Sunday 5 April 2015

Singapore: The Peranakan Museum

Peranakan Museum sketchI spent much of the time over the holiday perched on a knobbly tree root opposite the Peranakan Museum in Armenian Street. On Friday, I did a quick scribble which served as a warm up for a more detailed sketch on Sunday morning. In addition to the usual members of the public who want to chat or even take a photo, this was another occasion when an individual loitered nearby for an uncomfortably long period. 

Peranakan Muesum sketchAfter a couple of hours, I hobbled away from my tree root and wandered through the grounds of the Armenian Church (which might make an interesting challenge to sketch with its pure white walls), to the Civil Defence Heritage Museum, which includes a few old fire appliances which are ideal for doodling. 

Boat Quay sketchI continued to Elgin Bridge which was casting strong shadows across the elegant arches and supports, but I decided to sit on the bank opposite Boat Quay to doodle in a new smaller-format sketchbook which should take water colour paint without turning the paper into a soggy lump or bleeding through the other side. I have also noticed that watercolour seems to fade overnight, coloured pencils are weak on some papers and you never have the right colour in the box.

This reflects my experiences with colour so far - I was so reluctant to paint the Boat Quay scene, I used Copic markers in the sketchbook and coloured the line drawing in Photoshop, which is far less hassle. I have much to learn.

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