We made it to the cover of The Strait Times

Result of October Sketchwalk at Toa Payoh

Result of last Saturday Sketchwalk at Toa Payoh

October Sketchwalk at Toa Payoh

we are heading to Toa Payoh Sports Complex on 28 Oct (Sat) to sketch it and bid it goodbye before it closes at the end of the month. We will try to get permission to sketch it from the inside. Hopefully we will get to sketch the swimming pool as well, which was a venue for several major swimming events. Right beside it is Toa Payoh Town Park with its iconic tower and on the other side is Toa Payoh Stadium.

The sketchwalk will be from 9:30am to 12:30pm. Remember to bring mosquito repellent, sun screen, water, umbrella etc.

More information:
- https://www.channelnewsasia.com/.../toa-payoh-sports...
- https://www.straitstimes.com/.../new-sports-centre...
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In light of the COVID situation, mask wearing is optional. We urge everyone to remain cautious. Let's all play a part to stay safe!
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Time: 9:30am - 12:30pm
Nearest MRT station: Toa Payoh MRT (NS19).
Meeting and End Point: Toa Payoh Town Park (Next to the swimming complex) https://maps.app.goo.gl/ezkTYuFfiCYQHieq8
Location of end point may change in the event of wet weather.
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𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒆:
By participating this Event, you agreed with the followings:
1. My participation in this Event is entirely voluntary.
2. I am aware of and agree to assume any and all risks which might be associated with the Event and I will not hold Urban Sketchers Singapore (USkSG) and any admin/organiser responsible or liable in any way for and will not commence any action arising from the Event, or claim for any loss and/or damage (including, without limitation, personal injury and/or property damage) caused by or sustained as a result of my participation in the Event.
3. I will indemnify USkSG and keep USkSG indemnified against all losses, claims, demands, actions, proceedings, damages, costs, expenses, and any other liability arising in any way from my participation in the above Event.
4. For participant under 18 years old, his/her parent/guardian are aware and agree to the above clauses.
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Timeline for the day:
9:30pm: Short briefing at Toa Payoh Town Park
12:15pm: Show & Tell at Toa Payoh Town Park (subject to change depending on whether we can get permission to gather inside the sports complex)
12:30pm: Group photo (refer to photo)*
*Please note that location of Short briefing and Show and Tell are subjected to change, depending on the weather for the day.
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Instructions for the day:
1. Make your way to the location, be aware of surroundings, and maintain necessary distancing.
2. Challenge yourself to explore hidden corners that hasn't been seen/drawn yet; this will also help prevent too many of us crowding the same perching points.
3. Post your sketches, snapshots and videos online — 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐬 #𝐮𝐬𝐤𝐬𝐠 — so everyone can easily find the day's artistic output.
4. Some sketch leaders will go around to catch you in action for posts on Facebook and Instagram, so look out for them!
5. Happy sketching!! 
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Credits:

Event banner by Stephanie Ng

Last Sketchwalk of the Year

Today we have the last sketchwalk of the year at Toa Payoh. It was attended by so many new and young faces. I was also happy to meet old friends too. The point blocks in this location including block 179 were served as accommodation for athletes for the 1973 SEAP Games. The 1973 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games (SEAP Games) was the first international sports event ever held in Singapore. Toa Payoh's swimming complex and stadium were chosen to serve as the competition and training venues, while Toa Payoh Public Library on the extreme left of this sketch was used as the secretariat building for the Games.

December Sketchwalk at Toa Payoh

 Hi Sketchers!

For the last sketchwalk of the year, we will be heading to the heartlands at Toa Payoh Central. We'll be gathering at the open space outside Toa Payoh Public Library for opening and closing!

Some nearby places you can sketch at:
- Toa Payoh Central
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4KqCXjHL50

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In light of the COVID situation, mask indoors are now optional. We urge everyone to remain cautious. Let's all play a part to stay safe!
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Time: 9:30AM - 12.30PM
Nearest MRT station: Toa Payoh MRT

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𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒆:
In compliance to Government Covid safety guidelines, be safe!
Please strictly comply. USkSG (and our sketch leaders) will not be held responsible for any flouting of the above guidelines. Thank you.
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Timeline for the day:
9.30am: Meeting point outside Toa Payoh Public Library (https://goo.gl/maps/CZRpi1fq2HQjH3zVA)*

12pm: Start packing your things and make your way for Show & Tell

12.20-12.30pm: End point: Same as briefing point outside Toa Payoh Public Library
(https://goo.gl/maps/CZRpi1fq2HQjH3zVA)*

*Note that location of Short briefing and Show and Tell are subjected to change, depending on the weather for the day.
----------------
Instructions for the day:
1. Make your way to the location, be aware of surroundings, and maintain necessary distancing.
2. Challenge yourself to explore hidden corners that hasn't been seen/drawn yet; this will also help prevent too many of us crowding the same perching points.
3. Post your sketches, snapshots and videos online — 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐬 #𝐮𝐬𝐤𝐬𝐠 — so everyone can easily find the day's artistic output.
4. Some sketch leaders will go around to catch you in action for posts on Facebook and Instagram, so look out for them!
5. Happy sketching!! 
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Credits:
Research by Favian Ee, Huiling
Event banner by Pocholo Issa Eztremoz

Creamier Toa Payoh

Chilling at Creamier after lunch at Toa Payoh. Nice mini exhibition by Organisation of Illustrators Council aka OIC.

