Day & Night Sketchwalk @ Tiong Bahru, 30/05/10

day two of wood firing

Wood firing at the dragon kiln is a 2-day 1-night event. I stayed overnight to help out with the wood firing at the stoke holes at two sides of the dragon kiln. Helpers came at 2am and 4am so I was not required to feed the dragon but helped with minor duty instead. I helped with preparing clay slip to seal off the stoke holes and recording the temperature readings etc. I also got to take a nap in the comfortable air-cond office while others had to sleep in the cars or on the benches in the open air.

At around 6am on day two of wood firing, we took the buggy out for a spin on the jungle trail admiring the sun rays penetrating through the thick foliage in the woods. When we returned from the jungle adventure, I did another watercolour piece in the early morning and this time, on my favourite tree house and the banyan tree.

The first piece of watercolour was done on day one of wood firing, you can see it here. Tell me which one you like better.

another sketch after dinner

I realise I almost forgotten about this sketch. It was pouring like cats and dogs so I stayed after dinner at this eating house. I sketched with my new acquired Noodler's Peranakan Brown ink made exclusively for our local market.

Taiwan Trip sketches

Just back from Taiwan with my sketches. post a few here so it is not hogging it .
rest are on my blogWhen I travelled, I travel in the best- budget air- jetstar, ha, ha


Mountain climbing at Yangminshan..up the highest peak . Mount Qixing (Seven Star Mountain), has an elevation of 1120 meters (3,674 ft), and its peak is the highest point in Taipei City.. The area is known as the "grass mountain too, with the tall silver grass covering the entire slope


Jiufen.. another area near Taipei with the houses on the slope. It got lotsa traditional teahouses .





Typical stall near "danshui laoxie" - an old street filled with taiwanese eateries and snack.





When I think of Taipei.. I think of scooters..zipping everywhere literally.
For those who been to Wufenpu, you will know what I meant


Boarding area.. on way back .. with everyone lost in their own thoughts and thing

Sketch Walk this Friday and Saturday

Sketchwalk for the month of May will be held at two separate locations on two separate times:

FIRST LOCATION
Friday, 28 May 2010, 5pm till late.
1. Tia and friends invite you to join them as they do wood firing and sketching at the Thow Kwang Pottery Jungle, Boon Lay area. 5pm till late on Vesak Day, Friday 28 May 2010. There will be a BBQ too (contribution of $5). Please contact Tia at 96968080 for more info. Directions: drop at Boon Lay MRT station, take bus no. 199 to bus stop after Jalan Bahar flyover, walk in along the kampong tarmac road. Lots to sketch along the way - big and small trucks, motorcycles and cars, trees and plants…. then about 10 mins, you will see the very interesting gate…..and POTTERY JUNGLE!!!




SECOND LOCATION
Saturday, 29 May 2010, 9am.
2. Andrew and James will lead another group to sketch at Ghim Moh wet market/hawker center. On saturday morning, 29 May 2010. The place is bustling with people buying they groceries, eating breakfast and selling goods from small makeshift stalls. This old market/hawker place might not be around too much longer so this is a good opportunity to draw it before it is torn down and turned into a modern hawker center. Breakfast can be eaten in between drawing.

To join us, simply meet us at Bouna Vista mrt control station at 9am. We will then begin walking to the market at 9am sharp. If you can’t find us, call Andrew at 91070735.

Block 71 Seng Poh Road, Tiong Bahru

This is my version of the same building when me, Tia and Don went out sketching last Sunday. The bugs were just attacking us as the sun went down. Never to sit on the grass patch again. Now i am just contemplating if I should add some colours to create some accent.

Back @ Tiong Bahru

I am in fact pretty curious what sketchers bring along in their bags and what kind of bags would they bring to a sketching trip. Clockwise from the left. The first bag which was bought in Hong Kong belongs to Paul. He says there are many compartments that are really useful to store and organize things in a very orderly manner. I love the bag, and according to Paul, it may be available in Wisma. The brand is Porter. On the right is Madam Tia's. A little cloth bag that stores everything from pens to sketchbooks and she brings at least 2 of them. Sometimes she keeps her "Hero" in her back pocket.

This is where we got to know KK who bought the apartment back in 1995, when Tiong Bahru was going like hot cakes. As you can see we sketched him while he was maintaining his old Volks Golf which is now 21 years old. It is rarely common for a Singaporean to own a car that long since it is more "economical" to buy and sell a car in a cycle of 3-4 years. Noone maintains his car on their own here. It is too much of a hassle since you can pay someone to do it.

When I was in the States, to save cost, many of my friends maintained their own car. I got to know a friend who has a garage. Once in a while we would visit him on a weekend to do an oil change. It is like spending time together for the entire afternoon. We would talk and "clean up" the car. I drive a mini caravan which is already 14 years old.

Sketching @ Tiong Bahru

Really nice weather today - so I have to sketch.

opp bras basah

Art Friend, Singapore

Art Friend has been around for as long as I can remember and all design or art student in Singapore will definitely know this place. I have been visiting them for 20years since my life as a design student. Brings back fond memories of buying art materials and rushing to finish projects.

my living room

drawn with chinese brush.

Study trip to the National Museum, Singapore

Brought a group of 1st year environment design students to our very own National History Museum for a visit.


National History Museum, Singapore, originally uploaded by Paul SG.
Food gallery section of the Museum. The tricycle is actually our original food-on-wheels.

Traditional cooking utensils and tools for frying our yummy chay kway teow (fried noodles).

Sketching our lunch

Pepper lunch from the food court in Funan Center. We have been finding gadgets there quite frequently so inevitably we are eating there pretty often.

There were 2 kinds of beef in this set meal. Beef slices and Hamburger steaks! They comes raw on the hot pot and you have to cook them yourself. The hot plate is hot enough to even cook a fish and the meat and the rice remained piping hot even after a long time. The garnishes were corn and bean sprouts. The miso was pretty tasty but it was too MSGy that day so we were left thirsty after the meal.

Food court @ Funan Center is quite good and it has many special food choices. We don't really mind eating there as often as we like. Kat has her dance and singing classes there so I think we would be there pretty much every week.

"D

Dinner Time at the coffee shop, Singapore

Walked into this very local coffee shop near home for a quick bite. Ordered a plate of plain rice topped with stirred fried vegetables, fish and tofu.

caught the sketching bug during work

A colleague brought this bicycle to the studio for students to draw. The sketching bug got onto me that I had to sit next to the students and sketch. The young student sitting next to me must have felt so intimidated as he took a very long time to just draw a few lines. I remember talking to myself : "How is he going to finish the drawing with tonal values before the class ends? Oh dear, I better leave now." So I left the class without looking at his face and please if you are that student reading this, I apologise for intruding into your class.