The Fullerton Hotel Revisited

Taking a walk along the Singapore River mouth with Google Maps, here's the imposing Fullerton Hotel. I remember going into the building only once as a child when it was the old General Post Office – cavernous, dark and musty, with lots of brown desks. In more recent times we had walked through the hotel and once enjoyed an expensive late night snack there in the company of a famous poet. 

I'm thrilled to say our poet friend is this year's winner of the 2023 Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry.

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #MoleskineWatercolourNotebook 8.25”x 5"(portrait).

A Waiting Room Sketch...again

A man in the waiting room said “don’t you find as you get older you spend a lot more time waiting?” I agree! He was envious I had a sketching hobby to pass the time. 

Here I am sketching in Beaconsfield Eye Care while waiting for my spouse to get fitted with dedicated reading glasses. Good thing I had gone with him as he had to have dilating eyedrops put into his eyes during the eye examination and wouldn't have been able to drive home. 

Marker pens, #Handbook Journal 5.5" x 5.5".

Crepe Myrtles

This is the first page of a new Garden Journal! 

The Crepe Myrtle on the right was featured twice in my previous Garden Journal (in Spring 2021 and Spring 2022). It flowered poorly in 2021 and not at all in 2022. Here it is again, this time in winter (I love drawing my garden through the windows on cold wet days). 

Crepe Myrtles flower on new growth so we gave it an extra hard prune this year. It looks unattractively stick-like at the moment but I'm hoping it will will give us a good showing this summer.

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #Stillman&Birn Beta Sketchbook, 8.5 x 5.5”.

Singapore Shopfront Challenge No. 123

I've just added the finishing touches to an experiment – painting into wet paper and to see how I would tackle a scene with lots of details while working in a sketchy style. Phew, I don't think I'll try it again!

As you've probably guessed, I'm intrigued with the Singapore Shopfront architectural style. To read more on this style of architecture and my personal connection with it, see my previous blog posts:

1) Utopia Apparel in Haji Lane

2) Four more Shopfront Challenges

Thanks Alice Lim (#eureca1 #eurekawanders #singaporeshopfrontchallenge) for the photo (Heng Moh Seng No.123) and the weekly challenge to draw these iconic buildings. 

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

#singaporeshopfront

Moving Day

An unexpected opportunity to sketch before breakfast! 

I woke to find our neighbour’s moving van had arrived! They had lovingly renovated their home but the demands of a growing family necessitated a move. We will miss them. We hear the house will be torn down by new owners and a (luckily) single storey new build will go up. 

I wonder when the noise and dust will begin!

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #MoleskineWatercolourNotebook, 8.25”x 5"(portrait).

5th Covid Vaccination

Medical waiting room after our 5th Covid vaccination. Will this be the last?

Marker pens, #Handbook Journal 5.5" x 5.5".