Botero's big bird

We do not have high mountains and big rivers but we certainly are very proud of the one and only Singapore River flowing through the historical landmarks along the river. I had an earlier post on one of the landmarks Boat Quay . This morning, I completed a watercolour piece on another landmark - Botero's big bird sculpture standing quietly along the river observing the hustle and bustle of city life.

The black cloud was added deliberately over the new Supreme Court Building completed in 2005. This new glass building with its flying saucer on top is really out of character among the refurnished colonial buildings with stone claddings, copper-domed roof and majestic pillars. The locals are questioning the reason for selecting a foreign architect for the new Supreme Court Building without a public forum. The public had no opportunity to voice our opinions about the design until it was already approved for construction.

Well, we just have to get used to the flying saucer building.

I was in NYC on Sep 11, 2001

090909

This is fresh. Done one hour ago. Just got out of class this morning with this quick sketch done during the morning lesson. Yumita is her name. "Get the gesture and the feeling right, never mind the details" - this is what I told the class. I wish this was done on 090909@0909hour. Nope. it was done around 090909@1139hour local time.

posing for student

It does look like me, ink drawing by Sharmian, a student in the class. Asmine is posing with me with her ink drawing of me. I wish they all loosen up during this ink drawing exercise. Well done!

fat chips or new containers?

source : archinnovations inhabitat

A big sigh for Singapore architecture! What new residential typology?
I would prefer Ken Yeang's Eddit Tower

where are my stamps?

When I was a kid, my father introduced me to stamp collecting and I was very much excited about the hobby that I had about four to five stamp albums as a kid. I also started collecting first day covers and other related philatelic items when I was older. Although I did not continue with my childhood hobby, I kept the precious stamp albums in the closet and some of the stamps could be very valuable in today's market. The hobby satisfied my curiosity about the world and helped to introduce art, design and stamp illustration when I was young. So last Friday, when I visited the Singapore Philatelic Museum , I was very familiar with some of the displays on old local stamps from the 50s to 70s. Here is a sketch of the museum that will remind me of the stamp albums in the closet waiting patiently for me to take them out and do something.

the coffee connoisseur

I had a few drinks at the opening show at Sculpture Square so I needed a place to get sober before I pick up my car. I went to tcc - The Coffee Connoisseur at Nanyang Academy of Fine Art to chill out. Not sure whether this sketch was under the influence of the drinks at the show or the coffee that I ordered. I went home safely.

Matter-Proofs

Last Thursday I was at this exhibition to support two friends, Teo Huey Ling and Tay Swee Siong. Tay's work is in the picture and I can also name a few people in the picture - from the left is Zaihan (we went to the show after work), Steven Low (will be exhibiting at dragon kiln this Sunday with me), Tan Yen Peng (Yeo Chee Kiong must be around somewhere) and Leong Chye Chye who is a brilliant watercolour artist whom I have lost contact for about 30 years. We both used to draw and paint together in the 70s with a group of friends at a rented studio space at Lavendar Road. Now it brought back fond memories with that chapter of my life.

all are welcome

Flashpoint 2 is the second exhibition for the pots and sculptural pieces collected recently from the belly of the dragon kiln after the wood firing session on 7 to 9 Aug 2009. The first exhibition was here.

Exhibition period 6 to 30 Sep 2009. All are welcome

Yeo Chee Kiong

Although I did want to use this blog to showcase my work, there is just too many good things happening in Singapore art scene that I want to share and make a note to myself. Especially when my talented friends are involved.

Yeo Chee Kiong - how do i describe him? well, a sculptor that is so passionate about art making, he deserves all the attentions from the material world.

"Making art is an exclusive experience to explore new answers and new questions. That is a fantastic way to observe this material world and have a better understanding towards I myself."

It is a honour to have known Yeo Chee Kiong. It is a privilage to have him as part of the teaching team.

meeting room

The meeting room was filled with people in the afternoon. I was sitting at the back so sketching is a way to keep myself busy. Don't get me wrong, I was listening and very attentive indeed. I have to say, I am not impressed with the room interior which is furnished with 'interesting features' such as hanging ceiling canvas and pendant lights, not to mention curved cabinets that restrict the layout of the room.

temple without nails

This 169 years old temple built from 1839 to 1842 is the oldest and the most prominent temple in the old days frequented by the Chinese immigrants giving thanks to Ma Zu, the Goddess of the Sea for their safe voyage. Thian Hock Keng Temple is now managed by the rich and powerful Hokkien Clan and it is still visited by local devotees, scholars and tourists. It is located right in the heart of the central business district.

The fascinating part about this temple of southern Chinese architectural style is that the entire structure including the pagoda was assembled without nails. The roof eaves and roof parapets are heavily adorned with dragons and phoenixes which are traditional animals symbolic of auspiciousness. Wu lu or a big gourd on top of the roof of the pagoda on the right side of my sketch symbolizes longevity and the ability to ward off evil spirits.

Inside the temple hall, there is a plaque inscribed with the words 波靖南溟(Gentle Waves over the South Seas) presented by Qing Dynasty Emperor Guang Xu in 1907, evidence of the temple's stature.

