Long time no post – let´s do something about that!
In July, I had the opportunity to go to Singapore, to give a workshop at the 6th Urban Sketchers symposium. This event is an amazing experience for people who love drawing on location – three and a half(ish) days full of drawing, learning, sketching, socializing, workshoping, looking, painting, seeing, together with 3-400 likeminded, wonderfully enthusiastic people – plus eating great food. Could it be better?
I had two days in Singapore before the symposium started, and I spent them drawing and getting used to the 31° C humid heat. Other sketchers had also arrived early, and I had no problems finding excellent drawing company. Had dinner with the New Yorkers in a hawker centre the first evening – chicken rice, almost a national dish in Singapore. A very pleasant first encounter with the food here.
The next day, I did some essential shopping in one of the best equipped art supply stores that I have ever visited – Straits Commercial art co. Found, among other things, some pretty fabulously clever small plastic bottles that you refill your fountain pens with – always a hazzle when you travel with ink. Also, I found the – popular among sketchers – green Sailor Fude de Mannen pen, so I finally get to try this little tool. Hats off for the helpful people working in this store! 🙂
For some reason, my first sketches from Singapore have a religious theme. I can´t even recount how many churches, mosques, hindu- and buddhist temples I saw the first day, and I was happy to see so many of the big world religions co-existing here, seemingly without trouble. The hindu temples make a sketcher feel like a kid in a candy store, with sculptures and striking colours everywhere. You can´t not draw these!
The blue mosque at a street corner was so beautiful in the morning sun, when I, Suhita and Liz headed there to do an early morning sketch. I love the fact that there are always other sketchers and workshop instructors in these symposiums who are keen to head out drawing early in the morning. It´s lovely to go sketching before the heat gets pressing, and before the intense symposium program begins. You never have to go out drawing alone during these events.
On the first day of the symposium, the hosts welcomed everybody to the National Design Centre, where I finally got to meet the Singapore USk team – some of which I have interacted with online for a long time, but never actually met before. It is always so nice to put real faces to the names! 🙂
Next morning, it was time for the workshops to start. More about mine in the next post!
All sketches: 21 x 14 cm, various ink pens and watercolours on Stillman & Birn alpha series sketchbook paper.