125-3608-9 – Emirates obscured and Starbucks customers

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Emirates obscured

Here are some more sketches I did on the way to Erbil in Iraq, after sleeping fitfully on the plane and arriving for a five hour layover with a headache. The first is of a plane in Dubai airport (not my plane and obscured by many things) – where I feel I made my usual mistake of trying to capture too much instead of focussing on one part. The second was done in Terminal 2 (which you have to get to by bus), where I had run out of steam and was just waiting for my flight to be called.

Starbucks customers

Tue-8-Sep-2026

125-3607 – Airport sleepers

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Here is my first sketch in a newly made sketchbook using Cass Art Cold Pressed Not Paper. Usually I used hot pressed but this has a fairly smooth surface for drawing on and for this sketch it seemed to take the paint well. I did this sketch at the airport in Metro Manila when I was taking a 3:25 am flight to Erbil via Dubai. At this point in the journey I was just trying to stay awake (by sketching) so I could get on the plane and fall asleep.

Tue-8-Sep-2026

124-3606 – Roasted pepper sauce

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Here is another “pantry sketch” of something we bought in Montenegro. Ajvar domaći is a traditional, homemade roasted red pepper spread and relish from the Balkan region. We saw this for sale in all the supermarkets so decided to try some – it has a delicious smoky, tangy flavour (apparently from slow-roasting the vegetables over a charcoal grill).

Sat-5-Sep-2026

124-3603 – Coffee problems

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We have started using our daughters Moka Pot because our bean to cup machine has been leaking into the coffee grounds tray (and needs some new O-rings apparently). I gather people swear by Moka pots – saying that they make the best coffee – it certainly works well and is good to sketch too! I did this one with watercolour pencils and watercolour only – no ink!

Wed-2-Sep-2026

124-3602 – The Filipino at his finest hour

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This is the second sketch I did with Urban Sketchers Manila when we joined the car free Sunday sketch-walk event in Makati, in August. After doing my first sketch we went upstairs to have breakfast at 7-Eleven (the only place open in the building) and I decided to sketch this overhead view of the “Spirit of EDSA” sculpture. The text on the plaque says “at his finest hour”…but I was thinking it should really say at “their” finest hour – especially as the main figure in the sculpture is a woman!

Sun-30-Aug-2026

124-3601 – The spirit of EDSA

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Here is the first sketch I did with Urban Sketchers Manila when we joined the car free Sunday sketch-walk event in Makati in August. It was a rainy day so we spent our time in and around the Yuchengco Museum. This sculpture by Eduardo Castrillo (in the courtyard of the RCBC building) was unveiled by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2001 and is a tribute to the strength and unity of the Filipino people during the non-violent 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution when the father of the current president was kicked out.

Sun-30-Aug-2026

124-3600 – Bam!

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This is some catnip spray that we bought in the UK to try and revive a few cat toys and attract our cats to scratch something other than our couch (which is looking hairy and battered). However they seem totally uninterested in the smell! We also bought some cat “off” – to deter them from scratching everything – we haven’t tried that yet.

Fri-28-Aug-2026