This week I finally had a mini breakthrough in my sharpie sketches by creating a small scene. I manage to engage the local people to pose for me. The Mellvin Seafood is a hawker stalls located between Joo Chiat Road and Marshall Lane, they are your typical Singapore style no-fuss hawker selling drinks, Bak Kut Teh, Stir Fry food, plastic chairs and a TV playing live soccer. There are a few regular locals milling about, having a beer, chit chatting and watching soccer.
I decided to park myself in the next table and found a cozy place to sketch. About an hour into it, the sketch is beginning to take shape, the hawker lady noticed me when she came by to clean my table, she began to make a fuss and was calling all the local people to have a look at what I am doing. Language is possibly the biggest saving grace to my ego. A public display isn't comfortable because I am truly not comfortable with the attention I am getting, It's far too out of control to enjoy.
These are my models, after a minor fuss on what I am doing, and having not understood a single word they were talking about, aside from the word "lihai' which means 'skillful' in this context, I offered to draw whoever wants to be drawn. These two guys volunteer themselves, and the hawker lady later propped up his little son right in front of them and told him to be still, this little kid was smiling the entire time, while I had began to scramble to draw them. In my haste, I didn't manage to fit all three of them in a page, but manage to draw all three. It must have been at least 20 minutes or more that these three sat for me. While i was drawing, a sense of euphoria as well as discomfort was coming over me. I felt my drawing hand achy. The hawker lady came with a can of green tea and offered it to me for free after I told her that I will give her a copy of the drawings afterwards. She was very enthusiastic and was sounding quite ecstatic. She didn't quite understand when I tried to tell her that the drawings will be posted on my website, she just looked at me with a sad eye and said she doesn't do computer.
My models seem quite happy if not a little self conscious during the sitting. Some of the other locals would stand behind me and gave them the feedback on my progress in Mandarin, all of which passes me by like water on a stream. I was happy I didn't understand a word. One of them attempted conversation and asked if I was a foreigner, i said yes. He was quite impressed that I could write the 'Chinese character' on their sign that said 'Mellvin Seafood' even when I didn't know how to read.
I decided to park myself in the next table and found a cozy place to sketch. About an hour into it, the sketch is beginning to take shape, the hawker lady noticed me when she came by to clean my table, she began to make a fuss and was calling all the local people to have a look at what I am doing. Language is possibly the biggest saving grace to my ego. A public display isn't comfortable because I am truly not comfortable with the attention I am getting, It's far too out of control to enjoy.
These are my models, after a minor fuss on what I am doing, and having not understood a single word they were talking about, aside from the word "lihai' which means 'skillful' in this context, I offered to draw whoever wants to be drawn. These two guys volunteer themselves, and the hawker lady later propped up his little son right in front of them and told him to be still, this little kid was smiling the entire time, while I had began to scramble to draw them. In my haste, I didn't manage to fit all three of them in a page, but manage to draw all three. It must have been at least 20 minutes or more that these three sat for me. While i was drawing, a sense of euphoria as well as discomfort was coming over me. I felt my drawing hand achy. The hawker lady came with a can of green tea and offered it to me for free after I told her that I will give her a copy of the drawings afterwards. She was very enthusiastic and was sounding quite ecstatic. She didn't quite understand when I tried to tell her that the drawings will be posted on my website, she just looked at me with a sad eye and said she doesn't do computer.
My models seem quite happy if not a little self conscious during the sitting. Some of the other locals would stand behind me and gave them the feedback on my progress in Mandarin, all of which passes me by like water on a stream. I was happy I didn't understand a word. One of them attempted conversation and asked if I was a foreigner, i said yes. He was quite impressed that I could write the 'Chinese character' on their sign that said 'Mellvin Seafood' even when I didn't know how to read.
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