weekend trip

I hesitated to put this sketch but well, I just cannot lie. I went to Genting over the long weekend with my husband and friends and lost all my money I brought on the jackpot machines and table games. I had a great time though seeing those beautiful graphics and patterns on the wheels. The next best thing for me to do was to sit around and enjoyed the free flow of tea and coffee while waiting for others who were winning, I think. But the truth was, nobody was winning. We had to satisfy ourselves that it was a great game.

So, a sketch of the interior since photography is not allowed. People crowding around tables and the endless rows of jackpot machines from the left of the sketch. Obviously I was enjoying my coffee and the sketching moment!

Little Thailand

Last night I had a craving for Thai beef noodle soup so I drove to Golden Mile Complex at Beach Road - our Singapore's "little Thailand". You can find numerous Thai pubs, shops, eateries there. Fish sauce, garish signboards, Singha beer bottles and everything Thai are all over the place just like being in Bangkok. With its dipalated rundown interior, it was hard to imagine that the building was once famous among the architects for its modernist mega-structure design where shops, entertainment and apartments were all housed within one complex.

This sketch was done after a satisfying bowl of beef noodle soup. People in this sketch are all Thai-speaking food sellers and customers. For a moment, I thought I was in Thailand.

at the airport

I did this sketch at Terminal 3 of Changi Airport after sending my sister off to Frankfurt at around 11pm. The ceiling of the huge departure hall was dominated by the day light reflecting system and it was a challenge to draw those ceiling panels initially. I completed it with the help of a big cup of thick coffee. That night I slept at 3am. Blame it on the coffee.

lunch at food republic

My son and I went to Food Republic at Vivo City for lunch. Food Republic is a mega food court that combines local hawker fare with mini restaurants in an open dining concept with an interior that invokes a nostalgic kampong atmosphere. The interior with a very high ceiling is filled with aged wooden beams, patterned floor tiles, old roof shingles, old panelled doors, big bird cages and red long lanterns. Even the tables and chairs are of oriental theme.

It was very crowded during lunch hours and the noodle stall in this sketch was very popular.

a day after sketchcrawl

On Saturday, it was World SketchCrawl Day. Do check everyone's drawings on our Singapore Urban Sketchers blog here.

On Sunday, a day after SketchCrawl, I attended the ICSID DESIGN EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2009 with the theme, "Design Difference - Design Education 2050". It was held as part of the ICSID World Design Congress 2009 in Singapore. The Congress is starting today at the Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre but the Education Conference on Sunday was held at our campus.

The biggest complaint about the education conference - no hot coffee! So please excuse me if the lines in this sketch are sleepy!

BooksActually

Singapore sketchers met yesterday at BooksActually, 86 Club Street. Thanks to Karen and Kenny from the left. Carol, in the photo above, is our 'official photographer', thank you Carol.

25th World SketchCrawl Day

The turn out for the SketchCrawl this morning was very encouraging, we have 7 people. One of them was Khoo from Penang. He was here attending the Singapore Watercolour Society 40th Annual Exhibition and it was timely for him to join us. Khoo is also an accomplished artist who knows Ch'ng Kiah Kien, USk correspondent from Penang, Malaysia. Both had met Asnee, USk correspondent from Bangkok with details here.

As many of us only met each other for the very first time, we spent more time networking at the cozy couch corner at BooksActually at 86, Club Street after first round of sketching around the vacinity. We were sharing sketching gear, tips and flipping through our sketchbooks. Thank you Kenny and Karen from BooksActually for allowing us to use their cozy couch corner for the sketchers' exchange, the Singapore style.

It was a good session that we made new friends who share the same passion about location drawings. The first sketch was done together with our new friends at Club Street. The second sketch was done at a street nearer to my house on my way home on this World SketchCrawl Day.

