Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Le Ye's Drawing of flowers

This is Le Ye's first drawing with me. He thinks that he does not know how to draw a flower. I think that his flowers look very delicate and the picture looks very balanced.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

1982 Drawings - Philippines

The air-stewardness on board the Philippines Air Lines plane I took to Manila.
My travelling companions.
I made this drawing while waiting for the traffic jam to clear.
The colourful jeepneys that were everywhere in Manila.
Peak-hour travel.
Pagsanjan Falls where I spent a day on my own.

Another place we visited was Asin. I don't remember much of this place. I guess it was a place where people had a good sense of humour.

A friend drove us up to Baguio where we spent two nights in the cool/cold mountain air.
We flew to Legaspi to view the perfect symmetry of the Mayon Volcano. We only got to see half of it as the other half was cloaked in thick clouds for the two days we were there.

I remember drawing this family who were in the waiting lounge of the airport. The subjects were not particularly interesting and this drawing was probably made out of boredom.




Saturday, March 15, 2008

1980 - East Coast of Malaysia

Many years ago I made a trip to the East Coast of West Malaysia with a friend taking the night bus from Singapore and arriving at Kuantan at daybreak. We hung around the bus station and caught a local bus to Rantau Abang along the stretch of beach where giant leatherback turtles laboured up the steep slopes of the white-sand beach to lay their precious eggs. We stayed in some wooden chalets (huts) for SGD$5 a night where we got to sleep on thin mattresses on wooden platforms in a room furnished with nothing else. The kampong-like surroundings came with free-roaming chickens and ducks, coconut trees on dirt-black sand, a well and a few planks across a ditch running parallel to the beach. The owner of the chalets was a young man called Hakim.This is the 'lounge' where we could order food and watch TV to keep in touch with the world outside of this laid-back environment dominated by caucasians seeking the sun, the sand and the sea.
This is my friend with whom I shared this memorable holiday with during the early years of our youth.
The bathroom was open-air with coconut fronds over our heads and flimsy planks around us while we bathed in our T-shirts.
These sketches were made at the bus-station in Kuantan and on the bus back to Singapore. Typical makciks (Aunties) probably going to a nearby town to visit relatives.
A mother with her two sons waiting patiently for the bus.
In small towns, goats roamed freely before the slaughter.
I cannot remember how I did this sketch because the ladies were seated behind me diagonally across the aisle. It must have been tiring for me to keep turning back to draw this picture.