Result of Sketchwalk at Chinatown

I did three sketches at three different locations. These are sketches on the first and last locations. We saw many red lanterns in Chinatown but Chinese New Year's not here yet. The weather was good and there were more tourists than locals on most of the streets in Chinatown. At the last location on the steps of Smith Street Complex, local uncles were seen here playing Chinese chess while others sat or stood around to watch or chat.

October Sketchwalk at Chinatown

Sketching at Chinatown's Food Market

Sketching at Maxwell Food Center

Sketching along Murray Street besides MyArtSpace Tanjong Pagar

This time round I was the lost sheep, straying from the group sketching within the food market when I arrived late for the sketchwalk. But I wasn't the only lost sheep. When I received a call from Madhu, I knew almost immediately that he was lost too. When I finally got down to call him, he has already settled in McDonald but that was already 10am. Then I got a message from Shyam that he was sketching nearby Red Dot Museum so I realized that he was not with the usual group too. Andrew and James were at Murray Street so they were too, "lost". I got a call from James that there is an exhibition in MyArtSpace and wanted me to see it. So at 11am I got to the gallery to see the art show by Gail Patin who has sketched the streets of Singapore like us. But his sketches are even larger and gallery worthy... :D so to speak. Anyway we met up and started to head towards Maxwell Market after making some quick sketches and a video shoot. I took it easy in this sketchwalk, not paying too much attention on sketching but simply catching up with sketchers. Had fun again!! I hope the rest too.

Sketchwalk Chinatown - Starring James and Andrew the sidekick

Watch a fun video of Drew's process and James' antics.

Andrew could draw a crowd

Picture taken by Don Low

Andrew and his gang.... it was a hilarious sight. Actually before I could snap this picture, one of the workers walked away camera shy. However the rest stayed for the picture. It is always nice to hang around artist like Andrew.

Chinatown - an American point of view

Buz with a view finder - Picture taken by Tia

Well, not exactly but it will be nice to hear it from one.
We got to know Buz when he came for his first sketchwalk at Tiong Bahru along with the gallery show curated by White Canvas. During the show and tell, we were marveling at his sketchbook, some were ogling though. I was drooling. Since then Buz has been coming for most of the sketchwalks and I just simply love to see his sketches unraveling on the blank pages of his Moleskin. While we were at Pulau Ubin sketching, he took out from his bag a little cardboard piece like the one in the picture and showed it to me. It is his view finder - a simple device that helps an artist to compose his drawing. I was telling some students to make a viewfinder to help them find their POV but none of them actually made one. So when I saw Buz who is such a prolific and experienced artist whipping out a viewfinder, I concluded that I shouldn't be too complacent myself too. And if any of my students complain they didn't know how to compose a scene, I would then say, you haven't heed my advice. :D

Anyway I am really glad to get to know Buz as a sketcher and as a friend too. He has been an inspiration to me and to many others.

Chinatown (30 Oct 2010)

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SKETCHWALK OCTOBER

You're invited to the upcoming sketchwalk this Saturday at Chinatown. We will meet at the McDonald's across from People's Park complex (see map) at 9am. From there you may spread out in all directions to sketch all the intricacies of chinatown to your heart's content. At 12pm, please plan to conclude your sketchwalk at Maxwell Hawker center (see map) where we will have lunch + show and tell. For more information or directions, please contact Tia 96968080 or Drew 91070735. See you there!

More Ubin Scenes

Here's my take of the stilt house over the water at Pulau Ubin last Saturday. I sat on the opposite side of the house from the rest of the group. While Don heard the lapping of the waves on his side, I was serenaded by a group of old locals sitting a bit behind me & 'solving the problems of the world' (in Mandarin) over their morning coffee. Nice.

The pier was an eyeful of weathered boards in disarray, fishing gear, nets and other fishing flotsam & jetsam - and a great subject to draw.

Sketches from Pulau Ubin

Thanks to Don for organizing the awesome trip :D

Wheelock Place

150mm x 210mm pigment ink sketch. Copic markers, watercolours, 135gsm paper. One Friday night a few weeks ago, I sat down outside Wheelock Place after browsing at Borders and sketched this in pencils and then in ink. A touch of watercolours was introduced later.