Please visit urbansketchers-singapore for more sketches. Here are some pictures.

indoor sketches on raining season

According to the news, the rain this Thursday was heavy and so intense that the downpur dumped enough water to fill 115 Olympic-size swimming pools into a canal that causing it to overflow. The traffic was reported to be at a standstill and the flood at one area was reported to be at knee level. At it heavist downpour, I was stuck at my favourite noodle shop happily sketching waiting for the rain to stop. Monsoon begins in November and mostly carries on till end of January so there should be more indoor sketches in the following weeks. I did another sketch in the evening while it was still raining outside on the same Thursday.

the leaning tower of Singapore

I went to a local marketplace where locals and tourists shop for backpacking gear, army gear and equipment. I bought two small foldable chairs, one with back rest and one without. I put my new foldable chair to good use that I sat along the pavement and sketched the famous mosque near-by.

The Hajjah Fatimah Mosque was built between 1845 and 1846. It was named after a Malay business lady of the same name who donated the land to build the mosque for the community. The mosque is located within the Kampong Glam district where an earlier sketch was done for another big mosque called Sultan Mosque about 500m away. The Hajjah Fatimah Mosque is well-known for its leaning tower which leans about six degrees towards the onion-shaped dome. The leaning tower or the minaret has a European influence because it was designed by J.T. Thomas, the government surveyor. The mosque also has European Doric pilasters and a Moorish verandah.

After Hajjah Fatimah's death she was buried in a special chamber at the rear of the Mosque; her tombstone as well as her daughter's stand side bye side in the chamber. The Hajjah Fatimah Mosque was gazetted as a national monument in 1973.

I also found another good use for the new foldable sketching chair, as a support for the sketch when I took a photo as shown above. For this sketch, I also try my relatively new pen - the affordable Hero M86 caligraphy fountain pen with Noodler's ink.

a weekend trip to Skudai, Malaysia

Last Saturday, my two sisters and I accompanied our mother to Skudai for a wedding dinner hosted by a Malaysian relative for his elder daughter. Skudai is 16km from Johor Bahru; the state capital of Johor. Johor is one of the most developed states of Malaysia that is linked to Singapore via two road connections across the Straits of Johor. The wedding dinner was held at a luxurious Chinese restaurant in the very big shopping mall called Sutera Mall at Skudai. As a Singaporean, I am surprised to find out from the floor map that two very big Singapore developers have a stake in the Sutera Mall.

We went to Sutera Mall in the early afternoon so that my mother had time to do her hair at one of the saloons. I took the opportunity to do this exterior sketch while my sisters were busy shopping. The wedding dinner was held at Pekin restaurant at Sutera Mall. The food was very good and the iced coconut pudding presented in three big coconuts was truly unique and outstanding.

official visit

What an interesting way to start the week by visiting an organisation in the early morning on Monday.

a sketch on my birthday

It was my birthday yesterday. I received a bundle of joy bouquet from my 14-year-old son who is very good with wires and papers. We went to "Casa do Churrasco Brazil" - a Brazilian restaurant for my birthday dinner. I did a sketch after the fantastic dinner and it was done directly on the dinner paper that already filled with some drops of oil and sauce. The waiters and waitress were very surprised when I showed them the sketch as we made our exit.

noodle stall

<

132 noodle stall at this coffee shop along Upper East Coast Road is just outside my house. It used to be very famous and the wait could be from 30 mins to an hour. However, their opening days and hours are unpredictable nowadays. There are people who drive all the way from the west to eat and find that the shop is closed. Some comments on the food blog also affect the business a little. I will still eat the dried meepok noodle when I feel like it since it is just at my door step. I like the soup a lot.

first page

The first sketch on my new Moleskine sketchbook. I am a new Moleskine user although I bought two of them many years ago and kept them in the drawer. I was using the common black A6 sketchbooks all these years.

"dr Cafe Coffee" the cafe in this sketch is located at the latest big shopping mall in town called ION. The shopping mall is so big that I needed a rest and ended up with a sketch. Sketch is like medicine for fatigue in a big mall at a clinic called dr Cafe Coffee, Ha!

last page

Last page of my sketchbook, I sketched the Nissan GTR at the showroom when I took a day off and sent my car for servicing. Mix feeling about saying goodbye to the old sketchbook.

pens and pencils

Last week, before I could find time to do more sketches, I took a few pictures on the pencil holders that I collected. The latest acquisition was the most expensive of all - Mont Blanc Leonardo Sketch Pen shown here on the far right. I always wanted to buy it but hestitated. Last week, I went to a very nice pen shop to buy the ink catridges for my fountain pen, Jimmy, the shop owner told me the sketch pen will be discontinued soon and I was visibly upset. I went back to the shop to buy it after thinking through over a cup of coffee at the near-by coffee shop.

From left to right - Lamy Safari, Hero M86 Calligraphy Pen, AA Waterman c.1910, Architect Pencil, Lamy Clutch Pencil, Broker Pencil, Faber Castell E Motion Pencil, Cretacolor Lead Holder, Polumbus, Wecle Japan, Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth chalk /lead holder and Mont Blanc Leonardo Pencil.

Some details on my flickr site.

at the studio

Students are drawing twigs in the studio.

Oleh Oleh - my favourite cafe at Parkway Parade

"Oleh Oleh" means "present" in Malay. it is the name of the small open cafe known for its local Malay pastries and deserts especially my favourite "lopez". Lopez is a glutinous rice topped with grated coconut and sweet syrup. Together with black coffee, the combination is just heavenly. The two couples were discussing on an interior project over the laptop directly in front of my table. The near-by HSBC bank was still open when I left at about 8pm.

ball point pen sketch

click to enlarge

A sketch done with the ball pen and paper provided by Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel, the venue for our company retreat. First day we were out in a group of 8 visiting a small company producing herbal drinks and second day we had a fabulous time at the seminar room of the hotel. Great food, fine wine and fantastic company. There were a few presentations like this one by the top management team.

company visit

As part of the activities for our company retreat, we visited a very small firm set up by two young brothers. One of the brothers was on the phone in the middle of the discussion. The other brother was standing on the right behind the ladies. They were explaining to us the process of tranforming the traditional herbs into bottled herbal drinks you see here on the table. Today, there are 19 flavours compared to the humble 5 flavours of herbal drinks when they first set-up during the SARS epidemic in 2003.

a very hot afternoon

091011_syedalwiroad, originally uploaded by tiastudio.

Done with my new Hero M86 Calligraphy Pen.

The afternoon heat was unbearable so I sat in the air-cond car and sketched the street - Syed Alwi Road. I had a sketch done for the row of shophouse with oval windows on the left early this year. This was the second car that blocked my view for the whole period I was sketching. The first one drove away. This one also parked for like 5 minutes and I had to scramble with the outline of the car when I saw the driver came back from nowhere with lunch packages. A big van very quickly filled in the parking lot and blocked my view totally. I moved my car a little in order to finish the sketch. That was the situation a sketcher has to deal with when you are sketching 'moving targets'.

national monument

The heat was still unbearable although I sat under the big shade on a Sunday afternoon.

I sketched the famous clock tower building of the Chinese High School on one Sunday. The Chinese High School, also the first Chinese secondary school in Singapore was constructed in 1919 and completed in 1925. The clock tower building was gazetted as a national monument on 19 Mar 1999. This year the School celebrates its 90th anniversary.

The building was used by the Allied defenders during the Battle of Singapore, as well as during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945. It was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army for the purpose of surveillance. The building's history is synonym to the history of our country.

There are four clocks on the clock tower. This historical building is a powerful landmark along a major road in a low rise, high class residential area.

at burger king

The day I spent the morning at Burger King while waiting for my husband who is attending a meeting in the same building. The man was reading a Chinese book on face reading (physiognomy or personology) and he sat so still that I could draw him without much difficulty. The lady must be studying for some kind of examination that she was highlighting the English texts with a highlighter. If you think they are a couple preparing for examination you are wrong. They were studying their books and papers intensely next to each other but they left separately.