Fish Soup Brunch

It is final week of November. First week of December will be a very busy week for me so this morning I drove to Toa Payoh to have my favourite fish soup to start the week. This table was occupied by taxi drivers who were very animated in their conversation. Fun to listen though.

At An Shun Seafood Soup, block 206 Toa Payoh North

Toa Payoh - a matured estate

A sketch after lunch at Toa Payoh which is a matured public housing estate. Block 127 is a popular wet market and hawker stalls that is closed in the afternoon. I used to work at HDB and we often discussed about public housing policies. You seldom find new wet markets and hawker centers in the new public housing estates after the 1990s. They are now replaced with either NTUC supermarkets or private run supermarkets and food courts.

Personally I love the design of the public housing flats in this area of Toa Payoh with its orange and white colours and art-deco features.

This Afternoon Lunch at An Shun

Today's lunch at my favourite fish soup stall at Toa Payoh, also the meeting place for so many taxi drivers. The taxis will take up almost all the nearest parking lots near to the coffee shop that sells famous fish soup, yong tau foo, chicken rice and claypot laksa.

Chinese New Year decorations are easy to spot at heartland coffee shop like this one.

April Sketchwalk

Sketch By Milo Sudaria

For this month's sketchwalk, we are once again returning to one of the biggest and oldest neighbourhoods in Singapore- Toa Payoh. The last time we sketched there officially, it was before Epigram's first Neighbourhood book was published. Since then, the group has grown even more. Plus the place is just too big to experience it all in one sketchwalk.

We have two start points for you this time. So pick one that is most convenient for you.
Start point A 9AM: MacDonald's closest to Braddell MRT Station
Start point B 9AM: MacDonald's closest to Toa Payoh MRT Station

As always, sketch is free and easy. Go solo or explore the area with your friends. There are many interesting things to sketch if you poke around this neighbourhood. You may also need to do some research before you go because it is a big area. This and this may help.
But pace yourself so that you can return to the end point on time.

End point 12PM: Meet outside the Creamier ice cream shop at 128 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh.

Will will have our show and tell there. And we will announce something special there.

If you come late, just start sketching and meet us at the end point. We will be everywhere once the sketchwalk starts. No need to sign up. No fees. Just show up. Anybody and everybody is welcome.

Only one note of caution: By no means sketch any police stations or compounds around the area. (You all know what happened last time!)

Lucky draw

Join the lucky draw by clicking the picture below sponsored by Parkablogs.com

My Old Home at Toa Payoh

2nd sketch of block 53 in the background. I coloured the water tank in green just as I remembered it when I was a teenager staying on the 11th floor of that block which still has a conservatory floor on the top. Queen Elizabeth visited the block in 1972. thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/a-journey-th...

Bird Cages at Toa Payoh

1st sketch of block 94 with the bird pavilion. It reminded me of my dad used to keep these same birds when I was little. Noticed they were all uncles and no unties, I wonder why?

TOA PAYOH SKETCHWALK (part 2)

Here is the plan for the upcoming sketchwalk on JUNE 30. We will meet at MacDonald's, 930am. (Opp Braddell MRT stn).

The end point will be MacDonald's again at 1230pm SHARP.

On a first-come-first-go basis, we will assign you to a group to cover a specific area in this area of Toa Payoh. This will be a different area from the previous one. There are many interesting spots to draw there, including a dragon playground, SPH, and some old HDB flats with interesting designs.

This is a continuation of the previous sketchwalk where selected drawings emailed to Epigram will be published in our new series of books covering different neighbourhoods in singapore. If your drawing gets selected to be in the book, you will get one complimentary copy of the book + 40% off a second copy. If more than 3 drawings gets selected, you will get 2 complimentary copies. Anyone who joins us may submit their drawings for the book, even if it will be your first time joining. If you do not wish you participate in the book, no problem, you may join us as usual and have fun drawing!

The sheet below will be handed out during the next sketchwalk. But you may want to download it into your iphone for quick reference if you'd like to cover the locations before the next sketchwalk or after. We have one month from this sketchwalk to cover all these locations as these locations represent TPY and will definately need to be included in the book. See you saturday and have fun sketching!

