#merlynasketch

Great news: I’m humbled and grateful to receive Heritage Ottawa’s Gordon Cullingham Award this year. Thrilled that this award will allow me to bring my “Sketching Ottawa” project to the public.

Heritage Ottawa wrote, “The Cullingham Grant selection panel was unanimous in choosing this richly layered project that offers a creative exploration of Ottawa’s heritage places through 100 original ink-and-watercolour sketches of the city’s landscapes, streetscapes, and buildings. Each image will be paired with a short text that weaves together a vernacular history and personal reflection.” Thank you, Heritage Ottawa!

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I love sketching and doodling. I am a perpetual doodler, a lifelong sketcher. Sketching has been my art form for decades, something I carry with me everywhere I go. Growing up without access to art supplies, I learned to use whatever was at hand—never picky about paper or pen. Even a tissue could become my canvas. Sketching is not just something I do. It’s how I exist. I sketch, therefore, I am.

From time to time, I do commissioned sketches—contact me at MERLYNAATGMAILDOTCOM if you’re interested in knowing more about it.

To view some of my sketches, I’ve compiled a video of my Ottawa sketches below. Also, you can check my sketches on Instagram.

Award winning sketcher

I’m not someone who chases competitions, but in my life I’ve entered exactly two. The first was as a teenager in high school, when I joined the nationwide IMA Gunadharma ITB Sketching Competition in Indonesia—and to my surprise, I won my very first drawing competition. Decades later, in 2017, I tried again, entering the Jackson’s Art International Urban Sketching Competition, where I was awarded First Place in the People’s Choice Award. That was only my second competition, and I like to joke that I’ll only enter one every twenty years. 😀

Here is an artist interview following that win: https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2017/10/05/merlyna-lims-art-go/. Below is my winning sketch.

Current sketching project: #SketchingOttawa

I’m currently working on “Sketching Ottawa” #SketchingOttawa — an multi-year project capturing 100 spots in Ottawa, my city and #MusicArt — a series of multi-media artworks combining musical compositions and acrylic paintings.

#SketchingOttawa

In October 2017, during my interview with Jackson’s Art (link: bit.ly/merlynajacksonart), I shared my ambitious project of capturing Ottawa in 100 snapshots over several years. Excitement filled me as I embarked on this artistic journey and began with several sketches that year. However, life threw some challenges my way, and unfortunately, my progress came to a halt. Between 2019 and 2022, I could only complete three additional sketches following some life-altering incidents that robbed me of my ability to sketch.

Fortunately, in May of this year, a renewed ability and passion for sketching returned to me. Inspired by this newfound artistic drive, I made a decision last week to take up the challenge once more.

Here are 30 (selected) sketches of Ottawa so far; 13 were brought to life just this year, with 10 completed within the last week alone. Just 70 more to go! 

mlim, ottawa, 1 august 2023

Other sketches

Meanwhile, check some of my other work here https://www.flickr.com/photos/travelsketcher/ or here https://www.instagram.com/merlynalim/