Beitou Library, Taipei

I sketched from a kerbside bench

While my travel companions soaked in hot thermal baths that Beitou is famous for; I stayed out of doors and took in the sights in this scenic hillside town. The tiny park in the centre of the Hot Springs area has two architectural gems; one new and one older. The new and more striking one is the Beitou Library with its large oversailing roof and timber clad exterior.

A few starting lines to help the eye to register want the hand attempts to do

Add details only when the framework is to your liking

Add shadows and textures to bring out the forms

The details shown here were added while waiting for our flight home

..and the colours were added at home.

When we visited the Japanese Museum at Beitou, the brick and timber appeared to glow in the late afternoon light. I stood in its garden by the river and looked at it for a long moment - watching visitors stroll along its verandahs. 

Kuching - Singapore - Taipei

Twenty of us traveled to Taipei with an overnight layover in Singapore - architects, two chefs, a surveyor and some of their spouses. Our hotel was in Little India where streets were lined with shops selling Indian food, I knew it would be an eventful trip when a female voice behind me called out to the tour guide in Mandarin "Miss, is there anything nice to eat around here?"

 Two important things happened to me on this short stop in Singapore; my initiation to Handburger's "Burger with the Lot" and my first visit to Mustapha's - Little India's 24-hour department store.

At 5 a.m.the next morning, we were at Changi Terminal One again to board Jetstar 3K 721 to Taipei.

Next stop Taipei

An afternoon in Tiong Baru

Each time I am in Singapore, I am drawn to Tiong Bahru - not for the hawker food that everyone assume is my goal. I am drawn to the public housing in the area. Or more precisely, I am drawn to the period that these buildings were built and what that era represented - a new beginning and the hope that came with it. Perhaps that is why the corners of the buildings have such heraldic detailing.

The Council flats of Tiong Bahru - I like the staircase with its slightly nautical theme.

For the same reason, I like watching movies from that era when men wore hats and women wore gloves; and they spoke proper English. Over the Chinese New Year break our Astro (cable TV) broke down and I resorted to watching my Alfred Hitchcock collection - from 'Rebecca' to 'The Rear Window'.  

Some of the architecture and interiors in these movies are worth a second look - at times the second look made me realise I was looking at a stage set.  Nonetheless,  I have fallen in love with Joan Fontaine - who is still around apparently. Perhaps I ll drop her a line.

The ground floor of this block are shops; the white walls are accented with face brickwork and Hokkien spoken enthusiastically by the local kopi-drinkers

A wander through the back lanes in between the housing blocks is my way of returning to the past; the smell of laundry drying in the mid morning sun. Even the smell of lunch cooking seem to come from the past.

Hero Drawings

These are Kok Ming's recent ink drawings; done with a Hero drawing pen. 

He says these sketches remind him of wood cuts. I used to do wood cuts in high school; I wonder if I still have the tools (and skills) to do them again. Have to find some lino; they are an easier and more accessible  material - meanwhile, here is my favourite woodcut, Escher's self portrait. 

Water, water everywhere

For the Chinese, water is a symbol of Life and Wealth - as such - money is sometimes referred to as 'water' in casual conversation. So when it rained continuously at the beginning of this year; it was thought to be a good sign as this is also the year of the Water Dragon.

We knew that our office was in a flood prone area; that's why we raised the new floor level by a foot. However, we were still unprepared for the flash flood that took place that morning; 6 inches of water came into the studio in half an hour - CPUs died, books drowned and ink-lines washed away.

There are always good things that come out of 'bad' - in this case, we discovered that we have several strong leaders in the office; efficiently and calmly coordinating the clean up, re-instating a sense of order and purpose.

Sofia with her head in her hands

The spring cleaning was premature but it forced us to take stock and part with 'precious' things collected over the years. I had to throw out a thick stack of butter paper sketches, actually I had someone discard them for me. I did not have the heart to do it. 

New beginnings are better with an uncluttered desk.

Bicycle Adventures in Hoi An

Happy New Year!

We just returned from Hoi An, which explains the late start to the first post of the year - but there are many sketches to share, recording our cycling, culinary and cultural experiences there. 

Stayed tuned.

It was a ten-minute walk from the hotel to the ancient town centre where we had our first meal in Hoi An - we were strolling by when we heard a familiar name. 'Tau-fu-fa' which is bean-curd jelly served warm with palm sugar syrup laced with crystallized ginger. 

Most things in the ancient town is at a leisure pace; your lunch took time to arrive - this is good as it allows time to talk and sketch and peel open the hand printed chopstick wrapper. The words mean "welcome"

Painting trees

This last post of 2011 does not attempt to sum up the year, that would take too long and may proof to be tedious reading for many. Instead I chose to highlight (or perhaps confirm) an important realisation on my part - which is my increasing enjoyment of working with young people.

So here is one of the little projects carried out with several of my young friends. They painted a mural at the Home of Peace; an elderly citizens' home in Landeh about twelve miles out of Kuching. The idea was 'planted' by Ivy who thought that the dining room at the Home of Peace looked rather institutional and needed colour.

Sara and Joel designed the 'forest of trees' to be stenciled onto the wall for the younger kids to fill in; colours were selected to imply depth of perception.

I enjoyed the experience of completing the mural with the students (Wen Jin from Ipoh, Shearer and Jay from St Joe, Sean, Sara, Nick and Kieran) despite not drawing a line myself. I felt rewarded by their generosity in donating their time.

We will return to add birds to the forest as requested by one of the Sisters who run the place.

ADDING BIRDS

Nick and his Dad adding birds and flowers

with some of the residents of the Home of Peace