Sketches on Shanghai

I was away to Shanghai for a work trip from 12 to 25 March and completed a sketchbook. Enjoy!

We Draw Amaravati Together

Happy New Year 2018!

I did a video on my recent sketches on India. I was with my sketcher friends from 08 - 15 Dec 2017 to Vijayawada and Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh on a project called "We Sketch Amaravati Together".

Andhra Pradesh is one of the 29 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of the country. The state is the seventh-largest state in India covering an area of 162970 sq km. As per 2011 Census of India, the state is tenth-largest by population with 49,386,799 inhabitants. Amaravati has 29 villages and it will be the brand new capital city for Andhra Pradesh under the vision of N Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, also the President of Telugu Desam Party and Member of Legislative Assembly, Kuppam.

Amaravati, is envisioned to be a city of world-class standards with a vision of increasing Andhra Pradesh’s prominence in the world. For a start, Construction of the seed capital development area — covering 16.7 sq km and comprising the AP Legislative Assembly, Legislative Council, High Court, Secretariat, Raj Bhavan, quarters for the ministers and officials, and the township for government officials had already started.

Our sketching trip is fully sponsored by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore and our mission is to sketch the existing 29 villages in Amaravati to help capture the current heritage and culture before the new city is built.

Day Seven - 14 Dec 2017

It was free and easy on day seven as we would be leaving for airport in the evening at around 5:30pm to catch a 8:10pm flight from Vijayawada Airport to Bengaluru Airport then take the Singapore Airline flight back to Singapore. I was on an earlier hotel check-out time at 12 and I also had a some discomfort in the stomach so I did not go out in the car to sketch the Krisna River or the city for the last time. Those who were on 3:00pm check-out time did that. After the hotel check-out, we went shopping for some gifts and kurta blouse for me and shirts for my son. I came back to the hotel and managed to do this sketch inside the hotel lobby looking out to the street from the corner glass panel. It was also the last sketch in the Seawhite Conertina Sketchbook. Perfect!

Day Six - 13 Dec 2017

In the morning we visited the Amaravati Archaeological Museum and there was a model of The Great Stupa or Mahachaitya in the open courtyard. We were not allowed to take photos inside the museum so I sketched this big sculptural cow on the left. It was about 2.0m long x 1.2m high housed inside a transparent box. We then walked to the ruins of The Great Stupa nearby and stayed there to sketch the park. I sketched the original foundation of the stupa and you can imagine how big was the dome on top of it. All the broken pieces from the stupa were displayed at the museum earlier and it depicted the life of Buddha and the glorious history of the Indian dynasties when Buddhism flourished in Amaravati. The stones displayed here at the park were relics from various locations in India.

Amaravati was home to best known 2000 years old Buddhist relics, which made the place an important pilgrimage for the Buddhists even to this day. The famous monk in the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West" with Sun Wukong, the monkey king was said to retrieve Buddhist sutras from the west, ie Amaravati.





Architectural Drawing by StudyBlue.com, Amaravati Mahachaitya or The Great Stupa was built around the 2nd century. It was the largest stupa in India and the stupa was earlier a simple structure with limestone crossbars and simple carvings, but when renovated by the Satavahana rulers, it became a highly marked architectural monument. Excavated a few years back, this stupa is engraved with intricate carvings that depict the life and teachings of Lord Buddha. If you are interested to know more The Great Stupa and Buddhism in Amaravathi, this link is very useful.

Day Five Afternoon

We decided to travel as the same group and explore Mangalagiri in the afternoon. It was an eye opener to witness how the workers here operated the hand-looms to make sarees in the dug trenches into the ground. Yes, they did not sit on the ground or the chairs but slip their legs into a trench in the ground. It was cooler and save the ceiling space in this way. The workers were paid $500 Rupees or $10 SGD for a saree which took two consecutive days to complete. I didn't think I was able to work in that kind of environment with repetitive movement and noise for even a few hours. Complete a sketch was already an difficult task with constant bombardment of repetitive sound from the hand looms. It certainly was not music to the ears but visual treat to the eyes with so many colours from the textiles on the hand looms and the costumes worn by the workers.

