JANUARY SKETCHWALK

For the first official sketchwalk of the year, we are going to do something special! We're going to do an Island-wide sketchwalk! The reason is because we want all of you to capture sketches for the upcoming Urbansketchers Singapore Vol.2 book. And all sketches need to be compiled by February! Very soon!

Let me tell you a bit more about the vol.2 book. It is a team-up with the National Library's Singapore Memory Project. So the focus of the book this round are sketches of places that have special meaning to you and your personal stories behind the places. In the book, your sketch and story will be displayed something like this: 

Got it?

Sketch can be landscape or portrait. We will adjust the layout.

SKETCHWALK LOCATIONS ON 31st JAN, SATURDAY.

We all have places in Singapore that are meaningful to us. It may be your old school, the neighbourhood playground where you used to play with your friends,  the place you got married, the shopping centre your parents used to take you to, where you used to hang out in your teenage years, or where something very happy or sad or important happened to you. We all have different locations in mind. So we can't all go to the same place. Therefore, this month, we splitting into mini groups.

You may form your own mini-group, do a solo, or join one of the mini groups that have been set up already (if your meaningful location is very close to theirs). To join a mini group listed below, simply show up at 4pm at the location stated. Call the mini group leader only if you are lost. No sign up or fees necessary. They are all friendly so make friends with them:) 

Name: Ignatius

Place/s you want to go: Tiong Bahru

Phone number: 97450038

Meeting point: Tiong Bahru Food Centre. Ground level next to the escalator. 4pm.

Time: 4-7pm 

Name: Tony Chua

Place/s you want to go: In vinicity area of Telok Kurau till Still Road.

Phone number: 97898637 

Meeting Point: Penny University, Artisanal Coffeeshop, 402, East Coast. Just outside the main entrance. 4pm.

Time: 4- 7pm 

Name:  David Liew

Place/s you want to go: Holland Village / Chip Bee Estate 

Phone number: 96896312   

Meeting point:  Holland V MRT (in front of Old Chang Kee) 4pm.

Time: 4-7pm

Name:  Don Low

Place/s you want to go: Race Course Road

Phone number: 84183032

Meeting point:  Farrer MRT Station Control at 4pm

Time: 4-7pm

Name: Jenny Sim

Phone number: 94891416

Place/s you want to go: About Street 11, Pasir Ris

Meeting point:  Pasir Ris MRT station counter at 4pm

Time: 4-7pm

Name: Francis Theo

Phone number: 90021001

Place/s you want to go: Tras St and Peck Seah St area

Meeting point: Tanjong Pager MRT station counter at 4pm

Time: 4-7pm

Name: Ban Pang

Phone number: 93858391

Place/s you want to go: Kampong on mainland Singapore, Kampong Buangkok

Meeting point: Meet at Shell Station next to Gerald Dr. at 4pm

Time: 4-7pm

Name: Lim Ham Seng and Dawn Lo

Phone number: 97414633

Place/s you want to go: Sunset Way Park Connector

Meeting point: Blk 308 Coffee Shop Clementi Ave 4 at 4pm

Time: 4-7pm

Name: TIA BOON SIM

Phone number: 96968080

Place/s you want to go: Prinsep St and Waterloo St Vacinity

Meeting point: Outside Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church at 4pm

Time: 4-7pm

Name: Andrew Tan Tsun Wen

Phone number: 91070735

Place/s you want to go: Serene Centre along bukit timah road. And then take a bus to Bukit Timah Plaza.

Meeting point: MacDonalds at Serene Centre at 4pm

Time: 4-7pm

Name: Alice Lim

Phone number: 96369780

Place/s you want to go: Dakota crescent 

Meeting point: Dakota MRT at 4pmTime: 4-7pm 

To form your own mini-group, you can do it informally with your own friends. Or Facebook PM me, Andrew Tan Tsun Wen, so I can list it here.

By the way, even if you not intending to contribute to the book, you are can still tag along and draw for fun.

SHOW AND TELL

It will be an online Facebook "show and tell" this time. Between 7-8pm, you are encouraged to post your drawings you have done that day! You could also informally meet with other mini-groups for dinner!

WRITING THE STORY

No hurry on this. Go sketch your meaningful sketch location. Let the location jog your memory. Then go home and type it up. Keep the story short. 1 or 2 paragraphs will do. Do not write pages and pages as we will not have enough room in the book.

