Here is the second sketch I did on our family Christmas gathering – on Boxing Day. Although I didn’t sing Karaoke I was up till the early hours on Christmas Day and had a late start and late breakfast before I sketched this. I was satisfied with the way the pool turned out but not the rest of it. I also broke one of my personal sketching rules “find a comfortable place to sketch from” – I sat in a swinging chair…not a good idea when you are trying to draw!
Fri-26-Dec-2025
As we usually do these days, the Domingo (plus Price) clan gathered for a Christmas get-together – this time at a place called Hillix Resort in Los Baños. We paid for this as our Christmas gift to everyone – plus we handed out the kimchi I had made (see Sketch No.112-3314). Although the resort was a bit short on facilities, it had a nice pool (see next sketch), Karaoke and a great view. In the distance you can see Laguna lake (yes it is brown) and Talim Island. I used my new Noodlers”Kung Te-Cheng” blue ink for this…lovely!
Thu-25-Dec-2025
We had our big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve as we have our big family gathering (out of town) on the 25th. We spent most of the day cooking, then ate it all (or at least overly large portions) in less than an hour. This is our coffee table sketched as we watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the nth time and dozed off.
Wed-24-Dec-2025
When I sketched this we had just put up our tired old tree (which we bought when we lived in Syria). As usual we festooned/overloaded it with every decoration we have including an angel made from a San-mig beer can, balls (and Rudolf) made from old light bulbs and wooden decorations given by a friend who now lives in France.
Thu-18-Dec-2025
I’ve been making kimchi to give as a small Christmas gift – despite making eight jars I had to make make another batch in order to give one to each family in our extended family…including siblings (in-law) and married (or partnered-up) nieces and nephews.
Tue-16-Dec-2025
I finished wrapping advent calendar presents (we have a home made one with pockets that are far too big). I think the #Usk prompt (recently) was something to do with gift wrapping to I quickly sketched our bag of reused wrapping paper scraps…some of which have been used multiple times and have names in marker pen crossed out!
Tue-9-Dec-2025
I did this sketch on a full day of shopping for Christmas presents in Bonifacio Global City. I stopped for a coffee/snack break in Figaro and this was my view. I don’t often think too much when I am sketching but it’s good to have a focus – and in this one I made the Christmas tree bolder, trying to make the rest of the scene simpler and fade into the background.
Fri-5-Dec-2025
The grounds of the resort we stayed overnight in for our big Christmas family get-together has lots of concrete statues dotted about including this one. The horse was actually pulling a cart but I wanted to include the mountain and trees in the background. You can tell by the sky that we were having rainy weather – I was lucky enough to have time to do this before I got rained on. Our stay in the resort was paid for by my sister-in-law as a Christmas present to us all…so thank you very much @mariarey1010!
Thu-26-Dec-2024
Here is a sketch of the resort we stayed overnight in for our big family get-together on Christmas Day. According to the owners blurb on Facebook the resort is a “7 hectare multi-functional resort at the foot of Mt. Malarayat for recreation, peace and relaxation”, near Lipa City. We rented a house big enough for all of us (30 plus these days), which included this pool. It was a bit rainy so I don’t think anyone went swimming until Boxing Day.
Wed-25-Dec-2024