Club Street Sketchwalk 24-Sept-2011

It was really wonderful to see so many of you last Saturday at the sketchwalk even though the weather was a killer. Thank you all for taking part in the panoramic sketch challenge. Big applause for all your sweat & hardwork to create so many awesome panoramas of Club Street!

Demo pieces from 'Tiong Bahru Revisited' Sketchwalk

This is a follow up from Don's post about our sketchwalk last Saturday as part of our exhibition entitled Tiong Bahru Revisited. These are the 3 demo pieces I did on location with TIA & DON. Very hot day but we had a wonderful time sketching with new and old friends. Thank you to everyone who came to the last few days to lend us your support!

Sketching HongKong (Central/SOHO)

TANK LANE
This little lane takes you down to the famous antique filled Upper Lascar Row (also known as "Cat Street"). There you can find lots of small crammed antique shops filled with curios and vintage items. The street has an open air-curio market where you will just about every kind of junk.

BACK LANE @ Central (Name of this lane not found on the map....)

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.

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!

Sketches from Siem Reap, Cambodia

If you are visiting Siem Reap, remember to head down to Banteay Srey which is about 1 hour drive away. Very fine pink sandstone temple built in the late 10th century. Then spend another day exploring Angkor Thom. A much larger collection of temples and royal buildings behind Angkor Wat. One of its famed temple is the Bayon. You will recognise the many giant faces created out of chunks of stones.

Sketching in Siem Reap, Cambodia

The last 4 days in Siem Reap Cambodia has been just awesome. Often I feel like Indiana Jones when I am temple exploring and temple hopping. There are so much to see and sketch. Every turn you see a 1000 year old architecture filled with intricate carvings. More updates to come when I fly to Phnom Penh tomorrow. Oh before I forget, wishing all my Singapore Urbansketcher friends a HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!

Merry Christmas from Taipei & Hongkong!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all Singapore Urbansketchers!!

Day out @ Cheung Chau Island, HK

Spent my saturday afternoon visiting the very quaint Cheung Chau island south west of HK island. Fishing is still one of the main livelihood of the islanders. Here there are no cars but just bicycles & tricycles for getting around. Life feels generally slower too. I like the fresh air too. More information about Cheung Chau here.

Sunday morning at Sham Shui Po & Mongkok, HK

This is probably a familiar scene in HK for everyone living here. I drew this from a covered overhead bridge when I was crossing to Mongkok mtr. The rows of red top mini public buses caught my eyes. They were all lined up along the road ready to pick up passengers. Cheap and convenient way to jet around HK quickly. I have yet to try one though.

Heritage Hunter @ Tiong Bahru

We were all reminding everybody to see it on TV. We were also asking anyone who could record the show too. We missed the days when we could just insert a tape into the VCR to record anything we want. Now with the advance in technology we couldn't even record something from TV no more. Sigh*
Anyway that aside, we are thrilled to see our artworks featured in the show! I wished they did not shoot a close up on my big head, but I like how the producer led the story from Tiong Bahru market to a sketch of mine of the people eating at the food court. And I thought the storytelling is great and the editing is pretty tight too. :P

Here's an excerpt of the show recorded with a camera mounted on a tripod stretched to reach the height of the TV. I call it the "old school way of pirating a movie".




Credits:
Show produced by-- Sitting in Pictures
Website: http://www.sittinginpictures.com
Starring: Linda Black
Written By: Catherine Lim/ Vincent Fong
Directed by: Vincent Fong/ Catherine Lim

Aired by MediaCorp Channel News Asia

The Blue House @ Wanchai Part#2, Hong Kong

I went back to the Blue house for more sketching today. Glad to also had a guided tour conducted by the Wanchai livelihood museum which was next to this deserted old unit. Apparently the government could not locate the original owner of his house so it has been locked up and left empty before the major renovation next year. A single unit like this could house many families during the 1920s when it was first built.

This building has no flushing toilet so strange numbers were written on the risers of the staircase in order for the night-soil man to remember how many potties each house has. He comes at midnight to every household to remove their potties. Not a job for the faint hearted.