collage of Nov sketches

black and white laptops

After Sunday family dinner at Lemon Grass for the Thai food, we went to Starbucks for a cup of coffee before heading home. The black and white laptops caught my attention.

result of January 2012 sketchwalk

National Museum exterior and interior. It was another great turnout for the urban sketchers Singapore group. We were there at 10am and visited the Dream and Reality Exhibition which featured the collection of the world renowned Musée d’Orsay. Most of the exhibits were small paintings, photographs and drawings by the realists, impressionists and post-impressionists artists whose names were rather unknown to us in Asia. The only take away for me was to see the original paintings by my favourite artists, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne and Paul Gauguin. Even Van Gogh's famous "Starry Nights" only caught my attention for about 2 mins and I left quickly for sketching. Perhaps I should spend another day just to go through the exhibits again without sketching in mind. Then again, I had been to Musée d’Orsay in 2004 so the setting and ambience was entirely different.

From the website, it said "The exhibition explores the reaction of man towards modernity at the turn of the century from 1848 to 1914. The changing social and industrial landscapes of Paris in early modernity forced artists and photographers to rethink their approach to the visual world around them. Their varied responses generated new ways of depicting reality and a proliferation of styles."

dempsey hill

An old colonial barracks rejuvenated by F&B and galleries, Dempsey Hill has in recent years been designated a conservation area. The area has recently transformed itself rather successfully judging by the numbers of luxurious sport cars sighted at the car parks. I did the sketch before meeting my son and his wife at Fullerton Hotel where they stayed for 3 days during their trip from Hong Kong to Singapore for the Lunar New Year holidays.

old toys

Ernie from Sesame Street by Jim Henson in the 60s, Pikachu & Poliwhirl from Pokemon of late 90s, are part of the soft toys kept at home untouched for a long long time! Poliwhirl also known as Tadpole Pokemon has a zip and is a reversible toy.

I was trying to do a memory exercise here. I am not drawing directly from observation but more on memory. So the proportion of the toys are not 100% accurate. You get my points.

Jan 2012 Sketchwalk this Saturday

This saturday 28 Jan, we will be sketching inside AND all around the National Museum of Singapore. we will also cover the fort canning park which is just behind the museum. It's free and easy so you can chose just the museum or both locations. We will meet at the museum's main porch (or around the front) at 10am. We will then spread out to any part of the musuem we want. It is the museum's open house that day, so you may also visit and draw in any of the galleries for free (see below).

We will meet back at the museum's main porch at 1pm where we will gather for "show and tell" and then head for lunch. See you there!

second day of Lunar New Year

It was second day of Lunar New Year. The waitress opened the door and said : "Ma'am, happy new year and you have a lovely drawing." So she noticed while I was sketching at my table after my favourite prawns aglio e olio and coffee. Today the pasta was a little too salty but the coffee was still as good. Both father and son who was sitting on baby seat were holding an iPhone and a certain iGame respectively, what an iGeneration. Personally, I think these iDevices should be discouraged at the dinning table although they seemed to be the bonding agent between the young father and son.

first day of Lunar New Year

First day of Lunar New Year we were having the biggest reunion dinner at Ju Shin Jung, a Korean restaurant. There must be about 50 family members from my husband side. The seniors were sitting at the proper table to have their meals while the rest of us were given the traditional floor seating. The children loved it but for me, I needed to change my sitting position once a while to allow for blood circulation in my legs. It was a fun-filled night with great company.

Happy Lunar New Year to all!

kopitiam at tampines mart

The success story of Kopitiam - a popular local chain of coffee shops, is the story of Lim Ben Huat, a very savvy businessman who started working at a tender age of nine as a coffee stall helper at Esplanade Food Center. When he tendered for a coffee shop at Bishan Street 11 - a public housing estate for 2 million dollar in 1989, people thought he was crazy. Today, Kopitiam investment chain owns 8 food courts, 5 coffee shops, 2 cafes and about 20 stalls selling desserts.

