Rare Oval Windows

There are three main ethnic neighbourhoods or hitorical districts in my country - the Chinatown, the Kampong Glam and the Little India. These shophouses at Syed Alwi Road in my sketch are gazetted for conservation under the larger Little India Historic District. This area is characterised by a row of two storey shophouses with heavily ornamented oval windows decorated with fruits and plants. The richly decorated oval windows contribute to a visually interesting architectural style that cannot be found in other part of the city. However, in recent years, the traditional trades are fast disappearing and the thriving newer businesses bring in uninspiring larger than usual signages and posters grabbing everyone's attention. The historical ornaments are also painted with very strong colours. Personally, I find them very loud and disturbing - the grand old lady has been putting on too much cosmetics!

our staff lounge

We have a very well equipped staff lounge in the office. We even have a game corner complete with Wii games and a dart board. However, I hardly see anyone plays in there. I go to the air conditioned staff lounge quite frequently to read the papers and take my lunch when the outdoor temperature is around 33 degree Celsius. The staff lounge is a sanctuary for urban people like me in a tropical climate.

Tibetan Temple in Singapore

Probably the only Tibetan temple in Singapore. A very simple building with so many colourful flags adorned the roof of the structure. A big yellow or gold prayer wheel could be seen from the main road. Rows of small red lanterns were hung from the ceiling and the feel was more Chinese than Tibetan. I was sitting comfortably opposite the coffee shop although I had great difficulty sketching the lower part of the building as the big vans and cars often blocked my view. I added the digital colours later.

awesome video from urban sketchers!

another crazy week

Semester had started so it was a crazy week with lots of paperworks, meetings and teaching. Teaching was drained but fun when you did things together with the young people and I would hear everyone talking. At meetings it was only a few people talking. Back to my desk, I was talking to myself silently.

On the right is another doodling at an important meeting this week. It was done with a common ball-point pen. On the left is a sketch of part of my study desk at home done with my favourite Lamy fountain pen. My family is so looking forward to this weekend as my elder son will be back from Hong Kong to celebrate Mother's Day.

Thinking of Tuscany

I was so busy lately but the landscape of Tuscany by Alessandro prompted me to post one of the sketches from my travel sketchbooks. I never got tired of vineyards after vineyards and olive trees after olive trees in Tuscany. The skyline of Tuscany was just breath taking when I first arrived at San Gimignano. Instead of sketching the tall towers of San Gimingnano, I wanted to capture the Toscana spirit. My mood at that time? "To live life alla Toscana, you cannot rush...."

also blog at urbansketchers

past works

This is probably the last poster I did for whom I rather not know. But the works displayed at these exhibitions were of very high quality as a result of close supervision. The other posters can be found here

another cool experiment using iPhone

more drawings on club street

I love to capture shadow like the drawing above. This is the shophouse with the only traditional wooden gate as it is still occupied by a Chinese clan. Some time I just went very loose with the linework from my fluid fountain pen like the drawing below. I have also just uploaded a few more to my flickr. Enjoy!

my location drawings - street directory

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this is so cool

View Club Street , Singapore in a larger map

lantern street lamp post

Last year I had been spending most of my Saturday mornings sketching at Club Street. This idiosyncratic shophouse building is at the corner of Club Street and Gemmill Lane. The advertising or design firm was above the comtemporary furniture shop. I like the 'stop' sign on the 'lantern' street lamp post which is a rare and interesting sight in this area due to the narrow road and very tight pavement. The street lightings and public signages are in oriental theme because Club Street is a stone away from Chinatown.

Once again, I had to work fast to make the shadow part of the composition.

club street drawings on T-shirts

I made the stencils and printed my club street drawings on six T shirts - two blacks, one red, two yellow and one white. It was an experiment and I learnt a lot during the process. My children love the black Ts because they are 'cool' for young people. I have no choice but to be contended with the white and yellow t-shirts. I use fabric paint to touch up the missing lines and added the rectangular frames for the yellow and white shirts.

at the figurine workshop

Thursday night my friends gathered to work on small clay figurines with reference made from Michelangelo's David. They leaned in on their respective pieces with their heads lifting upwards and right hands holding tight to the modelling tools. Well, as I did the sketch on my new sketchbook, I realised we all needed proper reading glasses for this type of work.

