singapore sketchbook

view of the city from equinox restaurant at the stamford swissotel.

while we were in singapore, seoul, and bangkok i kept a sketchbook of the places we went and some of the things we saw.  most are random places i thought looked cool.  i just do a quick gesture sketch  standing or sitting in front of whatever it is that i'm drawing (usually 5-10 minutes), then i go back and clean up lines and add details to the gesture using a photograph.  when we returned to the US. i scanned them all into my computer and colored them on photoshop.  i colored 40 of the 60 or so sketches i did while we were in SE asia for 5 weeks.

this is a selection of sketches from singapore (seoul and bangkok to follow).  i tried to include some of the places we visited most often, some of my favorite places to eat.  and some of my favorite views of this post-modern city.

one of the first things we did in singapore was eat at a hawker center at pasir panjang.  this is lunch the
next day at people's park in chinatown.  we were seated at the community seating, cafeteria-style tables
and these guys were eating something delicious looking across from us.  it was quite crowded and
people constantly streamed passed our table.  the giant oscillating fan cooled the place.

another hawker center.  this is where we ate chili crab, prawns, grilled stingray.  a couple of beers. a couple of
fish.  a couple of vegetables.  and everything was delicious.  really delicious.  this was a hawker center near
where mindy grew up. one of my favorite dinners.

famous chinese temple on bugis street. there were tons of people in the street. the little umbrella stands reminded
me of the street market in seoul.

besides eating, shopping is the thing to do in singapore.  orchard road is a street lined with every high end and
middle end brand you can ever imagine and about 6 versions of each.  this is ion mall, a melting structure of
glass held up by pillars that mimic tree branches.   

looking out the window from opera art gallery on one of the upper floors at ion. the art was neon colored
acrylic twisted into big candy wrppers. the green one had a soccer ball in it. the little green guy is kwon ki soo's
 character. i had to add him in. they had one of his paintings on the wall and i find his aesthetic fun and new.

standing in the middle of the bridge with a sketchbook.  this is clarke quay (pronounced 'key' [british spelling
i imagine, for the same reason clark ends in an 'e']).  went for foot massage with my father-in-law after sketching
here for few minutes.  

singapore national botanic gardens.  it's really hot in singapore, so it took some courage to come out of the
AC long enough to go to the gardens, but it was one of our favorite places to visit.  this is an old british
colonial building in the middle of the orchid garden.  

orchids. (pictures and post on our trip to the botanic gardens can be read here)

my legs got eaten by ants, because i had to stand in the jungle grass underneath the bridge to draw this.
this is the henderson waves bridge, and this is the best version of the several that i did.  this bridge is a cool
space because it really is one of the only quiet places in the city.  

a view of the city from the deck in front of the artscience museum looking across the bay. there is so much
new construction going on in singapore. there are giant cranes hanging off every other building.

a view of the city from our hotel room at marina bay sands (MBS).  the artscience museum is that flower
on the right.  esplanade, the performing arts center are the bug eyes in the middle ground.
the tall building behind it is the stamford swissotel and equinox. see post here.

the infinity pool overlooking the city on the skydeck at marina bay sands. featured in this post.

esplanade, the performing arts center that looks like 2 bug eyes.  stamford swissotel in the background.  i drew
this from across the bay standing on the deck at the artscience musuem.  the sunset was so full that night.
and after the sun set, we watched a laser light and water show on the bay.  

behind MBS is gardens by the bay all lit up at light.  the colored forms at the right are giant versions of
the bougainvillea terraces they have at the getty museum in LA.  the glass building is another botanical
garden. the space is still under construction so it looks a lot different during the day as trucks haul in huge
trees and plants and crews build the giant landscape designed space.  it's better at night though, because
this is really the end of the city lights as you look out pass MBS and the rest of the city.  

check back tomorrow for drawings from seoul and bangkok!