You will notice that there is a special group that will go in the afternoon as a extra adhoc sketchwalk. It's separate because it is a bit out of the way. That group may be going today (23 JUNE) to cover the monastary. If we manage to cover it today, we won't need to cover it on 30 JUNE.

EPIGRAM UPLOAD INSTRUCTIONS:

1) All pictures need to be scanned hi-res 350dpi (for A5 and bigger drawings). If your picture is smaller (eg.A6), scan it at 600dpi so it can be blown up further. 

2) Save them in .jpg format. RGB colour format.

3) Upload them to using WeTransfer or YouSendIt (They are free large file transfer services)

4) Send them to jocelyn@epigrambooks.sg.

If you don't own a scanner, you can hand me or Zaihan the originals after the sketchwalk. But please note your name and number on the back. We will scan them and return them to you.
5) ***IMPORTANT** Mention what location you are sketching in the file name. Eg. Swimmingcomplex.jpg 

Toa Payoh KouFu

Only manage to upload now. A quick sketch after the watercolour piece at Toa Payoh Bus Interchange. Sketching Edmund Wee, the boss at Epigram and publisher for our next book on neighbourhoods in Singapore.

Toa Payoh Bus Interchange

We are urban sketching for a book project about Singapore neighbourhoods. I was assigned to sketch the bus interchange under group 5. Toa Payoh has the first air-conditioning bus interchange which is connected directly to MRT station and North South Line. It is located within the Housing Development Board Hub (HDB Hub) which also house the HDB corporate offices and HDB sale office and sale gallery.

The bus interchange is of course full of buses and passengers. It was not a very interesting subject but I soon enjoyed observing the moving buses and people around me.

May Sketchwalk at Toa Payoh

DATE: 26th MAY 2012

TIME: 930AM - 1230PM

MEETING POINT: Old Chang Kee outside the Toa Payoh MRT stn (see map)

END POINT: Same as meeting point at 12.30pm for show and tell.

This sketchwalk will be a bit special.

Epigram, a really good design company, will be working with us to come up with a series of books written/designed by them and drawn entirely by us. These books will focus on various neighbourhoods in Singapore. One book for each neighbourhood. In a way, it will be a sequel to our Urbansketchers Singapore book with URA. This first book by Epigram will be about Toa Payoh. We will hand out a map to you this Saturday morning with target spots marked. You will have to split yourselves up, treat it like a scavenger hunt, go out and find those spots, and draw them the best you can.

Only the best drawings will be featured in the book. Epigram will be curating and deciding what goes in. If your drawing makes it into the book, you will be given 1 complimentary copy + 40% off if you buy an additional book from them. If they pick 3 or more drawing from you, you will get 2 complimentary copies. That is all. No royalties, just to be clear. You will be credited. And you will keep the full copyrights to your own work. Epigram will bear the full cost of the printing and distribution, as well as handle the writing, designing, and researching the good locations to cover in each neighbourhood. Our part is to just do what we do best, sketching on location.

If your drawing does not make it into the book, no stress, you can always try again the next month. If you don't wish to submit your work, it is fine too. Just join us for sketchwalk as per normal and enjoy yourself.

We will need 50-60 drawings for each book. And we will have about 50 spots to cover so we will be splitting the Toa Payoh into 2 sessions. This saturday, we will be covering the Toa Payoh central area, the Sports complex and some other areas nearby. Spots to cover may include famous stalls, buildings, and other iconic locations in the neighbourhood. It will be clearer when you get the map.

We don't want all of you drawing the same angle and same scene. So please spread out and capture fresh angles that others are not doing. 2 or 3 sketchers can do the same scene but that will mean only 1 or 2 will get chosen.

We want a book that captures the feel and essence of Toa Payoh. It's an intimate look at Toa Payoh, so we encourage you to capture people, cats, dogs, signboards, views from higher levels, an old keymaker, ANYTHING that captures the life in Toa Payoh and what makes Toa Payoh, Toa Payoh. We are not restricted to buildings since this is not a URA book. You are also welcomed to come down between sketchwalks to cover more spots on your own time.

Oh, if you are new to the group, yes, you can submit your work just like the rest of us.

1) All pictures need to be scanned hi-res 350dpi (for A5 and bigger drawings). If your picture is smaller (eg.A6), scan it at 600dpi so it can be blown up further. 

2) Save them in .jpg format. 

3) Upload them to using WeTransfer or YouSendIt (They are free large file transfer services)

4) Send them to jocelyn@epigrambooks.sg.

If you don't own a scanner, you can hand me or Zaihan the originals after the sketchwalk. But please note your name and number on the back. We will scan them and return them to you. 

If you have any questions, you can call me, Andrew at 91070735.
Let's do our best, have fun and get this book series going! See you this saturday!