Singapore heritage buildings using Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pens

Here's an update on my fund-raising efforts: A friend of mine commissioned some artworks for a nursing home she works at. They're to be a series of heritage buildings and what makes them especially meaningful is that these drawings won't just be hung up as part of the decor, they're meant to double up as visual cues to hopefully trigger some memories among the elderly residents at the home.

It was supposed to be a series of four, but due to some issues in getting good photos, it's just two for now: Chinatown and Kampong Glam.

As you can tell, these were done using markers. When my friend first approached me, I had to consider the medium. I wasn't confident drawing buildings using pastels or coloured pencils - markers still gave the best crisp lines that I couldn't achieve with other media. However, I had abandoned alcohol markers for artworks after I found out that they weren't lightfast. I felt bad selling artworks that I knew would fade in time.

I did some research and discovered that the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens which utilised India ink, were lightfast! The only drawback is that they are EXTREMELY pricey (I paid S$158 for this set and that's not even the recommended retail price which is S$250). But I figured that since I was doing this for charity, it was worth the investment. So I bit the bullet and bought this 48 pen set. I believe the largest set is 60 pens.

It comes in a fancy box where you can lift a ribbon and the pens display themselves in four rows, ready to be used.

I made a colour chart. The colours are very vibrant and knowing that they won't fade is terrific.

It was an interesting experience drawing these two pieces. To be honest, I was quite nervous as I hadn't touched markers in a while, even though they were the first medium I used when I picked up art during the pandemic. Not having tackled architecture for months, I was afraid I might be rusty.

First, I did the initial sketch in pencil then outlined it with my brown Uni Pin liner, for that sepia effect. After that, I felt better - the familiarity of the medium came back to me and it was very nice to do all that line work again. A light wash of blue watercolour pencil for the sky

Another nerve-wrecking bit was writing those Chinese characters. For those of you who know me, Chinese is like a foreign language to this jiak kentang person. I had to ask my daughter to write them out for me, before I painstakingly copied the strokes. I dare say this part feels like the greatest achievement for me!

And then it was adding in the colours and the shadows. The Pitt Pens needed some getting used to as the brush tips are very fine, much finer than the alcohol markers I had used. There's also no chisel tip so I had to colour in large areas very carefully to make sure there were no harsh lines. But overall, the colours jump out at you and the effect is great.

Didn't take many photos alone the way, so here's one of my very messy work space

Not only do these two drawings help a nursing home, I donated 80% of what my friend paid to charity. Double good cause! And with that, the amount raised for charity so far has risen to almost S$6,000. That's so awesome and makes me happy 😍