Another Shophouse

Yes, I am quite pre-occupied with drawing shophouses – the type that’s built decades ago when traders from China and India set up Southeast Asia’s first brick and mortar retail establishments. We don’t have ancient places of worship, old cobbled roads and pavements, ancient giant walls to keep out enemies….we have lots of modern city buildings like Malls and towers in the CBD areas AND we have the ubiquitous and humble shophouses found all over Malaysia and Singapore.

So humble shophouses which have provided for nearly everything such as food & beverage, groceries, toys, clothes, etc in my growing years feature largely in my artwork. 

The above is a watercolour and ink work that was completed yesterday…(just taking a break from playing with acrylics).  This row of shophouses can be found along Kitchener Road, in the vicinity of Little India.  The motifs on the building are decidedly Peranakan or Straits-Chinese (see the wriggly ink on the walls that are supposed to be flowers)  and nothing is opened given that it’s mid-afternoon.

 A couple of bars and restaurants will open for business a few hours later.  A woman walks by, taking shelter from the sun which was hidden by the clouds anyway.  A man awaits his Uber ride. It was a very warm and balmy afternoon, and I’d snapped a photo on my iPhone as I couldn’t possibly do this ‘en plein air’ as many accomplished artists do!