F1 Night Race in Singapore

As urban sketchers, we had the privilege to tour the back of house of our National Gallery on a Saturday morning. Just 17 of us on a special tour guided by Mr Loke Chee Meng, also my schoolmate for over 50 years! So happy to reconnect with him after so many years. He had such wealth of knowledge on our National Gallery. We could only use pencils to sketch the court room in a very dark lighting upper gallery due to the huge historical British royal family portraiture paintings on the wall.

I was early for the tour so I sketched the city view from the famous steps of National Gallery. The view was blocked by the big screen and the steel pillars, lighting grids, barricades etc etc for the biggest event in town next week from 13 to 19 Sep - the F1 night race!

F1 night race started in Singapore in 2008 for 21 times up to last year.
F1 details at https://singaporegp.sg/en

First Sketchwalk under SG Heart Map

Urban Sketchers Singapore and SG Heart Map team are collaborating to organise a few sketchwalks to five hangout places identified by Singaporeans in August and September as part of the SG50 celebrations. With several of the buildings having gone through extensive renovations, such as the former City Hall, Old Supreme Court and Victoria Theatre—now it's the turn of the Asian Civilisation Museum — the area does hold much potential to become a popular future hangout for everyone of us.

From the meeting point at The Arts House, sketchers can explore the many colonial buildings surrounding them. We will meet up at the front steps of the new National Gallery Singapore at the end.

We are on Discovery Channel!!

Discovery Channel features Urban Sketchers Singapore sketching at City Hall and Supreme Court in Oct 2010 and it was first broadcast in late Dec 2010 with repeats in Jan and Feb 2011 under one of the series called "Living Cities". Dr Yeo, the historian featured in there was my friend. I managed to use the iPhone to take segment on Urban Sketchers directly from the TV so the sound quality is not ideal.

Discovery Channel coined Urban Sketchers as a "worldwide fraternity of sketchers" at 1:00 followed by a short interview with me. They called me "Urban Sketcher" at 1:12 and again I rushed and frown a lot due to the hot weather. The funny thing was that I was not sketching these two heritage buildings but I was sketching the cityscape from the steps of the City Hall which I posted earlier here. However, I did have a quick sketch of two classic windows inside one of the courtyards of the Supreme Court here.

windows in the courtyard

We were in the Court Room of the old Supreme Court. Dr Yeo Kang Shua, our guide opened the windows and showed us the courtyard that was hidden. The windows on the opposite wall were so beautiful that I had to sketch them.

Result of the special Sketchwalk

This is the view from the City Hall steps, with Cricket Club in the foreground and skyscrapers in the background. I managed only two pieces because I was also involved in the interview in front of the camera.

A special sketchwalk was arranged for the urban sketchers Singapore group. We visited the City Hall and Supreme Court interiors. Both buildings will be transformed into the new National Art Gallery in a few years. Before they were closed, we had a special guided tour by Dr Yeo Kang Shua and his wife, Ms Wee Sheau Theng arranged by me and the Discovery Channel.

A group picture with our sketches taken by Carol, my dear photographer friend.



A slide show put together by Parka.

Special Sketchwalk this Saturday at City Hall

You are most welcome to join us, Urbansketchers and OIC for a special October Sketchwalk to be held at the City Hall or the future The National Art Gallery, Singapore. In conjunction with the sketchwalk event, Dr Yeo Kang Shua and Ms Wee Sheau Theng will be there to give a historical introduction of these buildings namely City Hall and the Supreme Court. At the same time, Infocus Asia will be recording on video the entire process as we sketch.

Let's meet along the City Hall steps at 9am. We will be sketching at both the mentioned buildings, including the Victoria Theater if time allowed and lastly inside the old Supreme Court if permissible. Finally we should have a sharing and coffee session.

Contact TIA @ 96968080 for more information or if you have any query.