bye bye 2011, hello 2012!

To celebrate the last day of the year, I decided to do a colourful piece for the otherwise dull Orchard Road Mall in my personal opinion. You can see the colourful piece on Ion Orchard on my blog. This morning we had the last sketchwalk of the year in 2011 and we met so many new and young faces. There was Charles, a 9-year-old boy who joined us for the very first time.

Orchard Road mall is crowded with people but the outdoor walkway lacks interesting icons, well designed kiosks, artistic signages, festive sculptures which are badly designed and installed. The scales are very flat and dull.

This corner at Scape off the main Orchard belt is dead and quiet. The blue umbrellas and the big shades cast by the trees attracted me to sketch the otherwise dry and empty area.

Spread the good vibes of sketching people! Looking forward to a great 2012 ahead!

Orchard Road sketchwalk

Used a normal brush for these two pieces instead of the waterbrush. I'm pleased with the even wash.



More sketchwalk photos

Giveaway contest for the Dec 31 Orchard Sketchwalk

Criteria:

• You must be attending to be eligible for this giveaway. I'll announce the winners during the sketchwalk.
• Just post a comment on which prize you want to win. You can choose all, but you can only win one.
• If you've won a prize within the last six months, then I'll skip over your name.

1. Lamy Safari Fountain Pen
The one I'm giving out is of a dark brown grayish colour.


2. Pentel Waterbrush Set of 3
It's the one on the right with 3 waterbrush of different sizes.

YEAR END SKETCHWALK

Hi all,
 For the last saturday of the year, we will be having our sketchwalk along Orchard Road. This will be our chance to capture the christmas decorations before they come down. (christmas is still on considering there are supposed to be 12 days of it.) Here is the plan:

10AM- Meet outside ION's entrance (where the colourful sculptures are. Facing Tangs)
1PM- Meet at Scape (outside Toastbox) We will either head for the basement or one of the higher floors of Scape
where we will have space for "show and tell". Then we will have lunch around the area.

Weather report say that saturday will be stormy. But we will have plenty of shopping centres to hide in if it does. If you feel overwhelmed when you think of Orchard Road, too many things to draw, and the crowds, then think along these lines -
1. isolate smaller interesting things. eg, just one decoration or one shop.
2. Use the crowds to your advantage. You can hide among them to sneak a drawing of interesting people.
3. Go into and around the malls to explore and draw. Some interesting ones are ION (interesting curves inside and outside. Outside Prologue bookstore could be nice to draw), Lucky plaza (with a lot of maids on leave), Mandarin Gallery (they have nice big chairs to sit inside), Scape(interesting building design. Dance classes upstairs.), and youth park (across from Scape. it's not a mall. but it could be interesting.) You could also capture buskers in the underground tunnels (between Tangs and ION. Between Lucky Plaza and Takashimaya.)

See you there!

PS. Edric will be leading a group after lunch to finish drawing the Tudor Court area. (other end of Orchard Rd). Please follow him after lunch if you are one of those who can't get enough of sketching!

Logos Hope

9 by 12 inch, Hero pen, Noodler's Ink, Graphitone

That's Logos Hope currently docked by VivoCity. I had wanted to draw it during the sketchwalk a few days earlier but didn't have the time. So I went back again to sketch it just before it leaves on 29 Dec 2011.

There's a book fair on deck which I wanted to draw but it was too crowded inside.

sketchwalk at vivocity

 

 

hero pen + photoshop.

Sketchwalk at Tudor Court (Dec 2011)

9 by 12 inch, Hero pen, Noodler's Ink, Graphitone


5 by 5 inch, Hero pen, Noodler's Ink, WN watercolour

Elephant Parade at VivoCity

This was the first one I sketched. It's designed by Sonny Liew. I didn't know that until I saw the label.


And there's this one from another local artist called Mindflyer. I forgot to leave white space for the faces.

I finished three small 5 by 5 inch sketches. One was given away during the gift exchange at the end of the sketchwalk.

Here's a video I shot. View it in high res for extra goodness.



You can check out more photos at on my flickr page.