I let the pen skirt across the surface of the paper while my eyes were combing across the room. As I scribbled with dots and lines, my friend Carol was taking a picture of me in action. I felt a sense of satisfaction when I let myself get excited on the repetitive details of those greenwares on the shelves at the background. I added the patterns and textures to the clothings according to their preferences. For example, TY on the left wanted dots and Kuan on the right was wearing a black T-shirt. Mrs Tan in the middle was OK with a plain blouse while Tay, the instructor, was happy with a checkered shirt. The youngest group member who was wearing an apron, was standing at the back and he provided a vertical element to the composition.

This is what we hardworking urban people do after our daily office routine on a Thursday evening.

retreat or more meetings?

meeting, originally uploaded by tiastudio.

Last two days we had meeting(s) outside the office at a beautiful hotel. Talk and think, eat and drink. I did a sketch and can you tell who is the boss? Now back to office I am busy writing, writing and writing. There is no scanner in my office so I used my camera to take an image from my sketchbook. Hooray! This sketch is the very last page of my sketchbook. Will start a new sketchbook over the easter holidays. OK, back to work. I have deadlines to meet.

Happy easter holidays to all.

a small neighbourhood

This is a sketch at a neighbourhood where foreign workers and residents co-exist amicably side by side. Or is it? This small neighbourhood made news last year when an owner was charged with allowing ninety foreign workers to be housed in a 1,300 sq ft private apartment. Although many new private apartments were built in the recent years, this place still maintains a large number of original richly ornamented shophouses where prices are now beyond reach of common folks.

I did this sketch under the cool shade of a big tree with current hot temperature at 33 degree C. The row of shophouses on the left is lined with front gates adorned with elaborated designs that suggest these are middle-class families. However, the row of shophouses on the right which is facing the busy main road, is the heaven for either low-income families or foreign workers. The tell-tale signs are the barbed-wire railings, derelict wooden planks, canvas and the large quantity of laundry hanging at the crumbling balcony. It is also uncommon to find flying cable and large numbers of TV antennas in this tiny city-state country.

Write-up in Chinese

Write-up in Chinese, originally uploaded by tiastudio.

our first and only staff exhibition in the late 90s.

pastel portraitures

Since I am on this 'figurative' mood, I thought I post these two portraitures that I did when I'd just left the architecture school. I used to attend a once-a-week figure drawing session with an interest group at Cairnhill Community Centre in the mid 80s. Many group members are now professional artists or work in the art related field. This prompts me to wonder "if you are not selling your art, does it make you less of an artist?" or when people ask me "Is this (art) your hobby?" to me, these people have a brain as small a pea..oooops!

LOTR characters

Found these in my stack of rough papers. I remember I was really bored then so I did these sketches in front of the TV on rough A4 papers with a normal ball point pen. I loved LOTR movies then and today I still love them.

Earth Hour 2009

I found these ceramic plates made by me a few years ago perfect for the tea lights. We turned the lights off and enjoyed the peace and quiet for more than an hour. Earth hour is more than turning the lights off, it is to raise awareness about reducing energy consumption.

penang5

A very small and quick sketch I did at the breakfast table of Golden Sands Resort in Penang. I love the breakfast buffet spread with my favourite roti prata and good coffee! I particularly like the design of the window shutters, no air conditioning only fans. Great views to the pools and sea beyond. Why can't we design more new spaces like this without air conditioning?

monster

IT show from 12 - 15 March 2009 at Suntec City was crazy. What recession? The IT sale went up compared to previous years. I met my old student who was demonstrating his drawing skill on the big wacom, I took up my sketchbook and did what he did on the digital screen. That attracted a lot of on-lookers. Finally, my husband and I bought a S$2000 Cintiq 12wx for my 14-year-old son and I said to him "you can undo and erase on the Wacom, I can't do that on my sketchbook."

my other sunday activity

I reconnected with some of my old friends from the college chinese orchestra last mid autumn festival. Some of them I have not met over 35 years! Very quickly we picked up old or bought new musical instructments and formed a group to practise our favourite pieces every sundays.

sketching national monument

My ink catridge totally dried up when I finished this drawing on location. I literally used up the last drop of ink!