Marina Bay Waterfront 1

150mm x 210mm pigment ink sketch. Watercolours, Copic markers. The original pencil sketch was done four years ago from the Esplanade area and the inking and painting followed last night.

Visiting the last kampong in Singapore

The force is strong in the sketchers.

It was basically another impromptu trip to Pulau Ubin, but eveyrthing worked out right. We had a small handful of sketchers who came with their wives and children. Splendid combinations. Budz joined us even though he only came to know about it on Friday evening. :P

We were early too. The weather wasn't too hot. It was humid though. The boat ride to the island was thrilling. We were excited already to see the old boat filled up with artifacts, tools, nets and so forth. We were excited to sketch it but the boat ride lasted only 10 mins. 

When we arrived, we were greeted with lush foliage, old houses with zinc roofs, unpaved walk ways, dirt roads and very tall coconut trees. To the east of the island is a resort. To the west, everything is basically untouched and left the same condition as 50 years ago. 

We sat along the shore to make our first sketch after 30 mins exploring just within 300m around the jetty. The sound of the waves lapping the shore was therapeutic. For a city dweller like me, this is precious. Time seemed to stand still. I wasn't aware of time when I painted. 

I would go back again for another visit, maybe now to the quarry or the beach on the other side.


My Second Sketch

Train Trip to Kluang

Train ride to Kluang, Malaysia

Don and Kat were sitting right infront of me and TIA. We were all very eager about the trip because Don has taken the train 4 times & Kat has never taken the train whilst me & Tia rode the train many years ago. It is nice to see different parts of Singapore from a different angle.

For the 1st location me and Don sat at the coffeeshop to sketch  and also take cover from the heat. The 2 old men next to us was just enjoying the peace and quiet and talking about everything under the sun. The tranquility was a nice change for us especially for me.

Shophouse @ Jalan Wayang, Kluang,, Malaysia

Very charming row of old shophouses from the early 1900s. Sun was setting so i was trying out my yellow washes.

sketching trip to Kluang, Malaysia

First location at Kluang, Johore, Malaysia. I sat at this long empty roadside carpark under the shade near to the railway track on the right. I could see children playing inside the school compound at the end of the road called Jalan Ismail. Not too long, the drivers would ignore me and parked their vehicles right in front of me and blocked my view. They were there to take their lunch at the makeshift food stall behind me. I had to move several times. Suddenly there were more and more cars that's when I realised the parents were picking up their children from the school. I managed to complete the sketch with all these activities around me before joining Don and Paul at the coffee shop near by to splash some colours for the final touch.

Yan Kit Swimming Complex

Dry swimming.....

11 Yan Kit Road

Washed the sketch at home as it was getting dark at about 7pm....can't really what I was doing!!!

Upper Weld / Kg Kapor Road Junction

Marang Road Apartments

Some aparments tucked away at the end of Marang Road (opposite Vivocity) amongst the greenery.

Bicycle lot and trains

On the train in Oct (part 1 of 2)

Switching to a square composition for drawing in trains. I can manage to draw 6 people before I alight.

Also included are my usual library sketches.

Dailies

Real life scenes drawn from my imagination. pencil, colour pencil and poster colour.

101010 sketch

Yesterday was 101010 and too bad this sketch was not done at 1010 hour. This is the junction of East Coast Road and Sea Ave. Weather was really hot outside so I did this in the comfort of the air conditioned car. The road was narrow and traffic was heavy. I also did it with my sun glasses on as I could not stand the outdoor glare.

The shophouses along this stretch of road are still very attractive although some shophouses have been renovated with big signs on the facade covering the beautiful second storey french windows. Some roofs are also not properly done with just a layer of bitumen felt roofing laid with timber battens over to weigh it down. The church in this sketch is Church of the Holy Family.

Old Supreme Court Facade

Had a chance to be around City Hall area yesterday, and happened to bring along my a4 sketchbook so I sneaked time to went to the front of the old Supreme court building and sketch it. Took me around 30 minutes to draw this one since I wanted to capture more details of the structure. I resisted to put a grey wash on it since I thought with all the inked details, it is better that way-- just plain ink on paper, and a dab of warm and cool copic on the shadows. (click on image to view the large file)

City Hall Sketches (October 2, 2010)