This sketch was done at Shakey’s down the road from where we live. We set out to drive to Wabi-Sabi Noodle House in Makati, but the traffic was appallingly bad (worse than the usual dreadful conditions), so we just stopped at the nearest eatery. For desert I ate the brownie that is featured in this poster…it was supposed to have salted caramel on it but I think they just sprinkle (far to much) salt on some syrup!
Thu-27-Feb-2025
It might seem like there has been a gap in my sketching habit, but I’ve been spending my evenings finishing off partly done sketches, instead of doing new ones. It’s not a great habit to leave them partly done – painting from photos afterwards doesn’t work for me and the colours never seem right. I looked at the #DrawTipTuesday video of @KoosjeKoene on YouTube to get the inspiration for this – she suggested experimenting with some unused materials. So I picked up some old coloured pencils (not water soluble) and drew our yoghurt maker (it was my wife’s excellent idea to get one – it was quite cheap and makes lots of little pots from a starter).
Wed-22-Jan-2025
I have been meaning to post these sketches ever since I conducted a small workshop (with #UskQuezonCity) on binding your own sketchbook, way back in December 2023! I have posted a few of these sketches before, but here are all of them along with notes on what you need and how to do it. I have been binding my own sketchbooks since 2019, motivated by the high cost of sketchbooks with good quality paper (and even a few expensive ones with poor quality paper!). I have learnt how to do this by following the videos of @SeaLemonDIY on YouTube. If you prefer video tutorials she has plenty of great ones.
Fri-7-Feb-2025
While I was in Quezon City when my daughter got her tattoo, I couldn’t resist visiting #ArtWhale along Maginhawa street. I have often bought things fom them online but I think this may have been the first time I’ve been in their actual store. I do like #DanielSmith paints but I find these #HolbeinWaterColors perfectly fine (and they are bit more affordable)…so I stocked up. I also bought a pad of ready-cut Strathmore hot press watercolour paper…which is super expensive! I’ve used Strathmore once before (see sketch number 463 done in August 2017)…let’s see how satisfied I am with paper this time.
Fri-17-Jan-2025
I have myself set a resolution to read more this year and I plan sketch the books as I finish reading them (why not after all). This is the first I have finished – I actually bought it in the UK last summer, so that shows my pace of reading these days! This one was not bad – kind of a long build up to a surprise (no spoilers)…which was unexpected but not really that exciting.
Tue-14-Jan-2025
On Sunday 12 January we joined our first #SketchWalk of the year with #UskQuezonCity at the University of the Philippines sunken garden. The sunken garden is a large green basin-shaped area at the Diliman campus, surrounded by large trees and is popular as a venue for sports and outside events. I did this first sketch of a group of young guys quite quickly…after 15 minutes they all got up and left together, so I had to be fast.
Sun-12-Jan-2025
I don’t usually do portraits (you can probably tell by this sketch), but I thought I would have a go of painting my dad from a photo (I can’t do him in person as he is no longer with us) as I was thinking of him (this was done the day after his birthday). I was also thinking I would give this to my mum as a present (she is in the background and I think my sketch of her worked out better)…but I think I need a lot more practice before that happens!
Fri-10-Jan-2025
Here is another Christmas present – that I got from one of my nephews. I tried to draw this a few days before this and made a bit of a mess of it (I didn’t get past a few ink lines and getting the shape all wrong). In this version I found it easier to use watercolour pencils, a more splashy style and focus on negative shapes (the brown table background) to capture the white thermos mug.
Thu-9-Jan-2025
Here is another one of our Christmas presents – this one being from one of our nieces – a lovely set of little bowls. Each one has a different pattern inside and I belatedly realised that this makes it hard to sketch them and capture the pattern!
Wed-8-Jan-2025