pottery jungle

On Sunday, I felt that I should do a sketch today when sketchers in USKSG were working hard at Sentosa. Spread the sketching bug people!

my home in the 70s

I sketched my birth place, my first home and now another place I call home when I was slighter older.

Did this sketch of my old home from the public corridor of block 239, Lorong 1 Toa Payoh. My home in the 1970s, block 53 Lorong 4 Toa Payoh was the first high rise public housing flat in Singapore under the 'home ownership' programme. Cannot remember the unit number but we stayed on the 11th storey at the left corner unit. It was quite an unique design with a cylindrical water tank on the roof top. I remember it was painted in green which I'd done here. The pitched roofs and pointed facades were added later which I think the original character of the building block was lost. Oops!

You can see city skyline here, from the left - Concourse, Flyer, Marina Bay Sands to UOB and OCBC buildings. WOW!

Oh yes, the block was visited by The British royal family in the 70s - a significant but forgotten event in our public housing history. Read a very well written post here.

last page of Apr Muji sketchbook

A sketch at the Sunday dinner with my husband at the Cafe Cartel in our East Coast / Siglap neighbourhood. Our children were away - one working in Hong Kong, one visiting Sweden and my youngest son staying at a friend's house over the weekend. We saw so many mothers, young and old with their families at the cafe for the mothers' day celebrations. Cafe Cartel served very good pork ribs with free serving of breads and butter. This sketch is the last page of my April Muji Sketchbook. Can't wait to start the May Muji Sketchbook soon. Coffee splashes from the black coffee served at Cafe Cartel.

26 x 13 cm, ink & coffee.

sketches on people

I lost my Muji Sketchbook on cafes and people as reported in the post here. I was reluctant to start a new one until now. So here are some sketches on a new Muji Sketchbook on people at dinner tonight, at a meeting last week and in the studio with students.

skyline from marina bay basin

I was envious of the great turn out and the wonderful collection of sketches at the Raffles Place sketchwalk on the same day I was having the wood firing at the dragon kiln. So this afternoon I went to sketch the skyline from Marina Basin. The piece here looks darker may be because I was wearing the sun glasses and sketch under the hot weather! The photos on the left showed a group of Singapore Poly students sketching under the hot sun when I just arrived. I spoke to them for a while. I went for my appointment and came back later to complete my sketch but they were already gone by then.

my childhood place

These two pieces are not the sketches that I first completed in 2011. However, these are done during our first sketchwalk at my childhood place - Margaret Drive in Queenstown!

I have always wanted to sketch my old homes or places that down my memory lane before they were demolished and gone forever. Some of them were here and here. We went to Margaret Drive to sketch becoz the hawker centre will be demolished to make way for new housing flats by end of Jan. Block 38 with its parabolic roof will be retained but the food centre or block 40A, the cinema block and the rest of the old tall flats will be demolished. I have lots of memories for block 38 which used to be a wet market that my mother brought me there almost everyday when our home was just a block down this market during the 1960s. At that time, ducks and chickens were slaughtered here and their feathers were dried in the open space outside the market. My old home in the 1960s from my childhood years was long gone, see photo below!

Starbucks at night

I was determined to continue with the cafe series on Muji sketchbook so I did one at Starbucks before going home on Sunday night. I already had too many cups of coffee in the day so I ordered a peppermint tea instead. That explained why there were no coffee splashes on this piece. It was examination period at the local varsities so the cafe was packed with college students with books and laptops. This young man sitting right in front of me was studying and reading his emails with his ear phones on. The young couple on his right did not have a laptop but they were seen here with their thick notes and textbooks.

Coffee Club

I am clearing my annual leaves this week so I am able to sketch more too.

I needed a coffee after the Fried Kway Teow lunch under this hot and humid weather so I walked into Coffee Club at Siglap. This group of eight young ladies enjoyed each other's company and they were oblivious to people around them. A few of them would burst out into uncontrollable laughter but it was alright to me since they never got off from their seats so I could sketch them.

I had Muddy Mud Pie and Aged Sumatra Mandheling coffee. I used some coffee for the floor and wall. I also cut out a Coffee Club logo and placed it on the counter wall.

Hill Street Fried Kway Teow

Many people flock to this famous Char Kway Teow or fried noodles stall at Bedok Food Centre. On-location-sketching allows us to notice the details that we normally ignore. This time, I noticed there were so many newspaper clippings, magazine write-ups, media coverages and award certificates covering up the entire food display counter. In fact, there was nothing to display on the display shelves while the senior Mr Ng was busy standing at the huge wok frying away. His two lady assistants took orders and prepared for fresh ingredients in the tiny stall.

The lady who took my order was wary when I sketched. At one point, she walked towards me from the stall so I showed her the sketch in progress. At the end, I showed the sketch to her and she happily showed it to the old uncle who was brimming with a big smile as we made some small talks. That was the first time I heard the busy senior Mr Ng talking with a big smile on his face.