This afternoon my son and I spent about 25 minutes before his 2pm Akido class which is at a building adjacent to this national monument, an important building that connects Chinese revolution and our country. Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall or Wan Qing Yuan(晚晴园) was an old villa where Dr Sun Yat Sen stayed and planned the revolutionary activities in 1906 during the revolution. The planned uprising did happen in 1907 in China but the revolutionary army had to retreat when they were surrounded by the Qing army. The Qing Dynasty finally fell in 1911.

The weather today is irratic. It was very hot like 32 degree C when we were sketching. However, it started pouring with repeated ligtnings and thunders after the Akido class one hour later. We saw at least two big falling brunches on the road on our way home. I got home, scan and post. It is still raining like cats and dogs outside.

something different

Something different again. It is about an idea.

New York City

Thinking of New York City, I have fond memories looking at these three sketches on Guggenheim (done at night), Central Park (during winter) and Washington Square Park (spring!).

Shophouses with Oval Windows and Front Court

Two old sketches I did for Muhammad Sultan Road in the 90s.

The row of shophouses along Muhammad Sultan Road has lost its prime compared to the old days. When I brought few groups of students for drawing trips in 1992, 1993 and 2001, the place was full of character and surprises. See my article here. This place used to be one of the most hip and popular nightlife areas in Singapore but it is now replaced by the adjacent Clark Quay - the night entertainment hub.

I must emphasize again I love the oval windows on the facade in one of the shophouses and its rare elevated front court. I hope people pay more attention to these details especially the oval windows as they are important and tangible evidences that testify to the arduous journey of our shophouse heritage.

Unveiling the Sixth Sense -WOW!

At a Seminar

I attended a seminar on 'Meaningful Designs: An Elderly Perspective' last Friday afternoon organised by >60 Design Centre. This student was seen recording the proceedings.

The >60 Design Centre aims to generate public and industry interest in designing for the silver market through seminars, workshops and conferences. The Centre also works with the industry to develop products for the local as well as the global markets.

I am already actively involved with the elderly folks considering I have four ageing parents to take care of. My father-in-law had a major heart operation and my mother has bow legs. She was dignosed with osteoporosis many years ago. When she fell and fractured her thight two years ago, she spent a few months in hospital and went through countless physiotherapy sessions. We also installed grab bars everywhere at her residence, bought exercise machines and other health care products such as walking aids, portable toilet seat, hearing aids to enhance her quality of life. Today, if she is not playing with her two young grandchildren, she is playing her favourite tetris game on the game boy.

Day and Night

I had a few cups of coffee in the day at a meeting, a few glasses of wine at night and two fountain pen sketches to help me to remember the same week in February 2009.

Another meeting

Another sketch at a big meeting. I have a feeling no one is going to sit in front of me in the future meetings. They may want to sit behind me instead.

Fort Canning Park

I used to do big format location watercolor paintings. Now I like to travel light with either a A5 sketchbook or a A6 blackbook and my favorite Lamy fountain pen. Here is one rare watercolor and two other pen sketches of Fort Canning Park at different times and different views.

Fort Canning Park has been a landmark in Singapore's early history evolving from the 14th century since Majapahit era to the British colonial days. The two white cupolas, designed by George Coleman, were probably places of rest. The word 'cupola' means a small dome-shaped roof or ceiling. Coleman was a prolific architect who left his mark on the urban landscape of Singapore. His tombstone can be found at the park.

The majestic banyan tree with its exposed roots on the ground and the aerial roots dangling down from the tree provides a unique backdrop for the two white cupolas. The contrast between soft landscape and the hard structure compliments with the rich colors, interesting shapes and fascinating textures. I love this particular view but I did not neglect other beautiful corners of the park. I have a sketch of the cluster of old tombs. The park was once a graveyard for some 600 Christian graves until 1865. Today, the park is a popular spot for outdoor concerts and big events.