this is where I was born!

This is an old building in art-deco architectural style with very attractive yellow door, geometrical window grilles and art nouveau mild steel balustrade design. It has a special place in my heart simply because I was born here. It used to be a very famous private hospital founded by the late Professor A.V. Salmon whose aged daughter is still staying at this building with her helper. I last met her a year ago and briefly chatted with her at the building entrance. Dr Yvonne Salmon is the longest serving staff of the then government run Kandang Kerbau Hospital which has been transformed into today's KK Women's and Children's Hospital. Both father and daughter are the who's who in the history of obstetrics and gynecology in our country.

The building has just been given a new coat of paint. I wish it will not fall prey to urbanisation and modernisation which already seen quite a number of beautiful old buildings been demolished in the vicinity.

agony

This was done in July 2003, 5 months after returning to office from New York.

after a good dinner

This sketch was done after a dinner at Kuishin-Bo, a popular Japanese buffet restaurant. The main draw is the sashimi, chawanmushi, snow crab legs, teppanyakiand and the desserts. It is not the best place for authentic Japanese food but my husband and I wanted a place to relax and eat and drink at our own pace on a Friday evening after a long day at work. After two cups of good coffee and a big piece of dark chocolate, I took out my sketchbook and started to draw.

Turkish composer Toygar Işıklı

Asnee is in town part 2

We were so lucky to be in the middle of the army reheasal for the National Day parade. This must be a rare picture with the army choppers over the sky. While we were having a drink at Harry's, the helicopters flew past with this huge Singapore flag. Artist friends from Thailand, you visit Esplanade at such a perfect day and time.

Asnee is in town

Yesterday, I met Asnee, our fellow Thai urbansketcher and Pramote, his friend. Both arrived from Penang after meeting with Ch'ng Kiah Kien. Three of them had a wonderful sketching extravaganza combing the streets of Penang, Malaysia. Asnee will post about his sketching trips to Buthan, Penang and Singapore when he goes back to Thailand. Although it was the first time we met, I was so excited over the watercolour pieces they had done at the Singapore River in the morning before our meeting. Pramote's sketching gear is also making me very jealous! Asnee and I are working hard to get Pramote to join the USK community.



After lunch, we went to Club Street for a quick tour. Asnee and I did a sketch of a newly opened bookstore Polymath and Crust from opposite view of the interior.



We took a photo with Kenny and Karen, the young owners of the bookstore. In the next photo, Kenny was browsing through Asnee's sketchbook.



I also brought them to Esplanade where Asnee did another wonderful sketch while Pramote and I were enjoying a glass of good cold beer.



While I was writing this post, Asnee just gave me a call to tell me they will be leaving for Thailand soon. Till we meet again fellow urbansketchers!

donut cafe

The ladies in my sketch were just too engrossed in the conversations that they did not turn their heads sideway at all! This sketch was done after two pieces of donuts and a black coffee at J.CO Donuts & Coffee. Two years ago, people used to form a long line for at least two hours to buy takeaway donuts at Donut Factory when the donuts frenzy invaded the market. Since then, many more other donut shops have jumped into the wagon like this donut cafe in my sketch. For me, eating donuts is like eating sugar as they are just too sweet. However, the donuts sold at this donut cafe were excellent with great topping and texture. They did taste better than I had expected. Munching donuts with black coffee is not the same anymore - it is a perfect match!

Urbansketchers Video

original here in Italian.

Urban Sketchers May 09 for Galassia Gutenberg from Gabriel Campanario on Vimeo.

same building at different angles

This corner of the street is my favourite spot for sketching. The corner building at Club Street and Ann Siang Hill has been given a new leaf and it is now a very popular hang out place especially for the expatriates in the evening with dinning tables and chairs packing the entire corridor. However, when I did these two drawings from different angles on two separate weekends in the early morning in 2007 and 2008 respectively, the street was relatively empty and quiet. I will probably go back and do another drawing for 2009 but this time, a night scene perhaps....and have you noticed the same road sign (Club Street) at the same place?

1000 Journals, il film a Napoli

1000 Journals - extended trailer from Andrea Kreuzhage on Vimeo.

22nd sketchcrawl in san francisco

22nd SketchCrawl San Francisco from Goro on Vimeo.

air ships in the shopping complex?

I did a sketch at a huge suburban shopping complex called Novena Square. This sketch was done over a regular black coffee at the link bridge which is also the location for a local coffee chain called "Coffee Bean". There are these gigantic "air-ship" sculptures hanging in the atrium that are permanent and I thought they are just too loud and overpowering.

Little India

Singapore is a multi racial society. So far I have done sketches on Club Street near Chinese area, Kampong Glam the Malay area and how can I not do a sketch right in the heart of Little India? Here it is - Kerbau Road.

The weather was hot and humid at about 34 degree C. I could not find a comfortable spot on the street so I decided to sketch inside the car with the air conditioning turned on. I was lucky to find a parking lot opposite this building.

a busy artsy weekend

I had a very busy weekend. On Saturday, I did a sketch on location and completed a A2 size watercolour piece at home. On Sunday, I had my usual 'first Sunday of the month' breakfast at the Dragon Kiln followed by a visit to Sock Fong's glass studio at Emily Hill. My friends and I even made time to visit an art exhibition before the closing time at 6pm. We took a group photo at Sock Fong's glass studio.
From left: Yulianti Qey (Mrs Tan), Hua Hoong, Carol, Sock Fong, Siew Kuan, Tuan Yong and TIA.



