9 Jan 2022 Waking up slowly and sitting quietly

Boon San Tong Lebuh Victoria

 Yesterday, I decided that Sunday mornings will be spent eating breakfast with Sam (after I finish my long run: 10km or more) instead of running around hitting a tennis ball, I can do that any other day of the week. We hardly eat breakfasts and lunch out anymore, which I miss though Sam tell me that we saved a lot by eating at home. So, the morning was spent just sitting quietly; finishing my travel sketches (but thinking about work) and she quiet under her face mask (but thinking about work; Alwyn changed the position of his office)

Today's cooking with mom was easy as well, we talked, she confused me for my uncle (again) she helped by cutting vegetables though she forgets about cutting slices and changes to cutting cubes midway - the stir fry was a myriad of vegetable shapes.

Ball point pens

A raggedly collection of pens - ARTLINE, BIC, DAISO value pack, pens from hotel rooms 

 When a friend asked what fancy pens I use to sketch to 'get those fine lines', I think he only half believed me when I told him that I use cheap ball point pens. Some were free as I always take the ones from hotel rooms. Ball point pens, and not gel pens - I can't get the subtle line weight changes with the gel pens. Ball pens ink gives me that feathering which I like when shading. 

I also like that they are cheap, because I tend to misplace my things. Another reason is that it is a good lesson to teach beginners in sketching that they do not need expensive equipment. 

This one is done with the Sunway Hotel pen, depending on the angle you can get different textures and line weights.

I draft with them as well, using the scale rule as a hard edge - you can get a surprisingly fine line with a ball point pen. The only disadvantage is that they don't work so well on butter or tracing paper. You need the Artline for that - those are cheap as well RM 2.40.

Remembering hotel rooms

Reminder to self - sketch the hotel rooms that I like so that I can refer to them in the future. And to take care to record their dimensions (estimated) and imagine their section, and construction.

Mayday Mayday!

I have fallen behind in my blog entries – the trips to Yangon and Europe are only partly to blame, as I have been busy at work finishing off our ‘ job-bank’ projects. These are projects which are in their initial stages and require resolution for planning approval. Since planning approvals can take up to two years, these projects are similar to money in the bank; fixed deposits to be put away for a future rainy day. They will not be built for another two years at least.

 Amongst all the large scale projects, I consciously find time for smaller projects to keep myself in touch with the process of exploration and drawing. I usually do these projects with the younger members and students in the office - as a training process for them. 
I enjoy the smaller projects as they usually foster more informal communication with the client, as can be seen in the notes and sketches above. They serves as our 'minutes' of meeting; the sketches do replace a thousand words (quite easily). Not all my drawings are hand drawn; I like the sketchiness of this software making it more akin to the hand drawn line than a photo-realistic image.

In May, I will try to sequence my blog entries according to the Europe trip as I have made many notes of events and stories in the making – and sketches to accompany them. I mentioned in my earlier post that this is a study trip organised by our local Architects’ Institute; so the priority is to visit buildings and places of culture and interest, with side trips to sample local delicacies with an open mind and wallet. As the trip progresses it becomes clear that unfortunately, not all our travel companions share this attitude.

Part 5 - Stealing a Moment to Sit Quietly

Looking for Aalto

It was a good thing that our in-flight movie player failed to work in our 12 hour flight from Singapore to Helsinki because we each were given a 20 Euro voucher by Finnair, and we slept. This meant that when we arrived at 6:40 a.m. Helsinki time, we were fresh and well rested. 

Some people think that our first impression of a city depends on how and where you enter it from; on what you see at this first point of entry. But I feel that my first impression of a city depends also on the first contact we have with the locals - and within the first two hours, Helsinki came across as efficient and self confident (it is the World Design Capital of 2012) though a bit aloof. 

When the nice lady at the hotel let us check in at 10:30 in the morning, the meter went from aloof to possibly friendly but shy (or limited by lack of a common language between us). Our only word of Finnish (or more correctly, Suomi) was 'kitos' (kee-tosh) or thank you.

the Esplanade Park (Etelaesplanadi) that leads to the harbour

Sam had the foresight to order the Helsinki Card which enable us free access on an audio-guided tour of Helsinki and all forms of public transport, which included bus, trams and sea ferry. We were on the tour with an hour of check-in (the Finnish efficiency is contagious) - we were on the bus to see Helsinki's sights -  Finlandia Hall and the Sibelius Monument amongst them. The highlight for me was the Tempeliaukio Church or "the Rock Church" - carved out of and embedded in rock; by two brothers and local architects, Timo and Tuomo Suomolainen.

our breakfast room where guests are invited to pack and take away their lunch as well

streets of Art Deco buildings

I'd rather be sketching

After the hectic weekend, it is good to get back to doing what I enjoy as much as running; sketching.