Day Two - Ghandi Hills

On 8 Dec, 2017 which was day one of our trip to India, we arrived at Hyderabad from Singapore Changi Airport via Silkair and checked into a hotel called "Hotel Hyderabad Grand" to catch a quick nap for about 4 hours and next we were on domestic flight Spicejet from Hyderabad to Vijayawada on Day two. I was told we should check into Novotel Hyderabad Airport but it was fully booked on that night.

On 9 Dec, 2017 in Vijayawada, after having lunch at the Fortune Murali Park Hotel, we visited two sites - the 'Seed Road' which is under construction for Amaravati new city and the foundation stone unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Oct 2015. Next, we visited Ghandi Hills when the sky was still bright and we had like an hour to sketch from dusk to night, the view at Ghandi Hills was spectacular.

That evening, we were all tired of the air travel, transfer, road trips, sketching on top of Ghandi Hills and dinner at a place called BBQ Nation across the hotel, we went straight back to the hotel room and slept through the night.

Sharing at Silverfox Studio

Photos taken by Achilles Estremos, another sketcher of team 2 for "We Draw Amaravati Together" project from 8 to 15 Dec 2017 on the day sharing of our sketches to his office colleagues. Susan Heng, one of the bosses of the interior firm was my student from Interior Architecture and Design programme at School of Design, Temasek Polytechnic probably from 1991 to 1993. Her partner was Patrick Waring seen here on the right in the photos. Kaili Huang from Amaravati Project Office of Ministry of Trade and Industry and Francis Theo, team leader of this trip were helping me to hold my Seawhite Concertina Sketchbook.

India sketchbook

I finally added the stickers, boarding passes, hotel information to the concertina sketchbook for future reference.

It was truly an incredible India trip from 8 to 15 Dec, 2017. The two cities Vijayawada and Amaravati were just amazing. People were so friendly and the sight, sound of the places were so incredibly rich and colourful. We were warned of the non-stop honking sound on the road but I found it acceptable and an eye opener especially we visited India with our open minds.

We Sketch Amaravati Together

I did a video on my recent sketches on India. I was with my sketcher friends from 08 - 15 Dec 2017 to Vijayawada and Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh on a project called "We Sketch Amaravati Together".

Andhra Pradesh is one of the 29 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of the country. The state is the seventh-largest state in India covering an area of 162970 sq km. As per 2011 Census of India, the state is tenth-largest by population with 49,386,799 inhabitants. Amaravati has 29 villages and it will be the brand new capital city for Andhra Pradesh under the vision of N Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, also the President of Telugu Desam Party and Member of Legislative Assembly, Kuppam.

Amaravati, is envisioned to be a city of world-class standards with a vision of increasing Andhra Pradesh’s prominence in the world. For a start, Construction of the seed capital development area — covering 16.7 sq km and comprising the AP Legislative Assembly, Legislative Council, High Court, Secretariat, Raj Bhavan, quarters for the ministers and officials, and the township for government officials had already started.

Our sketching trip is fully sponsored by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore and our mission is to sketch the existing 29 villages in Amaravati to help capture the current heritage and culture before the new city is built.

An obligatory sketch in the air

Day one sketching in the cabin appeared to be an obligatory sketch for the sketchers on board. Alice Lim was sleeping in a very challenging position but she told me later that it was very comfortable.

Singapore Airport

On 8 Dec 2017, I did a sketch at Changi Airport Terminal 2 when we checked in very early to get our dinner at around 6:00pm. Our SilkAir flight to Hyderabad was 8:00pm. I was having Japanese noodle while my husband had his local food from Old Chang Kee. I also had a signature Old Change Kee curry puff as I would most likely be missing local food for the whole of next week in India. From our table we could see Gate E and F, a big yellow sign "F30" was painted on the floor with airplanes of Singapore Airline and SilkAir moving in and out from this area. SilkAir is Singapore Airlines' regional arm and I love the logos of these two air crafts. I do hope they are doing well to fly the Singapore flag high in the aviation world for our future generations of Singaporeans.

