JULY SKETCHWALK

Sketch by Parka

This month's sketchwalk will be held at the newly opened Singapore Sports Hub. At 9AM, please meet in front of the Sports Hub Library outside exit A (see map below) of Stadium MRT station (circle line). 

We will have a quick briefing and then by 9:15pm(latest), a Sports Hub guide will be taking us into the new National Stadium to draw. Please note that entry into the Stadium is restricted and you will only be able to enter with the Sports Hub guide. If you are late, and the group has gone in, you will not be given entry but you can still draw around the Sports Hub. You are encouraged to be early if you'd like to enter the National Stadium area.

Around the Sports Hub, there should be lots to see indoors and outdoors so pace yourself. At 12PM sharp, please be back at the meeting point outside the Sports Hub Library for a small gathering where we see everyone's work, take pictures and have the prize giveaway. The leader for this month's sketchwalk is James Tan. So call him at 98787140 if you get lost. But please call only if absolutely necessary because he will be busy sketching too.

Like all our sketchwalks, this is open to everyone, regardless of age or skill level. No fees or membership sign-up required. Just show up at the time stated and join us.

After lunch (which you could have at the Kallang Wave Mall at the Sports Hub), Marvin Chew is inviting a maximum of 20 people to visit his studio nearby. He will be setting up a facebook post for that and the first 20 people who sign up will be able to visit his studio. Look for him immediately after "show and tell". Marvin's number is 81132851. Contact him if you can't find his group after lunch.

Lucky draw

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

DaySprings Residential Treatment Centre & Transitional Home

A commissioned piece I did on location today for DaySpring Residential Treatment Centre and Transitional Home — a home for abused young girls. This is their new government-sponsored premise along Turf Club Road. It's a restored pre-war real estate with luscious greens all around. Delightful. 

When the director of this home, who is a personal friend, approached me to paint this (initially meant to be their logo, but later they designed something else for that), I agreed in a heartbeat, 'cos I really believe in what they do; I knew abuse myself growing up. 

It was after I'd agreed on this job that I found out that President Tony Tan would grace the official launch on July 4, and the original painting would be presented to him as a gift from the home, and is expected to be displayed at the Istana (Singapore's White House). Cream on the cake. Haha. (Too bad I would not be able to attend the launch, as that is the day I leave for Sketching Georgetown 2014.)

I took a tour (with my family in tow) of the place after sketching this today, and was blown away by how well run the home is, and heartened by the fact that these precious ones are so well taken care of. I even spoke with one bright 15-year-old gal who is well on the way to recovery. 

What a privilege.

Here's their website: http://www.dayspring.org.sg

"Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles." - Sir Thomas Browne

Pat Ng

June Sketchwalk: Whampoa

USKSG - June Sketchwalk.

For the month of June, we will be having our sketchwalk at the old and beloved residential area of Whampoa! We will meet at 9.30 in the morning, at the eating place at Saint Michael BusTerminal (buses at this station: 21, 124, 125, 131, 186).

Saint Michael's Bus Terminal

You may arrive earlier and have a bite to eat or sketch the place while you wait. The terminal itself is a landmark and icon. We will say hello before we depart and commence on our own sketch trails thereafter. After which, we shall meet for our customary show-and-tell in the afternoon at 12.30 under the shelter, located on the right of the basketball court at Whampoa Community Club.

Whampoa Community Club

Meeting place at Saint Michael's Bus Terminal (Red Circle) and Show-and-Tell at Whampoa CommunityClub (Blue Circle)

The area is a precinct located at Novena, Singapore and was named after Hoo Ah Kay, better known as "Whampoa" (due to his origin from China) during the early years of Singapore as a British settlement. His many contributions to the Straits Settlements, accompanied with the fact that he could speak both Chinese and English well thus made him an important bridge between the two communities. The respect for his contributions thus resulted in this area being named after him.

The area is mainly a residential area, consisting many blocks of the HDB flats, within the estates of Bahagia, Tenteram and the main one, Whampoa. Whampoa estate contains many of the primary amenities such as a wet market and a hawker centre,  a community club, a mosque and an NKF kidney dialysis centre. The Saint Michael’s Bus Terminal serves as the precinct’s principal transport hub, linking the area to the city and other precincts.

For recreation, there is the Whampoa Waterpark, which runs along Whampoa River and links the parks of Saint George’s Estate, Whampoa Estate and the Jalan Rajah Estate. In addition, there is a park, which used to extend from Whampoa to Saint George’s but was contracted in the mid-80s to accommodate the construction of the Central Expressway.

Summary:

Saturday, 28 June, meeting at the eating place at Saint Michael’s Bus Terminal (red marker, see picture attachment below) at 9.30AM and ending at 12.30PM, at the shelter at Whampoa Community Club (blue marker).

There are neither fees nor attendance taken. While there is no coaching or teaching involved, all drawing-skill levels are welcome. This sketchwalk (like all sketchwalks) is open to everyone and anyone. All you have to do is show up on time.

Lucky draw

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

Bedok Reserviour Park

This piece was done at the first sketchwalk of this year in January 2014. However, it is a larger format that I finally find time to scan in small parts in my small printer and merge them with Photoshop. It is really hard work.

Bedok Reservoir Park is a beautiful park in the east just next to Temasek Polytechnic where I work. The building on the left is School of Design and the tall structure is the library. The green roof which is the icon of the campus is copper roof which when it was first completed in 1995, we were told it was the most expensive copper roof contract in the world.

size : 680mm x 240mm

The Line to Esplanade

The Esplanade in Singapore is probably the most challenging building to draw for me. I find it difficult to interpret the spiky thorns.

I was trying to use the parapet to guide the eye to the Esplanade. I guess it sort of works, except I forgot to keep the highlights for the building so now there's really no focal point -- you won't even know which is the Esplanade -- it's that building with curves by the top right. Well, every painting you make, you learn something.

Materials: Fabriano Artistico Traditional White 300GSM, Kremer Pigments.

Kreta Ayer (16 Jun 2014)

These are two sketches from today at Kreta Ayer Road, Singapore.


This was drawn on the second floor of the block opposite. I like the view from this angle. The idea is to capture the shophouses with the temple in the background.

I'm still using the 14-pan Kremer Pigments watercolour box. I'm starting to get the hang of the colours.

This piece was painted with the colours Permanent Yellow Medium, Irgazine® Ruby, Cobalt Blue Dark, Phthalo Green Dark and Burnt Umber Dark Brown.

Specific choice of Ruby and Pthalo Green are included so that a deep dark can be mixed. And as usual, the intense granulation you see is from the Cobalt Blue Dark. The texture and gradation provides visual interest.

This piece is also a repaint of one sketch that I drew last year which I wasn't very satisfied with:




The temple at the back is the Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple.

For this piece, I tried a desaturated colour scheme with Titanium Orange, Venetian Red, Cobalt Blue Light, Phthalo Green Dark and Burnt Umber Dark Brown. Basically, I swapped the three primary colours. It's a muted scheme which I quite like. The thing to note is, it's difficult to get deep darks.

It's a rather similar scheme that I used for sketched Beatty Lane last month.

Kids on the field (11 Jun 2014)

Sketching from 12-2pm when the sun is at the top is quite challenging. Thank goodness there's a water cooler at the shelter nearby.

For this sketch, I was trying to convey the scale of the small kids to the place.

This sketch was drawn on the Fabriano Artistico 300GSM watercolour paper that I'm now trying. I really love the paper. It's the coldpress surface has a nice grain texture on it. Works well with pen and ink, and the 100% is not too dry, absorbs water well. The white surface also brings out the colours.

I'm still using Kremer Pigments and the colours are Perm Yellow Medium, Irgazine Ruby Red, Cobalt Blue Deep, Phthalo Green Dark and Raw Sienna.

I'm loving the Cobalt Blue Deep and Raw Sienna mixture which gives a nice neutral, but the mixture can't go very dark. The dark darks are from two powerful staining colours Ruby Red and Phthalo Green.

On hindsight, I should have mixed the yellow with a bit more blue. The yellow seems out of place now.

