Ginger Garden

This is at the Ginger Garden at Singapore Botanic Garden. This sketch is in ink and watercolour. Size: 65x21cm in Moleskine Japanese Album Large sketchbook. The sticker on the bottom right is specially designed for ‘10’ anniversary of USKSG. We also held a postcard sketch exchange activity at the end of the sketchwalk and I did a small sketch shown on the right. The sketch went to George Huang. In return, I got a sketch from Patrick Ng. What a memorable way to wrap up our last sketchwalk of the year.

The Ginger Garden, officially opened in 2003, showcases a rich living collection of several hundred species of gingers and plants from related families. There is this beautiful lotus lake with a “Little Girl on a Swing” bronze sculpture on the right of the sketch. So beautiful.

This is probably the last sketch I did for 2019 but not the only new sketch for the 2019 album. I have not been scanning my long sketches done in the past few months due my busy schedule but will get to it one day hopefully.

Happy new year 2020!

December Sketchwalk at Singapore Botanic Garden

Credits: sketch by M. Friket Ercan

For the final sketchwalk of 2019, we are going to visit our only UNESCO Heritage Site, the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Since the last time we visited, there have been new developments, such as the Learning Forest. The area includes new trails, a treetop walk, and wetlands (http://www.cheekiemonkie.net/2017/06/Learning-Forest-Singapore-Botanic-Gardens-review.html). It’s in the middle of the gardens, behind the National Orchid Garden, closer to Holland Road. There is a car park nearby along Tyersall Avenue if you are driving, or it can be reached via a leisurely stroll from Holland Road or the MRT at Bukit Timah Road.

Go up the treetop walk and sit with the trees, or sketch the wetlands from the comfort of the shaded pavilion, or chill at the Halia restaurant as you enjoy this newer part of the gardens.

START
Time: 9:30 AM
Location: Pavilion at Keppel Discovery Wetlands
(https://goo.gl/maps/fqVZ2NjwfUnZKS1z5)

END
Time: 12:15 PM
Location: Same as starting point
(https://goo.gl/maps/fqVZ2NjwfUnZKS1z5)

Nearest MRT: Botanic Gardens (Circle Line), Orchard Road (NSL)

Locations to sketch:
- Learning Forest
- Walk of Giants (https://www.littledayout.com/2017/04/03/7-things-know-sph-walk-of-giants-canopy-web/)
- Keppel Discovery Wetlands
- National Orchid Garden
- Ginger Garden
- Waterfall
- See map: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/-/media/sbg/documents/learning-forest-brochure-060319.jpg?la=en&hash=63E3620F03EBF63A54611998B10411541393AA00

Places to eat and shop:
- https://www.ladyironchef.com/tag/singapore-botanic-gardens-restaurants/

Bring:
- Hat, sunscreen, mosquito repellent

A Sketch from the Beauty World

Last month we had the official Sketchwalk at Beauty World and again, it was a great turn-out!

A few of us sketched from the 4th storey open-air food centre and while the mall is old, the food centre is clean and well-maintained except for the common problem - birds and their droppings. This is probably the only food centre with a panoramic view from the public housing flats at Jurong Kechil on the left of my sketch to the two tall radio towers at Bukit Timah Hill on the right which I did not include in the sketch.

The story of Beauty World can be found here. When I was a young architect with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Singapore, Beauty World Centre was still on the drafting table of William Ong, my senior at the School of Architecture and now founder of Axis Architect Planners and Axis ID. Like other buildings built by URA during that time, Beauty World Centre was built to resettle those businesses that were affected by either road widening or other redevelopment projects. Today, Beauty World Centre; an old but charming mall; was in the process of jumping in and out of the en-bloc wagon.

Read more at this link to find out more about Beauty World Centre.