Red Hill Sketch Walk Turnout

Another successful sketchwalk this April 2011. Despite of the heavy downpour in the morning, the sketchers arrived quite on time, and in no time, started sketching after having their breakfast at the Red Hill Food Center. From the results, most sketchers were intrigued by the unique 80's architectural designs of the subsidized housings here. I was drawn to the people at the food market and as well as the wet market adjacent to it. The greying population in this area looks really interesting. I did a watercolor sketch of a pavilion where many elderly gathered just to chill. Thanks Andrew for suggesting the location. :D

SKETCHWALK REDHILL this saturday

Our upcoming sketchwalk will be at Redhill. (read the story behind the area). Drop at Redhill MRT station. Cross the traffic junction on your left when you exit (A) the station. We will meet at the Redhill food centre (Blk 85 Redhill lane) at 9.30am where you can have your breakfast before sketchwalking.

We will then spread out to any direction we like. To the west are many car showrooms such as Lexus, VW, Porsche. There is a small temple there too. Around the food centre, it is mostly residential. There are HDB flats with varied designs from charming/old to new. Take the opportunity to climb up to a high floor for a different view. The hawker centre and the wetmarket, with its strange roof designs, could be interesting to draw as well. Take your time exploring the area and drawing. At 1230pm, we will return to the food centre for lunch. There are quite a few good stalls there. 

See map HERE. Pls contact Tia 96968080 or Andrew 91070735 if you can't find us.

A suggestion of election rally sketchwalk

Hi all urban sketches


As everyone knows, we are in the heat of election rallies and so let's try to attend some and draw the scenes of the election rally to be posted here, or what we see in these few days.. the loud speaker lorry , the parties distributing pamplets and "begging" you to vote for them .
And if you do attend some rallies, let's post your sketches of it here too!

Let's vote for a ____________(fill in the blanks) country;)

Saturday Sketchwalk @ Tiong Bahru - 23/04

It was wonderful to meet all you fellow sketchers from Singapore last Saturday at Tiong Bahru. These were some of my sketches done last week as part of my preparation for the upcoming exhibition at Whitecanvas Gallery. I hope to see all of you very soon in Singapore.

trip to Suzhou mostly

Not suzhou, but our mrt...


Went to East coast over the long weekend

Bicyles in Suzhou

Japanese restaurant in Suzhou

Italian restaurant in Suzhou

Airport people

Went for a short business trip to Suzhou and most of the time, i was in the office, except for lunch and dinner.. wish I have more time to take in the scenes there as Suzhou is known to be the venice of the east.. i heard

Sketchcrawl with Jayson Yeoh and Hun Kim on 22 - 23 Apr 11

Jayson Yeoh and his friend, Hun Kim are in town and we went sketch crawling.....

Sketch sketch at Thow Kwang

Sketch sketch at Bukit Timah Train Station



Sketch sketch at Tiong Bahru

Melaka Town

The view of the Melaka skyline from my hotel window. Melaka remains charming simply because life is simple. Shophouses are still shophouses. Hopefully, they don't get rebuilt into modern buildings without souls. Hopefully also it's UNESCO-protected status will see that it remains that way.

Tanquerah Mosque, Melaka

This mosque in Melaka was where Singapore's Sultan Hussein's remains were interred. His `kramat' (tomb) is located in one corner of the compound. It is housed in a pavillion and is very well-maintained, complete with the history of the Sultan in Singapore - definitely a must for history students.

Medan railway yard

The railway yard in Medan has seen better days but it was charming nevertheless. One gets almost `transported' to the past just watching the trains in operation complete with manually-controlled signals and tracks.

Medan Post Office interior

This was the octagonal main hall I was referring to. Stained glass murals below the arches were abstracts of local sceneds. The architectural detailing was strong, almost fascist with bold vertical columns spanning the arches.

Medan Post Office

I thought this Dutch building was one of the most interesting buildings in the city. The main hall was an octagon with service counters located in 2 wings attached to the octagon.

Tjong A Fie Mansion airwell

This is the airwell in the Tjong A Fie Mansion. It follows exactly the same feng-shui configuration in Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Penang. Because there are no mountains or hills behind the house to block the outflow of wealth, a split-level was created after the airwell to simulate the hill/mountain. Airwells are important as they allow water (wealth) to flow into the house.

Tjong A Fie Mansion

Tjong A Fie Mansion in Medan, Sumatra. Tjong A Fie was a Hakka migrant who made good in Sumatra in the 19th century. By co-incidence, I found out that he was the cousin of Cheong Fatt Tze (The Blue Mansion) of Penang, another successful pioneer in South East Asia.

Chocolate Bar at VivoCity

Max Brenner, the chocolate bar at Vivo City, has the warm and yummy chocolate fudge called Souffle that cost S$16.00 - expensive but just right for three of us with Macchiato Double and Cappuccino Frappe served in Alice cup, hug mug and kangaroo cup; aesthetically pleasing and well designed mugs. Like most of my cafe and people sketches, people came and gone so I had to sketch in quick lines and completed it with memory. My daughter sitting right in front of me became the model in this sketch.

Fishing Village @ Tai O (大澳), Hong Kong

Stilt Houses @ Tai O fishing Village

I would like to share an interesting place I visited 2 weekends ago here in HongKong. You may find some similarities with houses from other parts of southeast asia.

Despite a nearly 90mins train, ferry and bus journey to get to Tai O, I had a great time exploring the old fishing village. Verifiable human settlement history here is about three centuries old. It is amazing to still see houses on stilts and built on the river. They are mostly built out of thin sheets of metal and wood, materials relatively cheap and light. Some of the villagers are still actively fishing and selling different kinds of dried seafood to visiting tourists. I will definitely go back again for more sketching

I will be back in Singapore from 15-25 April for my Easter holiday and I hope to meet some of you. You will find me sketching at Tiong Bahru a lot as I prepare for our upcoming exhibition so feel free to join me if you are round the corner!

Sketchwalk at Marina

Initially, after a few tries to paste both drawings together to get the full panoramic view, I had to give up.

It looks like I was able to paste them together after all, even though it didn't show up like that in the preview of the post. I am glad you can see it in full.

Marina Bay Urban Sketching March 2011

First and foremost welcome James back from Hong Kong. Hope he had a wonderful honeymoon. Anyway, Zhong Wei, an ADM student from NTU filmed our sketchwalk at Marina Bay in March. He has finished editing his footages (amidst his busy class and submission schedule) to deliver us this wonderful documentation of one of our urban sketching expedition. Thank you Zhong Wei!!

Sketch Walk @ Marina Bay Boulevard - Urban Sketchers Singapore from Wan Zhong Wei on Vimeo.

Now enjoy the video!!

Hong Kong trip

I was supposed to go Tokyo for a holiday but have to go Hong kong instead



Singapore airport terminal- always a good place for people watching before the departure



I took a ferry to Macau too and everyone ogle at the ruins of Saint Paul


A quiet off beaten street in Macau

Macau has alot of ugly looking casinos, most of them in colors of gold


Macau building , off the main street


Lantau island-"path of wisdom and "ta o"- a fishing village


The giant buddha and cable car


"Da O"- traditional fishing village in Lantau


Impressions of Hong kong


Impressions of hongkong


Lanma island- where chow Yuen Fatt was born, according to the tourist brochure I read. It's also where the only huge wind turbine is located


Heritage trail to a old temple




Tsim Sha Tsui