Edible Garden City

Today we went to sketch at Edible Garden City in Queenstown under the hot and humid weather. You can find more details at their website. EDIBLE GARDEN CITY is a social enterprise that champions the Grow-Our-Own-Food movement in cities around the world to improve food sustainability and resilience. Their urban farming model is a community of local farmers that produces fresh, tasty and nutritious harvests that are available to everyone living in the city. We were told there are about 40 farmers working on their farm and 20 are full time farmers.

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 520 x 210mm

Result of September Sketchwalk

For September Sketchwalk we can choose to go either East Coast Park or West Coast Park. I stay in the East so I went to Amber Beacon Tower since I had never been to this part of East Coast Park. Weather was very humid these few days but we were sitting under the big shades and no breeze!

It is a very popular park with kids swimming in the sea, playing with the sand under the hot sun, picnic parties, cyclists, so happening on a Saturday at East Coast Park.

So sketchers were telling me about the unsolved 1990 murder case at this tower; a young couple was attacked at night by two men and the 21-year-old lady died while the 23-year-old man survived.

In this sketch, I used different textures for three different species of trees namely coconut trees, casurina trees and angsana trees.

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 650 x 210mm

House of Tan Yeok Nee

Second special sketchwalk of the day also second sketch in a new sketchbook.

We went to The House of Tan Yeok Nee to sketch in the afternoon. Grace Chiong, COO of Karim Family Foundation greeted us at the entrance. Shawn Teo and Junwen, two architects from DP Architects gave us the guided tour after the restoration of the premises. I chose a quiet corner to sketch as I already sketched the main roof before the restoration work with Dr Yeo Kang Shua. You can see the earlier sketch here.

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 390 x 210mm

Phuket Sketches

I did two loose Arches and two Etchr Accordion Sketchbooks for this trip Asia-Link Sketchwalk Phuket 2025. The sketches were posted individually and this is the collage of all of the sketches including the collected stickers.

Thanks for a memorable experience.

Last sketch in my sketchbook on Wat Klang

This is the last sketch I did in my second Etchr Accordion Sketchbook. I felt that there must be a sketch of Thai Temple in this trip so I went to Wat Mongkol Nimit Phra Aram Luang or Wat Klang as most sketchers did at the Phuket Old Town.

Wat Mongkol Nimit was constructed in 1880. The temple was originally called Wat Klang because of it location in the centre of Phuket Town (‘klang’ means middle in Thai). The main feature of Wat Mongkol Nimit is its shrine hall. The shrine hall is richly and elaborated decorated designs featuring gold leaf, along with blue and red paint. The gable end of the roof by the front entrance is particularly impressive. The other major feature at Wat Mongkol Nimit is its large chedi. A chedi is a type of tower which contains holy relics and is a place where Buddhists come to meditate. The Thai version of the chedi is similar to the stupa built at Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal. You can spot it on the left side of my sketch.

Wat Mongkol Nimit is a busy working temple with lots of resident monks, many of whom study at the religious school located in the temple grounds. I took some photos of the school building and also found two beautiful Thai style houses at the back of the compound where public toilets were located.

It was a quiet Monday morning with few tourists and cars in the compound until a group of young girls in their Thai costumes brightened up the atmosphere. Thai coustumes were so elegant, so pretty but they were all wearing sneakers under their long silky skirts!

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

The Lobster on the Wall

Day 3 - 16 Aug 2025
The big lobster sculpture on the wall of Tu Kab Khao restaurant. Tu Kab Khao means kitchen cabinet, the commonly used kitchen cabinet when there was no fridge in the past in South East Asia.

So, I have done with three animals in Phuket! Someone told me there is also a big rooster at Patong in the Chinese temple. I may continue with the search to sketch another big animal.

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 390 x 210mm

The Bear

Day 3 - 16 Aug 2025
I did the Golden Dragon Monument on day one, so today I drew the big red colour bear in the Muay Thai outfit at Museum Phuket. Apparently this was the exact location for the opening of Thailand Biennial Phuket 2025 in the evening.

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 520 x 210mm

A Sketch at Dragon Monument

Day 1 - 14 Aug 2025, Registration Day
After leaving Aroon Restaurant, we wanted to find out the location for Golden Dragon Monument where the group photo will be taken during the mass sketchwalk 2 days' later.

