Urban Sketchers Symposium 2015 Day Minus 4

It's four more days before the Urban Sketchers Symposium. Shari Blaukopf has arrived.

Today we went to Chinatown for sketching. Chinatown is not one of the locations for the symposium workshops but it's definitely on the must-sketch list if you're in Singapore. Here you can see the early shophouses that have been restored, and one of the oldest temples in Singapore, the Sri Mariammann Temple, the new Buddha Tooth Relic Temple that was built a few years ago, and the Mosque Masjid Jamae. That's three different places of worship just along a short stretch of street at South Bridge Road.

Below are some sketches.

That's Pagoda Street. It's probably the busiest street in Chinatown.


This was what happening in the morning. We have Shari, Liz Steel and Marc Taro Holmes at the bottom left sketching the shophouses, and talking to people passing by who were too curious and got closer to check out their work.


These are the shophouses. I drew these sketches using the Wacom Bamboo Paper on the iPad.


That's the Sri Mariamman Temple.

Here's the video I made today:


- Parka

Symposium 2015 Day Minus 5

Hi, Parka here. I'm one of the correspondents who will be providing updates and news on what's going to happen here in Singapore during the sixth edition of the Urban Sketchers Symposium.

The event is five days away and there are already early birds who have flown here. Today I went out with Liz Steel, Marc Taro Holmes, Omar, Paul Wang and Isaac Liang. Liz and Marc are both teaching a course each next week.

We sketched around Peranakan Museum which is going to be one of the venues for the activities and workshop.

Here's a video (4K) of what we did today.




It was great catching up with friends.

- Parka

All the Hong Kong sketches coloured

After three weeks, I've finally completed colouring all the sketches I drew in Hong Kong and Macau. There are a few still in black and white because I had forgotten to take reference photo for them.

I like Macau more than Hong Kong because the wider range of architectural styles. In Hong Kong, it's mostly high-rise residential or commercial buildings. In Macau, you have those, but you also have the flashy casinos and the European style buildings from the Portuguese colonial period.

Hong Kong is quite impressive though. You can look at Hong Kong Island's skyline from Tsim Sha Tsui and not be able to see any gaps in between the buildings. Cost of living there must be high. Yet when I look at those Cost of Living charters, I see that Singapore is higher than Hong Kong. However, I can't find a place in Hong Kong that sells a bowl of noodles cheaper than I can easily find in Singapore. That's weird.

Below are selected sketches from the 97 I drew.


Big Buddha at Ngong Ping Village.


Ocean Park


Macau General Post Office


Ruins of St Pauls


Statue at a small garden beside Ruins of St Pauls


Prosperity tree at Wynn


View from The Peak


People are still protesting


You can see all of them on my blog and the original black and white sketches on my Google+ page.

- Parka