Johor Bahru Sketchwalk (23 Nov 2013)

Went to Johor Bahru for a sketchwalk today. I can't even remember when was the last time I was there. It's probably more than a decade ago.

The sketchwalk was organised by Buz Walker, who used to stay in Singapore. He lives in Malaysia now and teaches art there. Occasionally, he will still join us in Singapore for our sketchwalks. Just learned that he actually lives less than 10 minutes away from the Malaysia immigration checkpoint.

It was a rainy and wet morning. Luckily it stopped in the afternoon and it wasn't too hot but still rather humid.

Visiting Johor Bahru is almost like visiting old town Singapore. Even though Malaysia is just a causeway away, the place feels really different from Singapore. There are still shophouses around the area, just minutes from the causeway. It's surprising the area isn't more developed when Singapore is just at the proximity.

Morning breakfast at a old school coffee shop.

Kaya toast and coffee

The map drawn by Buz. We forgot to visit the art shop.

This jackfruit is huge. I love the colour and texture of the insides.

What a beautiful building with a diagonal corner. I love the shade of red which I was not able to reproduce in watercolours.

It's really difficult to convey a good sense of depth when drawing straight on.

We were joined by some JB sketchers also. It's always a pleasure to meet fellow sketchers.

Awesome art on the wall

The shop was too crowded. We had to make do with the next best chicken chop in town.

I've to say that the chicken chop is really good. It actually tasted like old school KFC.

Some of the decorations inside Mariners Cafe located at 55, Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, 80000 Johor Bahru.

This is a really lovely shophouse. I love the high ceilings. Shophouses in Singapore have lower ceilings and don't feel as spacious as this one. We had our lunch on the second floor.

Just so happens there's an art exhibition opening that day by artist Shireen Lee.

That's Shireen Lee.

I should mention that we just finished lunch and there was food at the exhibition.

Shoe of my sketcher friend. It looks as if it was drawn and painted but it's not!

Another cool cafe.

It was a great day sketching. Will probably go back some other day.

The photos were processed with the Fuji Astia 100 F from the DxO FilmPack