Postcards from the Edge

Recently, Urban Sketchers Kuching took part in a postcard exchange with the Hong Kong Urban Sketchers - each of us are assigned a partner, mine is a Grace Tam. I hope she gets my postcard in one piece. I sent mine 'naked' just as how postcards are designed to be sent. Not in envelopes protected from view..

I sent Grace a scene from my work neighbourhood, a view from the Drunken Monkey Bar towards the river which I sketched one evening after work. Drinking beers with Claudia, George, Fiona and Sam.

Last week, a postcard arrived from Hong Kong. I am not certain if Grace has received mine.

Sharing Heritage

Last week, Urban Sketchers Kuching shared their sketches of heritage buildings with the Sarawak Heritage Society in an exhibition at the old courthouse.

The exhibition took place at the old Courthouse

They did a nice profile for our Urban Sketchers group

This lady bought my sketch as a pre Christmas present

Visiting Louise

View from the winding driveway

Last Sunday, I finally had the chance to visit the Segu Bungalow when Louise invited USK members for sketching and morning tea.

I have passed this building many times as I was growing up – it is at the midpoint of my journey from my grandmother’s house and the basketball court at SUPP. Perched on a hill, the house itself is not very visible from the road (then called Pig Lane – recently sterilized to Park Lane) but its most arresting feature can be seen from the road, the ceiling covered with dozens of colourful native art murals.

Its most arresting feature is the ceiling covered with dozens of colourful native art murals.

Members of USK showing their completed sketches, our host Louise is seated far left

This historical building was originally located near the Segu River in the Padawan area; built as a holiday house for Rajah Vyner Brooke by Tan Sri William Tan, a former speaker of the Sarawak Assembly. In 1936, it was dismantled and relocated to its present location.

Since then, the bungalow has been the residence of Tom Harrison the former curator of the Sarawak Museum and many other expatriates including our friend, Louise who heads the non-profit, Friends of the Sarawak Museum.

I found two articles relating to the ceiling murals - one claims that they were painted by Tusau Padan, a Kenyah from Ulu Baram and Harrison cohort while the other by a member of the Sarawak Heritage Society informs that the murals were originally painted on paper and glued to the ceiling. Since the second article makes no mention of Tom Harrison as an inhabitant of the Segu Bungalow, I am going to discount it. 

The front verandah opens out onto a secret garden not visible from the road

The main house is linked to a servants' quarters

View from the top of the drive

The floor plan reveals that half the house is a covered verandah

A Walk Back in Time

On Sunday I took a walk back in time on that familiar road that led me from my grandma's house to school. Almost everything has changed along Tabuan Road since those days in the seventies but in my mind, the row of single storey shops are still there where in one of them, a man and his son sold deep fried fritters from the five foot way. The customers took away the foot-long fritters in a parcel fashioned from yesterday's news and a length of string. There was often a queue of customers waiting for this breakfast delicacy; usually dunked in sweet coffee before that delicious first bite.

Beyond the shops is a tall metal fence, and behind them; the town prison with its barred windows.
Further down the road just as it is about to turn up McDougall Hill, a solitary tree on a triangular piece of land which is the traffic island and local landmark - "sa-kak-po"

On rainy days, my grandmother would drive the neighbour's children and I to school and along the way, she often stops to pick up my class-mates; saving them from a wet walk to class. In that ten- minute drive, the car would fill up with up to half a dozen school children who were just happy to have a break from routine - talking loudly and jostling for space.

Some of my companions this Sunday were equally boisterous and energetic - some young and some not-so-young, scattered throughout the vicinity of my childhood memories in the late afternoon.

 

The usual highlight of our USK sketch crawls is the sharing of our sketches and a group photo, however this Sunday, this was surpassed by George's pizza treat. I was sitting in front of the supermarket, putting in the line-work when I heard a familiar voice -"Min!, come by and have pizza later, and bring your kids!" George and Rosalind are the chef and owners of The Junk, a popular local restaurant that serves up western favourites in a row of restored Chinese shop houses.

One of the many joys of living in a small-ish city where most people know one another, and are generous and inclusive. I'll give George some of my postcard sketches as payment for the pizzas and beers.

Sketching on-site

Our Urban Sketchers Kuching group is growing in number and I am pleased to see new comers each time we meet. I thought that a few sketching tips might come in handy for their next excursion...

Step 1
Make some marks to determine the limits of your view.

Step 2
Link up the marks with lines to create a perspective; giving your sketch depth of view. Don't worry about details yet. Its about getting the general feel of the place. I take my glasses off and use free flowing strokes to frame the body of the sketch.

Step 3
I add details, shade and tone now (with glasses on).
I decide where the focus is and leave the rest of the sketch loose and vague.
Colours are often added at home and these are used sparingly to suggest rather than to inform.
 

Some other useful hints
1. On site sketching is about being spontaneous, so be brave and commit line to page, don't erase.
2. Show your viewer the whole street and not just one building, mundane objects like street signs can often enhance your sketch and give it a local flavour.
3. Drawing in people will give your sketch scale and a sense of place.

Putting lines on paper

A few months ago, I was pleasantly surprised when the Architecture Malaysia magazine asked me to write an article about sketching as it gave me an opportunity (and reason) to look through my sketches and compile a cross section of my 'work'. After putting together a short-list of favourites, the final pieces were selected carefully to represent a phase of my hobby.

The editor of the magazine accidentally left out the captions which I provided, so I explain my choices. I like the sleeping man for its spare lines that were captured quickly as he slept after his in-flight meal. The Kim Joo piece is a culmination of my running with sketching and my favourite ritual of breakfast with Sam in my favourite part of town. Brunelleschi's Dome records a memory of our first trip to Italy flavoured with an expresso wash while the sketch of downtown Pratunam recalls  our office trip and colouring-in on the floor of the Bangkok Airport.

The last one was done on board a flight back from Penang, I chose it to demonstrate the frugality of sketching - putting lines down with a hotel pen on the back of the air-sick bag. No need for posh pens and fancy paper.

Sketch 8/30 - Billy Joel (Feb 2014)

Life happens in cycles, and one learns to take the good with the bad. I remind myself to enjoy the good stuff when it happens.

Recently, I had to travel out of town for long periods of time (arbitration) and this meant time away from my family and I missed the simple routine of my day; the early morning run to breakfast, designing and the USK sketching excursions.

At the end of another long day, I worked in the hotel lounge instead of returning to my room - trying to find comfort in the company of strangers. The piano player started playing;  familiar tune, I know this one, work was set aside as I tried to recall the tune, I know the words...

"she can kill with her smile,

she can wound with her eyes"

And as I listened and sketched, the evening passed very pleasantly. With a little help from Billy Joel.