The time that I was sketching at the corridor opposite the temple, there must be at least 4 to 5 big tour coaches carrying tourists from different countries visiting the temple. These big coaches often blocked my view so it took me a little longer than expected to finish the sketch. I did it in one hour.

The Evolution of Story

Redefining Sketchy Neighborhoods: Urban Sketchers Draw The World - Jawbone.tv - The Evolution of Story.

Great article about USk by marketing professor Freddy J. Nager

Shared via AddThis

Dhoby Ghaut District

'Dhoby' is an Anglo-Indian word refers to laundrymen and 'Ghaut' means 'beside the river'. In our early history, it was a place where laundries were done and dried in a big field by the Indians who immigrated to Singapore. Dhoby Ghaut is today a name for a major Mass Rapid Transit Station in a fascinating district located at the end of the famous Orchard Road, our major retail and entertainment hub like the Rodeo Drive in LA, Ginza in Tokyo and Oxford Street in London.

This is the row of old buildings opposite the Dhoby Ghuat MRT station, on the left, the red brick building is MacDonald House which was built as the largest office building in 1949 of a Neo-Georgian style during the post-war era. The building was named after Malcolm MacDonald who was the British Governor-General for Southeast Asia from 1948 to 1955. A bomb exploded and killed 3 people and injured 33 others in 1965 during the Indonesia confrontation period. The 'spiky' building on the extreme right used to be the big car assembly factory called Malayan Motors till late 70s and it is now occupied by a private commerical school.

The buildings in between are of different colonial styles with great characters. I was the architect for the renovation work in one of the buildings in the 80s. I had fond memories of the place when bats were found all over the deserted building during my first site visit. However, I was also intrigued by the various spaces and beautiful detailings within.

Other than MacDonald House which is gazetted as a national monument, the other buildings are not. I really hope they will be there as long as they can as we are seeing too many ugly, fussy glass and steel modern buildings sprouting everywhere with the wrong proportion and scale not to mention total disregard of environmental design.

Club Street today

Also blog at urbansketchers-singapore.

I decided to go back to Club Street and sketched today. So much have changed. Most of the shops were closed on Sunday. The cafe at 60 Club Street was also closed but now it had a different name probably a different owner. Many shops were replaced with new occupants.

All my sketches on Club Street are here. I use Lamy foundation pens to draw and sometimes, in watercolors. This is the only colour piece I did in the same sketchbook filled with black and white sketches. Other colour pieces are done on loose watercolour papers and you can find them on my flickr site.

Hort Park Singapore

This is the event on 14 Aug 2009 for students to sell their work at the Hort Park. We sold quite a lot of clay pieces on behalf of the students in the morning when I was there with a colleague.

Top left : I took the picture when I was packing the kiln.
Top right : after firing, the pieces were left to cool in the early morning.
Middle : we rushed down to Hort Park and set up the stall.
Middle : the lady was looking at a piece and then it was sold!

Most of the pieces you see here such as the horse at the bottom left and the next sculpture piece were sold!

colouring after sketching

a successful wood firing

The wood firing at Thow Kwang Dragon Kiln went smoothly. The firing for the last and 4th stoke hole finished at about 6pm on 8 Aug 2009 - earlier than expected. Thanks to the help rendered by friends that I could go up to the wooden link bridge above the dragon kiln at about 5.30pm to sketch. It was a lively and beautiful sight up there.

More photos and day to day accounts at Thow Kwang Clay Artists.

Istana - the palace

To celebrate the National Day on 9 Aug, it is timely for me to post a sketch of the Istana on National Day eve. The Istana which means Palace in Malay is the official residence of the President of Singapore. The place is open for five occasions only in a year to the public on the Chinese Lunar New Year, Indian Deepavali, Malay Hari Raya Puasa, Labour Day and the National Day. Last Sunday I visited the place it was open to celebrate the upcoming National Day.

The main building or the government house, the national flag and the cannon are the main icons in this sprawling Istana compound of over 100 acres. I excluded the crowd to give the place its sense of saintliness and significance.

Happy 44th National Day Singapore!

Form + Reform

Form + Reform is an 3D art exhibition organised by Ngee Ann Cultural Centre. We managed to get a prominent display corner from the organiser for our students' work. The scupltors and potters invited are the who's who in the 3D Art scene in Singapore such as Jason Lim, Vicent Lim, Chew Sien Kuan, Eddie Goh, Wee Kong Chai, Sim Lian Huat, Jacqueline Ng just to name a few. This year it is not just ceramics and clay but also include stone, metal, wood and mixed media.

inside the dragon kiln

I have done quite a few sketches on the dragon kiln. Here is one sketch I did right inside the kiln showing final stage of packing. I spent my last weekends preparing for the up coming wood firing event on 7, 8 & 9 Aug. We need to finish the packing by this weekend before the owner of the wood kiln seals the entrance on Wednesday. You can find wood firing details here.

I am exhausted but happy!

meeting friends of OIC

Last Saturday I did this quick sketch when artists, designers and illustrators from Organisation of Illustrators Council led by Michael were having their portrait day at MAAD.

