Sketching Singapore's Shophouses

Shophouses are my favourite sketching and painting subjects because they are Singapore's very own historical heritage. Preservation of shophouses has been carried out since the 80s but a large portion of these shophouses were demolished due to safety factor and urban development. It is our "duty" as a sketcher to preserve our heritage and our history by visually documenting things that face the possibility of disappearance one day.  Besides it is a joy to sketch these buildings as each location offers a different sentiment, sensibility and architectural flavour that links our present to the past.

These are some but not all the collection of sketches and drawings of shophouses done on location. Each one of them offers a different approach to how they were draw and painted. Even though I love to draw with fountain pens, I don't usually repeat the same process for each location. Every time I visit a place, I will do my best to use a different style or method to sketch or paint, since the atmosphere, weather and lighting conditions change in each visit.

The above was done in a more colour style because it was during the Chinese New Year period. But I didn't want it to be too colourful except for certain areas. Sometimes, less is more. Like the one done in monochromatic below.