Urban Sketching
Yesterday I went off to buy a new pair of shoes for my car and a matching alignment at . The sketch I made at the waiting room took the last page of my sketchbook. I used the guard sheet of a much thinner paper for the tiny sketch of the building. To my surprise, the paper handled the light watercolour wash with pride and honour. 👍🏻 for this! From now on I will certainly use that sheet from a spread sketch.
Mahachanok mangoes 🥭. A generous gift from one of my students. Not apples just because tradition is not what it used to be.
This genera is a cultivar from Thailand but grown in my student’s backyard with a very thin seed, smooth as butter and sweet as honey. Thanks Ai!
This week the new teaching semester started and yesterday we got the meet fresh students joining the faculty.
Here is one of the most iconic and well known buildings in the campus: the Chancellor Hall, where everything starts and finishes.
The hall was designed by and completed in 2002. Dato Idris designed several other buildings in the campus, including the UBD mosque, which is already in my sketching agenda.
A few days ago we went on a boat tour around the mangroves at the Brunei River. We spotted several groups of proboscis monkeys 🐒, an Asian water monitor resting on a tree trunk, a pair of white-bellied sea eagles, several kingfishers and the common egrets and herons.
On our way back we enjoyed a fantastic view over the Istana Nurul Iman, the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei. Some people say that it’s the largest residential palace of the world but I didn’t had the chance to measure it 😂. It was designed by the Filipino architect Leandro Locsin and completed in 1984, becoming a symbol of Brunei sovereignty and independence.
The Supreme Court building in Brunei. The institution was established in 1963 but temporarily occupying a wing of the secretariat building and later the Lapau (coronation hall). It was only in 1978 that the government opened an architectural competition for a new dedicated building just next Kedayan river. The construction started in 1981 and was completed 2 years later. The building was finally inaugurated on 15 March 1984 shortly after the independence of Brunei.
This is one of my favourite buildings in Brunei for the way it sits in harmoniously with the surrounding nature.
@ Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
A 48 year old grocery shop in Bandar, somewhere between Jalan Roberts and Jalan Pretty. Great sketching morning with .816 , and my lovely family. After a few minutes sketching the owner of the shop came to check on what we were doing. Knowing the stories of places from the people is one of my favourite things about urban sketching.
@ Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
The last sketch of my recent trip to Singapore. South Bridge Road @ Singapore
How Marina Bay in Singapore would look like if I was in charge. Reality is to sad and gray and I have too many beautiful colours in my travel palette 🎨. If I was in charge the Apple Store was not there. It’s the new lighthouse of a capitalist world.
@ Singapore
Art and Science Museum and Singapore.
@ Marina Bay Sands
The Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall (left) and the Arts House (right) in Singapore.
@ Singapore
The view from my window on board of a flight to Singapore.
Inktober day 21: “Sleep”. A bed 🛌 is probably the worst place to read, at least at my age. Can you relate?
Inktober day 20: “Coral”. A coral snake just because I am tired of the lack of colour and mostly because sea corals would be to obvious. Ah... and I only had 3 minutes to finish this.
Inktober day 19: “Dizzy”. There are days I get dizzy 🥴 after spending too many hours working in the computer 👨💻. I guess this is my first self portrait.
Inktober day 18: “Trap”. There are so many kinds of traps in this world but the “take now pay later” is one of my favourites. They came in so many versions! You can have the car, the house or the holidays of your dreams. You enjoy first and hung yourself later when you realise you can’t pay your life.
Inktober day 17: “Storm”. There is a calm in every storm. After the blowing winds and roaring thunderstorms ⛈ there’s a sense of calmness and balance restoration.
Inktober day 16: “Rocket”.
Inktober day 15: “Outpost”. This is the post office 🏤 remote branch that bring the mail to the international space station. They had to train a snail 🐌 to became an astronaut 👩🚀 to work in this post office.
Inktober day 14: “Armour”. The armour of love is the only one size fit all that will protect you and everyone against the evil in the world. Nothing too fancy because love is simple and something that makes feel free. Let’s all put this armour on.
Inktober day 13: “Dune”. One of the monoliths appeared in the desert. According to Clarke and Kubrick “Space Odyssey”, the monoliths are machines built by unseen extraterrestrial species. They are associated to progress through technological development and space travel 🧭.
Inktober day 12: “Slippery”. I always thought that the slippery road sign was wrong. When I look at the slippery road sign the car looks like it is drifting which is a very cool thing among those speeding in the roads. I think the sign should be more realistic, as cars in slippery roads normally end up side down. Drive carefully.
Inktober day 7: “Fancy”. No one can resist Mr Fancy Man with his monocle 🧐 and curly moustache.
Inktober day 6: “Rodent”. Today I got this done in less than a minute. This is Master Splinter in his youth days before he mutated and became a master in ninjutsu.
Inltober day 5: “Blade”. There’s a rumour that Mrs Lovett meat pies are of the kind that people die for and the most famous in the Fleet Street. 🩸
Inktober day 4: “Radio”. I took inspiration in a few of those early radios from the 1920s to sketch this radio building.
Inktober day 3: “bulky”. I found this one surprisingly difficult so I looked at the massive file of sheets with my draft ideas for today’s prompt. This is just volume one resting in my desk. 😂
Inktober day 2: “Wisp”. One grain can be turn into 10.000 grains. With a wisp of wheat 🌾 we can feed the world 🌎.
Inktober Day 1: “Fish”. Fude fountain pen on craft paper.
2020 is here! Things will get a bit dark this month. Bare with me.
Quino created Mafalda but he raised many of us.
The Runkel Castle in Germany 🇩🇪
Fort Pickering (Winter Island) Lighthouse, Salem Massachusetts.
Raw and old but it is still there. Colour or just ink?
St Elisabeth Chapel based on suggestion for the . For some reason the only thing I can think of when I look at this is Hansel and Gretel and other Grimm Brothers’ tales.
Ink and watercolour on travelers’ sketchbook.
What a great Sunday morning with .816 .space.brunei and the whole gang that joined the City Sketch Walk.
I finally got some time to finish the initial sketches I made on location. I am looking forward for the next urban sketching session.
@ Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
A bookshop from imagination.
Ink and wash on traveler’s sketchbook.
My wife and my children will be at tomorrow for a pop up event promoting healthy vegan and macrobiotic lifestyle. I made this hand drawing illustration for one of the informative flyers visitors can find at her stall. Check to find out what’s on the menu.
My version of the Tysoe Windmill challenge brought by .work.i based on a reference photo by . I must confess that I saw the reference photo and that kept in my memory until today when I got a 10 minutes break.
Ink and watercolour on watercolour sketchbook.
Another two pages on my traveller sketch insert.
At the left one of the iconic buildings in Lisbon based on a beautiful photograph taken by and at the right my take on the .japan challenge. A bookstore! I couldn’t miss this one!
Just ink for now and will colour these later.
Today I had an awesome family creative morning with .hassan live painting. It was a joyful morning spending time with family, friends, students and the cutest cats 🐈. @ Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Another sofa sketch on a rainy day off. Just ink pen on a tiny A6 watercolour sketchbook.
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