Intuitive Drawing

Intuitive Drawing - Class Work
‘Crunchy,’ with a tinge of nature’s scent. (In-class assignment, Intuitive Drawing.)

The day was 8th August 2016, Monday. The day before National day. We had our very first Art lesson – DA1000 Thinking and Communicating Visually I.  It was exciting. Intuitive drawing was our first assignment (to be brought home). We did a little exercise in class. We were told to put our hands inside a covered plastic bag with an unknown object, feel the object, think of a word, and draw to describe that feeling of ours. My word was ‘crunchy,’ and the picture on the left is a drawing of what I felt.


Intuitive Drawing Assignment - Make a drawing with marks that represent the feelings you get when you visit a hawker center.
Intuitive Drawing Assignment – Make a drawing with marks that represent the feelings you get when you visit a hawker center.

Moving on to the brought-home assignment. We were tasked to go to a hawker center of our choice, observe with our senses and reflect on what effects our senses the most. We had to name with one word or a sentence of what we enjoy, and another of what makes us uncomfortable. Thereafter, make a drawing with marks that represent those feelings.

I went to Tiong Bahru food market level 3 and the first sense that hit me was smell. A mash of different food fragrances. You might think I would choose smell as the sense that effects me the most. But, it was sound that became the protagonist of my assignment. Every few minutes, one would hear the sound of chopsticks dropping and touching. The clatter and rattle of sounds of plastic upon plastic were like repetitive melodies. Once periodically, you would hear the violent sounds of food trays on rollers being pushed. Agitated, harsh, and rushed. Not forgetting, the thunder-like roar of the closing of metal shutters. Stall-owners are eager to go home on this sweltering Sunday afternoon.