Mini buses run from Quezon to Puerto Princesa every 30 minutes. We bagged a front seat (thanks to the guy who took us to see some land)…which was less bumpy perhaps. The driver used this huge gear stick made of transparent plastic (kinda phallic I thought). The roads in Palawan aren’t too bad but I still couldn’t draw any straight lines – I added the colour later…otherwise I would have been splashing paint everywhere!
Sun-16-Nov-2025
I sketched this while we had two new tyres put on our car – one to replace (swap around really) the 16 year old spare (oops) and one to replace one which, a few weeks ago, we were told is beyond further repair. I sketched this partly also to cope with the stress inducing noise of the shop – with cars zooming by only a few metres away and people shouting instructions in Tagalog (which … my own fault…I can only partially understand).
Sat-18-Oct-2025
After going to Bahay Modernismo with #UskQuezonCityI spend a nice long while sketching at the Presidential Car Museum. I have sketched there many times before (see sketches No. 1030 and No. 2587 to start with), but it’s always a bit of a struggle because the lighting is low – so you are never sure what colours or what values you are using until you step outside! This car is a 1960 Rolls-Royce Phantom V used by Imelda Marcos (mother of the current president of the Philippines and wife of Ferdinand the 10th president, who’s dictatorship was marked by cronyism, corruption, and human rights abuses – while his family amassed great personal wealth at the expense of the country).
Sun-3-Aug-2025
Each year we have to take our car in to get a roadworthiness and emissions test done and have it registered. Luckily there is a handy little place (called M2-PMVIC) just around the corner from where we live and despite the crowds of people, motorbikes and cars there when I arrived, they processed it quite quickly. Also, despite its age, our car passed the test! I sketched this (a mobile clinic of Associated Medical and Clinical Services, I think) while I waited.
Thu-16-Jan-2025
I started this sketch when we took our car to the car wash (before having lunch with some friends in Las Pinas). We were late to our meet up because the queue and the washers took forever – in fact I could have done more sketches. I seem to be sketching the backside of cars a lot these days!
Sun-5-Jan-2025
Our last and seventh day of holiday was spent travelling back to Manila. Although we had to wait a while at the port in Calapan the journey home was much smoother. Soon after I did the ink work for this we were ushered onto the ferry (run by Montenegro Shipping Lines).
Fri-3-Jan-2025
After our Christmas celebrations we took a trip to Puerto Galera (on Mindoro Island) for a little holiday. We travelled via the Ro-Ro (roll-on/roll-off) – a ferry that takes cars, trucks, and buses – from Batangas port. But what was supposed to be a trip of a morning lasted all day, because at the port there seemed to be some typhoon damage to their ramps and they could only use one, shared between several ferries. Why this information couldn’t be shared online so that passengers would know of the delays in advance, I don’t know…we ended up waiting about 6 hours to get on the ferry (when I did the first of these two sketches).
Then we sat on the ferry for a further 2 hours (when I did the second sketch) waiting for it to depart! You’d think, given the Philippines is a nation of more than 7,000 islands, that by now the ferry system would be efficient and well run…but no, it’s all rather haphazard.
Fri-27-Dec-2024
This sketch was done during a visit we made to Vista Mall, down the road from us, to buy some DIY stuff (at All Home). After we had done our shopping we had a donut and coffee at a little Krispy Kreme stand. This car was inside the mall – maybe some kind of prize or just promotional?
Sun-26-May-2024