Kuriya at Tampines One

Very busy interior at the Japanese restaurant. Open ceiling and yet full of decorative elements.

almost identical sketches?

Two sketches on the same spot for the camera crew this morning. I notice I sketch very fast under pressure. They look almost identical. Can you spot the different with these two?

Tasty Court by Chef Pang

Family dinner at Tasty Court, junction of Jalan Tua Kong and Figaro Street.

Lunch at NUSS Suntec City

National University of Singapore Society at Suntec City. Not crowded at all on a Saturday afternoon.

A Drink before Exhibition

Young people like to sit outdoor and drink and smoke outside Hopscotch at Gillman Barracks. I was waiting to visit an exhibition at the NTU's Center for Contemporary Art.

Old Aircraft at the Campus

A very old aircraft outside the School of Engineering.

At the Workshop

The workshop is called "Introduction to Disability Management" at the Enabling Village. My younger colleagues were all very attentive during the workshop so I could sketch them while listening to the instructor.

Enabling Village

It was supposed to be a learning journey or guided tour to Enabling Village but it turned out to be a classroom workshop on Special Needs Education. It was a very nice place with classrooms, cafe, art shop, kindergarten and training facilities for students with special needs. Enabling Village is a community that embraces the diversity of our abilities. You can find more details at their website here.

Mount Erskine Trail

We were invited by Singapore Land Authority for a July heritage trail to sketch an old hospital at Mount Erskine. It was the St. Andrew Mission Hospital built in 1922 by Madam Tan Teck Neo, f founder of the Chinese Women's Association. She was the second daughter of Tan Keong Saik. There was also a very old elevator with wood interior and collapsible gates inside the building.

I did a long sketch on the roof top of the building while everyone sketched the old hospital across the building.

http://www.samh.org.sg/about-us/history
https://www.swhf.sg/profiles/tan-teck-neo/



This part of the sketch was overlooking at Ministry of National Development building in the middle, Oasia Hotel on the right and Urban Redevelopment Authority on the left. National Day is approaching, so I added the Singapore flag. The other half I sketched the 50-storey building which is the tallest public housing complex called The Pinnacle@Duxton that sold for a million dollar per unit for public flat on re-sale market. Crazy!

at Penny University, again?

His is listening to the music, oblivious to the noisy environment at Penny University Cafe.

Global Community Day 2018

My favourite Festive Drums and Dikir Barat performance done in 5 mins, colour added later in another 5 mins during our Global Community Day 2018.

Roti Prata Stall on the Campus

First sketch of July. On the right is the Indian Muslim stall selling delicious Roti Prata at BreadBoard, our campus food court. It is also here i learnt about a dish called "Roti Plaster" - it is a plain prata with a egg on it styled like sunny-side-up which is different from egg prata with egg inside the flour.

Negative Painting

Found an old work in the stack of old watercolour papers. It was to paint the negative space rather than positive objects.

Trees and more Trees

using left over paints I did a sketch on trees and more trees.

Direct Watercolour

On the spur of a moment, I tried a few different techniques and this one was direct watercolour without pencil or pen outline of a typical fishing village. I used this style for posters or book illustrations in the past for a few projects.

Result of Jun Sketchwalk

It was a great turn-out and Channel 8 was filming us sketching. I managed to capture the light and shadow before it disappear.

I love Sashimi

At Sushi Express, I have more salmon sashimi than sushi and I like to sit at the counter to watch the sushi chefs.

Uncles at IKEA

Are the uncles more addicted to the smart phones or the aunties? He was there watching video. Wait! I forgot to sketch the phone on the table, HA!

Saturday Outing at IKEA

Saturday you can spot very long line at the counter at IKEA restaurant.

Lunch at FoodFare - A Social Enterprise

This lunch place is just opposite my institution at the new HDB block 878A. NTUC Foodfare is set out to be a different kind of business - established by the Labour Movement in 1995, with the primary purpose to serve working people and their families by stabilising cooked food prices and helping them improve their quality of life. To me, the price is not much different from the other food establishment and the quality is just acceptable. There are also new initiatives such as cashless payment. The self service machine you see in my sketch is now a white elephant. Automation in this country still have a long way to go.

June Sketchwalk at Ang Mo Kio Park

Credits: Banner sketch by Favian Ee

Ang Mo Kio Central sits between to neighbourhood parks - Ang Mo Kio Town Gardens East and West. This month's location is the latter, the larger of the two. A 21-hectare garden just off AMK Ave 6, it is beautifully landscaped with lotus pond, terraced hill, activity areas, green spaces, secondary forest, and bird singing club.
(https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/ang-mo-kio-town-garden-west)

START
Time: 9:30 AM
Location: Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West
In front of Macdonald's
https://goo.gl/maps/zHKr8yyz8qk

END
Time: 12:15 PM
Location: Garden Plaza, next to the pond
(https://goo.gl/maps/HM9oARYhAut)

Nearest MRT: Ang Mo Kio MRT (EWL)

Locations to sketch:
- Garden Plaza
- Playgrounds
- Stage area
- Bird singing club area
- Lotus pond
- Observatory terrace / hill top
- Macdonald's

Places to eat and shop:
- Macdonalds
- Ang Mo Kio Central

Sketchwalk leaders: Patrick Ng, Favian Ee

Notes: Bring your own stools and watch out for bees at some parts. Be kind to bees!

