynamic movement, imagining the flow of light, time, memory, and crowds; another distinctive feature of the artist’s work is her depiction of people. While sketches often exclude figures or exaggerate individual subjects, Ellie’s works are always filled with blurred figures, inviting us into lively environments while allowing space for personal reflection. The exhibition also features works created by Ellie during her travels around the world, including remarkable pieces from her participation in the Cusco International Watercolor Conference. She measures the local landscapes with her steps and captures the light, shadows, and atmosphere of each place with watercolor. As the artist puts it: "Travel and creation stem from the same original intent: once you start, you’ve already overcome the hardest step." In each piece, one can feel the artist’s genuine emotions as she blends the culture and life of distant places into the canvas, prompting us to reconsider how we view the ordinary and the extraordinary in our daily lives with a pure perspective.