Room with a View

In the excitement to understand my new sketchbook last month (a Stillman & Birn Zeta), I completely forgot to post the sketch – a view into our neighbour's backyard on a gloomy winter afternoon. 

I miss our neighbour who passed away last year, he was 96, a WWII veteran. He used to give us lemons from a tree (just behind the fence). Once Sharna climbed the fence and helped herself! We now have a new neighbour, hopefully he will supply us with lemons too. 

In the distance is Wilson Hill one of the locations used in the filming of the 1959 movie “On the Beach” starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner! Behind that hill is Wilson Botanic Park, a former old quarry. The park is used for fossil studies and was thought to once lie below the ocean. 

I've used an S&B Alpha Sketchbook and a Beta but as to thoughts on the Zeta...I'll reserve judgment until I get a better feel for it. All I can say is that despite being described as being like Hot Press watercolour paper it is not a substitute for Fabriano Hot Press which I just love. 

I do however like that this new sketchbook is my favourite shape – SQUARE!


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

#VirtualSketch

I didn't think I would be interested in participating in the  #VirtualSketch Facebook group activities but I must say I got hooked. It's been an easy way to find something interesting to sketch and more importantly to see how other people tackle the same scenes. 

It's easier to sketch from life than from a Google Maps image. Often I can't position myself where I get a good view. I only participated in a few virtual sketchmeets but being pushed out of my comfort zone each time has been truly stimulating. 

The group's activities ended on 15th July 2020 after the mammoth task of organization by the host Anne Rose Oosterbaan (with help from 65 members) who organized a sketchmeet every day with links to a dozen or so locations in each city. 

Sketchers were invited to sketch from Google Maps using these links (not from photos) and share their work at the end of the approximately 24 hour period (to accommodate the various time zones of participants around the world). 

A total of more than 130 virtual sketchmeets were organized since the Covid Pandemic hit. With 3,400 members it was a herculean task for the organizers. From 16th July the baton has been passed to another Facebook group – #VirtualTravelSketch! I guess I will now be travelling with them!

Here are some of my sketches with some corresponding Google Map images. 

Wat Phra Kaew, Bankok.

Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo.

Witches Market, La Paz, Bolivia.

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.

Piazza Dell Anfiteatro, Lucca, Italy.

Ubud, Indonesia.

Unexpectedly, these sketches ended up less sketch-like than the usual quick sketches I do in sketchbooks. Maybe it was a psychological thing ie. thinking I had to be more careful as these were done on good watercolour paper (A4). More importantly I had a lot of time in which to do them. I worked slowly on these, correcting and attempting to work through problems.

These exercises gave me the opportunity to compare a couple of watercolour papers. The last (Ubud) sketch was done on Bockingford Cold Press (textured) and the rest on Fabriano Hot Press (smooth). It's hard to describe in words but both take paint rather differently. Both handle wet on wet well. The Fabriano Hot Press takes longer to dry if you wish to layer. For pen and wash I would probably go for the Hot Press because the pen just glides over this smooth paper. 

One important thing I learnt from doing these is that when art work is done on sheets of paper (as opposed to using a sketchbook) it's the cropping that makes all the difference. When using a sketchbook the whole page (usually) forms the artwork and it's the page layout that is important.

Different pens were used for the above sketches –  Sailor Fude, Lamy and Faber Castell Pitt marker pens. 

Jiak Chuan Road, Singapore

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!

As he was never mentioned when I was growing up, I assumed that my great grandfather Tan Jiak Chuan (my father's ancestor) was a non entity compared to his cousin Tan Jiak Kim and their grandfather Tan Kim Seng who both made the history books as entrepreneurs and philanthropists. 

It was therefore quite a surprise when walking in Chinatown, Singapore a few years ago to come across a road named after him – Jiak Chuan Road!  According to Wikipedia, he was responsible for carrying on the work of his grandfather's business Kim Seng and Company which dealt with planting and mining. (I'm relieved to learn from a book on Tan Kim Seng that he did not make his fortune in the opium trade!).

The houses on Jiak Chuan Road are not particularly interesting, housing a budget hotel and shophouses. (I'm told that there is now a Spanish restaurant along there). It had an infamous past when it was part of a red light district in the area. 

I've chosen to sketch a temple on Teck Lim Road seen from the end of Jiak Chuan Road where my photo was taken in 2016. 

Here's a link to a newspaper article on his fascinating funeral. He died in 1909 aged 52 from Hyperpyrexia (overheating of the body) after visiting some hot springs! How unlucky!

https://tombs.bukitbrown.org/2020/05/tan-jiak-chuan.html

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

#virtualsketch #virtualsketching #JiakChuanRoad