X'mas Eve Sketchwalk on 24 Dec 2011

Size : 254 x 178mm (10 x 7")

Merry Christmas!

I did 3 sketches with another smaller warming up piece, total 4. Three on the giant X'mas tree and one on the ship "Logos Hope" - a one-of-its kind ship which sails around the world as a floating library and book store. The piece was presented to Drewscape as a X'mas sketch exchange among sketchers. He promised to give me a scan of the sketch of the ship later.


and here it is!

Christmas 2011 Sketch Walks

Dear fellow Urban Sketchers and friends,

In conjunction with the closing of the Urban Sketchers Singapore: Volume 1 Exhibition at the URA Centre and also to celebrate this festive season the way we know best (through sketching, of course!), we have lined up a series of sketch walks for you!

1) First of all, we shall make a special return to Vivo City as we did for last year's Christmas sketch walk.

Venue: Vivo City

Date: 24 Dec 2011 (Saturday)

Meeting: 9.30am at Vivo City's Sky Park Amphitheatre

Show-and-Tell Time: 12.30pm at Sky Park Amphitheatre

This time, we'll explore the Sky Park area, and sketch-able subjects include the giant Christmas tree, the huge rooftop wading pool, the various outdoor sculptures and installation artwork (including the Elephant Parade!), and also the nearby cable-cars, cruise liners, waterfront and ferry terminal facing Sentosa Island, as well as St James Power Station. And that's just the outdoor ones!

At the same time, we would like to reprise the "Sketch Gift Exchange" game that we had last year, in which every sketcher who turns up would participate by drawing a special piece (in any of your own preferred style, paper and size), submit it into a box or bag, and during the show-and-tell session, randomly choose ANOTHER fellow sketcher's work as a Christmas gift to bring home!

So please remember to bring along your own single-sheet sketch paper (or card) in preparation for this special exchange.

We could also buy your lunch and bring it over to the Amphitheatre for the show-and-tell session at 12.30pm sharp, and picnic at the same time.

After that, we should then all make our way back (by bus *) to the URA Centre by 1.30pm to have a special closure of the exhibition, and also to help remove and collect back our sketches on display, as well as purchase any of the frames used in the display if so wish.

There might be special announcements after that, so do keep yourself available till around 2.30 or 3pm if possible.

* We could take the public bus services 80 and 145 to URA Centre, or alternatively, if we could get around 30-40 sketchers, we would hire a special charter bus via URA, for S$40 and split the bill. Do leave a comment under this post with your name to indicate your interest to share this charter bus.

2) Some of us who might not be celebrating Christmas at home and might like to do it with fellow sketchers, could join a special Christmas Day sketchwalk!

Venue: Orchard Road (from Ion Orchard to Tudor Court)

Date: 25 Dec 2011 (Sunday)

Meet: 1pm at Orchard MRT Station (Ticket Office)

Show-and-Tell: 3.30pm at Tudor Court

3) With the Monday (Boxing Day) being a public holiday too, some of us would like to take this opportunity and sketch over at...

Venue: Pulau Ubin
Date: 26 Dec 2011 (Monday)

Meet: 10am at Changi Point Ferry Terminal
Show-and-Tell: 3pm and beyond.

4) There will also be a final and official last-Saturday-of-the-month sketch walk on New Year's Eve. So while keeping an eye on the updates, do keep that morning free to join us too!

WATCH THIS SPACE!

In the meantime, see you all there, and have a Merry Christmas!!!

A LCD TV Christmas tree

A LCD TV Christmas tree at Clark Quay. There are 48 40-inch TVs mounted on the two-storey high frame. It is from Heineken beer.

Lunch at Jack's Place

I had a fall last week so I was on pain killers. I felt better in the afternoon and I went to Jack's Place for lunch with my son who was dropping his overdued library books. At Jack's Place, the Christmas decorations were up and we met Mr Tang Guan Bee, the respectable architect who sat next to our table. He was so gracious to pay for our lunch. Great company.

