The Fort Canning Park Sketching Tour

The facilitator of the sketching tour, Choo Meng Foo.

On 28 July 2012, I visited the Fort Canning Park to take part in a sketching tour. participants met at the courtyard of Fort Canning Centre, in front of the NParks Visitor Service Centre. I brought along my sketchbook, pens and pencils.

As the marketing material suggests, the sketching tour allowed the participants to revisit history, embrace Nature and be awed by the trees of the fort. The sketching tour was facilitated by artist Choo Meng Foo. He gave us an introduction to some approaches to sketching.

Fort Gate. Fort Canning Park.

Our first stop for the sketching tour was the Fort Gate. Choo Meng Foo gave us some instructions so that we can learn to be more aware of our surrounding environment, including the sounds from Nature and the smells from the surrounding spaces. I did a sketch that focused on the Fort Gate and a nearby tree that had caught my eyes.

It was quite a delight to see people of all ages and from all walks of life enjoying the process of sketching. A few of the young participants asked Choo Meng Foo for feedback, and he gave encouraging sugestions and feedback to them.

One of my sketches.

Our second stop for the sketching tour was near Fort Canning Green. I was captivated by the structure of the cupola so I did a sketch of it. Being a little ambitious, I tried to sketch the Fort Canning Centre in the background. After the sketch was done, I received a suggestion from Choo Meng Foo, and I took the suggestion to enhance the sketch.

At Fort Canning Green.

It was a fruitful day. I had completed three sketches, spent time catching up with a few friends, and made a few new friends too. More importantly, it was therapeutic and fun to be close to Nature and to sketch.


Many thanks to one of my friends for the getting me the sketch-book that I was using, and another of my friends for getting me a few of the sketching pens that I was using. In addition, special thanks to Choo Meng Foo for facilitating the sketching tour.

This sketching tour is organised by the National Parks Board. Many thanks to National Parks Board for making this tour a fun and interesting one. This was a free tour. More information on future similar events can be found from http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/ and www.facebook.com/nparksbuzz