Joo Chiat

Last Saturday, together with Urban Sketchers Singapore, we went to Koon Seng Park in the Joo Chiat neighbourhood. This area is famous for its rows of colourful shophouses often featured in tour books for tourists. Instead of sketching Koon Seng Road shophouses, I chose to sketch from Mrs Morgan's popular Roti Prata stall which I waited 45 mins for my breakfast. By the time I finished my breakfast and Kopi-O, I only had around an hour to sketch the corner of Joo Chiat Road and Koon Seng Road. I finished 7 pages of pen and ink work in a new Moleskine.

So today, I Went back to do the colouring on location with a good meehoon breakfast and kopi-o dilo. (coffee without adding water). I didn't know Mrs Morgan's Roti Prata was closed on every Wednesday.

I did a sketch of the same view in 2010 here. The corner was a coffee shop, then a retail store selling storage boxes, then it was converted into a hostel, a co-working space and now, Grafunkt, an upmarket lifestyle shop.

Moleskine Japanese Album Large.
Size: 910 x 210mm

April Sketchwalk at i12 in the East

I started another new Baohong Concertina Sketchbook size 170 x 170mm gifted by Yap Yeen Yee from Malaysia and used the first 5 pages for April official sketchwalk at i12 mall in the East of Singapore. It absorbed the colours quickly and deeply so need to be more generous with the colours.

Baohong Organ Sketchbook (宝虹风琴本）
Size: 850 x 170mm

Result of May Sketchwalk

Our sketchers flocked east to Katong area, to capture the nostalgic Katong Shopping Centre. This building, built in...

Posted by Urban Sketchers Singapore on Sunday, 28 May 2023

Result of Katong Sketchwalk

Too busy to scan and post this piece of work I did for the ad-hoc sketchwalk. Thanks Tony Tan of Betel Box Backpackers Hostel for hosting us, providing their comfortable premises for us to do the briefing and show and tell before and after the sketchwalk on 17 Aug.

A Rare Night Sketchwalk

Epigram Books is now working on the next title of the "Our Neighbourhoods" series, "We ♥ Katong"!

This is the second session, and it'll be at night to capture the "dark side" of Joo Chiat and Katong.

START POINT:
06:30 pm
The Betel Box
200 Joo Chiat Road
We will meet in the common area UPSTAIRS. Ring the doorbell to alert the receptionist and they will open the GREEN DOOR for you. Then go up!

END POINT:
09:30 pm
The Betel Box
We will meet in the common area again for show-and-tell / debrief. There is a pool table on which we can display our sketches.

Aditi from Epigram Books has prepared a map (25 copies) and a listing of locations of note (25 copies). Do print your own or download them to your portable device if you prefer.

1: Locations list: http://tinyurl.com/katongnightwalk
2: Map of Katong: http://tinyurl.com/katongmap
*being such a huge area, the map is a little hard to read
3: Katong DIGITAL MAP: http://goo.gl/maps/m9Gq2
4: URA Heritage Trail: http://www.singaporecitygallery.sg/images/wmKatong-Book.pdf

While the focus will be on the highlighted places, you are free to sketch whatever you want. Do chat to residents, business operators and people you meet to get a better feel of the location and find out what they find important and beautiful in the area.

SUBMISSIONS
We want to streamline the process of finding and viewing sketches, so please note the following:

After Sketchwalk
1. Post sketches on the wall of this event, here.
2. You are still free to post your sketches anywhere else.
- use the #usksg and #welovekatong hashtags

Scanned Artwork
1. Scan resolution at 200 dpi minimum, best at 300 dpi.
- if work is A3-size or bigger, 200 dpi is enough
- use the TIFF (.tif/.tiff) file format
- 8-bit compression (LZW or ZIP) if needed
2. Email to aditi[at]epigrambooks[dot]sg
- indicate the location and/or subject
- describe medium and size
- include name to credit
3. Use WeTransfer, Hightail, Dropbox, Copy, Bitcasa or whatever cloud storage and file sharing service if files are too big to email.

Joo Chiat

Joo Chiat is as lively as I remember. I was also surprise to find this corner shop at the junction of Joo Chiat Road and Ceylon Lane. The shop is occupied by a Chinese paper shop that dedicated to the dead. They make human height paper houses, big cars and household objects offered to the ancestors. I also wonder with the fast changing life style and rapid modernization, how long can this kind of shop devoted to traditional practices stay in Joo Chiat?

NOTE: This piece was SOLD

Chicken Rice at East Coast Road

My favourite place for a late dinner or supper, if I can find a near-by parking lot.

receiving the first copy from the Mayor

I had a collaboration with Southeast Community Development Council to prepare the token of appreciation to community leaders, visitors and overseas dignitaries. Mr Matthais Yao, Mayor picked this piece from my sketches for Joo Chiat and Katong area. SECDC print and frame about fifty copies of the sketch and presented the first copy to me today. This is the photo for the album.

The original sketch is here. It is now the collection of SECDC.

Joo Chiat two

I was planning to go for my breakfast at the Fei Fei noodles shop but it was closed forever! So I ended up eating Wan Wan noodles at this corner coffee shop instead. Fei Fei or Wan Wan the noodles tasted delicious! I had a very good view of this row of rejuvenated old shop houses along Joo Chiat Place and Tembeling Road. The high rise public housing flat in the background and the two storey shop houses in the foreground tell a story of the rapid urban development in this area.


200 x 400mm, 300gsm Daler-Rowney Aquarelle paper. Hero M86 fountain pen with Noodler's ink and watercolours, about one hour. (I put an one-hour parking coupon).

Joo Chiat one

Corner of Joo Chiat Road and Koon Seng Road. The building typology of this 4 storey hostel shares the same language as the flats at Tiong Bahru Estate. The two storey shop houses at Koon Seng Road are well known for their ornate facades.

200 x 400mm, 300gsm Daler-Rowney Aquarelle paper. Hero M86 fountain pen with Noodler's ink and watercolours, about two hours.

NOTE: This piece was SOLD

101010 sketch

Today is 101010 and too bad this sketch was not done at 1010 hour. This is the junction of East Coast Road and Sea Ave. Weather was really hot outside so I did this in the comfort of the air conditioned car. The road was narrow and traffic was heavy. I also did it with my sun glasses on as I could not stand the outdoor glare.

The shophouses along this stretch of road are still very attractive although some shophouses have been renovated with big signs on the facade covering the beautiful second storey french windows. Some roofs are also not properly done with just a layer of bitumen felt roofing laid with timber battens over to weigh it down. The church in this sketch is Church of the Holy Family.

katong park digging....

one fine saturday, we were with Lim Chen Sian at katong park working out..... trying to find gold.....