Night Sketch

Day 4 - 17 Aug 2025
Asia Link Sketchwalk Phuket 2025 was officially over on 17 Aug with a sketchwalk in the morning, a group photo at Golden Dragon Monument at 12nn and a closing ceremony from 1 to 5pm at Royal Phuket City Hotel followed by a night sketch from 6 to 8 pm at the old town Sunday night market which was HUGE.

I have not done any night sketch for a very very long time. If I remember correctly, I had only done a night sketch at Geylang, Singapore probably in 2010. So, I was not prepared with any equipment and I could only sketch fast before the sky totally turned pitched dark. It did not help at the location I was sitting among the motorcycles that had no light and I could only rely on the street lights from the nearby shops at the junction of Ratsada Road and Takuapa Road.

I didn't eat much at the closing ceremony so I had dinner first at The Little Phuket because of the attractive squid ink dishes and moo hong (pork belly stew) which I remember our first Grab driver was telling us when we took the Grab from HKT; Phuket International Airport to Phuket Merlin Hotel near the Phuket Old Town. The sky was still bright when I started a new Etchr Accordion Sketchbook but I knew it would turn pitched dark soon so I had a quick shape drawing done before adding details. It was pitched dark when I started colouring and I could not see the colours on my palette. I was very familiar with my colours so I used lots of Payne Grey with other colours such as cobalt blue, violet, sienna etc. For brighter areas, I just used the mixtures of bright yellow. I added more payne grey and noodler ink for the dark sky later when I could see better in the hotel room.

It was fun and my take was that with the understanding of our personal art tools, night sketch could be blind sketch on location as well in my opinion. Before we went back to our hotel and rest, we took a group photo at the adjacent street called Soi Pradit. Not to mention we had a great time scrolling the huge night market filled with food stalls, tourists, baskers and massage corners. We even spotted a bus coverted into a mobile public toilets! Sad to say when we returned to the same streets the following day, it was a totolly deserted scene in the day with less crowd, no activities on the streets. What a drastic change!

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 910 x 210mm