Sketchpacker Diaries

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Sketchpacking Bandung

In May 2015, I was invited to a sketching event in Bandung, Indonesia, to give a workshop on storytelling. Our fellow sketchers from Indonesia probably got interested after seeing my sketch journal of Sketching George Town 2 the year before, and thought it would be a good idea to have a workshop which combined urban sketching with visual storytelling. I was happy to do it, especially since I've never been to Bandung.

Bandung is located in the mountains of West Java. It can get pretty sunny, but I found the weather less humid and hot than Singapore's. It rained a little while I was there, and I was recovering from a bad cough and cold. Nevertheless, traveling with a bunch of Urban Sketcher friends and others from around the region was an opportunity not to be missed. Here are the sketches from my trip with a handful of photos.

And here are some photos from my workshop and the event itself:

The Penang gang!

Sketching Stories workshop with Favian Ee!

Mabel's notes!

Show and tell

Darman's story

Postcard exchange

Nino's class

Rob's magic - in real pen and ink!

That's all, folks!

Here's a blog post about the preps for my workshop.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Sketchpacking Hong Kong

I went to Hong Kong just over a year ago for a sketching trip but haven't uploaded the sketches till now. I was meaning to complete some of the pages that I didn't manage to during the trip, but life just got busier and busier. It's quite unlikely I'll revisit those sketches, but I've finally scanned the ones that I did manage to complete. Here they are!

First, why Hong Kong? Well, I've been wanting to visit the place again. The last time I went was before the territory was handed back to China in 1997. Back then we landed in the old airport smack in the middle of the city. Pilots needed a special license to land in that tight space right in the middle of a congested residential area, I was told. So when I got to know some HKers and when my colleague asked if I wanted to go there for a sketching trip, I jumped at the opportunity.

I sketched the scene above of the coast of Hong Kong Island from Kowloon with Kai Siang and Sandy. It took me about 2.5 hours to complete? That was the first drawing of the second day, and the first urban sketch of the trip. I put it on the second page as a "cover page", even though it was drawn on the second day.

On the first day, we met up with Alvin near where we were staying at Austin. He took us around Tsim Sha Tsui and up to Mongkok. Alvin is one of the leaders of USK-HK. It was a pleasure catching up with him after Sketching George Town 2 in Penang the previous year.

Alvin took us to visit Bruce Lee and Anita Mui at the Avenue of Stars along Victoria Harbour. There was a memorial to Leslie Cheung too, who killed himself on 1 April 2003. We arrived on 2 April so the memorial was still standing when we were there. He was an immensely popular singer.


Copyright © Favian Ee April 2015 Bruce Lee and Anita Mui statues

After our tour of the harbour, we headed up north. Alvin brought us to an art shop and to have some famous milk pudding. I almost left my Timbuk2 bag of drawing materials behind!!

On the second day, we met up with my friend Sandy. Sandy took leave the few days we were there to accompany us around and join us for sketching. It was great catching up with her after 3 years.

After meeting some members of USK-HK for sketching at Graham Street Market, the three of us headed up to Victoria Peak to catch views of the city at night. Unfortunately it was so foggy we could hardly see anything at all!

The next day we took a bus out to Stanley, which is a somewhat upmarket coastal town near the famed Repulse Bay, one of Hong Kong's premium residential areas.

After a sweltering afternoon in Stanley, we headed back to meet an old friend of mine for dinner. I didn't make plans before the trip, but she noticed my posts on FB while I was there and we arranged to meet up.

The fourth day of our visit began with a visit to a church Kai Siang had connections with. It was an interesting experience. Quite different from my church at home, but quite a sweet experience.

After church, we met up with Alvin again and a group of Urban Sketchers for a sketchwalk. We had lunch in a traditional Hong Kong "cha chaan teng" (teahouse). One of the strange drinks quite common there was boiled coke with ginger and lemon. Good for colds, I'm told. We went for a sketchwalk after that.

After the sketchwalk, the 3 of us went back up to Victoria Peak to catch the sunset and try to see the city lights again. This time we were fortunate. The sky was clear and there was no fog. We got our photos and came down for dinner at The Dining Room at Causeway Bay. That was our last night in Hong Kong. The next morning we would have breakfast at Dim Dim Sum below our apartment before flying back to Singapore.

Here are the earlier posts and photos from the trip:

http://sketchpacker.blogspot.sg/2015/04/sketchpacking-hong-kong-2015-day-1-2.html

http://sketchpacker.blogspot.sg/2015/04/sketchpacking-hong-kong-2015-day-3-5.html

Monday, November 23, 2015

A Sketchpacker's Retreat

I just took a short 5-day trip to Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. Cameron Highlands is known as the "Golden Bowl of Malaysia" and home to a vibrant farming and famous tea production industry. It is also home to the highest peak in peninsular Malaysia, Gunung Brinchang. The last time I went there was in 2001 on a road trip with some friends. This time I went there not to sight-see or sample the fresh produce and tea of the area, but for a more specific purpose - I went for a personal retreat. We did do a little bit of sightseeing, but we spent more than half our time there in our room looking inward and upward. The weather was cool and the air was clean. It was a wonderful time of praying, thinking, reading. I didn't do many sketches this time, but I finished a small sketchbook that I brought along. Here are the entries: