Ah Chiang's Porridge

Last Friday we had brunch at our favourite Ah Chiang's Traditional Porridge at Tiong Bahru.

When we were there, one of the employees was praying and putting up incense sticks for the three red altars in the shop. One in the kitchen entrance, one on top of the cabinets and another one on the floor on the right not in my sketch. If I am not wrong, the deities were Kitchen God (灶神), Tua Pek Gong (大伯公) and Tu Di Gong (土地公).

Ah Jie at the counter on the left was a long-time employee and anchor of the shop. She fell a few months ago and now needed to brace her left knee with compassion knee sleeve. She was the only familiar face in the shop now and the rest of the team in red were younger ladies of 16 and 53 years-old.

Ah Jie is always the soul of the shop, HA!
阿姐是店里的灵魂人物哦，呵呵！

Nude Sketchbook
Size: 290 x 145mm

Tiong Bahru Estate

Etchr Accordion Sketchbook
Size: 1430 x 210mm

3 sittings to complete this sketch at Tiong Bahru.

1st sitting on 13 April here.
2nd sitting on 26 May here.
3rd sitting on 16 June to complete the panoramic sketch.

I will showcase this sketchbook at Etchr booth, Art Market, at 3:30pm on 4th day, 4 Aug, AsiaLink Sketchwalk Penang 2024. If you are in Penang, do come and support!

Tiong Bahru

Since I had a 4-person group exhibitons in 2010 and 2011 on Tiong Bahru at the then White Canvas Gallery, I had painted at different corners of Tiong Bahru. This same view was captured multiple times and I found these in my Flickr. I had a few pieces collected from my old office after I retired and a few pieces at home in the attic. There might be a few more somewhere in the house. I need to find all the originals and start sorting them out. There are also those who were sold at exhibitions either at White Cavas Gallery or Art Gallery@Glocal Connect Village from 2010 to 2015. After that I had a few exhibitions without any sales as they were not commercially driven initiatives. I also donated one or two pieces on Tiong Bahru for charity purposes only for very special causes.

Meanwhile, let me grap a cup of coffee and relax.

Buy this piece to support GUI

Final push - BUY THIS PIECE TO SUPPORT GUI'S BUILDING FUND.

Contact: meichang@groundupinitiative.org

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=350700187312450&set=a.278258541223282

By the end of 2023, the land lease of Ground Up Initiative (GUI)’s current home base, a 2.6-hectare land near Khatib MRT station is to be returned to the authority for redevelopment. Therefore, this fundraising dinner which will be held at Orchid Country Club on 27th Oct, 7.30pm-10.30pm, is to help raise funds for GUI to rebuild the new site.

Funds raised will be used to pay all expenses related to this campaign, and the balance will go towards the construction cost of the new site.

Sketching at Tiong Bahru with SUTD students

The attendance was very bad for the sketchwalk this afternoon, students were all late and claimed they did not know how to walk from MRT station to the location. A big group turned up at 3:30pm after their meeting on campus. Then came the heavy downpour that we had to change the show and tell location to the market. But students said they were stuck at the Seng Poh Garden hiding under the shelter. What a day! The visit to Pin Pin Piau Kay; the 84-year-old provision shop finally made our day. They are closing down permanently and today is their LAST DAY.

Our sketcher-friends, Tony and Jeffery did a sketch each. Three of us, the instructors were so tired after giving instructions and demos to students so many times since they all came late at different times. I was not in a good mood, so should we blame the location or the weather?

I went back to my car, took out the sketch tool and did a sketch of block 71 where Pin Pin Piau Kay was located. It was still work in progress but I did feel much better after sketching.

March Sketchwalk at Beo Crescent / Tiong Bahru

Hi Sketchers!
This month we will be sketching in the Beo Crescent and Bukit Ho Swee area (Tiong Bahru). It took the name from the nearby Beo Lane, also located off Havelock Road. Beo Lane – Beo means temple in Hokkien and Teochew – was named in 1907 after the three Chinese temples in the vicinity. The temples were burnt and destroyed in the 1961 Bukit Ho Swee Fire, and the road itself was later expunged.
In light of the COVID situation, we urge everyone to remain cautious, mask on at all times and keep to groups of 5 people maximum with a minimum distance of no less than 15m between each group.

Time: 9:30AM - 12.30PM
Location: Various locations around Beo Crescent and Bukit Ho Swee neighbourhood
Nearest MRT: Tiong Bahru Station
Buses: 14, 16, 33, 51, etc


𝑷𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒄𝒉:
• Beo Crescent Market
• Giok Hong Tian Temple 玉皇殿
• Zion Road Shophouses
• HDB along the intersection of Havelock and Beo Crescent road
• Shop houses along 729 Havelock road
• And LOTS more

𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑬𝒂𝒕:
• Beo Crescent Market (Hokkien Mee, Lor Mee & Laksa)
• Tiong Bahru Plaza
• Tiong Bahru Market and Food Centre
• Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre

𝑺𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔:
Lim Jie Yi

𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒆:
In compliance to Government Covid safety guidelines, we can’t be congregating as a big group of sketchers. As such, we can sketch in small clusters of no more than 5 persons each, and there must be a minimum distance of no less than 15m between each cluster. Remember: MASKS ON.
Please strictly comply. USkSG (and our sketch leaders) will not be held responsible for any flouting of the above guidelines.
Thank you.

𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒚:
1. Arrange to meet fellow sketchers — 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝟓 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 — by posting the spot you plan to capture on the event wall; ask who's joining and discuss in the comments until you confirm your little quintet. And please have your face mask on at all times.
2.Make your way to the location, be aware of surroundings, and maintain required distancing; remain in your separate groups.
3. 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.
4. Post your sketches, snapshots and videos online — 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐬 #𝐮𝐬𝐤𝐬𝐠 — so everyone can easily find the day's artistic output.
5. Some sketch leaders will go around to catch you in action for posts on Facebook and Instagram, so look out for them!
6. We will do a Sketch Show via 𝐙𝐎𝐎𝐌 𝐚𝐭 𝟑:𝟎𝟎 𝐏𝐌 to substitute our usual post-sketchwalk gathering; make your way home — or anywhere suitable — in time to join the session.

Credits:
• Banner photo by Patrick Ng
• Event post research by Lim Jie Yi & Lim Pei Yi

Possible National Day Project

Here is another one I did on Monday morning at Tiong Bahru for a National Day project. It was fun doing it again at the same spot for a photo shoot, possibly a video format. It was a great feeling to be able to contribute to this year's National Day again. The previous experience was the launch of the National Day First Day Cover where my art pieces were made into stamps. You can read about it here.