These are things you notice when you draw.

two cars

Found this sketch under a pile of files in my office. It was done with ball point pen not with my usual fountain pen. I don't sketch cars that often, may be it is a guy's thing. Inspired by Stephen's post on Urbansketchers, I decided to post this sketch of cars. I was at a carpark at the Fort Canning Park waiting for my son's art class to end. I guess it was waiting time well spent looking at a Volvo and a Suzuki Swift.

at Haagen Dazs

After filling up the car with petrol at around 10pm, Lip Jiang - my son and I went to the nearby Haagen Dazs - his favourite ice cream cafe. The table next to us were having ice cream fondue. Before I could finish the sketch, a waitress took the fondue set away. By then, I had already done with the people and moved on to the ice cream counter. I added the waiter with the mask and he was moving all the times. My son reminded me we had the same ice cream fondue some years back at the same cafe but I had no recollection at all! This sketch will definitely help me to remember that in the future, I hope.

family karaoke session

090929_karaoke_grey, originally uploaded by tiastudio.

My brother was the national talentime winner for a Chinese TV singing competition in 1990. We were listening to him singing most of the time at a family karaoke session last sunday.

Pinkie, by Lip Jiang

Pinkie, by Lip Jiang, originally uploaded by lipjin.

This is done by Lee Lip Jiang, my 14-year old son. Acrylic on 1m canvas. I now have paints on his bedroom floor and sofa set. Pinkie is the name of our pet dog.

on sketchcrawl day

Busy with work in the past two weeks and I felt really guilty for not able to arrange or go out for a sketchcrawl. So, I decided to sketch at home on 24th world sketchcrawl day. Yes, I have a grand piano at home but I can't play. It's for my talented children. I like the zip light on the left, it can be tranformed into two flat sheets of plastic and leather after unzipping the zips at the back. They can be kept in a A2 folio. Great design. While sketching, I can also remove the cluttered items which cannot be done if I were to take a photograph.

Plus, I have a horseshoe on the main door on the right so my home is blessed and happy.

a different potter's studio

I spend most of my Saturdays at Thow Kwang Pottery Jungle to work on my clay pieces and meet other potter friends. I did this sketch while waiting for my friends to leave together in my car. The pool side shed in this sketch used to be a big aviary cage in the past and it is now Steven Low's pottery studio which is complete with a kitchen, sleeping quarter and lots of interesting new and old fixed and loose furniture.

Let me know if you are interested to visit Thow Kwang Pottery Jungle. Steven Low, the famed potter will also be more than happy to give you a tour of his studio that is built entirely by him and his workers. It is going to be a great place to hang out in the future!

campus food

I was so busy with end of semester assessment that I was unable to organise a sketchcrawl activity last Saturday. It was marking, marking and more marking. However, we still need to eat and drink so I did a quick sketch during the lunch break today. Mensa - one of the many canteens on the campus was so crowded. There was a great satisfaction when I managed to sketch these people before they finished their food and drink. The noodle stall was very popular with a constant stream of customers.

shamisen

It is public holiday here in Singapore and salamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends.

I did not go out and sketch as I needed to spend my long weekend doing assessment at home. I also spent some time listening to shamisen on the Youtube. All the memories from the good old days kept surfacing in my thoughts. I was part of the Chinese Orchestra playing sanxian in the group of about 20 players.

Japanese shamisen derived from sanshin which has its roots in the Chinese sanxian. I was astonished how shamisen has modernised and flourished in Japan as compared to sanxian in China. Pipa, the instrument I am picking up now is definitely more popular than sanxian. Another significant difference is that cat or dog skin is used to cover its resonator in shamisen whilst snakeskin is used to cover its resonator in sanxian.

If you watch the performance by the Yoshida Brothers, you may think shamisen is way cooler than the electric guitar which is one of the most popular dream musical instruments of every modern youth. However, Hiromitsu Agatsuma is still my favourite.

coffee, coffee and more coffee

I have been too busy going out and sketch under the hot sun but I managed to get two done during my coffee breaks last few days. I only take either special brew or black coffee. Long black from Coffee Bean proven to be good antidote for the sketching bug I caught last evening and I soon recovered after a satisfying sketch.

Elgin Bridge at Singapore River

It was a productive day for me. I completed two watercolours in the morning during the field trip to Singapore River and a sketch of the cafe interior at night when I visited the exhibition on "The Dead Sea Scrolls" at the Arts House. This was done in my sketchbook which is small enough for me to apply colours directly without any outlines.

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!