Moleskine Sketchbook 7 Aug - 10 Oct 2015

Here are all the sketches from my A5 Moleskine sketchbook from 7 August to 10 October 2015.

It's not the first time I use a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook but it's the first time I used the A5 sized one. It's a nice watercolour sketchbook but there are nicer ones. For some reason, I can't get myself to like it although I like the A4 sized one. Maybe because there are other A5 sketchbooks out there that are better, such as the 200gsm Global Art Materials sketchbook, or the Pentalic 300gsm. Here's Liz Steel's review of the new paper used in this sketchbook. I've talked to a few other artists regarding the Moleskine watercolour sketchbook and on one occasion, an artist told me to switch off my video recording camera so that what he/she said cannot be recording. LOL.

This Moleskine sketchbook just feels different. I just don't feel for it.

I brought this sketchbook for two overseas trips and managed only to complete it after coming back to Singapore.

I went back to Bali again this year, this time with my girlfriend. I really enjoyed traveling there. It's so relaxing. The slower pace of life is a welcome change from work. I had actually wanted to record some sketching videos but my microphone was spoilt.

Instead of the usual Daniel Smith paints, I brought along Mission Gold watercolours this time instead. I'm still not accustomed to using this particular set of colours. They are so vibrant and intense! You really need to control them because otherwise the colours will just pop out. I've a sketchbook where I used Mission Gold compared to QoR and it was very clear which pages were coloured with Mission Gold.

I stayed at the same place again in Ubud, Bali. The food at the cafe restaurant beside my accommodation is just too good.

The colour harmony here isn't quite strong. Also I felt that for this sketchbook, I was much more sketchy and loose compared to my sketches in other sketchbook.

I wasn't satisfied with a lot of sketches in this sketchbook.

Bad choice of composition for this piece. I wanted to draw the new sculpture on the left but the other elements in the sketch dominated the whole sketch.

This is the scenery outside the cafe mentioned earlier. There was a new house on the right that wasn't there last year.

I drove up to Mount Batur again. It was drizzling and I wanted to wait for the rain to stop by visiting the museum. Unfortunately the museum was closed.

I brought my girlfriend around to visit places that I've been to last year.

While sketching this piece, someone told me that I was sitting under a coconut tree with coconuts above. So I had to move and left this sketch uncompleted.

This is Tanah Lot, the temple by the sea. It's best to visit this place during the evening as you can see the sunset. The tide will be low and you can walk on the beach also.

Interesting sculptures at the Monkey Forest in Ubud.

This is the Kecak dance at Pura Uluwatu. Go early and sit in the middle so that you can see the beautiful sunset behind. I still remember the sunset from last year. This year, we went late and had to sit by the side.

Mission Gold's Burnt Sienna is really more like orange. You can add it to French Ultramarine and the mixture will be a dull green instead of the usual beautiful gray.

This was drawn just before the trip to Ipoh, Malaysia.

Plan B is a nice trendy cafe/restaurant in Ipoh, Malaysia that takes up the space of what I think is a former warehouse. I love the high ceiling that makes the whole place feel spacious. There's air-con to escape from the heat and free wifi.

A side alley in Ipoh. Food there is fantastic. Better than even Penang.

View from my hotel window at Ibis Styles at Ipoh, Malaysia. I woke up at 7am to draw this. Looking back at this piece, I realised I forgot to draw in the rolling hills behind.

These are some shops at the Plan B cafe.

A wonderful street of old shophouses.

Inside Plan b again.

Flea markets are wonderful places to draw. There are so many interesting things to see. This is the Memory Lane flea market.

This is my favourite sketch in this sketchbook. I felt that I captured the volume of the buildings well.

Masjid Panglima Kinta mosque

Burps & Giggle cafe in Ipoh.

Random sketches

I like this sketch for the thin and thick lines.

That's the building next to our hotel in Ibis Styles. I went to Ipoh with a small group of sketcher friends.

Back in Singapore. Drawn along Maxwell Road.

This was drawn during the end-of-month sketchwalk at Clementi. The sketchwalk was in conjunction with the SG Heart Map event organised by HDB. I've not been to this part of Clementi before. Again, the colours from Mission Gold's palette is just so striking. I like this piece.

A small toddler was watching my friends sketching when she turned, knocked into me and started crying. I found it funny. She did not fall down though. It was just a slight bump into a stranger.

Mine, mine. What bright greens and sky.

Mission Gold is certainly a very exciting watercolour to work with because of the vibrant colours.

This is from Daniel Smith. It's more muted because I'm more used to using Daniel Smith and usually don't use the colours at full strength.

This is the Little Guilin quarry park near my neighbourhood. Below's a timelapse video of the sketch.

This was drawn today at Hong Lim Park. In Singapore, we have a designated site for "protests" and it's the speakers corner at Hong Lim Park. It's the first time I'm here. There was some sort of litter picking event going on. The organisers were very pleased that they had the biggest turnout for a litter picking event at over 1,700 participants.

Last sketch! Finally. Now I can start on my Khadi sketchbook.

I definitely have to restraint myself whenever I use Mission Gold next time.