97 Heeren Street

In this time of pandemic, Virtual Sketchmeets (using Google Maps) has become popular for Urban Sketchers who can't organize their usual group sketchmeets. I have decided to use this practice to revisit and do a virtual sketch of places of significance in my life. My sketches will be accompanied by a personal photo (or two) taken at the site!

In 2007 I visited for the first time the Tan Kim Seng "rumah abu" (Malay for house of ash) in Melaka, Malaysia. As a descendant of Tan Kim Seng it was an emotional experience. He was my great great great grandfather on my paternal grandmother's line.

Tan Kim Seng was a prominent Peranakan Chinese merchant and philanthropist born in 1806. This house at 97 Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (formerly known as Heeren St) is a long narrow terrace house with a spacious inner courtyard. These houses were built narrow in those days as houses were taxed based on their width!

Number 97 housed large portraits of various members of the Tan clan and several altars for prayers. At the time the house was maintained by a trust (I presume it still is). A caretaker lived on the premises and attended to the required prayers on the anniversaries of the deaths of the various Tan clan members (according to Buddhist rites).

The house was furnished with old style Chinese blackwood furniture. Sadly some members of the management trust looking after the house were Christians who took offence to the carvings on some of the furniture. Feeling that these carvings depicted pagan objects they sawed off the legs of some of the furniture!

I was excited to find the house again on Google Maps. It's the one with a decorative strip below the upstairs windows.

At the time of my visit in 2007 it was pretty run-down but from the present image on Google Maps I see the house has been renovated. The Chinese characters on the windows I'm told are poetic couplets about not forgetting where you come from.

Here's the present Google Map image of the house.

Here's a photo taken during my 2007 visit.

Here's one of the interior in 2007. Like all the houses in the area, it had an inner courtyard open to the sky with the prototypical well. 

Unfortunately I don't know anything about the history of Number 97. Tan Kim Seng himself once lived in a (apparently grand) house at Number 118 Heeren St which is now the renovated Hotel Puri.

Here's a few fascinating links:
Photobook about Heeren Street

Restoration Project at Number 8 Heeren St

Tan Kim Seng

The Peranakan Chinese

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #Stillman&Birn Zeta Sketchbook, 7.5”x 7.5”
#virtualsketch #virtualsketching #HeerenStreet

Porta de Santiago

In this time of pandemic, Virtual Sketchmeets (using Google Maps) has become popular for Urban Sketchers who can't organize their usual group sketchmeets. I have decided to use this practice to revisit and do a virtual sketch of places of significance in my life. My sketches will be accompanied by a personal photo (or two) taken at the site!

This sketch is of the Porta de Santiago in Melaka, Malaysia. It is a small gate house which is the only remaining part of a former fortress called A Formosa. It is one of the oldest surviving remnants of European architecture in SE Asia.

The fortress was built in the 1500s after Alfonso de Alburquerque arrived with his fleet from Portugal. It became part of a string of Portuguese outposts used for trade between Portugal and China. The fortress changed hands in 1641 when the Dutch drove the Portuguese out of Melaka and again in the late 18th century when the Dutch handed it over to the British (apparently to prevent it from falling into the hands of the French!). The fortress was saved from demolition by Stamford Raffles (founder of Singapore) and William Farquhar (ancestor of Justin Trudeau). The latter had been sent to see to the destruction of the fortress but he decided to save two of the gateways one of which is the Porta de Santiago.

On the right of the sketch is St. Paul's Hill with the ruins of St. Paul's Church showing. With it's very old graveyard on the hill, the area had a reputation for being haunted.

I spent the first few years of my life in Melaka when my Singaporean father went to work there. This photo is of me, my brother and our mother on the cannon in front of the gatehouse...a long time ago! 

This next photo is of my father at the site with our trusty green Morris Cowley car. This looks a more recent photo than the one above. 

If collective memory is correct we lived in a row of terrace houses next to the fortress (no signs of this anymore). It seems no one in the family ever saw a ghost.

I see there is now a museum next door to the fortress (left of sketch). I last visited this site while on a family holiday in 2007.

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #Stillman&Birn Zeta Sketchbook, 7.5”x 7.5”
#virtualsketch #virtualsketching #Porta de Santiago

52 Brisbane Street

This is the second building in my Hoddle Grid (Berwick) Project – documenting buildings about to be demolished in my neighbourhood. See my January 2020 post for a description of the project. 

This is 52 Brisbane St. For the last 3 years or so it has had a really unkept garden (even when still occupied), all signs of impending demolition. I sketched it a couple of months ago when it was obviously no longer occupied. What interested me most about this property was the expanse of unmowed lawn (covered with a sea of yellow dandelions), so atypical of the neighbourhood...and the view of the hill beyond.

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, homemade concertina sketchbook, 7 1/2" x 21".
#berwickhoddlegrid #52BrisbaneSt

Melbourne Urban Sketcher Challenges

When the Covid19 pandemic hit, all Melbourne Urban Sketcher events were cancelled. Instead the group organised 10 weekly challenges. Sketches were all to be done on-location inside or looking out from our homes.

I am grateful for these challenges as they were enjoyable and stimulating. They made me sketch subjects I don't usually sketch and I learnt to weave stories into everyday scenes. They also importantly helped me improve on my sketch techniques like no other period previously. 

Here's a few challenges:
Week 1 – Vehicles/Machinery 
A cute forklift. Sketched while standing outside the warehouse of Beacky Fresh (Fruit and Veg) in Beaconsfield. There was a shortage of eggs in the supermarkets at the time but this was the place to buy eggs! Lots of people were coming out with TRAYS of eggs!

Week 3  – All or one of Park/Garden/Plants
This maple tree in my tiny courtyard garden gives nice shade in the afternoons. Sketch done over 2 sessions as I ran out of time the first session. I decided to continue in panorama fashion. Here's as far as I got.

Week 6 – What you see outside your window at night 
My side gate which sometimes swings open because the latch doesn’t close. Sketched at night from my living room window. (The motion sensor light was on so lighting up the driveway behind the gate).

Week 7 – A scene to show what you are looking forward to after restrictions are eased 

I sketched my dining room. Looking forward to seeing family at my dining table again. I was working larger for a change and in a new sketchbook.  

Week 8  - A sketch showing some achievement

My side of our study. My achievements? Skype, FaceTime, Houseparty...and now Zoom! 

Week 9 - A scene which reminds you of what you are thankful for 

I have much to be thankful for, especially good health. Trying to eat right mostly but in this time of pandemic a little indulgence is allowed. Sketch done in my kitchen.

Week 10 – A sketch with foreground, mid ground, background 

How nice to be sketching outside again and a warm sunny day too! This scene of the Primary@Pioneer Cafe conveniently filled the challenge.