collage of sketches

sketches of people in the month of March 2011, muji sketchbook 130 x 130mm.

back to buffet at swissotel

Three of us had dinner at the same place - Ellenbourough Market Cafe at Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel. This time I did a very quick sketch on Moleskine. The last one was on Muji sketchbook.

Result of Sketchwalk at Marina Bay part 2

Ya Kun Coffee

This tiny coffee shop inside the modern Raffles City Shopping Mall is so crowded! I found a nice seat and splashed some coffee from Ya Kun on the paper before the sketch.

Ya Kun Kaya Toast is a chain of air-conditioned traditional coffee shops in Singapore and certain parts of Asia. I grew up with Ya Kun and I frequented the traditional coffee stall when I worked at Shenton Way Business District in the 1980s. In 1998, the coffee stall was passed down to second generation moved to a new location at Far East Square. Ya Kun expanded into a chain of coffee stalls islandwide and regionally. It now has 32 outlets in Singapore, and adopts the franchises business model in Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines and South Korea.

www.yakun.com/

Result of Sketchwalk at Marina Bay part 1

Result of sketchwalk this morning. I was not productive as I spent more time talking and getting the group organized. Building on the same techniques, I inverted the salting textures to the water this time. It was the sky that was sprinkled with salt in the previous piece. Before the sketch at Marina Bay, the background was prepared with washes and sprinkled with salt. See photo on the left.

Oh yes, we had the show and tell at the air-conditioned Marina Bay City Gallery. We were such a big crowd in the small gallery that we were politely asked to leave the gallery after about 20 to 30 mins in there. We will like to express our appreciation to the gallery staff who allowed us to meet in there.

A3 size, salt, ink and watercolours. Some photos of the activity here:

last day of this semester

Today is the last day of the block for this semester. That means my teaching to this group of students from Diploma in Visual Communication is over after today. I cannot help but wonder how I used to taking care of students from Diploma in Interior Architecture and Design to today's setting up and teaching foundation studies with the School of Design at Temasek Polytechnic. I will miss these students but I also miss teaching design and architecture which I am equally good at. I am constantly reminding myself I am still a qualified registered architect with the Board of Architects and perhaps I will get back to the profession and build another award winning building one day! Yes, the sport complex I designed in 1988 was one of the buildings that bagged the highest architectural award in 1990.

I taught so many classes, this was taken in March 2010 on the last day of their class. Also my first VSC class.

ikea on a week day

Ikea store on a weekday is not crowded but the cafeteria is full of working executives and retiring couples. The most popular dishes are the meatballs and chicken wings. My new lunch place, great for sketching.

another cafe sketch

Did a cafe sketch of J.CO at Bugis. They served good coffee and donuts. Before that I went to Illuma opposite Bugis via the connecting shopping bridge. Illuma was big and empty! Bugis had more crowd but the cafe was empty when I sketched.

Sketchwalk Marina Bay 26 March 2011

Meet at Marina Bay City Gallery. A free standing building next to Promontory @ Marina Bay. Nearest MRT station is the new Downtown Station at Marina Bay Link Mall.

See map below for a clearer picture.

Show and tell will be back where we meet, then we decide where to go for lunch. Marina Bay Sands or the Link Mall for some good food. Please call Tia for directions if you get lost. Tel: 96968080.

Extra: Explore map of area here: Map here.
http://www.streetdirectory.com/asia_travel/travel/travel_id_52667/travel_site_1/?x=103.85407149269&y=1.2814551137504&l=13

at the polyclinic

While waiting to collect my medication after consultation with the doctor at room number 10, I sketched the crowd inside the Marine Parade Polyclinic. People came and went very quickly so I had to do speed sketching. I put 2105, the number assigned to me on the calling screen on top of the pharmacy counter.

cafe sketch

After leaving the students from Marina Bay Promenade, I went to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Marina Bay Sands to have my meal and coffee. The "Wishing Well" called "Rain Oculus" which looks like an hanging inverted bowl structure is just outside the cafe. It creates a whirlpool motion above the promenade level with the water falling two storeys through a hole at the center of the Oculus. I was sitting in the cafe witnessing for the very first time, the water gushing down from the steel pipes and acrylic bowl above.

back to Marina Bay Promenade

I brought a group of new students to Marina Bay for an outdoor activity on Thursday. I combined it with an outdoor painting class with my current group of students. I was hoping these two groups of students will mingle and talk to each other but they were just too engrossed with their work. May be the only time they talked to each other was during the bus journey from campus to Marina Bay?

I did a very quick demonstration to encourage the students to sprinkle some salt on the wet watercolours to create the textures for the sky and water, while waiting for them to complete their work, I sketched the skyline of Marina Bay Basin for about 30 to 45 minutes. I used red-orange for the roofs of Clifford Pier and Fullerton Hotel and red for the box on the right that enclosed Merlion, the familiar icon of Singapore.

A3 size, salt, ink and watercolour.

three ladies/men in the cafe

Only when I sat down and started sketching after a sip from the cup of coffee, I then realised the three pretty ladies sitting in front were men! They were very pretty and fair but they were also loud and oblivious of the surroundings. I was glad I sketched them first before they left.

sketches on people

I lost my Muji Sketchbook on cafes and people as reported in the post here. I was reluctant to start a new one until now. So here are some sketches on a new Muji Sketchbook on people at dinner tonight, at a meeting last week and in the studio with students.

Tanjong Pagar Railway Station

We went there last May for the sketchwalk and we were back to Tanjong Pagar Railway Station again on Saturday at 3pm. This is the second piece in portrait format The Station will be handed over to Malaysia in July 2011. The building is most likely to be preserved but there is no news on the new development on the plot of land.

Kampong Buangkok

Kampong Buangkok may be the last kampong (in Malay, it means traditional village in English), so we, the sketchers went there in the Saturday morning. There were families and photographers too. There were certainly more visitors than the local residents many of whom had already moved out of the kampong. I was very late when other sketchers were already started colouring. This house was right at the end of the village through a scenic path with small bridges over the water streams and flowers and plants along the way.

buffet at swissotel

Dinner at Ellenbourough Market Cafe at Swissotel Merchant Court.
130x130mm Muji Sketchbook.

I lost my last Muji Sketchbook in the studio immediately after a class. The lost book was on cafe series with people and cafe sketches. So I was reluctant to start another one until now. I am very sure one of the students took it so if you are reading this, please return the sketchbook to me.

skyline from the river

View of Singapore River from Boat Quay where it used to house the old godowns and warehouses. Now this area is a 'must visit' place for the tourists. The bumboats at the left which used to transport goods in the past have been transformed into bumboat rides for the tourists. I was sitting at the outdoor dinning area of an Indian Restaurant in the hot Sunday afternoon. They only came at around 5.30pm to do the table settings and I had to leave. The waiter told me they open from 11.30am in the week days but only open at night on Sundays. The customers are normally tourists and business is not very good.

a sketch on wood firing day

A sketch done on 26 Feb 2011 while the rest of the sketchers were at Raffles Place sketching the skyline of Singapore. I was firing the 6th and 7th stoke holes since 6.20am till the helpers came at around 11am to take over my shift. Thanks Red Herring who came as early as 6.30am to help out and later watched while I sketched this piece. Shyam, Ruiku, Xinwei and Madhu also arrived later and sketched under the hot and humid weather.

This may be one of the last few wood firing sessions as this area is earmarked for the development of a CleanTech Park. To date, the authorities involved in the project have not been forthcoming on how the development will affect the dragon kiln. Will this historic dragon kiln be kept intact and preserved for posterity or will it be demolished in the name of economic development? More details on our pottery blog.