The one on top is a sketch of a hawker stall that sells fried carrot cake (radish rice cake), a favourite breakfast dish among many Singaporeans and residents living in the estates nearby. I have been eating from this stall for 20 years and I have seen the line grew longer and longer over the years. On a weekend, the wait for a S$3 carrot cake can be as long as 40mins. This of course gave me the opportunity to sketch while I waited. I have gifted a print copy of a sketch I did of the stall and the lady boss so she is always giving me a larger portion since then.
Singaporeans spent a lot of them eating so inevitably, my sketches are usually cafes, restaurants, coffeeshops or kopitiams where I ate from. To Chinese, "吃是福“, which is translated as, "it's a blessing to eat" literally. It's one thing to "eat to live, and another, to "live to eat". I am constantly thankful for the varieties of food here and the ability to savour them as much as I wanted.
This particular McDonalds branch in Vivocity Mall does not see an end to the line of people.
I am not always eating. There were times I was just waiting in line for something. Sketching makes waiting or standing in line a lot more bearable. Sometimes you wished the wait could be longer and so you wouldn't be interrupted half way through your sketching.
I don't take public very often but when I do, I would usually look forward to doing one thing I love - sketching commuters.
A noisy restaurant...
... and a quiet coffeeshop. This was also my last visit to Costa Coffee because the franchise has withdrew from Singapore. I was chilling with a friend, Tony Chua, who has became the foreground focal point of this sketch.
This is Telok Blangah Food Center - where my wife and I would visit for breakfast or brunch almost everyday since we moved back to this estate for good in July 2017. All my favourite food is here: fried carrot cake, steamed chicken rice, economy bee hoon, fritters and Nanyang coffee brewed with a sock.
Food courts in malls are air-conditioned and are more comfortable to dine in - but food is more expensive too.
Customers at a churros cafe - this is one aspect of Singapore that displays the "cultural influence" of America brought about by the media.
I would always choose to eat at a traditional coffeeshop aka kopitiam even if it's alfresco style.
This year in 2018, I had my nails clipped by a stranger for the first time.
And attended 2 Malay weddings this year.
Sketching while my missus was having her hair pampered.
Visiting a friend at his mother-in-law's funeral wake service...
The iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil have become the tools that I carry around with me wherever I go. Sometimes I don't even have my fountain pens and my sketchbook with me. But I am not totally converting to digital sketching yet because nothing will replace sketching on paper with pens or pencils.Anyway, this year has been eventful but great! Here, looking forward to a new year of uncertainty and challenges.
Wishing all an awesome 2019 and happy holidays!