Day One - 8 Dec 2017

Day one is 8 Dec 2017 when we flew from Singapore Changi Airport Terminal to Hyderabad at 8pm via Silkair. Our flight was delayed by an hour due to delay in two connecting flights from Chicago and Auckland. We only arrived at Rajiv Gandhi Hyderabad International Airport at around 11:30pm local time after 4 hrs and 40 mins flight. There is a time difference of 2.5 hours between Singapore and India.

We checked into Hotel Hyderabad Grand near the airport and met at the hotel lobby at 5:15am to get back to the airport for our on-hour SpiceJet domestic flight to Vijaywada Airport scheduled at 7:10am. So Day two on 9 Dec 2017 we arrived at Vijayawada at 8:05am and checked into the hotel for our breakfast at about 10am. We met again at 12noon for lunch at the hotel after checking in to our room and unpacking for the mext activity in the afternoon at 2pm.

Incredible India

We were sketching the villages of Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh in India from 8 to 15 Dec 2017. Here are the sketches of the trip that include loose sketches, a Seawhite Concertina Sketchbook and a Moleskine pocket sketchbook. I will do more posts for the individual sketches later.

Result of last Oct Sketchwalk

Work in progress for the top two sketches.

I sketched from the left of a long sketch. This is the tiger and I was trying to continue with the leopard in the afternoon but did not, may be another day. I will be back.

I last brought my three children there for the Dragon water ride when they were little. Yes, the Dragon water ride was the main attraction for many years before Universal Studio on Sentosa island. Built in 1937, Haw Par Villa is famous for its often gruesome depictions of Chinese folklore’s 10 Courts of Hell apart from the Dragon water ride near its main entrance. The theme park is recently repainted with all the existing features and scenes from Chinese legends such as Journey to the West and Madame White Snake. From the many antique cars owned by the brothers, you can tell how the brothers love to flaunt their wealth.

You will see tiger balm advertisement all over the park since that is what the two famous brother, Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par got the fortune from in the old days. I sketched the Haw (tiger) and will sketch the Par (leopard) another day.

Robertson Quay

I was trying to travel really light with a sketchbook, a fountain pen, watercolours, a brush pen and a stool.

Thanks Patrick Ng for the ink refill. This piece took two reserviours of inks to complete and I only brought one fountain pen. So I started with splashing watercolours first rather than my usual ink work.

I used 6 pages in Seawhite concertina sketchbook Seawhite of Brighton, adding the balustrades and some details after the show and tell.

Poolside Sketch

I sketched Steffi, my younger granddaughter as she posed for me at the poolside. I had to add Nicole, my elder granddaughter next to Steffi later when she was looking for herself in the sketch. My younger son was making the 'V' sign on the yellow float and the princesses were telling stories pointing at the young uncle. So fun.

Total 8 pages Seawhite Concertina Sketchbook. This sketch got the family talking during the vacation, we are making memories together.

Vacation Trip to Vietnam

It's a family vacation in Lang Co, Vietnam. We spent real quality time with my two granddaughters aged 5 and 3 who are staying in Hong Kong. We spent 7 days together from 4 to 11 Aug in Lang Co, Hoi An, Da Nang and Hue. We are building family memories together and some are collected in this long Seawhite Concertina Sketchbook.

at the airport

Going to meet the two princesses for a family holiday in Vietnam, spending quality time with them and may not sketch much. One sketch at the departure hall and splashed some coffee later plus sticking something to remember like Jetstar flight details etc.

Visitors here at PUAL inside the airport lounge are very well groomed with branded handbags for ladies and expensive wrist watches for men.

I may look out of place with my t-shirt and jeans but who cares, I am on vacation.