New Towers at former Liang Court

Work in progress!

Here is one new work started this week with the very nice long knife-nib fountain pen gifted by Andrew Tan. The ever changing skyline includes the new towers at former Liang Court and former Arcade. We have become tourists in our own backyard.

Sentosa Skyline

Completed a piece from Michael Hotel Sentosa over the weekend on 22 June. We have not visited Sentosa for a very long time even as we heard it housed many exciting family entertainment theme parks now:
Sentosa Sensoryscape
Minion Land in Universal Studio
Singapore Oceanarium (Coming Soon)
Harry Potter: Visions of Magic
Adventure Cove Waterpark
Mega Adventure Park

On the right is the Battlestar Galactica: Human vs Cylon which is a pair of high speed turbulent roller coasters each have one kilo meter of track with 90 seconds of excitement to the thrill seekers. The Human side is red and the Cylon side is blue. I could not remember whether I went on the ride when it first opened to the staff when my husband worked for Sentosa Theme Park at its soft launch in 2011. But I definitely went on another indoor roller coaster called "Magic Mountain" in a Eyptian themed compound and it may be now called the "Revenage of the Mummy". There are newest attractions at Sentosa such as Harry Potters and Land of the Minons. So much has changed but the iconic castle is still there on the left of my painting.

I posted its progress here at this earlier post:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16Ujur88SD/

Arches Watercolour Paper
Size: 560 x 190 mm

A view from my hotel room

Gorgeous sunlight, added washes in the early morning to the sketch I started the day before when I first arrived at Z Hotel at Johor Bahru. It was the view from my hotel room on the 18th storey. I could see Restoran Kin Hua from my room and we had breakfasts at this traditional coffee shop every morning in Johor Bahru.

On the right is the Sultan Ibrahim Building, the former state secretariat building of Johor State. The offices of the state secretariat have now moved to Kota Iskandar. There are plans to convert the building into a museum. You can read more about the building at this link

The tall building is the UNITAR International University right at the end of Jalan Tan Hiok Nee which is named after a Chinese immigrant who played a pivotal role in developing Johor Bahru in the late 19th century. There are now many cozy cafes and restaurants but we don't see any crowd in the day. At night, huge crowd is spotted at the night market frequented by mainly local Malays along a few adjacent streets.

I love this view because I can see Singapore across the waters on the left.

Arches Watercolour Paper
Size: 630 x 220mm

A very long sketch

Happy Holidays!

I am determined to sketch from Marina Bay Sands to complete another Etchr Accordion Sketchbook which started with Amerigo Vespucci on 26 Oct 2024 for the first 6 pages of the sketchbook. This sketch was completed on 20 Dec 2024 over 9 pages with the last page filled with stickers etc.

The video on the entire sketchbook is here https://www.facebook.com/reel/964061462235300

Etchr Accodion Sketchbook
Size: 1170 x 210mm

Smaller Watercolour Pieces

I sketched the skyline of Marina Bay many times and posted the same one here. I found the other one done on the same day on 22 March 2020 during the pandemic and posted these two together, one with ink one without ink. Same view different mood.
Paper: Arches Watercolour Papers
Size: 550 x 200 mm

Happy 57th Birthday Singapore

The final piece

I only added the water to complete the piece. Some people like it light washes, some like it with heavier brush strokes. Many ways of interpreting the same scene. I have done so many pieces on the same view and every piece is distinctively different.

In this piece, the Liang Court is gone and CapitaSpring is completed.

Paper: Arches
Size: 750 x 285 mm

Work in Progress

Click to see a bigger image

Sketch or Painting?

Finally completed the sketch at Tower 3 Marina Bay Sands #3606. We paid extra for the city view and it was worth it. This was one of the latest sketches as you can tell from the missing "twin towers" aka Liang Court, Novetel Hotel next to Clarke Quay or behind the Victoria Theather in the middle of this sketch.

Paper: Arches
Size: 750 x 285 mm

Beemo the cat likes it

Work in Progress

Same view, different feel

 

2 sittings - started on 2 Oct 2020, completed on 27 Mar 2021.

Singapore Skyline at Marina Bay

I have done sketches, watercolours in sketchbook and loose papers many times for this same view. This was done before circuit breaker (lockdown) last year. I did two that day but totally forgotten about this one.
Size: 540 x 195 mm
Paper: Arches 300gm
Medium: Ink and Watercolours

Happy 55th Birthday Singapore

I spent a family weekend staycation at Marina Bay Sands 45th floor to do a Singapore skyline piece to remember a special National Day 2020. It was done over 2 mornings.Happy 55th Birthday Singapore.
Size : 750 x 280mm
Medium : Ink and Watercolours on Arches

Process 2

Paper: Arches
Size: 750 x 285 mm

Process 1

Taipei Skyline

Bought a NT$600 (about US$19) ticket to the top of Taipei 101 and did a sketch at the quiet corner amidst the loud and noisy tourists occasionally. I could have sketched the Grand Hotel Taipei 圆山大饭店 on the far right but too tired after one and a half hour up there.

Photo on the left was me sketching on top of Taipei 101, the tourists come and go in big numbers. Photo on top was me holding the sketch at Taichung upon request of fellow participants at Asia-Link Sketchwalk.

Imaginary Skyline

This is what happen when you put together all the buildings owned by a big developer to form an imaginary new skyline.

Draft Sketch

Today at 11:30am, I am going for cataract removal surgery for my right eye and this draft sketch was what I had been rushing for the past few nights. It is going to be a one metre long artwork to put all the significant buildings owned by one of the big developers in Singapore. It is not difficult to begin with since they own most of the buildings along the Fullerton Heritage Waterfront. However, it was more difficult than I originally thought as it progressed. I will need to research into the building heights and sizes when I put them together. As an architect by profession, it has its advantage. I will post the final artwork when it is done.

Mount Erskine Trail

We were invited by Singapore Land Authority for a July heritage trail to sketch an old hospital at Mount Erskine. It was the St. Andrew Mission Hospital built in 1922 by Madam Tan Teck Neo, f founder of the Chinese Women's Association. She was the second daughter of Tan Keong Saik. There was also a very old elevator with wood interior and collapsible gates inside the building.

I did a long sketch on the roof top of the building while everyone sketched the old hospital across the building.

http://www.samh.org.sg/about-us/history
https://www.swhf.sg/profiles/tan-teck-neo/



This part of the sketch was overlooking at Ministry of National Development building in the middle, Oasia Hotel on the right and Urban Redevelopment Authority on the left. National Day is approaching, so I added the Singapore flag. The other half I sketched the 50-storey building which is the tallest public housing complex called The Pinnacle@Duxton that sold for a million dollar per unit for public flat on re-sale market. Crazy!