Urban Sketch

122-3537-8 – Powerplant outside Dunkin’ and people at The Grid

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Powerplant outside Dunkin’

These are the first two sketches I did when I joined Urban Sketchers Manila at the Rosas ng Sampiro festival in the Makati Poblacion Barangay (more about that in the next post). I first met up with my friend @the_uban_sketcher at the Powerplant Mall (it’s built on the site of a former power plant) and did the first sketch where we met up. After that we went for lunch at The Grid – which is a high end (meaning over-priced) foodcourt – but at least I could get some vegetarian food there.

People at The Grid

Sat-27-Jun-2026

122-3535 – Cafe BBC coffee

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This is the last sketch I did at the Día de Manila event, from inside the Museo de Intramuros. Afterwards, to close out our sketch-walk, @the_uban_sketcher and I went into the courtyard to have coffee there. The people serving the coffee were very nice and took a photo of us to post on their social media account. I am sorry to say though, that the coffee was pretty tasteless and not nice at all!

Sun-21-Jun-2026

122-3534 – San Ignacio and the Jesuits

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Here is another of my sketches from the sketchwalk for Día de Manila. This is San Ignacio de Loyola who founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1534. I gather that he is often shown holding a book because reading changed his life and he wrote some major spiritual texts. I think one of the cherubs in my sketch (which are supposed to stand for innocence and purity), looks like Robin (from Batman and Robin) because he seems to have a mask on.

Sun-21-Jun-2026

122-3532-3 – Altar piece and Sto. Domingo de Guzman

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Altar piece

Here are some more of my sketches from the Urban Sketchers Manila sketchwalk for Día de Manila. The first is of an altar piece – about which I could find nothing online or it in-situ. The next thing I sketched had a catalogue code on it saying: Wood IA-M-ECLE: 15 – 430 – which means it is wooden sculpture, part of the Intramuros Administration Museum ecclesiastical collection and the 430th object registered in a 2015 batch. I was hoping for more information! Online I found out that Sto. Domingo de Guzman was a Castilian priest who founded the Dominicans and is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientists.

Sto. Domingo de Guzman

Sun-21-Jun-2026

121-3531 – Centro de Turismo Intramuros

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Here is the second sketch I did when I joined Urban Sketchers Manila in Intramuros for Día de Manila at the Centro de Turismo. This was a heritage festival and celebration organised by the @niladcommunity (an umbrella organization that unites heritage advocacy groups), with exhibits, walking tours and panel discussions. The centre is located inside the reconstructed San Ignacio Church. This was originally built in 1899 but was largely destroyed in the Battle of Manila in 1945, leaving only it’s shell. Next door the Casa Misión Convent was converted into the Museo de Intramuros which we also sketched in.

Sun-21-Jun-2026

121-3530 – Manila Cathedral bell tower

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Here is the first sketch I did when I joined Urban Sketchers Manila in Intramuros for Día de Manila at the Centro de Tourismo (more about that in the next post). I started off my day by meeting with my friend @the_uban_sketcher in front of Manila Cathedral so we could sketch before it got too hot.

Sun-21-Jun-2026

121-3529 – Sketching from the sick bed

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This was sketched from the couch where I sat most of the day feeling somewhat unwell and certainly short of energy. This palm tree has appeared in many of my sketches (see Sketch No.88 from 2016 for example) – it’s huge now. I used my Mont Marte watercolour markers to start this – woah they are bright! By the way I was feeling a lot better the next day and went out to sketch all day!


Sat-20-Jun-2026

121-3527 – Supersam

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Here is the first sketch I did in Eastwood while I waited for our car to have its service. I sat in a little pop up coffee shop to sketch this. Apparently Supersam (in the background) is a popular restaurant known for its international comfort food and Filipino-American fusion dishes – but not by me…I’ve never heard of it!

Wed-17-Jun-2026