Last sketch in my sketchbook on Wat Klang

This is the last sketch I did in my second Etchr Accordion Sketchbook. I felt that there must be a sketch of Thai Temple in this trip so I went to Wat Mongkol Nimit Phra Aram Luang or Wat Klang as most sketchers did at the Phuket Old Town.

Wat Mongkol Nimit was constructed in 1880. The temple was originally called Wat Klang because of it location in the centre of Phuket Town (‘klang’ means middle in Thai). The main feature of Wat Mongkol Nimit is its shrine hall. The shrine hall is richly and elaborated decorated designs featuring gold leaf, along with blue and red paint. The gable end of the roof by the front entrance is particularly impressive. The other major feature at Wat Mongkol Nimit is its large chedi. A chedi is a type of tower which contains holy relics and is a place where Buddhists come to meditate. The Thai version of the chedi is similar to the stupa built at Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal. You can spot it on the left side of my sketch.

Wat Mongkol Nimit is a busy working temple with lots of resident monks, many of whom study at the religious school located in the temple grounds. I took some photos of the school building and also found two beautiful Thai style houses at the back of the compound where public toilets were located.

It was a quiet Monday morning with few tourists and cars in the compound until a group of young girls in their Thai costumes brightened up the atmosphere. Thai coustumes were so elegant, so pretty but they were all wearing sneakers under their long silky skirts!

Happy Deepavali

Day Three

Srujan Chowdary, the younger host brought us to Srk Grand for lunch. We had the best biryani rice of different flavours in town. Very fragrant and delicious. We asked for a landmark to sketch and he brought us to the nearby village temple called Tallayapalem Temple or Sri Saiva Kshetramu Temple. It had a multi-level tower entrance and it was the most famous Lord Shiva Temple in Tallayapalem, Thulluru Mandal Guntur District in Andhra Pradesh.

I had never seen so many lingams in my whole life and you could find different shiva lingams made in mercury, spatica, stone and crystal etc. Even the temple walls were adorned with lingam graphics everywhere. Lingam is an abstract or iconic representation of the Hindu deity, Shiva, used for worship in temples or shrines. In traditional Indian society, the lingam is seen as a symbol of the energy and potential of Shiva himself.

Hong San Si Temple in Kuching

Read about this Hokkien temple is easily the finest temple in Kuching. It is just located opposite Marian, our hotel which stood on a small hill leased to the hotel by the Anglican Mission overlooking the undulating Sarawak River.

I was in Kuching to attend the 2nd Asia-Link Sketchwalk 2017 hosted by Urban Sketchers Kuching from 5 - 8 Oct, 2017.

Everyone was sitting outside the hotel fence sketching this temple, it must be one of the most sketched temples at the event. This long sketch took up 9 pages from the "Moleskine Japanese Album Large" concertina sketchbook and I just took photos of the long sketch in parts and stitched them in the computer. I have given up scanning long sketches.

at Yueh Hai Ching Temple again

This is the 2nd sketch at the newly renovated Yeuh Hai Ching Temple at Philip Street. The main feature of this temple is the very elaborate roof scape which cannot be found in other temples in Singapore. The best time to capture the light is between 10am to 11am, a very short window before the hot sun covers the entire temple forecourt. This piece has a new owner, Dr Yeo Kang Shua, the restoration expert for the temple which took him about five years from the drawing board to final completion. This piece also appeared on Sunday TV programme, MediaCorp Channel 8 at 10:30pm on 16 March 2014.

Yueh Hai Ching Temple

This was sketched in the afternoon and it was a big mistake. The weather was so hot and the only shade was provided by the small roof at the entrance. Size : 250 x 250mm

a Chinese temple in Bangkok

Day 1 - 4th piece at the Klongsan area, the Kuan Yu Shrine.

Size : 410mm x 310mm or 16" x 12"
Medium : Noodler's Spirit of Bamboo ink and Watercolour
Paper : St Cuthberts Mill's Bockingford Watercolour Paper

Wat Pho

Day 0 - A very quick sketch before the sky got darker, plus i was doing work, distributing name tag, badges, sketchbooks and saying hello to so many sketchers from Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Taiwan, Australia, Phuket and Bangkok. Before the sketch, I joined the tour conducted by the assistant abbot of Wat Pho. We were treated to a welcome dinner hosted by the temple in the open ground. Some sketchers were still sketching in the dark.

Size : 200 x 400mm or 8" x 16"
Medium : Ink and Watercolour

Tak Sin Cross River Ferry Pier and Ibis Hotel

Day 1 on 22 Feb 2013 for the Sketchwalk ChaoPhraya event in Bangkok. After checking in at Ibis Hotel from the airport and having tea reception hosted by a nice local lady who co-owned a nice cafe, we walked to Tak Sin Cross River Ferry Pier to take a water taxi to the other side called Sathon Pier along ChaoPhraya River for just 3.50bht or below 20cents!!! We then took another water taxi from Sathon Pier to Wat Pho for the temple tour and recepiton dinner hosted by the Assistant Abbot. What an honour!