Don't worry if you feel you aren't a good story writer. We just want you to write from the heart as if you are writing in your own diary. Simple and heartfelt. And we will help you edit any spelling mistakes or grammer errors. To help you write a simple short story, follow this rough guideline (you don't have to answer every question):

1. What is this place you drew?

2. What do/did you see, hear, smell here? 

3. What happened to you here that makes this place special to you?

4. How has it changed?

5. How did it make you feel then? And now?

SUBMISSION

We are still sorting out the best way you can submit your sketch & story. For the time being, find a scanner and scan your work at 600dpi, RGB, and saved as in the .jpg format. Make sure the sketch is clear. 

Ideally, we will want to include everyone who submits. But the editorial team will have the right to select and reject submissions based on quality and suitability.

Queen Street and Waterloo Street

Orchard Rd on a Gloomy Day

Here are two sketches I drew today at the last sketchwalk.

They are drawn on the Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook that I bought 2 years ago. Yeah, I'm only using it now. Damn, I discovered just behind the cover, there are spots of mould. -_-. The pages inside are alright though, for the time being. Singapore's wet weather is brutal to paper.


Orchard Road is not on my list of favourite places in Singapore. While it's touted as a shopping street, personally, I find it to be quite soul-less. Maybe it's just me. I'm not a shopping person.

Shopping centres line the streets and that pretty much sums up the shopping district of Singapore.

It was a gloomy overcast day at Orchard Road today. There weren't many people on the streets, and they are mostly tourists. It could be that many locals have taken the day off on Friday to extend their Christmas holiday (Thursday) into a long weekend.

The sketch above's drawn with Noodler's Bulletproof Ink and a Sennelier 12-pan watercolour set. I'm still trying to get the hang of it. So far, I've to say that it's comparable to Winsor Newton, Blockx or Schmincke sets.

The colours I used were Lemon Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Blue, Forest Green and Warm Sepia.


For this piece, I used almost the same colours here except I swapped out the Alizarin Crimson for French Vermilion.

DECEMBER OFFICIAL SKETCHWALK: ORCHARD RD

Sketch by Daman Angir

Merry Christmas! For this month's sketchwalk, meet us at 9AM outside McDonald's at SCAPE. The closest MRT station is Somerset. We will have a quick briefing and then start on the sketchwalk toward Plaza Singapura.

The route in the map is only the general direction and you are encouraged to take your own detours to discover other views of Orchard Rd than the obvious. For example, take Somerset Road instead. There is a skateboard park there. And if you go up to the 3rd floor of Orchard Gateway, you will get to sketch the new Library@Orchard. Climb up to the top of Orchard Central and you get a bird's eye view of the area. Yes, explore both inside and outside of the malls. Or around and behind. Turn up to Emerald hill to sketch shophouses. Or stop by a cafe, relax and sketch.

Pace yourself so that you can gather with the group again at 12PM sharp OUTSIDE of the entrance to Plaza Singapura. If it rains, look for the nearest shelter there.

See you on saturday. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join. No drawing skill level required. No fees either. Just bring your own drawing materials and show up on time. If you are late, just look for anyone with a sketchbook drawing along the way. Only in case of emergencies, call 91070735.

Lucky draw

Join the lucky draw by clicking the picture below sponsored by Parkablogs.com

My Separate Malacca Trip

My husband and I went to Malacca for a short weekend company getaway trip a week earlier than my sketcher friends. Malacca was super crowded and the traffic jam was so bad. There was no way for me to sketch the famous landmark - The Red House with the group tour but I still managed to sketch when the tour members went shopping and I stayed in the hotel room or a cafe to relax and sketch.

This view was from our hotel room at Hatten Hotel just opposite the Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall looking at Malacca skyline. The famous Jonkor Street is in the middle with the yellow end wall. Overall, the impression of this trip was not up to my expectation but our spirit was always high.

We were lucky to have a room with a view at Hatten Hotel on the 16th storey. The room was very big with 2 TVs. It was love at first sight but later on, we had to call for bath towers and the curtains did not work that I had to use the paper clips I brought for sketches to hold the curtains together. I noticed some rooms like those opposite our corridor faced the 5-metre narrow internal courtyard overlooking each other's room.

You can see my other Malacca sketches on my blog.