Sock Fong and her studio assistants going through my sketchbook. It was a day with good food and very very good avanti expresso!

napkin sketch

Cathy Johnson, a fellow Urabansketcher, posted a napkin sketch. It reminds me of the one and only napkin sketch I'd done two and a half years ago during a dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The quality and the texture of the napkin; or we call serviette; was not good and ideal but I did like the flow of the ink on the surface. The original sketch was given to the little girl and I kept an image with a camera. I used my favourite Lamy fountain pen to sketch and it has been my faithful companion till this day.

the last sketch of the day

In the evening, I went to attend a book launch at my friend's new bookstore called "Polymath and Crust" at 86 Club Street. It now gives me reasons to visit and sketch more of my favourite street. Photos here. The sketching bugs following me even on my day off. Three sketches on the same day when I am out of the office. *smile*.

at the car showroom

I did this sketch of Nissan 370Z at the car showroom when I took half a day off from the office to send my car for general servicing. It is very expensive to own and drive a car in Singapore. The reason is because we have to pay for a 10-year Certificate of Entitlement, (COE)before we can own a car. This beautiful Nissan 370Z will cost around S$160,000 (about US$110,000) and it is probably much cheaper in other countries. A typical car will cost around S$70,000 easily.

smoking, no smoking?

In public area, smokers can only take the seats marked with yellow line. This popular food centre at Adam Road hang huge A3 size 'smoking' and 'no smoking' signs at the umbrella poles.

doodle at a meeting

I doodled to keep awake at a meeting. I listened while my hand moved.

Public Housing

This is Rochor Centre, a public housing complex in Singapore built in the 70s. Over 80% of Singaporean live in public housing like this and we call them HDB flats. HDB stands for Housing and Development Board. Rochor Centre is unique with its location near the city area with four slab towers above a few floors of shops, eateries and offices plus a huge basement carpark. I signed up for music lessons this afternoon at a music school above the coffee shop on the left and I did this sketch while enjoying a cup of local black coffee sitting along the corridor. The colouring was done on location too.

Can you spot the laundry above? People staying in the public flats hang their laundry on the bamboo sticks outside the kitchen windows to dry. It is a common scene for our public housing estates. Some say these are our "national flags"!

my life in these sketchbooks and journals

Small fraction of my 'books'. I always buy two journals / sketchbooks / notebooks of the same design. The two on the right are of the same type but one is more 'seasoned' than the other.



Internal pages of my travel journals. Hand drawn map of Boston in the front and small New York map at the back.

Laksa - another national dish

I did a sketch of a coffee shop selling our national dish 'chicken rice'. Yesterday I went to eat another popular national dish called laksa. The name 'laksa' traces back to Hindi/Persian lakhshah, referring to a type of vermicelliis. The laksa I had for lunch was white noodles with seafood ingredients such as cockles, prawns and fish cake served with special soup stock enriched with coconut milk and local spices. A standard bowl of laksa cost only S$2.00 (or US$1.4)- very cheap and rare in our city-state country. The tasty broth was scooped out from a traditional shaped aluminum pot placed over charcoal flame - very unique and rare in this modern times when gas or electric power are used for cooking. This laksa stall is so popular that there is always a constant flow of customers. The display cabinets are decorated with newspaper clippings, media write-up and stickers from the food critics.

never ending road work

Before turning into Club Street from Upper Cross Street, there is major construction work for the mass rapid transit line along Upper Cross Street. Usually it is quiet on Sunday but this particular Sunday there are workers with boots and helmets. One man wearing the LTA (Land Transport Authority) vest told me these are called crawler cranes. The operator for the crawler crane is a Japanese or Korean. The workers standing around are mainly Indians and the LTA supervisors are local Singaporeans.

Another drawing on dragon kiln

I posted a few drawings on dragon kiln. Here is another sketch on the same place with the dragon kiln at the back in colour wash. My sister bought a bottle of Noodler's waterproof ink from New York for me that I am able to experiment with colour wash with my Lamy fountain pen. However, I do find it less fluid but I guess it is something I may need to get used to.

graduation ceremony

Today is the graduation ceremony at Temasek Design School. Plenty of time for me to do the sketch as the graduants walked on the red carpet to receive their diplomas. Congratulations!

their first paintings

I did a sketch last Wednesday when my students were busy painting. They were happy and enjoying their first piece of big art work of size 1m x 1m. Many of them do not have any proper art training in their formal schools, and now they are on the foundation programme to be trained as a designer in the next 3 years. I hope they enjoyed the class as much as I enjoyed their company.

the new back lane

This is the back lane of 81, Club Street. Now that it is occupied, the mechnical systems are all hung on the back wall. I find the old back lane more attractive with the cracked wall and a small plant grew on top of the parapet wall. See the sketch here

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...."

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