Showing posts with label watercolor sketches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label watercolor sketches. Show all posts
It began with a rainy morning. I remained in Starbucks to do some warm-up sketches to wade out the shower. Starbucks in Vivo is unique because one side of the cafe faces the Ferry Terminal and the full glass windows allow customers to see what's outside. Its like an alfresco seating but in the comfort of air-conditioning. From inside, you can see part of the Sentosa island, the sea, sometimes the cruise ship, and lots of palm trees, that are my favourite.
Starbucks Cafe in Vivo
When I finished drawing the scene, most customers I drew have left. But it was the ang mo sitting by the glass windows that got me thrilled (sound weird) about the composition. I added colours with coloured pencils later, just spots of colours on the palm trees and the Starbucks logo.
Time flies. We have been attending a weekly sculpturing class for almost a year already. The best of the year was to know more friends who love sculpting and clay modelling. Some have been attending this particular class for the last 2-3 years and this workshop has become a evening haven for the part time students. For James and myself, we have been enjoying every bit and moment of our time. Completing 3 projects already, we are currently rushing the last project, wood carving, and a graduation portfolio for submission by the third week of this month. We have been busy but productive.
This is Tania. She has been attending this course for the last 2 years. Occasionally we would go to her for sculpting advice, like a big sister in the family. :D
One of my favourite place to visit whenever I have some extra cash in my pocket or simply when I want to know something regarding the use of certain materials or tools. Most of the stuff sold here are artists' grade and the owners would ensure some QC before putting the stuff on the shelves. They are most of the time friendly and easy going. They would answer all your questions you have without showing signs of impatience, and they would repeat the answers if you couldn't understand. I love this place.
It has been so long since I returned to Little India. Campbell Lane is my favourite enclave to sketch paint and draw or just having coffee. Just many months ago, they were constructing the Indian Heritage Center along this location and it was all noise, clutter and chaos. I shunt the place for a long time. Finally I came back because my school term was over and there was a group of artists painting in the morning so I decided to join in.
I brought enough stuff to make a watercolour painting but I ended up drawing and painting on my all time favourite "Monologue" journal book. Campbell Lane was closed to traffic now so there is plenty of space to sit around. The sun was shielded by the Heritage center so we could draw in comfort away from the sun. Still, the heat from the reflected light was also quite unbearable.
Fountain pen and watercolour.
Brush pen and watercolour
On my sketches, I would add a final embellishment using coloured pencils. This is unnecessary though but I like the process of adding some coloured lines over my painted surface sometimes.
With the heritage center standing proudly in the middle of the once cluttered junction, this area has become a little cleaner and less noisy. The road is also flanked by coffeeshops on both sides so its easy to get some snacks and drinks as you draw or paint. Occasionally there would be a truck that stopped illegally to unload goods. It was quite annoying if that happened as most part of the view would be blocked. It happened every time. I might called up the traffic attendant next time if it happened again.
Painting Hamadryas Baboons at the zoo... it was a lot of fun watching them but painting them life is a killer. The enclosure is a wonder but the viewing area which has a cavern life design for immersive experience is hot and humid and windless. It is a pain to paint inside. The wall fans do not help at all.
I believe it started when I was little. Since we were not so well to do, my mum used to cook the simplest of meal with canned food. One of which was canned sardines. I therefore have an acquired taste for sardines since. Till now I still crave for sardines once in a while or when I have the lay my eyes on some, especially at economy rice stalls in the hawker centres. There are several ways to eat this "delicacy". You can eat the sardines straight out of the can, or for me, my favourite way of preparing it, is to stir fry with diced onions and tomato sauce.
Langton water-colour block (A3)
Plein air at Little India, Dunlop Street
Painted in the studio - Langton Prestige water-colour CP (Full sheet)
Still life painting (8" X 11")
I have some time to spare in the morning after I dropped Kat at her workplace, so I decided to chill at Starbucks in Vivo City for a drink, and sketch a little, at the same test run the brown papers I bought from Andrew, the great mighty illustrator and comic artist, and also a friend, and church mate. Starbucks cafe became the logical subject to draw. The results, not too bad. I like the tooth of the paper, just nice for the ink to flow smoothly and for my fountain pen to glide nicely on the surface. It works quite well for watercolor washes too. The brown of the paper also enhances the brown of the ink I am using currently. I got the brown by mixing Noodler's black with Noodler's Singapore Red not in equal proportion.
At the studio, I scanned the sketch then "leveled" it with Photoshop so the brown became white leaving some textures of the brown paper behind to add interest. Something that Andrew has also done for his sketches. I Command B to the leveled sketch and added RED to give it an overall reddish tint.
Even after the gallery show, I have been back to Tiong Bahru now and then just because the estate is very near to where my wife works. However each time when I was there, it felt different all the time. My wife does not like the buildings in Tiong Bahru; she said they look more or less like asylums with white walls and flat roofs, even though there are round corners. I like the ambiance the place carries, with the usual morning hustle and bustle which dies down as afternoon approaches and after the lunch crowds departs. I like how the shops are selling stuffs which are cheap and things which we use everyday; and how the goods are laid out so haphazardly you have to look very closely to find what you need. I also like how the pace of life slows to a stroll too. With every place commercialized and urbanized and modernized in Singapore, this is where you would find a little heritage and memory to live by. :D
There is a Japan Gourmet Town in Raffles City Basement. One of the outlet is like Mache, you pick a card at the entrance and buy stuff with it, then pay later when you exit. Food is a pricey and reasonable in taste. Not so spectacular that I will develop a craving but nice enough to think about it once in a while. In conclusion, nothing beats hawkers' food, in terms of price and taste. Restaurants in Singapore, OK lah.
And just another page from my sketchbook. This was done over breakfast on a Saturday, when the house was peaceful and quiet. It seemed like everyone was out that morning and it was just the two of us in the kitchen. No mom's relentless bantering of how and where she bought her eggs, her chicken and her bargain from NTUC; or her overflowing grudge against my dad-in-law, on how he would spent all his money on that "lady" and how he hasn't cared much about his own family and etc. Never endless complaining and mumbling. It is by the grace of God I wasn't affected and I wasn't even pitying her at all. Well she drove away her son and daughter-in-law not long ago, the latter who called mum a psychotic woman and refused to let her see the grand son for the last 3 years. Drama!! Who needs to watch a drama series on TV!!
http://www.donlowillustration.com/blog/
2 other watercolor studies done from photos taken during a trip to Monterey Bay.
[caption id="attachment_365" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Monterey Bay - Pacific Coast"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_364" align="alignnone" width="362" caption="Lone Tree along Monterey Bay"][/caption]
Don Low is a freelance illustrator and a published comic artist based in Singapore. He sketches and paints in his free time, at the same time teaches drawing and art as an adjunct lecturer.