Panorama Sketch of Emerald Hill

This sketch was done on location at Emerald Hill, Singapore on 24th and 28th Sept 2013.

I took 2 morning ( 4 hours each ) to complete this panorama sketch.

Materials used - 1 Moleskine Japanese Album 9X14cm , 2 Lamy Safari pens with F & B nibs,

Noodler's Polar Brown Ink.

The sketch is 270cm X 14cm

Sketches from Malacca trip 2014

Below are the sketches I drew while in Malacca, Malaysia.

It wasn't easy as the weather was quite hot. Best time to draw is always in the morning or evening. Not just because it's more cooling, but you also get to see shadows being cast from the sides than from the top.


My first piece was a disaster in terms of colour choice. Too much colours were used. As Walt Stanchfield said, "We all have 10000 bad drawings in us. The sooner we get them out the better."

I brought along a Sennelier 12-half pan palette watercolour box set. It's a set I bought for review but don't use often. I still need more time to get used to the colours and mixing.


In the background is the famous Chris Church in Malacca that was built in 1753. Just for some comparison, Singapore was founded only in 1819. I always enjoyed looking at architecture and visiting places older than Singapore. I find it fascinating to read about stories from the time before there was even Singapore.

I probably drew this pen and ink sketch under an hour. The thick outlines were added with a 0.8 Copic multiliner at home to make the form of the buildings stand out more.


This is another sketch of the Christ Church. After completing the black and white sketch of it, I knew I had to go back and draw another piece with colours added. This place is iconic because most of the buildings around are painted red.

I stood on the balcony by the side of this building called The History and Ethnography Museum (Muzium Sejarah Dan Ethnografi) located at the Stadthuys at the junction of Jalan Kota and Jalan Gereja. It's a good place to take photos too with the church in the background.

This sketch was drawn in the evening so the sun has moved over to the front.

The white cross on the church was added in Photoshop. I forgot all about it and painted the whole building red and only realised it back at home.


This is a big plane model at the park beside Jalan Taman. I was trying out different ways to draw leaves. If you noticed from the earlier black and white sketch, I used hatching for the leaves. Here, it looks like smoke. LOL.


This is the front of The History and Ethnography Museum. Again, I drew in the thicker outlines to make the important forms more prominent.


I like drawing the old shop houses along the streets in Malacca. There are so many of them and have so much character.


This is the junction at Jonker Street leading to Jalan Hang Jebat. The scene is quite messy for drawing. On the right side is the long queue of people standing under the hot sun waiting for their turn to eat the famous chicken rice ball. On the left is a replica of some sail ship.


This is St Paul's Church, or more accurately the ruins of St Paul's Church. The roof's gone. The church was built in 1521. There are these huge tombstones laid against the sides of the walls. On the right corner is a stall selling souvenirs. Inside the sheltered area on the right, there's a vendor who told me he knew my friend Marvin Chew. What a small world.


There are several Portuguese ruins in Malacca and the Porta de Santiago is one of them that's part of a fortress called A Famosa, "The Famous". This is the surviving gate for the fort. On the top right of the sketch, you can see St Paul's Church.

Most of the features and design on the front of the gate have already been worn out by the weather. It's interesting to see the odd shaped bricks that were used to build the gate. These bricks had many small holes in them.

Here's the video of the sketchwalk:

Black & White Sketches

Chinese Gardens, Singapore

Chinese Gardens, Singapore

Breakfast Sketch #1

Breakfast Sketch #2

Canvas Shop

People Association Head Quarters , Singapore

Tyrwhitt Road #1, Singapore

Tyrwhitt Road #2, Singapore

My only sketch from the recent sketchwalk at Chinese Garden.

There's so much more areas in the Chinese Garden to capture. I shall be back. =}

Sketchwalk Nov 2014 - Chinese Garden

We had quite a turnout (easily over 70) at our most recent Nov Sketchwalk at the Chinese Garden.

One thing we did not count on when planning this month's sketchwalk was for the most prominent pagoda in the garden to be "Christmas wrapped", i.e. under construction; they had not put that information anywhere for the public's knowledge. However, that little glitch hardly dampened our spirits as there were many other sketch-worthy monuments, sculptures, and other pagodas, and a stone boat area for us to capture.

It turned out to be a fun and fruitful outing. =]