Result of Sketchwalk at Telok Ayer

Thian Hock Keng Temple at Telok Ayer Street. I brought about 20 students on the last sketch walk with USK-SG members. We had a huge turn out at about 50 people for the sketch walk. It was a blast! I Walked around giving pointers/tips to the students. Managed to complete one piece. 200X400mm, ink, coffee and watercolours.

same temple different sketch

Same temple, same caretaker, different date and different format. The tree on the left has grown quite a bit to cover the other dragon on the roof eave. Ink and watercolour, 400 x 200mm.

a small temple and a small world

I found this small temple at Moonstone Lane near Serangoon / Macpherson area. The caretaker old uncle said it was built in 1957 and 福德祠 meant 大伯公庙 in Teochew, one of dialects spoken among Chinese people in South East Asia. This small temple was characterised by the huge ornaments on the roof top. They were very detailed and well maintained especially the two dragons which were decorated with very clean and colourful mosaics. I was told they were fabricated by the Chinese artisans from Malaysia in the 50s.

While I was about to finish my sketch, 6 to 8 young people came up to me. I was a little wary when two of them started waving their hands. As they removed their dark glasses, I immediately recognised them - my ex-students! Together with their friends, they were at the near-by warehouse checking out the big bikes. What a small world!

the wonderful Korean sketchers

These portraitures of me and my son in the last one, were done by Lee Yong-hwan, the Korean USk correspondent whom I met on 22 Dec 2009. Lee started sketching me when I met Yoo Byung-hwa and Kim Mi-kyung, the other two Korea sketchers at the Ramada Seoul hotel lobby in the morning of 22 Dec 2009. Together with my 14-year-old son, five of us went to the nearby Bongeunsa Temple to sketch. There was an important ceremony to celebrate the first day of winter and Seoul mayor was the guest of honour. It was full of people and various activities such as folk-drums dancing, wishing scrolls, serving of Patjuk - a traditional red bean porridge etc etc. The entire place was so lively and we were immersed in the atmosphere when we started sketching. We later adjourned to an aquarium at COEX complex just opposite the temple to continue with our sketching. Please visit USk-Korea for the sketches that were presented by these wonderful sketchers.
Sketches by Kim Mi-kyung are here
Sketches by Yoo Byung-hwa are here
Sketches by Lee Yong-hwan are here

I am doing this post in Seoul, Korea. I will post some of my sketches when I go back to Singapore. Here are some photos to share with the viewers at this moment when it is snowing outside right now.

Once again, Merry X'mas from Seoul everyone.

Tibetan Temple in Singapore

Probably the only Tibetan temple in Singapore. A very simple building with so many colourful flags adorned the roof of the structure. A big yellow or gold prayer wheel could be seen from the main road. Rows of small red lanterns were hung from the ceiling and the feel was more Chinese than Tibetan. I was sitting comfortably opposite the coffee shop although I had great difficulty sketching the lower part of the building as the big vans and cars often blocked my view. I added the digital colours later.

Weekend trip to Penang, Malaysia

I did a sketch at the Singapore Changi Airport last weekend when I was on a short trip to Penang, Malaysia. I took a local bus from the hotel to World Heritage Site George Town after my very late breakfast. I followed the flower stalls along the road that led me to a beautiful temple.

Goddess of Mercy Temple is the oldest Chinese temple in Penang and was built in the 1800s by the early Chinese settlers. The temple is also called "Kuan Yin Teng" with a roof adorned with colourful dragons and flowers. The first thing that struck me was the smoke from the countless bundles of joss sticks and incense burning inside and outside the temple. I felt a little uncomfortable as I entered the temple as no way I was going to avoid inhaling the smoke. However, I was immediately distracted by the bustling and hustling atmosphere created by the faithful worshippers. The sizes of joss sticks varied from the usual size of 12" long skinny ones to 6' to 7' long, 4" diameter giant joss sticks which were placed on the granite-paved square outside the temple. Two huge burners on wheels were placed near the stone lion statues for worshipers to burn fake banknotes for wealth and fortune. Pigeons roamed freely to pick on scraps of food.

As I was sketching the beautiful decorative roof, people around me suddenly rushed towards the square to crowd around a man distributing lunch boxes from a big box. The crowd had morphed to an orderly queue for the free lunch. The same scene was repeated for the distribution of bottled water by another man who had arrived in a big car. I was touched by the simple gesture of giving and sharing that these few charitable men had displayed. Some of the men who received the food and water were also seen offering to share their food with those who came later. There was even one backpacker in the line and he told the Indian man next to him that he would be returning tomorrow. He had trendy dark glasses and left shortly after his meal. You can see the lunch box behind me in the photo above. People were milling around me and some stood to watch quietly. I managed to get a picture with these friendly folks and it was another satisfying sketching adventure for me.

Bali trip after tsunami

click for larger image

On this boxing day; also 4 years after the terrible tsunami swept across Nias island and Aceh province of Indonesia on this day, I will like to post this quick drawing I did for the bali trip to remind us how beautiful Indonesia is. In a time when all we can see around us are more bad than good news, here is my personal wish for peace to a new 2009.

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