A Hindu temple sketch

Hindu temple - sketch has written on the bottom, "washed with tea and condensed milk".

Thaipusam festival, Singapore

A temple in Little India, Singapore. These things used to drive me mad, just far too much detail to absorb, where to start?
Hilary (SWIMBO) and myself had managed to get a footpath table at a cafe opposite the temple and I had a couple of magic cups of thick black tea sweetened with.....condensed milk. It may sound horrible, but there was no other milk available, so "when in Rome" and all that.

I reached for my pen and book and I just squiggled about, making no attempt at a recognizable figure anywhere. I figured if I did one I would have to keep going and do the lot. I'd have lost the plot for sure. As per usual I did the wash with the material on hand. (While medium was a bit thick for thin for misty effects there's no doubt it blocked in the shadows.

Looking at it now it is easy to see that I can add a bit to the right hand side to make it look better, but if I was aiming for perfection I would have used a camera. As it is I can still taste that tea. You don't get memories like that in Starbucks.

We stayed a week in Little India in Singapore and loved it.  Vibrant and bustling.  The morning I did this sketch was a huge day for the Hindus in Singapore.  It was the day of their annual Thaipusam festival.  The streets were closed to traffic along a route of about 5 Km and the devotees walk with various hooks, spears, needles etc. piercing their skin.  I guess that many see this as way of showing their devotion, proving that their faith can overcome physical pain and suffering.

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"The art of drawing which is of more real importance to the human race than that of writing... should be taught to every child just as writing is... " John Ruskin 1819-1900