Kandahar Street

Not long ago in the month of Nov, we had an ad-hoc sketch walk at Kampong Glam; I did a sketch of this blue building along Kandahar street after finishing 2 others at Pahang Street earlier in the morning. Paul and Zhu Hong were there too. We sat under the shade in a coffeeshop as the weather was getting warmer. I love the hustle and bustle of this place. Tony then pointed to a back alley and exclaimed, "So this is where all the taxis drivers are hiding!" He said it in an angry tone and I knew he was pissed. I turned to look at the alley and to my amazement, it was packed with blue and yellow cabs! As I turned back I saw some "uncles" sitting in the coffeeshop right in front of me smiling, then I realized they were the taxi drivers stealing a break from their morning routine. I did not sketch the back alley... I should have!!

December sketchwalk to Kreta Ayer

Sketch of Chinatown Complex & Sri Layan Sithi Vinaygar temple.


Saturday Flea market at Block 4 Sago Lane.

Kreta Ayer

I'll probably go back to re-draw the top two pieces. They were down under 1 hour each. I didn't feel like I quite captured the essence of the place.






The temple is the Po Chiak Keng. All temples are difficult to draw. Their architectural details are insane. I find it pretty hard to simplify all the details into something just suggestive enough.

sketchwalk 10dec

calligraphic pen + photoshop.

KRETA AYER

I could not stay for the sketchwalk after the interesting talk at URA, so I did my homework last Saturday, here is my sketch of Keong Saik Road.

I am going back to Spain for Xmas, see you all next year, have a great Holiday Season.

Giveaway contest for the 10 Dec Kreta Ayer Sketchwalk

Criteria:

• You must be attending to be eligible for this giveaway. I'll announce the winners during the sketchwalk.
• Just post a comment on which prize you want to win. You can choose all, but you can only win one.
• If you've won a prize within the last six months, then I'll skip over your name.

Derwent Graphitint 12-pencil box. It's a review copy so it's used but relatively brand new (like in the picture above).


A Petoskey Watercolor Journal


When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put

Old School at Mount Sophia

Special 10th Dec Sketchwalk to KRETA AYER

Dear fellow friends & USK sketchers,

This will be our one of our last few sketchwalks for 2011 and URA has kindly organised a special talk for us before we begin our sketchwalk to Kreta Ayer. This talk by URA's planner Jevon will be very informative and many sketchers found it useful during the previous talk. We hope that by knowing more Chinatown's history, culture and architecture, we will be able to sketch with an enlightened mind. Please help us spread the word and bring all your friends to this special event!
 
Meeting point - URA centre
1) Talk by URA Planner - URA Theatrette (Level 3)
2) Location #1 - Sago Lane (corridor between block 4 & chinatown hawker centre)
3) Location #2 - Junction of Keong Saik road & Kreta Ayer
4) Location #3 - Kreta Ayer People's theatre & Community Centre
End point - URA Atirum

Date : 10th Dec 2011
Time: 10-10.30am (Talk by URA Planner)
          10.30--1.15pm (Sketchwalk)
          1.15-1.30pm (Show & Tell)

** Just a gentle reminder that our recently published Urbansketcher book is still on sale at URA atrium, Kinokunikya; Basheers, BooksActually & Woods in the Books. If you are wondering what to buy for christmas, this is definitely the perfect gift to get!

Sketchwalk at Buang Kok (3 Dec 2011)

Ink and Derwent Graphitone.

More photos on Flickr

new sketches for the new month

Time flies, before we know it, November is gone! On the first day of December, I did three sketches with different formats. They are:

1. Hero M86 with Noodler's ink on 305x229mm (12"X9") 300gsm (140lbs) watercolour paper.
2. Hero M86 with Noodler's ink on 130x130mm (5"x5") Muji Sketchbook
3. Bamboo dip pen with Hero ink on 400x200mm (8"x6") 300gsm (140lbs) watercolour paper.

As the manifesto of USK says "We show the world one drawing at a time", I choose to post here with the first drawing that I did on the first day of a new month. On the left is the photo of the third drawing which is also a new experiment. It is the first time that I used the bamboo dip pen with Hero ink which is not waterproof. It was lots of fun and I will try the bamboo dip pen with a smaller nib next time.

You can see my other sketches on my blog or flickr.