On the Train in February 2011

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skyline from marina bay basin

I was envious of the great turn out and the wonderful collection of sketches at the Raffles Place sketchwalk on the same day I was having the wood firing at the dragon kiln. So this afternoon I went to sketch the skyline from Marina Basin. The piece here looks darker may be because I was wearing the sun glasses and sketch under the hot weather! The photos on the left showed a group of Singapore Poly students sketching under the hot sun when I just arrived. I spoke to them for a while. I went for my appointment and came back later to complete my sketch but they were already gone by then.

Raffles Place: People at work

Some workers chilling out under the hot sun.


Just outside the MRT station.


Waiting for his turn to level the road.


Shouldn't have drawn the three lines from the other building behind.

What I was drawing:

Urban Sketching @ Raffles Place Feb 2011

Urban Sketchers at Raffles Place - it was a great morning, nice and pleasant weather, cooling too. I was late but I already saw a bunch of people all scattered at the plaza sketching furiously away. I was touched by their passion and enthusiasm. Some came late but it was ok. What mattered was their coming over to Raffles Place to join us in sketching.

The morning got warmer as the sun finally peered out of the clouds lingered around since last night's rain. It was warm but that did not deter our spirit. I walked a distance ahead to Marina Blvd Link to get a view of the skyline. It is a magnificent sight. The sunlight was just right for photography. I sat to sketch and colored my sketch of the skyline. And here it is:

I am glad I am exploring Singapore through sketching. It gives me the first hand experience of getting to know a location I am in. It makes me sit down to ponder about things and look with my eyes, not with my lenses. I am able to assimilate what's around me and take as much in with my senses as possible. It makes you feel alive as a human being too. It makes me question about existence and living.

Sketching is an art of living life to the fullest. :P

Raffles Place Sketchwalk Photos (Feb 2011)

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SKETCHWALK FEB

We have 2 sketchwalk locations for you this month. Our sketchwalk at our usual time this saturday will be at the business district. We will meet at RAFFLES PLACE MRT station at 9AM. We can sketch around this quieter business district on the weekend. see map. I'm looking forward to exploring and sketching the Marina Blvd area with it's new structures near to the water front. We will meet at Lau Pa Sat hawker Centre at 12pm for lunch and show and tell. Please call Andrew at 91070735 for more info. Me and Don will be meeting you there.


Our beloved Tia will not be able to join us for Saturday's sketchwalk. This is because she will be at the Dragon Kiln from Friday till Sunday doing pottery wood firing. She invites anyone who is interested to join her for a mini sketchwalk and BBQ at the tree house there. (no need to bring BBQ food but finger food welcome). The location is Thow Kwang Pottery Jungle. 85 Lorong Tawas (off Jalan Bahar). And please come on FRIDAY 6PM till late. (***the night before our saturday sketchwalk***) It may be a little far off to get to. But it is an interesting place.

To Thow Kwang Pottery Jungle - Take MRT to Boon Lay Station. Hop on to bus 199 at the bus interchange. Alight the bus stop after the PIE flyover along Jalan Bahar, just before the turn to Nanyang Avenue (NTU). You can see a small road on the left side with huge pots at the corner before the bus stop.

Please call Tia for directions if you get lost or if you need more info about the dragon kiln. Tel: 96968080.

visiting during chinese new year

BIC ballpoint and poster colour.

Wood Firing @ Dragon Kiln this Fri-Sun 25-27 Feb - BBQ on Friday Night

Wood firing at Dragon Kiln 25-27 Feb, Boon Lay. According to Tia, BBQ on Friday night starts from 6pm to midnight. Plenty of charcoal around so bring food items for BBQ and sketchbooks to sketch around the fire.
:D

ArtScience Museum

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We are on Discovery Channel!!!

Discovery Channel featured Urban Sketchers Singapore sketching at City Hall and Supreme Court in Oct 2010 and it was first broadcast in late Dec 2010 with repeats in Jan and Feb 2011 under one of the series called "Living Cities". Dr Yeo, the historian featured in there was my friend. I managed to use the iPhone to take segment on Urban Sketchers directly from the TV so the sound quality is not ideal.

Discovery Channel coined Urban Sketchers as a "worldwide fraternity of sketchers" at 1:00 followed by a short interview with me. They called me "Urban Sketcher" at 1:12 and again I rushed and frown a lot due to the hot weather. The funny thing was that I was not sketching these two heritage buildings but I was sketching the cityscape from the steps of the City Hall which I posted earlier here. However, I did have a quick sketch of two classic windows inside one of the courtyards of the Supreme Court here.

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.