A Sketch Outside National Gallery

Colour washes were added later to a sketch I did on location on the steps outside National Gallery on 18 May. On that day I did the sketch, there was no more ink and no more pages to sketch and I did not bring any colours and brushes.

I don't always go to the city area but that day, the weather was good and the view captivating. The iconic Marina Bay Sands on the left is designed by Moshe Safdie with the sky park straddling three hotel towers. In the last decade, the skyscrapers were sprouting out like mushrooms behind the classic orange tiled roof Cricket Club Singapore which was built in the 1860s. The contrasting horizontal classic building and the vertical towers together with the green Padang (the big lawn) in the front forming the beautiful skyline of Central Business District of Singapore.

Father's Day

My son eating his long japanese noodles on Father's Day at Megumi. They will be moving out soon to a new location in Joo Chiat. They will be moving out end of the month as the developer is going to build a new building on the same location. It is part of the red hot en-bloc market started in 2017 and now everyone is talking about en-bloc including the place that I stay.

Breakfast on a Public Holiday

One of my favourite breakfast places - mee pok (noodles) at Simpang Bedok. In fact there are four stalls to choose from and the newest one has airconditioning, expensive and I only tried once. You can read about the mee pok here.

Hari Raya

Yesterday 15 Jun was Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Muslims in Singapore end their time of fasting with a joyous celebration of forgiveness, fellowship and food. Marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan is the festival of Eid, known in Singapore as Hari Raya Aidilfitri or Hari Raya Puasa. It was also a public holiday for us so we went to Simpang Bedok for breakfast. We saw so many families in their ethnic costumes passing by the coffeeshop after parking their cars. These two guys look really cool with big army bag and jubahs

Jalan Besar

I sketched this after a heritage walk at Jalan Besar area orgainsed by Urban Redevelopment Authority for a small group of enthusiasts, historians, researchers etc. The back lanes were so interesting, full of life and character. There was an altar for the wondering souls, old soil collecting points, overgrown banyan tree covering the back of shophouse, stories about the properties, so colourful and interesting.

Three's a Crowd

Three's a Crowd is a dessert cafe located at the heartland of Tampines which includes ice cream, freshly baked cakes, coffees , tea and other dessert drinks at block 802 Avenue 4 just opposite my institution. I like to come here when I need some quiet moment or after my lunch to relax with two scoops of ice cream and a thick coffee. These two young men came, ordered, left within 15 minutes after having two drinks and sharing a cake. The young man on the right had a very unique hairstyle.

JTC50 featuring my work

I am one of the three featured artists in this video that celebrating JTC50. I did a 3-metre long panoramic skyline sketch of Tuas, Jurong Industrial Estate on location. It was lots of fun doing this video before my trip to Shanghai. I met two graduates that I taught at Temasek Polytechnic as creative director and camera videographer. You can see I roll out the concertina sketchbook at 4:00. Enjoy!

last sketch in Hong Kong

 


8 pages of Moleskine Japanese Album at IFC, Hong Kong on the last day after check-in at the Airport Express at Hong Kong Station. It was windy and shady in the afternoon on the open terrace at IFC. Shake Shack from New York also just opened for business one floor above the open terrace and the queue was ridiculously long.

May Sketchwalk at SMU

Credits: Banner sketch by Anita Ryanto

SMU Green sits in the centre of the city surrounded by beautiful buildings such as Singapore Management University, Singapore Art Museum (the old St Joseph's Institute), National Museum, Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the Archbishop's House, and further down the road, CHIJMES, etc. Lots of nice places to sketch and shelter nearby. If you remember our USk symposium in 2015, this is where we had our final sketchwalk!

START
Time: 9:30 AM
Location: SMU Green
https://goo.gl/maps/BBvWQapjydA2
If it rains we'll take shelter under SMU

END
Time: 12:15 PM
Location: Same as starting point

Nearest MRT: Bras Basah (Circle Line), City Hall (EWL, NSL)

Locations to sketch:
- SMU + SMU Green
- National Museum
- Singapore Art Museum (SAM)
- SAM@8Q along Queen Street
- Cathedral of the Good Shepherd and Archbishop's House
- CHIJMES

Places to eat and shop:
- CHIJMES
- Food Court and eateries along Bras Basah Road
- Plaza Singapura
- Cafes at the museums

Sketchwalk leaders: Flavian Ee

Notes: Lots of trees around SMU Green. Watch out for birds!

Informal visit by the Minister Iswaran

Minister Iswaran visited the exhibition on 9 May 2018 and had a good informal chat with the participating artists.