Here are some flip-flops (or slippers as they call them here) bought from Primark by my daughter for her beach holiday (on Boracay), and not needed in cold wet UK. They are of super poor quality – certainly not up to the standards of the “Islander” or “Havaiana” (actually Brazilian) brands that you can get here.
Sun-8-Mar-2026
Here is another sketch of my mum done while we have a video chat – I think she looks younger in this one!
Sat-7-Mar-2026
My daughter and her partner had an extra day in Manila (after their trip to Boracay) because their flight (via Doha) was cancelled and they rebooked a flight going through China …and then over Russia (not much better in my mind…the world is an unsafe place at the moment). Anyway we took advantage of the extra time and visited Tagaytay and then went to Alitaptap Artists Community in Amedeo. My first sketch is of my daughter.
After a fascinating tour round the community visiting various artists studios and encountering huge dogs, turkeys, tortoises (also huge) and a white (albino) carabao, we rested in the art cafe and had some refreshments where I did another sketch. The community is well worth a visit and the artists and apprentices (one of which guided us – Eric) were very friendly and welcoming.
Thu-5-Mar-2026
If I don’t use my preppy pen (with the blue sludgy Kung Te-Cheng Noodlers ink) every day, it dries up (update….even every day is not enough…it just dries up anyway). I had to work hard to get the ink flowing when I did this sketch…I next tried a little bit of damp tissue in the cap but that didn’t work either. This is one of the plants (one of the few that grows despite our “black thumbs”) that grows well on our balcony.
Tue-3-Mar-2026
I sketched this on a day of sneezing and nose irritation. This day I also had an online consultation with an allergologist (that’s a term I haven’t heard before?) and I am now trying some new nasal spray and may get re-tested and try some immunotherapy to see if I can get rid of it altogether.
Mon-2-Mar-2026
Here is another try at sketching my mum while we had a video chat. This time I was hatching a lot using my fine TWSBI pen and black noodlers ink. As we chatted squirrels were eating the nuts in the bird feeder outside her window.
Sat-28-Feb-2026
Drawing the same thing over and over again is therapeutic, which is appropriate because as I sketched this, I was watching the third season of “Shrinking”.
Thu-26-Feb-2026
In February we made a visit to the Pintô Art Museum. Our first stop was lunch (at Cafe Dionysus (Dionysus is the ancient Greek god of wine, fertility, theatre etc., known as Bacchus in Roman mythology), where I had panini with queso puti (local white cheese made from carabao’s milk) that was actually three pieces of pan de sal (local bread rolls). A lot has changed since we visited years ago. These sketches was done in a new sketchbook made with Cass Art hot pressed 300 gsm watercolour paper.
After a few hours of wandering around the galleries we stopped at another cafe (it seems there are three at the museum these days), for a cold drink and I did a second sketch. Despite a long time searching I cannot find the name of this piece or the artist. I should have looked more carefully when I was there.
Tue-24-Feb-2026
I sketched this on the second day of our daughter and her partner were visiting us – we made a trip into Makati for ukay-ukay (thrift store) shopping, wabi-sabi lunch (a noodle house in Makati Cinema Square – where we spent too much time trying to get a phone repaired, without success), then Greenbelt Mall. This teapot (from Syria – see sketch No.613 done in 2018) had a plant growing in it and the cats broke it…so another repair job is needed. Kintsugi is the the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery.
Mon-23-Feb-2026