Kandahar Street

Seven of us went to Kampong Glam to sketch last Saturday morning. I had sketches on this neighbourhood here, here, here and here but it was the first time I did a loose piece on a bigger format 200x400mm in ink and watercolours. This shophouse at Kandahar Street was very unique that its building typology stood out from the usual shophouse facade design. It had a projection on the upper floor and a semicircular roof parapet wall. The projection appeared to be out of the boundary line and why it was the only one allowed to be built in this way? The weather was so hot that the shadow was so strong and the image of the building was reflected so clearly on the car bonnet next to us. By the time I completed the sketch, the shade that we were sitting moved away. It was hot hot hot that I had to leave!

Kg Glam

When I saw Parka's Kg Glam sketch of the open-top building, thought, hey, this looks familar. I did a sketch of the same building from the back view back in Dec 09. Have not been back there for a long time. Look how the trees have grown from within.

Kampong Glam Sketchwalk (12 Feb 2011)

A very exquisite lamp. More so than what I've sketched.


A group of friends having lunch at a hawker centre on Baghdad Street.


A cup of ice tea with lime.

Results of Kampong Glam Urban Sketching

We had a great one at Kampong Glam. Meeting near the Sultan Mosque at a coffeeshop, we headed out in different direction separately. Tia and Madhu formed a group, whereas Parka headed out on his own. Joyce, Noel and Joel were sketching together. Joyce made her first urban sketching today too. COngrats! I was sat next to Kat when I did my first warm-up piece to loosen up my lines. Then I was at Sultan Gate sketching a dilapidated shophouse destroyed by fire 8 years ago according to restaurant owner, Peter, whose restaurant overlooks the damaged building. Finally, we congregated in a Swedish restaurant for lunch and show & tell. :D))





For more pictures, you may visit my Flickr set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thedesignlanguage/sets/72157625904380127/

:D))

Sat 12 Feb Ad Hoc Sketchwalk at Kampong Glam 10AM

We will be there at about 10AM. TIA is coming too.
See you there. Most likely we wil be near the Sultan mosque.
Call me at 84183032.

Tia's Demonstration

Watch Tia live on YOuTube on how she does her splashes with coffee and stuff. Happy New Year!!

Happy Lunar New Year 2011

My elder son came back from Hong Kong for the reunion dinner. Last Sunday, the 4th day of CNY, we went to airport to send him off. We had a good time chatting at this airport cafe. I was busy and did not sketch much during this festive seasons. I did one sketch when my relatives were playing card game at the function room of a cousin's condominium - a tradition in the family.

New Year New Sketch Book New Sketching Style

Happy Chinese New Year, folks!

I'd gotten myself a few of those square Muji sketchbooks last year, and finally decided to try them out over this holiday period. And as befitting the New Year, I decided to test out a new drawing style too (actually a long-lost old fave).

Hope you like these:

Busted Raffles

Bust of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore, at Raffles Hotel

***

Tong Ah Coffee Stall

A corner of the old-school coffee stall at Keong Saik Road's Tong Ah Eating House

***

Towers No More

These twin signal towers at Mount Faber have been there long before I was born, but are being taken down now. Wonder what will replace them?

CNY Sketches

Didn't really manage to sketch a lot during CNY.
The above was done on Sunday when we decided to just take a brief walk in Chinatown just to catch the festive mood. When the weather was getting hot, we chilled in McDonald's to have an ice-cream. I sketched 2 ladies who were sitting nearby.

Block 38 Queenstown

Some of you might have seen this on FB post... hope you don't mind me posting this here again. This was done before CNY when it was always raining, so I was sketching and painting this in the car. When the rain stopped I was able to continue and finish this outside using the vehicle as an easel.

keong saik road sketchwalk

drawn with hero pen, brush, ballpoint + poster colour.

first post

Hi everyone, im pretty new to the blog but im sure you all have seen around a few sketchwalks (just look for the head sticking out). This is my first blog post in the blog and i was hoping to be able to get feedback on my work and how to improve through this platform :).

Just thought i would start things off with a rather new sketch. This was a sketch done a few weeks ago, at mount sophia after i went to old school sinema for an event.

Chinese New Year goodies

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone.

Managed to sketch a few during the CNY visit.


Overflowing snacks.


A few relatives out of the thirty so.

Result of Sketchwalk at Keong Siak Road

Last week sketchwalk at Keong Siak Road was a blast. We had about 35 people at the end of the session. Some of them left half way so we could even have more sketchers.

This piece done at the junction of Keong Siak Road and Teck Lim Road was the first time I used portrait format for size 200 x 400mm, ink and watercolour. I used this to illustrate to young sketchers that we need to have an exit plan for location drawing. For this piece, there was no time for colouring so I did the outline first. I spent more time on the other landscape format piece entirely done on location. You can view them here at the global Urban Sketchers site.