31.3.2025 Monday - Selamat Hari Raya

 Just before lunch Yin Lian drops by with her parent and brother, I chat with her parents about studying architecture; how long the course is, how they wanted her to be a teacher but she wants to study architecture. I suggest to them that it is unlikely that she would follow their advice. - I noticed something interesting; that she sat next to me facing to her parents across the table.

Good tennis, hitting the ball on the rise, flatter and more consistently.

Talking about Sketching

Last night, I took some of my sketches for a talk at a PAMSC (Local Architect's Institute) gathering. The aim of the presentation was to highlight our chapter's activities especially our study trips to Beijing, Shanghai and more recently Hangzhou as well as the European and local trips.

I thought it would be interesting (and different) to talk about how I record my trips - through the medium of pen and paper instead of film and camera.

There is no time like the present. To sketch and record events - usually the best times to do so are when one is waiting for something to happen - for the plane to take off, in a traffic jam, waiting for luggage, or food to arrive.

I sketch in solitude mostly as this is a chance for me to lose myself. But at other times, I don't mind a bit of company - like when I sat with a row of Primary School children in Hangzhou to sketch their old town. I asked the girl 'Is this a good likeness?' She examined my work and said 'Not really'

Many of our study trips are recorded in here, simple and cheap notebooks made from palm paper.

The Great Wall at Badaling

Wat Arun, Bangkok

With cheap medium such as the Artline Pen 0.4 (RM 2.50).

My favourite breakfast places in Georgetown

...or with ball-point pens from hotel rooms and sometimes with my Hero fountain pen.

3 points of view in the Frankfurt Cathedral

I talked about 'losing' myself in the act of sketching and how it results in actually getting myself lost - detached from the rest of tour group. But there is usually someone to watch over me.

Recording a building this way and at this angle is similar to using a camera but I think the act of seeing and drawing it makes the memory of the place stronger. When I look at this sketch, I remember most vividly the sound of skateboards hitting the concrete.

Helsinki - journal entries

 Most of the time, my sketches are 'notes' to myself and observations about the place and the people - such as what my fellow travelers are eating for breakfast.

Bay Hotel, Singapore

Sketching also allows me to dissect a place - to visually measure and record. I have a collection of 'measured drawings' of hotel rooms.

Pratunam, Bangkok

It does not always have to be a landmark or prominent building - recording the mundane is a good way of seeing beauty in daily life and of ever-day people.

Mind maps of routes taken are a good way for me to get an overview with glimpses of places seen along the way. These 'maps' are done retrospectively, of course - I ran these routes with Louis Tiong in Morocco.

Context and Memory - helped by some props and souvenirs from the 'site' in Valencia

More context - ink on paper, washed with soy sauce because we were in China (this is Wangshu's NingBo Museum of Contemporary Arts)

...and washed with espresso because we were in Florence.

I ended the ten minute presentation with this simple sketch.

I told them about Marcel and how he mentored me (probably without knowing it) and how he left Kuching for Toronto. And later, when I found out that he was terminally ill - I emailed him photos and sketches of his old haunts; usually food places such as this one near a Chinese temple on Carpenter Street. When that didn't seem enough, I mailed these postcard sketches to him. Later on, to add another dimension to his experience of 'home' - I washed the sketches with black vinegar (to evoke the memory of Teochew Kolo Mee which this is traditionally served with). I asked Marcel to smell the postcards - but I never got a reply because shortly after he passed away.

Months later, when his wife visited us in Kuching, I asked her if Marcel received the postcards. She replied 'Yes, he did'.  I asked her 'Did he smell them?'  She replied again 'Yes, he did, what's up with that?'  And I explained.

Marcel - fastidious as ever, humming quietly to himself as I prepared to photograph him

Marrakesh

A memory map of our stay in Marrakesh, showing my morning run with Louis into the walled city.

We traveled from Casablanca to Marrakesh by coach which took 4 hours. But time passed quickly as we alternated between gently dozing after our Moroccan breakfast and savouring the views of green fields and farmhouses. We passed several small towns; clusters of buildings leading up to a castle or a mosque at the top of a hill - I imagined myself living here for a year, working with my hands, in the open fields harvesting lavender or olives.

I took some photos knowing that they will not convey what I saw with my eyes and in my mind.

 

Sketches from our two days in Marrakesh

Here's looking at you, kid.

These are details from our excursion into the Habous (old town) of Casablanca - parts of the town has been gentified but the back lanes appear to be the gritty original in the raking evening light.  I noticed a familiar name on a street sign - a memory from my high school history books; Ibn Battuta, Moroccan explorer and scholar in the 1300's. ( I remembered him as Persian, Abdul was quick to correct me) You can see the French influence in the naming of the street.

I saw many modern day Bogies and Bacalls

The weather was turning cooler so we headed back to our bus. People on the street are keen to find out where we are from, some hazarded a guess "Ja-pan?, Sin-ga-poor?" many were delighted to find out that we are from Malaysia especially when we returned their "Assalamualaikum" with a fluent "Wa alaikum assalaam".

at the Habous

Morocco has a special relationship with the colour blue; her skies, Majorelle, cobalt, blue men

It is the end of the work day and people are meeting friends for a drink or a meal, waiting for a lift home or having a chat at the Place des Nations Unite. I spied on them from the bus.

at the terrace of the American Embassy (as Abdul calls the Mcdonald's Fast Food restaurant)

I think she likes him, don't you?

Casablanca

After paying the price of a small car, Sam, Sara and I joined the Architect's Institute study trip to Morocco and Spain. Casablanca was our first stop, we arrived at mid afternoon and were met by our local guide. Abdul Rahim - a cheerful and knowledgeable man in his forties who was thoughtful enough to present each of us with a baguette sandwich (with tahini dressing) for our bus trip into Casablanca.

Morocco is greener than I thought - but I should have remembered my geography lessons better, it is a Mediterranean  country after all. We spent only one day day in Casablanca which for me was memorable for the Hassan II Mosque by the sea and the very friendly hotel manager who drew a map for my ten K run - " follow the tram tracks and you shouldn't get lost and run west - it is safer that side"
At 5 a.m. the next morning, Louis and I went for our ten K - it was cold but fast, dark but safe - we got many 'salaams' from the devout coming out of mosques along the way.

The Hassan II Mosque by the sea

Map of our run - along the tram lines so we do not get lost

Early morning