My Awesome Cafe (7 Jun 2014)

I'm trying out Kremer Pigments watercolours. I'm not sure if I like it or dislike it.


Kremer Pigments, Saunders Waterford 300GSM, Faber Castell Pearwood Ambition

My Awesome Cafe is a pretty nice cafe at 202 Telok Ayer Street. Legs of the tables and chairs there are made of pipes. They look cool, but are really heavy. There were lots of couples there today, and some sketchers.

That thing on the table is an ammunitions box with paper towels inside.

Colours used are Titanium Orange, Irgazine® Ruby, Cobalt Blue Light, Phthalo Green Dark and Burnt Umber Dark Brown.

Iroshizuku Ink Sketches

Material used : Pilot V7 Hi-Tecpoint pen, Iroshizuku Inks and Magma Sketchbook.

Material used : Pilot V7 Hi-Tecpoint pen, Iroshizuku Inks and Magma Sketchbook.

  

Material used : Pilot V7 Hi-Tecpoint pen, Iroshizuku Inks and S&B Beta Sketchbook.

  

Material used : Pilot V7 Hi-Tecpoint pen, Iroshizuku Inks and Daler Rowney Aquafine paper.

  

Material used : Pilot V7 Hi-Tecpoint pen, Iroshizuku Inks and S&B Beta Sketchbook.

  

 Material used : Pilot V7 Hi-Tecpoint pen, Iroshizuku Inks and Magma Sketchbook.

  

Material used : Namiki pens, Iroshizuku Inks and S&B Beta Sketchbook.

May Sketchwalk: Lavender / Jalan Besar

USKSG - May Sketchwalk.
Hosted by Eve, Paul, Vincent & William.

For the month of May, we will be having our sketchwalk within the vicinity of the up-and-coming hipster place of Lavender/Jalan Besar area! We will meet at 9 in the morning, outside Lavender MRT Station, at the space outside of Wendy’s (the junk food joint) and thereafter, depart and commence on our own sketch trails at 9.30. After which, we shall meet for our customary show-and-tell in the afternoon at 12.30 under the shelter and outside Jalan Besar Sports Complex, opposite the shophouses along Horne Road.

Lavender, with its once-famous landmark of the Kallang Gasworks (if you are, ahem, grown-up enough to remember) used to be the sewage area of the island during its colonial past. A popular anecdote of how the place got its name, was the colonists, who simply could not withstand the pong around and in the area, so decided to christen the place ‘Lavender’ – a term associated with perfumery and laundry. Oh, how dry and ironic, the typical British wit.

Jalan Besar was part of Serangoon Road, the main transport artery of the island way back when expressways were unheard of (PIE-what?), and was the stretch what some of our grandparents might refer to as “三马路” [sah-bey-lor (Hokkien); sah-beh-lou (Teochew); sam-mah-lou (Cantonese)].

The place, though not earmarked as a heritage site or for conservation as extensively as Little India itself, has enough history of its own. Many of the area’s buildings have been given a new lease of life, conserving its façade through grassroot business projects and businesses. The most prominent cases in point would be Kam Leng Hotel and Chye Seng Huat Hardware.

Otherwise, the spot, which had seen its hey-day in the art-deco 1930s, when New World Amusement park was all the rage, has a brilliant collection of that modern, rectilinear-styled shophouses and buildings.

Now breezing in on the location’s second wind, is a whole parade of cafés, lifestyle stores and multi-label boutiques that have lend their hands in creating the quirky, hipster vibe of the place.

Summary:

Saturday, 31 May, meeting outside Wendy’s at Lavender Station (red marker, see picture attachment below), 9AM, commencing at 9.30AM and ending at 12.30PM, outside Jalan Besar Sports Complex (blue marker).

There are neither fees nor attendance taken. While there is no coaching or teaching involved, all drawing-skill levels are welcome. This sketchwalk (like all sketchwalks) is open to everyone and anyone. All you have to do is show up on time.

Lucky draw giveaway contest

Don't forget to join the lucky draw contest sponsored by Parka.