Raffles hotel

The last of my Singapore sketches. I made this one right after I bought the pen, in an art shop just behind the Raffles hotel.
On my way back to the metro I walked through the hotel complex, which is kept in the original British colonial style. The hotel has numerous inner courtyards, and this is one of them.
The statue in the middle is of sir Raffles; I was told he founded Singapore.

Hero pen 501-1

 

Tia and Paul tipped me about a Chinese fountainpen, a Hero 501-1, used in China for calligraphy writing. The top of the nib turns up 45 degrees, so you get very lively, thick and beautiful black lines. I also bought Hero ink, even though it's not as waterproof as Noodlers, it still keeps up strong lines. Above sketch was made with this pen: one of the huge beautiful rain trees that line Orchard avenue. Most trees have different leaves on the lower branches, looks like a parasite plant.

Botanic garden

Just a block away from my hotel there was the beautiful and famous Botanic garden of Singapore. I went inside to sketch, an hour early before work. I used the paper that Paul and Tia treated the evening before, to force me to use pre-splashed paper. The blue colour you see in the drawing was randomly applied the night before, without even knowing what I would draw. I was surprised to see how it somehow fitted perfectly into the painting!
Just after I finished the above sketch a woman came down and sat herself on the stone on the left, to meditate and stare into the water.

USK singapore: Tia and Paul

 Last thursday I met two of my favourite Urban Sketchers from Singapore: Tia Boon Sim and Paul Wang. We had dinner in the University Club restaurant, we showed our drawings, and exchanged experiences. It was great to see the beautiful drawings of Tia and Paul in reality; like so often, they are so much better in real life than on the screen.

They also showed me some tricks, like using the calligraphy fountainpen Hero 501-1 (which I managed to buy the next day) and splashing random colour splashes on paper as preparation for an Urban sketch.

I learned a lot, and will try to use it in my own work. Afgelopen donderdagavond had ik een ontmoeting met twee Singapore Urban sketchers: Tia en Paul Wang. Het was geweldig mede USK-ers te ontmoeten en ervaringen uit te wisselen.

Dragons and lions

I returned home from Singapore this morning, brrrr.... from 30 degrees to minus 17, on frozen trainstations, waiting for trains that don't arrive. Winter in Holland. Only sketches left of my trip.
Last Tuesday we were having our lunch in a courtyard of a large office and shopping complex, when quite unexpectedly a group of 20 performers arrived to show us a traditional dragon dance. Drums, music, acrobatics, a showfight of lions and dragons. Most impressive was that the lion (with 2 men under it) jumped and tumbled over a set of columns, each at least 2,5 meter high. It was so well done that the dragons and lions really looked alive.

Exploded fish

Dinner yesterday evening, here in Singapore. At first I thought I had a barbequed bird on my plate, but it was really a fish. Thai deep fried three flavor fish. It tasted the way it looks. Diner in Singapore, in een foodcourt. Je weet niet altijd wat je besteld, dit keer deze ontplofte vis. Hij smaakte zoals hij uitziet: op z'n nederlands gezegd: Thai-taai.

Chinatown

Last of the sketches of my trip to Singapore a week ago. Above the buddhist temple in the middle of Chinatown (Buddha's tooth is supposed to lie there), I was nearly run over while sitting at the roadcurb drawing this. The other sketch I made while waiting for our orders, on Smith Street in Chinatown. I'll have to go to Singapore again on short term, so more sketches to be expected. Suggestions for subjects?
De laatste paar schetsen uit Singapore van mijn zakentrip, een week geleden.

Foodcourt

Singapore has foodcourts in most shopping malls, mostly located on the subterranean bottom levels. All around you will find stalls serving all kinds of mostly asian and indian food. Each stall has it's speciality: Korean, Thai, Indian, hot pot, soup, Malaysian etc. And a limited number of dishes; all prepared in full view, within a few minutes while you waiting at the counter. I had delicious pad thai in this foodcourt in the Marina Sands building.

Japanese food

Dinner in Singapore in a Japanese buffet restaurant. Delicious.

Gallardo

Singapore is a strange city: in Chinatown you can find (relative) poverty, and only 3 metrostops away you find yourself on a parking lot in front of a shopping mall featuring 8 Lamborghini's. Yes. Eight!
Among minor stuff like BMW 7 series, Mercedes S-class and Maserati quattraporte.
I drew this white Gallardo while my collegues were patiently waiting for me; I had no choice but to paint it at home. Getekend: één van de acht (!) Lamborghini Gallardo's op een parkeerplaats ergens in Singapore.

Orchard road

Due to the jetlag I woke up too early (there is 7 hours time difference with Singapore). So I made an early morning walk, and painted this old house, just across the street from my hotel.
Vroege morgen wandeling door Singapore; een tekening van een licht verwaarloosd huis midden in dichte begroeiing, gelegen aan de overzijde van het hotel.

Singapore Dragon

This morning I returned - after a 14 hour flight - from Singapore. Although on business, in the evenings me and my colleagues took the opportunity to catch the spirit of the town. Singapore was preparing for the Chinese new year (22 or 23 January). They put up this huge dragon on the roadcrossing at the entrance of Chinatown. All brightly lit in the evening (I may post that picture later). And all of Chinatown was filled with stalls selling golden and red paper lanterns and wishing cards. All these colours and lights. Bezoek aan Chinatown, deze draak stond bij de entree van Chinatown, voor de viering van het Chinese nieuwe jaar.

Singapore

A quick impression of Singapore, where I am at this moment.

Little India

After visiting the bright lights of the Marina, we went for the total contrast of Little India, just two metrostops away. All streets were decorated because of some kind of Indian festivity: Deepavali. The streets were still crowded (11 pm), and there were brightly coloured stalls selling all kind of Indian kitsch. This is a corner in Douglas street; evening lit grocery stores. We had some delicious Indian dinner shortly after.

Marina bay

Wednesday evening we took the metro to Raffles place and had this fantastic view over the Marina. What you see is the Marina bay casino, with a huge swimming pool on top. On the left a modern art museum.
Drawn on location, but painted at home, it was difficult to get the night feel right.

Jurong Island

On Wednesday we visited the building site for the new chemical plant I am designing. It is located on Jurong Island, an artificial island of about 30km2, just off the coast of Singapore city. The island is dedicated to heavy industry like ports, oil tanker parks and chemical plants.
There is heavy security before you can enter the island, sometimes taking more than an hour for making passes and security checks. For some reason you are not allowed to bring cameras to the island, so I had to fall back on pre-digital era tools like pen and ink. A quick sketch of the Lanxess building site.

Orchard road

I just returned from a quick visit to Singapore, for a building project I am working on. Me and my colleague Danny flew 12 hours on Monday to arrive in Singapore at 5 a.m. on Tuesday. We went to all kind of meetings untill 6 pm., and took dinner in a Japanese restaurant near our hotel on Orchard road. Which is the shopping heart of Singapore. I have never seen so many multi-story shopping malls so close to each other in my life. Next morning (still bothered by jet lag) I went out before breakfast to make this sketch of the Ion shopping mall. Painted it in the plane back home.
Afgelopen week een kort bezoek aan Singapore voor een nieuwbouw project.
Schets van een van de ontelbaar vele shopping malls op Orchard road, het shopping centrum van Singapore.

Singapore

I am in Singapore right now. Sketches will follow.