What a find, we met so many artists working hard on their artwork as there was an event "Phuket International Contemporary Art Festival 2025" at the location. They were so nice to serve us free food and drink.

I heard someone saying "Let's meet here at 12noon" and he was none other than 朱啟助 who hosted the Asia Link Sketchwalk in 2018 in Taichung. Chn'g Kiah Kiean was also nearby at the canal sketching alone.

Later, a group of Thai artists who took part in the event also gathered around me asking questions and we took group photo when I completed my sketch. Popular question was "Are you a professional artist?" My answer was always "No" with a smile!

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 520 x 210mm

Breakfast at Aroon Restaurant

Day 1 - 14 Aug 2025
At around 7:45am, we decided to find a coffee shop for a local breakfast so we took a Grab and asked the driver to bring us to one in Phuket Old Town. He rightfully brough us to Aroon Restaurant and we saw the locals streaming in with grab delivery men making a line outside the shop waiting to get their orders.

I love to have the hot soup in the morning but it was not ready for breakfast so I had "Laksa"; vermicelli in tasty yellowish sauce and my hubby had the crispy prata with eggs and beef curry. Coffee and tea were very strong.

The boss sitting at the counter collecting money and his beautiful daughter in her very colourful outfit and head scarf walking up and down the aisle chitchatting with the customers while getting orders. Another very old man came out of the kitchen with our tea and coffee asked when we understood Bahasa Melayu! We got our order right with limited vocab.

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 390 x 210mm

Last Sketch at the Airport

Day 6 - 24 July, time to go home, a quick sketch at the airport with calling cards, coaster, servettes thrown in to building fond memories!

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 390 x 210mm

Kafei Dian

Day 5 - 23 July, while waiting for the cocktail dinner at Pik Wah Bar & Cafe at Jalan Petaling, we went to chill at Kafei Dian at Jalan Panggong

At around 5:15pm, the place was empty so I continued a sketch in the Etchr Accordion Sketchbook.

The interior deco of this corner was based on that of a Chinese wedding room concept with red banners in the ceiling and red flower-balls here and there. There was a huge red lantern on the right and a huge vintage luggage was found at the opposite pastel turquoise wall at the entrance to this room.

Sketching enables one to discover the details in the surroundings.

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 390 x 210mm

Light Capture

Day 1 - 19 July, 3rd sketching location.

This is the second sketch in the Etchr Accordion Sketchbook. However, it is the third location, first location at Chinatown I did a loose piece, second location was inside the Central Market. This is a very cozy cafe, Light Capture, opposite the very first May Bank Building frequented by tourists from China. Not as viral as the one in Kota Kinabalu though.

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 390 x 210mm

Central Market in Kuala Lumpur

Day 1 - 19 July, 2nd sketching location and first sketch in Etchr Accordion Sketchbook. Chilled inside Central Market. This is at a cafe called “Restore”.

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 650 x 210mm

Etchr Discount Code

You can now get a 5% discount code "TIA5JULY" on any Etchr Sketchbook throughout the month of July. It will be useful for me to get a few Etchr Accordion Sketchbooks as I will be going to Kualua Lumpur for a weekend sketchwalk 18 - 24 July and to Phuket from 12 to 19 Aug! I used these two:

Etchr Accordion https://tinyurl.com/5hv8jphn
Etchr Square https://tinyurl.com/z8t3wfhh

Together with our Etchr, Join me and my friends in Kuala Lumpur and Phuket!

Punggol Digital District

Sketchwalk brings us to places we don't normally go!

This month official sketchwalk we went to Punggol Digital District and it brought me all the way from my home from Siglap in the East to the end of North East side of Singapore. It was also the last stop of North East Line, the Punggol Coast MRT Station. The interior of the MRT station was impressive and it was connected directly to the new Punggol Coast Mall.

Thanks Gerald from JTC for hosting and gave us a guided tour of the different outdoor and indoor spaces that also housed the Singapore Institue of Technology (SIT). The location was very far so I travelled very light only brought my Etchr Accordion Sketchbook, watercolour, waterbrushes and a fountain pen. I finished the sketch on last four pages of the sketchbook.

What a HUGE turn out for our official May sketchwalk on last Saturday of the month despite this scorching hot, humid and brutal weather! So glad to meet Simone Ridyard from Manchester and chat over coffee with Tony Chua, the youngsters need lunch but we young seniors need only iced-coffee at Luckin Coffee, HA!

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 520 x 210 mm