114-3376 – A-frame house

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For this sketch I walked out onto the little peninsula on Lumot Lake just as it was getting cooler in the afternoon. The lake is a man-made reservoir in the Sierra Madre Mountains, created when Lumot Dam was built. According to Wikipedia the lake serves as an auxiliary reservoir for the Kalayaan Hydroelectric plant which I visited with Urban Sketchers Manila in 2024 (see Sketches No.2748-56). This is the view back towards the resort we stayed at – which is dotted with A-frame cottages for visitors. Next to it you can see the little boat we were taken in, from the parking lot, across the lake..

Sun-1-Feb-2026

114-3375 – Camping and glamping

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Here is the first sketch I did when we went camping at Isla Del Antoño, Cavinti, Laguna. We got up at 5am and our friend kindly drove us for 3 hours. Then we took a little motor boat to this island to camp. My sketch is of our friends (rented) tent…which was pitched (by the guys at the resort) on a concrete slab overlooking the lake. We pitched ours (our ancient Hilleberg tent which we bought when in Bhutan – but that is still in good shape) on the shore – which seemed like a more normal way to pitch a tent to me. The campsite has toilets and a kitchen, so it was pretty easy camping.

Sun-1-Feb-2026

114-3374 – Kipling bag

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In this sketch I was struggling through a sketch using a dip pen and sludgy Kung Te-Cheng Noodlers ink. This is supposed to be my wife’s Kipling bag (really expensive but very well worth it) but it’s hard to make out! I sketched this while taking to my mum on the phone – a very distressing call as she seemed to have forgotten my father has passed away and talked about how she missed him and wanted to be with him.

Wed-28-Jan-2026

114-3373 – Balancing act

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For this sketch I was just doodling around in the evening. This plastic bin holds our collection of freebie (mostly BDO) umbrellas, several of which we haven’t even opened! The whole thing only avoids falling over because the an ancient heavyweight socket-set (something I used in the UK when I actually did a tiny bit of car maintenance) at the bottom (why we still have that I don’t know).

Wed-28-Jan-2026

114-3371 – Spare time in Cubao

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After the birthday celebration of our friend in UP, we headed to Cubao to another family gathering (of American cousins) and yet more food! We arrived with time to kill so sat outside Starbucks next to the Araneta Coliseum. The sign is for the Gateway Mall.

Sun-25-Jan-2026

114-3370 – 90 years old

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I sketched this at a family gathering of a friend, for their father’s 90th birthday celebration at the University Hotel in UP. At 90 he is still walking every day, has no glasses, no hearing aid and no dentures…so I could still have another 90 good years to go. But maybe not as I ate for too much food!

Sun-25-Jan-2026

114-3369 – Glue day

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The day I drew this I spent some of my evening glueing back together various broken fridge magnets. That includes one from Jordan that has been broken so many times I have lost count and one made from a coke can. Not all of them are magnets though – the mask, which I sketched back in November 2020 (see Sketch No. 1570), often gets broken and the cat is made from two painted stones (by our daughter), glued together.

Sat-24-Jan-2026

114-3368 – Goodbye old hello new

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The other day the nib on my Sailor Fude fountain pen broke! Maybe I have done too much sketching…I did drop it a while back but the cap was on. Anyway it’s given me excellent service since July 2018, when my first sketch using it was of fruit (No.780). As I use it so much I quickly got a replacement from scribe.ph – a 30th anniversary version with a sparkly blue colour (Sailor have been making them since 1995).

Thu-22-Jan-2026