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!

—-

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.

In addition to the sketches above, 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.