4 Days 3 Nights Travel Sketching in George Town, Penang, Malaysia

Flying into Penang from Singapore is very easy, one hour flight, directly into George Town and from the airport to the anywhere in the center of the old town via taxi is about RM45. Hotels are plenty around the town anywhere from RM 100-400 depending on your preference and mood, you can find a hotel that suits you. In the 3 nights, I walked everywhere and did not need any public transport because the places that are sketch-worthy are plenty. I stayed in Stewart Lane which is not far from the Kuan Yin Temple, and Little India. The city wakes up early and is pleasant in the afternoon when you want to sip on a cup of coffee and enjoy the atmosphere.

George Town is full of nostalgic atmosphere for me who grew up in a Peranakan family in East Java in the mid 70’s. Everywhere I turn I see beautiful decaying shophouses to quaint family homes and architecture from the last century that was not touched too much since the modernisation of cities of the 2000’s. When I plan this trip to Penang, I purposely did little research because I wanted to be an explorer and I wanted to allow surprise and wonder in my walk. Cities that are walkable are wonderful to not research to death, so I recommend leaving your phone on Airplane mode, and wander around.

Travel sketching goals are something I broadly have, and these goals are not that specific or rigid, they’re mean to turn our few days away into an exploratory adventure. This is how I like to travel anyways, the slow way. Slow traveling means getting your bearings over the course of your first day on foot. And then making mental notes where you went and what you saw that looked interesting enough for you to want to come back to sketch. So usually on the first day of my sketch trip I walk around, I look and see, and I don’t sketch. But I don’t stop myself if I feel there’s a real desire to sketch, an example of this happens in a beautiful old cafe that is attached to a boutique hotel full of memorabilia. I was having a glass of ice tea between walks, and I saw two tourist, possibly brothers who sat down and ordered lunch, and started quibbling amongst themselves. I was far enough that I don’t eave drop but body language says a lot from a distance, and I find that funny, so here’s that sketch.

I always expect on the first day that my sketching muscle is still stiff and therefor I expect I would have a few bad looking sketches. It has come to my realisation as a traveller with a sketchbook that when I am drawing, I have a few simple expectations, and the more aware I am with these expectation the more I can guide myself through the process of sketching in a way that is more enjoyable. Let me further explain.

My simple expectations when I travel to a new country or place is to be seduced by colours, shapes, textures and to feel awe. George Town produced this awe right out of the car. I arrived at my hotel that is basically a very old house reoutfitted with modern amenities and I was in awe already, and there is no better feeling to be staying in a place so beautiful.

The other expectation is to feel safe to explore, and not feel restricted by lack of safety, weather, and other things beyond my control. Again George Town fulfilled all my expectation, I feel safe, I feel unrestricted except perhaps the hot weather in the afternoon can become a hindrance of long sketch walks but I was expecting it so it’s not a surprise.

If you want to know what colours are in my travel palette, I wrote about it here: Drawing Etc Art Blog

On day 1 I plan to really find the first few things that stands out to me, and feel my way around my new neighborhood. And because of the hot weather, I woke up early, and head out before breakfast to do my first sketch sit. This was around 7am in the morning, the Kuan Yin Temple was still quiet with a few people milling around the corrugated shops just nearby selling incense and large ornate worship candles. There’s a tiny hindu temple just next door that gets plenty of attention in the early morning where the priest would ring a bell and utter the morning prayers. There are lots of pigeons and people feeding them. The sketch was rendered without much expectations or plan, I just know it will be double page because I liked the composition that meanders from the distance to the temple. When I sketch, I record, I document and I absorb atmosphere and vibes and when I have to revisit this page later, all these memories would flood back quite smoothly. There were a telephone line covered in pigeon lining up like soldiers that I didn’t get to sketch, but I could easily add that in later. The sketch took about 1 hour 20 minutes, and then it was time for breakfast.

It is very satisfying to have done one sketch before breakfast, it makes the food become a welcomed reward to a good start of the day.

We romantize places we have been to and have more expectations based on our romantic memories of them, but if we’ve never been to a place before, we are free of all these association and therefor are more open to new experiences.

Image from Daniel Smith's website

My muse colours in this trip was Carbazole Violet, which I did end up using for shadow shapes quite a lot. This colour is so beautiful and slightly scary!

Day 2 was spend doing a morning sketch of my hotel, which was so beautiful, and there was an excellent place to sit that was spacious and shady. The painting I did here ended up becoming a hit and the owner of the restaurant attached to the hotel got wind of the existence of the painting and by the time I flew back to Singapore, I had sold the original artwork to him. I also end up selling two prints of the same artwork to his two friends who works and frequent the restaurant. How about that for making art that connects me to new people!

Day 3 I spent going to the Peranakan Mansion and the Blue Mansion, and sketching by the Jetty which was beautiful and windy. Penang is known for being a food paradise, and I got my fill of some local delicacies such as Lor Mee, Char Kuey Teow and Asam Laksa. I met a local photographer David Loh and his wife Rebecca in this trip, and they so generously took me to a local hawker centers by the beach called Northam Beach Cafe. How lucky am I to meet them.

And from them I found out there’s a local dive bar with the biggest selection of beer and wine called Antar Bangsa Enterprise where you can buy your drinks and just sit around on plastic stools loitering outside with other patrons through the night. Antar Bangsa basically means United Nation. I also discovered a lovely little coffee shop called The Alley on the same street and they hv excellent hipster coffee with tasting notes.

Day 4 was basically a travel day, and I am back to the airport to fly home. It has been a wonderful short stay and I hope to develop the sketch trip program for students the next time I am back in George Town.

Enjoy these George Town picture I took in my walks and until the next post.

Susan