16.5.2024 Thursday - submitting BP

In the middle of the afternoon, I walk over to Sean and JY and ask 'what are we printing the BP dwgs for Springvale?'. His answer - 'now'. Good news - the client can sign off this chapter and we can move on to the construction stage. 

Later this evening, I find out the Teck has been calling Sean directly about Springvale, this is a good thing. Both are training their sons to take on new responsibilities and work scope. 

30.3.20224 Saturday - making lasagne, documenting travel

 

7th December 2023 Thursday - meeting Feruni

 

25 Jan 2022 Tuesday Walking about in Segamat

PengHui collected me from KLIA and drive 3 hours to Segamat, arriving after 5pm. While he rested, I took a grab car to the Dataran and sketched my way to the river side using some of the travel tips which Victor prepared of his hometown. 

Just as I ran out of daylight, Penghui rang and collected me from the riverside for dinner.

 

 

Belakang Kong Heng

An old diary and a ball point pen

Someone remarked that this looks like a colouring book, she was referring to the Paint company logo on the page. I told her that this was a habit left over from the tutoring days, when I reminded students that it is not necessary to invest in expensive drawing equipment and material to develop a skill. Sometimes, all it takes is an old diary and hotel room pens.

 It takes me about 10 minutes to frame the sketch and capture all the forms, and another 5 minutes to add details and shade.

 This is a re-visit, this time to capture the space more simply with lines only and no colour - to reflect the peace and quiet of the space. Later we visited the Catholic museum next door, and saw paintings by a well-known priest. No one could tell us anymore about the 2 sisters buried in the front garden.

Since I had sketched the churches and the temples, I finished the sketch crawl with this mosque just in time for lunch at Macallum.

Visions of me

These different vignettes of me remind me of the various roles we (can) play in our daily lives, just by doing the things we do at work, at home and at rest. Sometimes the roles intertwine and the younger employees or interns become our borrowed children - fostered for a year or 6 months. And like our own children, they can infuriate us as much as they delight us with their 'unexpected' thoughtfulness. Nonetheless, they enrich our lives as how we try to enrich theirs.

In the past 6 months, I have become more certain of what I am able to do to enrich the lives of those under my care.

Lantern Hotel

a retrospective sketch of our dinner venue

We had difficulty deciding where to have dinner after attending a talk at the Woods Bagot Aged Care presentation. I suspect we were all (the 3 men) trying desperately to think of a venue nearby that is nice and comfortable for HL.  While we were shuffling our feet and not coming up with ideas - HL decided for us, she said '..I want to eat Hokkien Cha..'

Which explains the sketch above - next to a drain and in an alley near Petaling Street, the noodles were ok, the company good and the conversation better. And that's the important thing, isn't it?

'..the pork crackling on our noodles is collagen, not fat..'

view from my breakfast terrace at the Lantern Hotel

Later that night, I checked into the Lantern Hotel on Petaling Street. We heard that it has been extensively published, so decided to have a look-see. For a RM 100, the rooms are clean but small; the LWC walls are neat but thin; the support spaces innovative but the staff indifferent; the breakfast basic but the coffee Illy; the streets nearby lively but smelly.

my breakfast terrace - photo courtesy of Grace Teoh

the main atrium is lit from a sky-light

According to the architect, the emphasis on natural lighting and ventilation meant that all the 'public' and circulation spaces faced outwards, while the air-conditioned guestrooms face the internal courtyard. As a result, the rooms do not have an outside view. This was compensated by the 'public' spaces, with their cafe tables, and reading niches, very much like the busy street below.

Heaven

Ningbo Museum Of Contemporary Art MOCA

My 'hood

When I first moved to my new office, I joked to my colleagues that I will eat my lunches from one end of town to the other. Since the new office is in the old centre of Kuching, this can be quite an adventure - plenty to experience amongst the streets and alleys.

To date, I have only explored a small number. This sketch is completed while seating at the five foot way outside a tiny Malay shop selling Kek Lapis together with some breakfast snacks.  Packets of nasi lemak, curry puffs and peanut and anchovy crackers.

I tried to convey the activity and the pace of life around me, but I am not able to re-produce the sound of 'tin' (galvanised iron) sheets being hammered into kitchen utensils, water cans and so forth. In the shop just across from where I was sitting, instead of being a nuisance, the rhythmic beating lulled me as I sketched.

Photo courtesy of gazzarooni

The Long Lunch

Some of my young friends bought me a sketch book when they visited my new office at Upper China Street, and very thoughtfully suggested that I can fill it with sketches of my 'neighbourhood' - reminding me that I have not been taking advantage of my present location.

So, starting today I decided to combine three good things; my location, my new sketchbook and my new folding bike (a Brompton no less) to gallivant and renew my love of the simple ball pen sketch.

Brompton Folding Bike in British Racing Green

Travel sketches - Boey Chong Kee, People's Court

This little cluster of public housing is off Lebuh Cintra in Penang, many know this place for the old Cantonese restaurant on the ground floor of one of the flats - Boey Chong Kee. I like it for the clever use of a simple grid elevation to create the right balance of exposure and shade with concrete, steel and the right amount of timber (doors and windows). I like it because I know someone sat down and thought about it and drew up several options (and decide on the best). I like it for its 'hidden away' charm - I always have to look for it and once I get there, it is like stepping back in time.