We have been waiting, nagging, reminding, complaining and following up with our ISP (Converge), for a router upgrade that we started paying for in September 2025. Then out of the blue we suddenly had a visit from their engineers and they installed the new device. Of course the speed of our internet connection didn’t improve much! Included in the package was a little box that connects to the TV and gives us local channels…so we now have four remote controls to lose down the side of the couch!
Here is a sketch of the bag I got for Christmas from my wife. As I was sketching it she asked me why I would want to sketch it, as it’s just a grey blob…and it kind of ended up looking that way too. It’s made by The Tannery Manila and is a lovely bag though.
I confess that one of the first things I thought when we were buying some fruit in the supermarket, was “that would be nice to sketch”. I do like to eat watermelon too of course…plus I admit I have sketched watermelons before (see sketch No.768)…but I enjoyed having another go!
These are my wife’s paint brushes, two of which I bought for her at the Centris Market – second hand original Japanese brushes at a little stall called “Goods from Japan”. Thanks to Ray, Reuel and Randy for recommending it – what a find!
Here are the sketches I did when I joined Urban Sketchers Quezon City at the Car Free Sunday event along Tomas Morato Avenue. I first met up with my friends @the_uban_sketcher and @pixl8tor for breakfast at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
Where are the people?
Then after the latag we went to Centris Mall where we bought some second hand paint brushes from a little stall in the market called – more about that later. I sketched in Centris in 2019 (see Sketches 1016, 1017 and 1018)… one of the first gatherings of Urban Sketchers Quezon City. As I sketched a little boy came up to me and looked at what I was doing…and asked why I hadn’t included any people in my sketch…so I added one very small person!
Lastly after lunch, I headed to Art in the Park 2026 to say hi to my fellow sketchers from Urban Sketchers Manila. My sketch is of the entrance to the park where it takes place – somehow the person in the foreground ended up looking really tall…but they were actually just a lot closer to me.
This is a little souvenir (a fridge magnet) that my daughter bought me in Boracay. It’s legs are on little springs. When I opened the package up it made me jump a little as it has spider vibes and I am terrified of spiders! It’s clearly an octopus though.
The day I did this sketch I had made pizza in the evening – making the dough in our ancient bread maker, which is failing fast. During the part where it kneads the dough with a paddle it constantly jumps up and down with the bucket popping up and out. I have to jamb spoons down the side to try and stop it…but I have had to try bigger and bigger spoons!
I managed to eek out some blue ink from my Platinum Preppy to do this sketch, but now I give up. It constantly blocks (it’s not the pen it’s the ink). These books were left behind by my daughter – she finished them on the beach. A nice easy read like Stephen King is helping me get back into reading (I was far from my goal last year)…and is great for reading in bed.
Here are some keys accidentally left behind by our daughter’s partner when they went back to the UK. I was thinking of sketching some keys but this key ring is a lot more interesting than mine …with lots of dangly little tags and pouches, several of which, I think, were recently bought from the ArtWork store in Market Market!
