I was looking forward to joining the Singapore Urban Sketchers in their weekly events during my two-month hometown visit. Prior to visiting Singapore, I have been following the three Singapore urban sketching Facebook groups.
Local urban sketchers scene
The Facebook groups are called Weekend Sketchers, Urban Sketchers Singapore, and I Jio You Sketching. The latter’s name is derived from Singaporeans’ fun way of mixing dialects or another official language (Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and English) when speaking. In this instance, “Jio” means “invite” in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect. Hence, I Jio You Sketching means I invite you to sketch. There are 2 sketching events every week: one on Saturday and one on Sunday. The activities usually start around 9h30-10h30 and then finish around noon. Like the sessions that the Grenoble urban sketchers organise, the Singapore ones end with a show-and-tell of the works.
I am raring to join the Singapore urban sketchers as often as I can during my two-month visit back home. Before my arrival in Singapore, I had already asked my sister to purchase a portable chair before my arrival in Singapore so that I would be fully geared when joining the sketchers.
First event with the Singapore urban sketchers
I joined the urban sketchers on my first weekend in Singapore. The Saturday event was at Kebun Baru Birdsinging Club and the Sunday one at the newly opened Geneo Mall. I had never been to either of the two events. Yet, the Kebun Baru Birdsinging Club appealed me more. Malls are aplenty in Singapore but a birdsinging club? I had never heard of birdsinging clubs! And in Singapore to boot! That reason alone was enough for me to pick the Saturday outing.
After two years of absence in Singapore, I have forgotten how hot and humid the city-state is. Actually, this time is hotter than the past years because of the timing of our visit. We usually visit Singapore in July. It is one month earlier this time round and we have arrived at the end of the inter-monsoon season. It is the transitionary period between the south-west (June-September) monsoon and the north-east (December to March) monsoon. The first transitionary period usually lasts between end March to May. We are now in the second week of June and the temperature is still hovering around 33 C daily. Hence, it was under this sweltering heat that I joined my first Singapore urban sketching outing.
Birdsinging club
The chosen spot is at the western edge of Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West, a neighbourhood in the northeastern part of Singapore. After getting off at the Mayflower MRT station, I used the Google map to get me into the AMK estate.
After a while, without even looking at the GPS, I knew that I was very near the birdsing club. The typical sounds emanating from the bustling HDB marketplace and hawker centres of a Saturday morning were invaded by continuous, sharp bird chirping. I followed the sound and found myself looking at an open field covered with long, thin poles. Raising my eyes towards the sky, I could see that multicoloured decorated wooden bird cages being hung at the top end of almost every pole.bird
The event was officially planned for 10h15 to 12h15. There wouldn’t be any pre-event briefing but sketchers should gather after 2 hours to showcase their works. When I got there at 10h15, there were already about six or seven sketchers, all women, sitting on benches under the standalone shelter. They were in various stages of sketching. I brought my newly purchased portable chair with me, thinking that I could inaugurate it that day. However, I managed to find myself an empty bench under a freestanding shelter. A solid bench is definitely more comfortable than a portable stool.
Chatters and chirping
I was surprised at that time to not see more participants as photos shared by the three Facebook groups usually show at least twenty sketchers per event. It was only through post event Facebook photos that I realised that several more participants were scattered elsewhere around the field. Apart from the sketchers, a group of Chinese men of retirement age chatted at one corner of the shelter. From time to time, snippets of their conversations in a mixture of English, Mandarin and Hokkien would very momentarily break my concentration before I slipped back into my sketching world. It was in this environment of chatters of the bird lovers and the chirping of the birds that we the sketchers put our colours on the white papers.
During the entire sketching time, curious bystanders, mainly bird owners and neighbourhood residents, came and went. They would loiter around us and making comments among themselves. For instance, I heard an old uncle (colloquial way of addressing a man who is much older) jokingly asking his companion whether he was appointed as a jury member of the sketching competition. Then, there were a few parents explaining to their young kids on what we were doing.
What to draw
One of my difficulties in urban sketching (I have many!) is not knowing what to put on the sketch book. Oftentimes (as often as it possibly can be since I started drawing only at the end January), faced with a scene, I will find myself overwhelmed by the countless intricate details. What do I include? Do I include everything? Do I have to sketch in every single detail? After the initial few minutes of panicking, I would try to calm myself down and identify my composition. Most of the time, I would start with the biggest object or the most interesting object in my composition.
However, here in the green field, everything looked the same. Poles and poles and poles. Did I want a page filled with only tall, skinny poles? The bird cages were interesting but they were too high up for me to capture the details. Moreover, I wanted to capture a scene, not just a cage. A landscape A5 sketchbook didn’t help the matter either. In the end, I decided on just partially capturing the three nearest poles in my direct sight. I would also add two smaller ones to give a sense of perspective. Despite the simple cartoonish outcome, it still took me close to 45 minutes to finish.
Second sketch of the day
Towards 1130, I noticed that some bird owners started to lower the bird cages from the poles. I guessed it was time for the uncles to go home for lunch with their feathered companions. Three uncles lowered the cages and hung them on the metallic bar below the shelter which was just in front of me. Three dome top wooden bird cages right in front of my eyes.
As I had just finished my first sketch and had some time to spare before meeting my husband, I quickly sketched the scene: the three cages and the two uncles who were chatting on the wooden bench in front of me. There was only enough time to sketch, but not to colour. The colouring would have to be done at home. I personally prefer the second sketch as it has more context than the first one.
As I had to rush off, I didn’t have the chance to attend the show-and-tell session and meet the other like-minded souls. However, I have enjoyed my first urban sketching session in Singapore. It has been an opportunity for me to explore Singapore and discover new sights. I don’t think there are many sketchers out there who can claim that they have ever sketched in a birdsinging club before.