last few sketches of the year

Orchard Road mall is crowded with people but the outdoor walkway lacks interesting icons, well designed kiosks, artistic signages, festive sculptures which are badly designed and installed. The scales are very flat and dull.

This corner at Scape off the main Orchard belt is dead and quiet. The blue umbrellas and the big shades cast by the trees attracted me to sketch the otherwise dry and empty area.

After show and tell, some of us went to nearby food court at Cineleisure where I did a sketch on my Muji sketchbook.

last sketchwalk of year 2011, hello 2012!

To celebrate the last day of the year, I decided to do a colourful piece for the otherwise dull Orchard Road Mall in my personal opinion. This morning we had the last sketchwalk of the year 2011 and we met so many new and young faces. There was Charles, a 9-year-old boy who stood next to me in the photo. He joined us for the very first time.

Spread the good vibes of sketching people! Looking forward to a great 2012 ahead!

Year End Sketchwalk at Orchard!

Hi all,
For the last saturday of the year, we will be having our sketchwalk along Orchard Road. This will be our chance to capture the christmas decorations before they come down. (christmas is still on considering there are supposed to be 12 days of it.) Here is the plan:

10AM- Meet outside ION's entrance (where the colourful sculptures are. Facing Tangs)
1PM- Meet at Scape (outside Toastbox) We will either head for the basement or one of the higher floors of Scape where we will have space for "show and tell". Then we will have lunch around the area.

Weather report say that saturday will be stormy. But we will have plenty of shopping centres to hide in if it does. If you feel overwhelmed when you think of Orchard Road, too many things to draw, and the crowds, then think along these lines -
1. isolate smaller interesting things. eg, just one decoration or one shop.
2. Use the crowds to your advantage. You can hide among them to sneak a drawing of interesting people.
3. Go into and around the malls to explore and draw. Some interesting ones are ION (interesting curves inside and outside. Outside Prologue bookstore could be nice to draw), Lucky plaza (with a lot of maids on leave), Mandarin Gallery (they have nice big chairs to sit inside), Scape(interesting building design. Dance classes upstairs.), and youth park (across from Scape. it's not a mall. but it could be interesting.) You could also capture buskers in the underground tunnels (between Tangs and ION. Between Lucky Plaza and Takashimaya.)

See you there!

PS. Edric will be leading a group after lunch to finish drawing the Tudor Court area. (other end of Orchard Rd). Please follow him after lunch if you are one of those who can't get enough of sketching!

The Art of Urban Sketching

YES! The book is available FIRST in Singapore. Copies at Basheers Graphic Books are all sold out but the folks at Basheers reserved a copy for me to collect today! Here is the video by Parka who bought his copy earlier. It is an incredible book put together by Gabi, our energetic and highly capable President of Urban Sketchers which I am also one of the founding board directors. I also helped to coordinate the Singapore chapter of the book. Order your copy at Amazon now or you can wait for the world-wide book launch in Feb 2012.

Here is the link to order online.

final sketch at Hong Kong airport

a final sketch at the Hong Kong International Airport before boarding the plane. The quick portrait was my daughter at a dinner earlier. I did her mouth too big this time.

Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum in Hong Kong

a sketch at the road side while waiting to go for a dim sum lunch at Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum meal (添好運點心專門店)。One Mitchelin star but 3 hour wait! First we went early at around 10am to get a number (our number was like 107 or something like that) and went back to the shop 3 hours later. We got our table only at around 2.30pm.

We also tried another Mitchelin star Mark's Wanton Noodle at Causeway Bay, no need to wait.

Hyatt Regency Shatin brunch

The day after my son's wedding, together with the new Mrs Lee, we spent quality family time at Hyatt Regency Shatin for their fantastic buffet spread for brunch.

cafe and restaurant in Hong Kong

Afternoon tea at McCafe in Tsim Sha Tsui before meeting my elder son for dinner. It was situated in the basement of a building along a very crowded street. The other sketch was done after a meal at Harbour Restaurant located a few steps outside my son's apartment at Manhattan Heights. The restaurant served really good soup served in a big ceramic pot.

Hong Kong Ocean Park

The following day we arrived in Hong Kong, we visited the new attraction called the Hair Riser at Hong Kong Ocean Park. According to CNN International, it is a "floor-less roller coaster traveled at 88 kph, upside down, just for the hell of it". The ride was only one-week old.

My husband and I wondered around the theme park while our daughter and son went for a few rides. They had a great time and I had a sketch on the colourful Hair Riser while looking after their bags at the outdoor seating area of a cafe.

Hong Kong Trip Dec 2011

My family attended my elder son's wedding in Hong Kong. I was excited, busy but still tried to do some sketches before and after the wedding when we were combing the streets of Hong Kong. It started from the Changi Airport - 3 sketches at starbucks, at the boarding gate and while we were high in the air.

X'mas Eve Sketchwalk on 24 Dec 2011

This morning, we had a X'mas eve sketchwalk at Vivo City, I did three sketches. Two on the giant X'mas tree and one on the ship "Logos Hope" - a one-of-its kind ship which sails around the world as a floating library and book store. The piece was presented to Drewscape as a X'mas sketch exchange among sketchers. He promised to give me a scan of the sketch of the ship later. The video is by Parka.

size : 254 x 178mm (10 x 7")


and here it is!

first page in a new muji sketchbook

first sketch in a new muji sketchbook.

Christmas 2011 sketchwalk at Vivo City

Dear fellow Urban Sketchers and friends,

In conjunction with the closing of the Urban Sketchers Singapore: Volume 1 Exhibition at the URA Centre and also to celebrate this festive season the way we know best (through sketching, of course!), we have lined up a series of sketch walks for you!

