SketchWalk @ Tiong Bahru 27/03/2010

This is my 2nd sketch walk with the Singapore Urbansketchers. I had a blast this morning with you guys even though the weather was extremely hot and humid.See you at the next Sketchwalk.

sketchwalk result

We had a great turn out last Saturday, 27 Mar2010 sketchwalk at Tiong Bahru Estate, one of the oldest neighbourhood in Singapore. We started around 9am after a hearty breakfast at the famous Tiong Bahru Food Center and ended at around 1pm at the same place for lunch. I did four sketches and they are all posted here.

Here are some pictures, enjoy!

Dinner @ Bugis Junction

Sushi and Bento dinner... yummy... but my unagi was too small... the miserly chef!

lunch time sketch

This was done during lunch time under the indoor comfort of Dome, my favourite lunch place whenever I go to Singapore River for a field trip with the students. The coffee stain was on the postcard size watercolour paper already. Taking advantage of the coffee stain, I put the Supreme Court Building aka the flying saucer and the Victoria Concert Hall next to each other although they were at quite a distance apart with each other.

New Tea @ ION - Old Tea @ Sims Drive Market, Singapore

It was an interesting experience to have tea at TWG tea company. I did not know that they are actually a Singapore company with a rich history. They claim to have nearly 800 different types of tea from around the world. There were indeed lots of colourful tea containers in the shop. Go check out the shop at ION but be prepared to wait for a table.

Teh Tarik = (literally pulled tea or 拉茶 in Mandarin) is a hot tea beverage which can be commonly found in restaurants, outdoor stalls and kopi tiams in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Its name is derived from the pouring process of "pulling" the drink back and forth during preparation. It is made from black tea and condensed milk.

The old man in the sketch is having a drink and resting his tired legs while the Indian female owner of the drink stall looks out for her next customer.

Quentin's @ Eurasian Community House, Singapore

Quentins is the in-house restaurant at the Eurasian community house along Ceylon road. They serve authentic and yummy eurasian cuisine. Albeit too spicy for my liking but still very nice. This sketch is an edited collection of the many antiques and pictures in the restaurant. You can read more about the Eurasians and their cuisine at Quentin's website.

Sketchwalk 27 March, Saturday 9am

The upcoming sketchwalk will be around Tiong Bahru, one of the older neighbourhoods in Singapore and also a place where good food abound! Meeting point will be Tiong Bahru Market (a short walk from Tiong Bahru MRT station). Starting off time will be 9am sharp! Those interested in joining us for a leisurely breakfast, please meet at 8:15am instead. Please call Andrew 91070735 if you can’t find us. No need to sign up, just show up if you are attending.

Old flats @ Tiong Bahru

I decided to sketch a few interesting units opposite my block of flat. You can tell that this is an indian family just by looking at the religious ornaments above their doors and windows. The sun is out so they brought their laundries to the common corridor too.

This particular unit belongs to a medium who runs a home based temple. The banner suggests that he represents the monkey god spirit through whom people come to him for advice. They often hang colourful flags and banners to announce their presence.

Back to Jago Close again for breakfast

Well we were back at Jago Close again… for breakfast! As usual we ordered fried carrot cake, both black and white versions, then washed down with coffee and topped it all up with Roti Prata! We sat quite near the road so our view was the building on the opposite side where a really tall tree stands majestically overlooking everything. I decided to sketch that but the paper wasn’t big enough for the entire tree… no it was my bad judgement.

field trip with students

At today's field trip, I was so inspired by students' enthusiasm that I completed two pieces of watercolour pieces on location to illustrate different techniques and tools. This piece was with coffee stains, salts and watercolours. The other piece was on Botero's big bird and you can see the piece here.

Thye Hong fried hokkien prawn noodle @ Wisma, Singapore

In line with Don's fascination for good food this is my contribution. This has to be one of my favourite fried hokkien mee in Singapore. There is always a long queue at the stall located at Wisma Atria foodcourt but worth the wait. The noodles come served on this boat like container made out of some kind of dried leave. The sambal chilli is a wonderful companion for this flavourful dish. Must try!

Random Sketches

I sketch to keep myself sane.

Seng Poh Road @ Tiong Bahru, Singapore

Lovely pre-war flats near the old Tiong Bahru market. This block has very interesting and unique architectural ornamentation adapted from the Art Deco movement. Each block in this little estate has slightly unique and different design variations. You can find another sketch of Tiong Bahru estate here.  

The Old Tree

I was attracted to this old Madras Thorn tree that grows in a small park at the end of Kuo Chuan Ave, Katong. The trunk is huge and looks on the verge of being melted and its roots are protruding above the ground like tired veins of a hand. I sketched it one late evening, there was a young toddler playing, watched over by his grand parents. Before I could draw them into my sketch, they had disappeared. Many thanks to Tia for introducing me to USk, S'pore, and all her patient help to educate on the intricacies of manouvering inside the blog.

Penang

Another fabulous piece of architecture in Georgetown called the Leong Yin Kean Mansion. This mansion is located at the far end of the famous E & O Hotel along the coastline. The story of the building revolves around rival families building their homes as close to the sea as possible, thus blocking their neighbours. Early version of `one-upsmanship' I suppose.

Penang

This is the famous Peranakan Mansion in Penang where `The Little Nonya' was filmed. The interior is very well preserved, complete with household implements that weaves many a story of intrigues of a bygone era.

Penang

This is the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Leith Street. It's got a fabulous history of a Chinese migrant made good. The house was designed within strict Feng Shui principle e.g. Penang Hill behind the mansion at a distance.

Toast Box Coffee and Sketching

Starting point for the recent Sketchwalk/Crawl - Toast Box was also the meeting point for breakfast but I had only coffee and did a quick sketch to wash down and warm up! Here it is:

Life Figure Drawing Studies

These 3 above are quick 5 minute poses.

These 2 poses were drawn over 40 mins. Whilst spring cleaning, I decided to finally take photos of these drawings which I did in late Jan/early Feb before I chucked them aside till another necessary round of spring cleaning. The drawings are about A2 size.

Sketchwalk drawings from saturday.

It was fun sketching with all of you.