We went there when the portraiture session was about to end. We joined the group for a wonderful dinner at a tze char shop called Seng Kee at Keong Siak Street. Good food and good company!

downtown

This is a million dollar view!

Tuesday evening I went downtown to meet a friend. Her office was at 35th storey of Republic Plaza and the view was just spectacular. The circle on the left was the bright orange sun slowly descended into the horizontal as I watched in awe. I managed to do a sketch of the view from her office window before the sky became really dark. The tall building is the Singtel Building designed by Kenzo Tange Associates completed in 1986.

a relax sunday afternoon

It was too hot to go out so I sketch indoor. This is the common lounge where my sister was working on her new laptop after a good Sunday lunch at the Graduate Club of the National University of Singapore. It was a big lounge furnished with sofa sets and a small billiard table. A group of players were at the billiard table. It was hard to sketch when the players were moving all the time so I decided to ignore the crowd and sketch only the father and son. That's my black coffee in the sketch and I can't live without it!

my sketches featured in the Italian magazine

Click these images to enlarge.

Great news, two of my pieces - Laksa and Tibetian Temple are featured in the Italian magazine called Animals. News here.

dooling with blue ink

090708_people_ps, originally uploaded by tiastudio.

One of those day when I was taking a break from the office routine, just play with the endorsing ink I found in my office stationery supply box.

house with entrance staircase

Old houses on the left with ornamented entrance staircase are fast disappearing. This house type has its root in the Malay traditional house design. The location is Joo Chiat Place. I sat at the bus stop opposite the house and sketched this. The ornamented street lamp is of a typical design found in the Joo Chiat / Eunos area traditionally a Malay village. This neighbourhood is flooded with immigrants. How do I know? I hear them speaking in at least four different foreign dialects at the bus stop on a Sunday afternoon.

our popular canteen

Designer Pad - canteen at Temasek Design School where creative juices flow. This canteen is very crowded during lunch time simply because it has a few good food stalls such as the Muslim food stall and the western food stall. The drink stall also serves very good coffee and curry puffs. Yummy!

urbansketchers-singapore blog

USK-Singapore blog is up, please do visit and give your comments to my gifted and talents sketcher friends. Spread the news, follow the blog, sign up as follower and those who are staying in Singapore can contact TIA to participate.

Enjoy!

lonely sketchcrawl

I only knew about sketchcrawl after joining USk. #23 sketchcrawl was last Saturday when I had to work on my clay pieces to prepare for the upcoming 3-day & 2-night woodfiring in early August. I still managed to find time to do one sketch at the dragon kiln. Another earlier piece of the dragon kiln was here.

museum night festival

Last Friday, the facade of the National Museum of Singapore was transformed into colourful canvas with spectacular light insllation. The windmill sculptural frame located at the main entrance of the museum carried at least three performers displaying acrobatic dance moves responding gracefully to sound and music. The performance was dazzling and spectacular culminate with a fantastic pyrotechnics show by Action Theatre PAN.OPTIKUM from Germany.

This interior sketch was done sitting outside the museum cafe before the 10.30pm night show. The crowd at the far end was the location for Donna Ong's installation work entitled "The Crytal City" which was one of my favourite display for the event.

Again, the brown colour floor was the left-over coffee from my drink.

mee pok shop

This noodle shop is my favourite lunch place about 8 minutes drive from my office. The first sketch was done sometime in February and the second just last week opposite the noodle shop. The brown road you see was the left-over black coffee. I don't smoke but the thrill I get from a sketch after lunch is probably the same feeling a smoker gets from a puff after a meal. Hmmm... this is not a good comparison when smoking is totally banned in our country at eating places....yes? no?

empty on Sunday?

Two days ago, Asnee, our Thai fellow urbansketcher had a great post displaying his many beautiful works of Singapore. One of which is our busy downtown central financial district sketched at lunch peak hours. I prefer to sketch the romantic side of Singapore, but here is a rare sketch I did early this year on Raffles Place, our downtown financial district. Inspired by recent digital exploration from the fellow urbansketchers, I added the digital colours last night. Although our downtown area is a typical busy financial belt categorised by many tall, modern and contemporary buildings designed by world renowned architects, there are less traffic and people on Sundays. Is'nt that the problem of all the financial hubs in the world that they all look like ghost towns on Sundays?

Raffles Place

I sketched Raffles Place early this year. The place was empty on Sunday so as my mood then I think. Will like to add some digital colours.

army trucks on campus

Army trucks, jeeps, battle tanks, field guns, armoured vehicles and army dogs are on the campus ground on 1 July to mark the Army Day. I wouldn't want to miss this rare opportunity to sketch the tank which is such a remote subject for me. The army boys could not resist to look at my sketchbook and they also helped me to take a picture while I was sketching. The hot weather was unbearable at about 34C (93F) for me to continue so I went back to my airconditioned office for the colouring.

More information from the graduates who are now in the army, on the left is a bionix on the right a V200..they are greek to me.

a sketch of army day in 2004

Today marks the army day and it is timely for me to post this sketch I did on 1 July 2004 on campus. I also did a new sketch today under the scorching sun and will post later.