1) First of all, we shall make a special return to Vivo City as we did for last year's Christmas sketch walk.

Venue: Vivo City's Sky Park Amphitheatre

Date: 24 Dec 2011 (Saturday)

Meeting Time: 9.30am

Show-and-Tell Time: 12.30pm

This time, we'll explore the Sky Park area, and sketch-able subjects include the giant Christmas tree, the huge rooftop wading pool, the various outdoor sculptures and installation artwork (including the Elephant Parade!), and also the nearby cable-cars, cruise liners, waterfront and ferry terminal facing Sentosa Island, as well as St James Power Station. And that's just the outdoor ones!

At the same time, we would like to reprise the "Sketch Gift Exchange" game that we had last year, in which every sketcher who turns up would participate by drawing a special piece (in any of your own preferred style, paper and size), submit it into a box or bag, and during the show-and-tell session, randomly choose ANOTHER fellow sketcher's work as a Christmas gift to bring home!

So please remember to bring along your own single-sheet sketch paper (or card) in preparation for this special exchange.

We could also buy your lunch and bring it over to the Amphitheatre for the show-and-tell session at 12.30pm sharp, and picnic at the same time.

After that, we should then all make our way back (by bus *) to the URA Centre by 1.30pm to have a special closure of the exhibition, and also to help remove and collect back our sketches on display, as well as purchase any of the frames used in the display if so wish.

There might be special announcements after that, so do keep yourself available till around 2.30 or 3pm if possible.

* We could take the public bus services 80 and 145 to URA Centre, or alternatively, if we could get around 30-40 sketchers, we would hire a special charter bus via URA, for S$40 and split the bill. Do leave a comment under this post with your name to indicate your interest to share this charter bus.

2) Some of us who might not be celebrating Christmas at home and might like to do it with fellow sketchers, could join a special Christmas Day sketchwalk!

Venue: Orchard Road (from Ion Orchard to Tudor Court)

Date: 25 Dec 2011 (Sunday)

Meet: 1pm at Orchard MRT Station (Ticket Office)

Show-and-Tell: 3.30pm at Tudor Court

3) With the Monday (Boxing Day) being a public holiday too, some of us would like to take this opportunity and sketch over at Pulau Ubin.

Venue: Changi Point Ferry Terminal
Date: 26 Dec 2011 (Monday)

Meeting Time: 10am
Show-and-Tell Time: 3pm and beyond.

4) There will also be a final and official last-Saturday-of-the-month sketch walk on New Year's Eve. So while keeping an eye on the updates, do keep that morning free to join us too!

WATCH THIS SPACE!
In the meantime, see you all there, and have a Merry Christmas!!!

For "watch this space", check USKSG blog for update!

Result of Sketchwalk at Kreta Ayer

Last Saturday sketchwalk at Kreta Ayer was one of the last in the series to have another young planner from URA, Jevon Liew, URA to deliver an interesting and informative talk before the sketchwalk.

Chinatown of Singapore is a very unique neighbourhood where you can find not only Chinese temples but also an Indian temple at Temple Street, a Muslim Mosque at Mosque Street, a Methodist Church at Telok Ayer Street and an Indian Shrine at Boon Tat Street.

Today, Chinatown comprises five districts: Telok Ayer, Bukit Pasoh, Tanjong Pagar, Kreta Ayer and Ann Siang Hill.

Last Saturday, we explore Kreta Ayer, the heart of Chinatown.

URA talk and Sketchwalk at Kreta Ayer

last sketch

last page of muji sketchbook started in early November.
Bedok Food Centre. I had my favourite fish soup and rice at Hung Kang Fish Porridge.

lunch at Jack's Place

I had a fall two days ago so I was on pain killers. I felt better and I went to Jack's Place for lunch with my son who was dropping his overdued library books. At Jack's Place, we met Mr Tang Guan Bee, the respectable architect who sat next to our table. He was so gracious to pay for our lunch. Great company.

URA talk and Special Sketchwalk

Dear fellow friends & USK sketchers,

This will be our one of our last few sketchwalks for 2011 and URA has kindly organised a special talk for us before we begin our sketchwalk to Kreta Ayer. This talk by URA's planner Jevon will be very informative and many sketchers found it useful during the previous talk. We hope that by knowing more Chinatown's history, culture and architecture, we will be able to sketch with an enlightened mind. Please help us spread the word and bring all your friends to this special event!
 
Meeting point - URA centre
1) Talk by URA Planner - URA Theatrette (Level 3)
2) Location #1 - Sago Lane (corridor between block 4 & chinatown hawker centre)
3) Location #2 - Junction of Keong Saik road & Kreta Ayer
4) Location #3 - Kreta Ayer People's theatre & Community Centre
End point - URA Atirum

Date : 10th Dec 2011
Time: 10-10.30am (Talk by URA Planner)
          10.30--1.15pm (Sketchwalk)
          1.15-1.30pm (Show & Tell)

** Just a gentle reminder that our recently published Urbansketcher book is still on sale at URA atrium, Kinokunikya; Basheers, BooksActually & Woods in the Books. If you are wondering what to buy for christmas, this is definitely the perfect gift to get!

field trip with students

I brought the students to Singapore River for a drawing field trip today. I did the demo with three totally different sketches today. They are:
1. Hero M86 with Noodler's ink on 305x229mm (12"X9") 300gsm (140lbs) watercolour paper.
2. Hero M86 with Noodler's ink on 130x130mm (5"x5") Muji Sketchbook
3. Bamboo dip pen with Hero ink on 400x200mm (8"x6") 300gsm (140lbs) watercolour paper.