Result of December Sketchwalk

I attended the last sketchwalk of the year with a tired body but high in spirit as I was not going to miss the sketchwalk again.

I did not sleep at all the night before after arriving in Singapore from Hong Kong at around 11pm on Friday. By the time I reached home, it was 12am and I was tossing on the bed since. However, I made up my mind I had to attend the last sketchwalk of this year even if I were to turn up late!

I did one quick line sketch on the Moleskine before the loose watercolour piece. Look at the photo, where were the people and traffic? Orchard Road was too quiet during this festive seasons. May be it was still early but I thought everyone was out of town and there were visibly more tourists on the streets. It was the same in Hong Kong on Boxing Day when our taxi driver told us his business dropped during this time of the year.

Orchard Road has also changed so much beyond recognition. There are so many mega malls sprouting up here and there except old granny like Mandarin Hotel with the pointed fins at the top is still there standing high and tall. So I decided to sketch it as it is the Orchard Road that I remember.

250 x 250mm, 300gsm Daler-Rowney Aquarelle paper. Hero9018 fountain pen with Noodler's ink and watercolours, about two hours for both.

Last Sketchwalk of the Year

Sketch by Daman Angir

Merry Christmas! For this month's sketchwalk, meet us at 9AM outside McDonald's at SCAPE. The closest MRT station is Somerset. We will have a quick briefing and then start on the sketchwalk toward Plaza Singapura.

The route in the map is only the general direction and you are encouraged to take your own detours to discover other views of Orchard Rd than the obvious. For example, take Somerset Road instead. There is a skateboard park there. And if you go up to the 3rd floor of Orchard Gateway, you will get to sketch the new Library@Orchard. Climb up to the top of Orchard Central and you get a bird's eye view of the area. Yes, explore both inside and outside of the malls. Or around and behind. Turn up to Emerald hill to sketch shophouses. Or stop by a cafe, relax and sketch.

Pace yourself so that you can gather with the group again at 12PM sharp OUTSIDE of the entrance to Plaza Singapura. If it rains, look for the nearest shelter there.

See you on saturday. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join. No drawing skill level required. No fees either. Just bring your own drawing materials and show up on time. If you are late, just look for anyone with a sketchbook drawing along the way. Only in case of emergencies, call 91070735.

Lucky draw

Join the lucky draw by clicking the picture below sponsored by Parkablogs.com

The entire Moleskine sketchbook

The entire spread in the Moleskine Japanese Album large format.

Dinner at Bedok

One of the last pages on the Moleskine filled with sketches from Malacca trip, so I continued the Moleskin with a sketch during dinner at Bedok Hung Kang Fish Soup stall. The old Teochew couples spent long hours daily at the stall and they must be pleased there was always a constant queue.

Beca or Trishaw

Beca or Trishaw in Malacca. They are gaudy, colourful, decorative, kitschy, and some will think it's silly to sit in one of these trishaws with the kiddy hello kitty, stuff toys and butterfly roof in pink, shocking pink, bright blue or red! There are also adorned with fake flowers. However, the tourists love them, locals don't hate them. Some say the rides are the best way to enjoy Malacca. Plus, they blink at night with blaring pop music.

Lunch place

Did a quick sketch on the exterior of the Peranakan restaurant while waiting for others in the coach.

Peranakan Cruisine

Lunch at Ole Sayang. Quite disappointed at the Peranakan or Nyonya food especially when you have high expectation. Every single dish was just too salty. We asked for belachan chilli and it was like eating salt. I will probably give it a miss if I visit Malacca again. Perhaps the only consolation is the ambiance and the Peranakan style interior.

Malacca

Another sketch scanned, more to come. This view was from our hotel room at Hatten Hotel just opposite the Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall looking at Malacca skyline. The famous Jonkor Street is in the middle with the yellow end wall. Overall, the impression of this trip was not up to my expectation but our spirit was always high.

We were lucky to have a room with a view at Hatten Hotel on the 16th storey. The room was very big with 2 TVs. It was love at first sight but later on, we had to call for bath towers and the curtains did not work that I had to use the paper clips I brought for sketches to hold the curtains together. I noticed some rooms like those opposite our corridor faced the 5-metre narrow internal courtyard overlooking each other's room.

hotel breakfast in Malacca

Breakfast at the hotel, i was very relax and calm although the place was crowded with tourists.

Norris Road in Little India

This was done in August inside the comfort of air cond car. The weather was scorching hot and humid. I think I park at the double yellow line at Norris Road in Little India. The highrise public housing at the rear and the lowrise shophouses in the front formed an interesting composition. Again, love the URA carpark sign in the sketch.

throw back thursday

I did a workshop on 19 March 2014 for the Urban Planning course conducted by Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore or URA in short. Most of the participants were architects and planners from URA, or other agencies such as National Parks, Ministry of National Development etc. It felt like home coming teaching the younger colleagues. You see, URA was my first employer after leaving School of Architecture in early 1980s. I was working as an Architect (more like Urban Designer) at the then Planning Division dealing with sensitive land use, city planning and development control projects. We met Francis Theo, another urban sketcher sketching at the same area area around Club Street and Ann Siang Hill, so I invited him to join us for the final show and tell.

Inside the coach

First sketch inside the moving coach on our way to Malacca on first weekend in December. It takes for ages to scan the Moleskine Japanese Album, will take some time to scan the whole book on sketches for the weekend trip to Malacca.

weekend trip to Malacca

My husband and I went to Malacca for a short weekend getaway trip. Malacca was super crowded and the traffic jam was so bad. There was no way for me to sketch the famous landmark - The Red House with the group tour but I still managed to sketch when the tour members went shopping and I stayed in the hotel room or a cafe to relax and sketch.

Kampong Glam

So lucky! I found a car park lot, so I did a sketch at Kampong Glam last Friday. For information, It is very hard to find a vacant car park lot in this neighbourhood.