The Fata Hotel is located in one of my favourite parts of Kuching. A rich confluence of childhood memories defined by my school, St. Thomas's Primary School and our sister school St Mary's Girls School to the right of the sketch. My grandmother's house is just a short walk up the hill to the right of the sketch; along Jalan Tabuan.
I remember a chendol stall just outside the St. Mary's school gate - doing a brisk business through the steel bars of the school fence during recess. An old man helped by his daughter. Then years later, only the daughter whom I still saw when I returned to Kuching. Now there is just a bus stop where the stall used to stand.

The temple on Wayang street has its counterpart across the street - a Chinese theatre on an elevated plinth which served as a stage. The audience brought their own seats and were entertained with old Chinese plays and drama pieces which (in the old days) were equivalent to news snippets from the home country. It was a versatile civic space; built, maintained and accessible to the local community.

Across town, the modern version of a Civic Centre; a pompous structure that is a far cry from its predecesors.

Time out in Kenyalang Park

Kenyalang Park is one of the oldest housing estates in Kuching and today still bears the hallmarks of its modern planning such the creation of pedestrain links and a self sustaining communal centre. The architecural langauage is similarly Modernist with its blade-walls as fire-breaks in between the terrace (row) houses and the terrazzo sun-shades in the neighbouring shophouses.

Since its inception in the 1970s, it has created its own identity and even its own sub-culture. This is been surpassed by the recent influx of shopping arcades but once every so often the local Kuchingite still venture to Kenyalang Park especially during Chinese festivals. Paper lanterns during the Mooncake festival; fire-crackers, banners and flowers for the Chinese New Year.

It is the underbelly of Kenyalang Park that I enjoy; the selling of privated DVDs, the seedy kopi-tiams (coffee-shops) selling cheap kopi-O to the horse-racing bookies and their clientele. The smell of desperation mingled with cigarette smoke is a powerful narcotic to many - judging from the number people clustered around the heavily tatooed gentlemen with handfuls of money.

I spent a little time and even less money (on cheap coffee and a Stabilo Point 188 pen) and sketched the shops with their terrazzo fins and glass (and aluminium) louvres in between for ventilation. The face brickwork adds colour and texture to the simple concrete framed structures. Later I wandered towards the traffic gardens and sketched the terrace houses flanking the park; there were children playing badminton in the streets, some flying kites.It was 6 pm; someone is frying fish for dinner and the smell reminded me that I was hungry. 

Time to go home.

Sketching outside Adrian's office window

 Jalan Chew Geok Lin
When I travel, walking around town early in the morning is a pleasurable adventure; it is as though you catch the locals off guard and see them in real life. Perhaps they do not expect an outsider to trepass into their world at this hour. Food stalls that disappear after 7 a.m. - they serve local fare to the locals - the tourists are expected to eat something else. People washing on the pavement; laundry, vegetables, small children, grownups too. A man bathed with a water hose piped down from the floor above - humming blissfully to himself with a cigarette in his mouth the whole time.

Vignettes of city life such as this are hard to come by nowadays. But if you wake up early enough - even my hometown of Kuching has the ability to surprise me at times. Re-introducing me to local characters (and food) not seen since Primary school days. The rewards of waking up earlier and going for a walk in your town.

Market Road, Sibu\

Jalan Bengkel, Sibu

Suzhou Road, Shanghai

I am a terrible blogger; I do not update my blog on a regular basis, this is a result of not sketching regularly and since this is a sketch blog - one must generate enough sketches to upload on a regular basis. Surprising - considering that I spend my work day drawing.

More on Shanghai; this entry concentrates on the area near our hotel on Suzhou Nan Lu which runs along Wusong River. It is ten-minutes walk from the Bund due east and ten minutes walk to Nanjing Dong Lu due south - so quite handily located although the surroundings are less than picturesque.

Our neighbours are hardware stores and welding shops; but the river is a nice guide to stroll along and if you presevere (30 minutes walk) it will lead to Suzhou Xi Lu and ultimately the MoganShan Lu where the Shanghai Art Precinct is located. This Art Precinct is similar to Beijing 798 - and was formerly a light industrial area now restored to house art galleries, eateries, studios and design offices.

Despite the "blue-collar" neighbourhood, there is plenty to sketch - this is a block of apartments across the river, its windows and balconies are a mosaic of people's lives.

bali re-visited

Having experienced Bali before with Sam; we wanted the kids to share the same - we decided to go rural and found a small hotel near to some padi fields in Ubud.
It is called the Bali T-house and was developed by architects using a timber construction module. This is the view from our first floor bedroom - which is essentially an open platform with bamboo blinds when privacy is required or to stop the rain from coming in.

There are only 12 or so villas; we share views of the 'sawah' as well as a lap pool which is only 15 feet from our dining terrace. Our villa is named 'Jahe' (ginger in Bahasa Indonesia) - and while we laze in silken hammocks, Sean and Sara explore the pool and the surroundings.
Perhaps it is the romance of being in Bali once again; the green of the padi fields is one I have not seen before; changing in hue and form as it catches the sun and the breeze. The buildings beyond are for resting and worship; we see the workers having their lunch there.