I like the Fried Kway Teow but I need to watch my diet too so I will not take it again. You can find out more here.

Hill Street Fried Kway Teow
Blk 16, Bedok South Road, #01-187
Closed on Mondays

self portrait on glossy surface

I did a self portrait on the cover of the new sketchbook I bought from Muji. I like how the fountain pen behaving on the smooth and glossy surface of the cover. May be I should work on glossy paper more.

Sunday Lunch

Did this sketch last month after lunch at Sheng Siong Food Court near Jurong West before I headed to Pottery Jungle. Notice there were many Malaysian and Chinese customers in the crowd. They could be from the near-by blocks of hostel converted from the old public housing flats.

Karaoke again

I did this sketch last month at the Bian's Place, otherwise known as the Singapore Chinese Opera Museum at Kandahar Street. The lady on the left was singing. She had a beautiful voice. The group on the right ignored the beautiful singing and burst out in laughter once a while. Yes, everyone looking at this sketch asked the same question :"why was the lady wearing shorts in a public eating place?" Another example that we sketchers are drawing what we see and not what we know.

The last time I visited the same place, I did this sketch.

ting ting candies

It took me a while to post this sketch because I needed to photoshop it to give the sketch a depth.

Those who grew up here in the ’50s will remember the classic sweets called 'ting ting candies' made from molten malt sold by hawkers who were always on the move. The candy was typically prepared on a big round container and the hawker used a metal scraper like tool and a small mallet to hit and break the harden malt into smaller pieces. By hitting, it created the 'ting ting ting' sound thus the name.

At lunch near my workplace one hot afternoon, uncles and aunties were crowding around an old man selling the traditional 'ting ting candies'. The old uncle was standing under the shade of the tree with his potable aluminium container on a wooden stand at the roadside. Each packet was sold for $1 and many old uncles and unties stopped and bought them.

day trip to Kluang, Malaysia

Inside the train via KTM (Keretapi Tanah Melayu) Rail from Singapore to Kluang, Malaysia.

Don, Kath, Paul and myself made a surprise last minute trip to Kluang on Tuesday morning which we only decided on the night before. We arrived at the Singapore Tanjong Pagar Train Station at 7am for breakfast and bought 4 tickets to Kluang. Each ticket cost S$16. The departure time was 8am and we were told the journey would take 2 hours with assigned seats in air conditioning comfort. There were several unexpected stops along the way so when we arrived at Kluang Train Station, it was around 11.15am.

ION Orchard

It was a hot Saturday afternoon at 34 deg C according to the weather forecast. I was at Orchard Road, our prestigious and busiest shopping belt. On my way to collect my car, I suddenly remember it was 29th World Sketchcrawl Day. I decided to do a sketch of this gigantic shopping mall - ION Orchard. This building is one of the most popular shopping centres so on the ground floor with a street frontage, one could find all the upmarket brands such as Giorgio Armani, Prada, Louis Vuitton and many others.

I sat on the curved, bright red street bench just outside Louis Vuitton and occasionally, I could feel the cold air coming out from the shop when a security guard opened the main door for the customers who were queuing outside the shop. I found it absurd to queue under such weather just to get into the shop! May be it only happen on a busy Saturday afternoon.

Karaoke

Black ink dried up so I completed it with brown ink. Every Wednesday after my music class I like to relax at this cozy place at 52, Kandahar Street for food and drink. What is nice is an opportunity to listen to a group of enthusiastic amateur singers who are very good at Japanese songs.

This place is more than a cafe and karaoke lounge, it is the location for the Singapore Chinese Opera Museum managed by a couple.

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.

my office

Did a sketch in the office to distress. As I was sketching, my mind went calm immediately. Oh no, I need to declutter - there are piles of students' work on the floor, stack of files on the left side of the desk and my pottery stuff on the 'round meeting table' not to mention materials such as rattan, big and small twigs, plastics, bottles and found objects!

at School of the Arts - SOTA

This is the start of the new Moleskine. Last week I attended a parents' briefing session at my son's school. It was held at the new library fitted with colourful seats. I added the colours later.

Kallang River from the Sky Park

This was the third time I went up to the Sky Park of Marina Bay Sands to sketch. This time I decided to sketch the other side of the island view that covered Singapore Flyer, Kallang River and the East Coast area. I could see National Stadium and Indoor Stadium too. As I was sitting on my tiny stool getting into the mood of sketching, the security guard came and said: "Sorry ma'am, no sitting is allowed." I was upset but continued the sketch in a hurry and added the blue-green colour on location to mark the long winding Kallang River. I rendered the black trees and green turf later for Marina Bay Golf Course. Opposite the golf course at the other side of the river bank is the big wheel called the Singapore Flyer and directly under the big wheel is F1 Pit Building- location for the F1 Grand Prix held this week from 24 to 26 Sep. That's a lot of happenings this week for our tiny city-state island.