Thanksgiving Sutra Chanting Ceremony

There's more to Orchard Rd, Singapore than glitzy shops. The Ngee Ann Kongsi (Ngee Ann clan) organized a thanksgiving and sutra chanting ceremony in a make shift temple at Ngee Ann City Plaza over a recent weekend. 

There were tables of food and artifacts made out of paper which would have been burnt later as offerings. These included paper cigarettes and gambling cards!

I sketched the participants chanting at each station as they went round the ornate tent. It was unbearably hot in the tent, I don't know how they managed in their magnificent long red robes. 

Colours were added at home and I bought a gold marker to add the gold thread on the robes. These are the first sketches in my new Stillman and Birn Beta journal. The paper seems great for watercolour but the small areas of paint in these particular sketches don't put it to the test. 

Pen and ink, watercolour, #Stillman&Birn Beta Sketchbook, 5.5 x 8.5ins.