At the HistoEx even with #UskManila, I wanted to sketch the historical #Renacimiento re-enactors as I had before in Luneta Art Fair (see sketches No. 99-2981-4), but only managed these doodles while I was jostled by the crowd. for my second sketch, fed up with being elbowed in the crowd, I stood outside of the exhibition area, looking in, to sketch. This crowd were watching a talk…I’m not sure what it was about, as I was busy drawing!
Sun-3-Aug-2025
Last month I tried to sell some sketches at the #ArtInThePark art fair in Makati, with #UskManila. Unfortunately nobody was interested in buying sketches of bridges! However I had a nice time that day hanging out with my sketching friends including, Reuel (@the_uban_sketcher). My first sketch was done when the two of us decided to escape from the heat and had a coffee in Starbucks.
Then I sketched the #UrbanSketchersManila kiosk where we had our stuff set up and the musicians (soulful mood strings) who were set up in the middle of the park.
Later we went for something to eat at McDonalds with Gili (@nalegili) where I sketched some of the other diners. So despite the lack of sales on my part (I think the UskManila kiosk did well otherwise), I had a lovely day!
Sun-23-Mar-2025
On our fourth day we went to the Muelle Puerto Galera pier to arrange for island hopping. It was easily arranged and great fun. Our boat-man (Francis) took us to three beaches and naturally I decided to do a quick sketch on each one. The first sketch is of “Heart Beach” (named after a shape in the cliffs you can see from the sea), where there was a washed up (huge) buoy. The second one is of a log (also washed up) on “Long Beach” and the third is of “Haligi Beach” (which according to the internet means post or pillar). The ticket I stuck in was given when we paid the “environmental user fee” (a fee that is supposed to be used to help local government address environmental issues) when entering Puerto Galera
Tue-31-Dec-2024
After lunch (upstairs at Lalaguna Beach Club and Dive Resort) on our third day, we went and sat on the beach again and I sketched this view of all the bancas lined up on the beach. A banca (sometimes spelt as bangka) is a dugout canoe-style small boat, with outriggers used by fisherfolk. If you look carefully you can see someone laying down reading a book in the shade of one of the boats. Round the point is another beach called Small Lalaguna Beach…hence the title of this.
Mon-30-Dec-2024
This is the second sketch I did on our third day when we moved from Sabang beach to Big Lalaguna beach. This little boat caught my eye immediately. In the water are little launches that lots of Chinese visitors were using to go out scuba diving…wearing some very odd looking outfits to my eyes.
Mon-30-Dec-2024
This sketch was done on our third day when we went to the beach at Sabang and had to take shelter again – and had an expensive coffee (in this cafe called Bloom) and snack while we waited for the rain to stop. After it had stopped we went to a different beach as there was nowhere to swim at the main Sabang Beach which seems to cater more for divers and people going out on boats. I wasn’t very satisfied with the way this sketch worked out…but at least I recorded our day.
Mon-30-Dec-2024
This sketch was done at Café Marco on White Beach in Puerto Galera when we ran for cover from the rain. As soon as I saw this cafe on our way to the beach I wanted to sketch there – what sketcher could resist all those scooters and motorbikes hanging on the wall? At first we thought we would sit outside as we were dripping wet, but the person serving kindly let us inside.
Sun-29-Dec-2024
Here is the first of my beach sketches done on our little holiday in Puerto Galera. On our first day we went to ‘white beach’, which is one of the most popular beaches in the area – and it supposedly has white powdery sand (though I have been to beaches with whiter sand and I don’t really care what colour the sand is!). This is the first sketch in a newly made sketchbook – this time using 300gsm Baohong Hot Pressed paper (quite expensive but 100% cotton and acid free) and using a “spineless” method to bind it (inspired by a cheap sketchbook that a friend showed me), which makes it easier to fold the pages out completely flat.
Sun-29-Dec-2024
Here is a sketch of the place we stayed in the Dulangan part of Puerto Galera (called home of sunrise). We were right on the beach…there is a hint of the sea outside the window. The interior of the place was mostly white, but somehow as the sun went down all the colours changed (hence the title of this). I also got the scale of the stuff on the kitchen island wrong…the bottles are far too large! I am ever my own worst critic.
Sat-28-Dec-2024