Result of Sketchwalk at New Bridge Road

A very long and big dragon dominates the streets of Chinatown bidding goodbye to the year of the rabbit and usher in the year of the dragon. The design concept is the work of six undergraduates from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), the newest university of the country. The dragon is very impressive and the sketchers were drawing it from across the road sitting in the shade.

I had problem scanning my sketch. I needed to scan 4 times to join them into whole. I was too ambitious to do a bigger piece at last Saturday's sketchwalk. Size 680 x 240mm (27" x 9.5"). Details on the right building later were added later at home.

Here are some photos of the sketchwalk with Steven Reddy on his way home from China to Seattle via Bangkok and Singapore! It was fun having Steven with the Singapore sketchers chatting, sharing, sketching and eating together! Steven also received a copy "The Art of Urban Sketching" by Gabi from Singapore. The book will only be launched in February but we got our copies first from Basheer Book Store because the books were printed in Singapore.

Five Stars Chicken Rice

A sketch of the Indian family after a plate of delicious chicken rice at five stars chicken rice shop at East Coast Road.

MAAD

After work, I went down to Red Dot Museum and visited the portrait artists from Organization of Illustrators Council (OIC) for the MAAD (Market for Artists and Designers) event. I sketched the singer that I did not know instead of the portrait artists that I knew.

Joint Admission Exercise

It is that time of the year again for us as educators. The Polytechnics in Singapore are conducting Joint Admission Exercise. We are wearing the hats of the advisers in the admission hall for the applicants when the GCE 'O' Level result was just released on Monday. Good luck!

Prawn Noodle

The prawn noodle stall at Adam Road Food Centre was still very popular when I was there during the weekday but less crowded as compared to weekend. The decorations for Lunar New Year were spotted all over the stall with blinking lights and red everywhere. A little overkill in my opinion.

Ad-hoc Chinese New Year Sketchwalk

We will sketch with Steven Reddy from Seattle this Saturday. Steven is going home from China via Singapore from 10 to 18 Jan. Check out his blog full of beautiful sketches. Before his trip to Singapore, he sketched with the Bangkok sketchers so now he is egar to meet the Singapore Sketchers.

Meet 9.30am at McDonald's Lucky China Town Point located at 211 New Bridge Road. We will explore the New Bridge Road, the big dragon, the bridge and the row of beautiful heritage buildings aka Majestic Hotel, Yue Hwa Emporium. Here is the map.

at forty hands

A sketch at the Forty Hands before the book launch on 'Muar' by Dr Lai Chee Kien and the NUS project group at Books Actually opposite the cafe.

Teochew porridge

Speed drawing as the line was long and moved very fast. Customers came and left for Teochew porridge stall at Bedok food centre.

Teochew porridge is generally referred to home cooked style buffet with watery porridge, fried luncheon meat, salted eggs, steamed fish, Chinese sausages and chye poh omelette (salted radish). Oh yes, don't forget a small plate of tau see sauce (salted black bean sauce) to go with the steamed fish.

The book "Urban Sketchers in Lisbon - drawing the city"

I got my copy sent by Eduardo Salavisa tonight.
If you like to purchase a copy, click the buy button on side bar at USK.

video of Lisbon by Gabi

The memories of 2011! An unforgettable July afternoon near Lisbon, celebrating the end of the Symposium with friends, music and opened sketchbooks. The Sabina song is so beautiful.

In the video I was sketching and the sketch was posted here.

a sketch on first day of 2012

My first sketch of the new year!

I spent my first day of the year fetching my 80-year-old mother from her church at 12noon and brought her to Por Kee Restaurant at Tiong Bahru for a very good lunch with their signature dishes - the champagne Pork Rib and braised sea cucumber with chef's special tofu. I caught up with my dad who spent his morning painting the house when I sent my mom home. I later visited Singapore Art Museum just in time for the last day of Amanda Heng's show and then took a coffee break with a piece of carrot cake at the nice cafe "Food for Thought". Before I reached home, I bought 3 slices of very good beef and cooked one steak with mashed potatoes for my 16-year-old son who loved it so much!

What did I discover:
If you want to be happy, be. ~Leo Tolstoy
We can do no great things, only small things with great love. ~Mother Teresa

Looking forward to another great year!