ChurchSketch

104-3136 – St. Laurence’s church

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This sketch was done after we had had breakfast in York and then drove to Chorley for my daughter to have an interview and trial shift at a café (unfortunately she didn’t get the job). I napped in the car when we arrived as we had got up at 2:30 am to drive to York Racecourse where our hot air balloon took off. I then sketched this church while we waited. This tower was built in the 15th Century – but there is a documentary record of a church existing here since 1362! There is so much history in the UK.

Wed-28-May-2025

102-3081 – Holy Cross Parish, Sta. Cruz

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This sketch was done on the last full day we had in Marinduque – which started with a visit to Bagumbungan Cave, which took us 3 hours of crawling, stumbling and rappelling to get through the 1.9km. We were told that we were slow to make it through but it was well worth it because of the fantastic rock formations. After this we had lunch in Sta. Cruz (amazingly enough we found some veggie burgers at “Mac Burgers”…being sold as a Lenten option). Then we paused at the church for a sketch before heading home.

Sun-20-Apr-2025

102-3073 – Herald at St. Joseph Spouse of Mary Catholic Church, Gasan

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After our island hopping we had lunch in Gasan (when I had “chop suey”, and ham was suggested a couple of times even though we told the waitress that I don’t eat meat!), also spending some time fiddling about to find a new spare tyre (which my wife ordered and was due to be delivered from the mainland after 2 days). We then visited the church in Gasan which is quite high up and has great views over the sea. Although a church on this site was first established in 1609 the current structure is quite new (I found one site saying the church was destroyed several times including most recently in 1986 when it was rebuilt in concrete), but is tastefully done and was decorated (I assume) for the Moriones Festival.

Mon-14-Apr-2025

102-3071 – Bell tower at Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Boac

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After lunch (yummy miso soup) on our first day in Marinduque we went into Boac for a wander and visited the cathedral. It looks ancient on the outside but is modernised inside. According to the internet the cathedral was built in 1792 and served as a refuge against pirate attacks and during times of conflict like Moro raids in the Spanish colonial period. Several websites say the tower is built of “Adobe Stones” – i.e sun dried mud bricks, but to me it looked more like sandstone. While I sketched this, people came out of mass and looked at what I was doing, making friendly remarks, while my wife wandered about testing out the settings on her camera.

Sun-13-Apr-2025

93-2831 – St. Mary Magdalene Church, Kawit

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My next sketch on the Kawit Heritage Tour with #UskManila was of the bell tower at the Diocesan Shrine and Parish of St. Mary Magdalene. This Roman Catholic church is one of the oldest in the Philippines, with construction started in 1737. Our guide told us that when the Spanish arrived in the area in 1624, Kawit became a red-light district and to counter this reputation, the Archbishop of Manila dedicated the church to Saint Mary Magdalene (supposedly a prostitute turned repentant sinner – although these days the idea of her being a prostitute is considered untrue and just served to disempower women).

Sat-31-Aug-2024

92-2817-9 – Girona

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Barcelona Sants to Girona

Back to Spain with this post – on our second day we went to Girona (a medieval city founded by the Romans over 2,000 years ago and a fantastic place to visit). My first sketch was done on the train – but it didn’t turn out too well! When we arrived, we sat in Independence Square for coffee. I couldn’t find out anything about the fountain (with a boy sitting on a turtle) that I sketched – it’s called “The Turtle Boy” (“El Nen de la Tortuga”) – but the statue in the middle of the square is by Antoni Parera. The second sketch was done in front of Basilica de Sant Feliu (church of St. Felix) where we sat to eat our lunch. The baroque façade was built in the 13th-18th centuries.

Child of the turtle
Basilica de Santa Feliu

Thu-15-Aug-2024

91-2787 – St. Lawrence’s Church

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On the morning of my daughter’s birthday we went for a nice sunny walk over the road from where we stayed in Suffolk, to the nearby church in Little Waldingfield. That was after umpteen phone calls to the car hire company trying to get a replacement car because a warning light appeared on the dashboard. I was not impressed with Europcar. We couldn’t get in to the church (a pity as according to one website it has some interesting features), but sat in the churchyard and ate our sandwiches. Our afternoon (after visiting my mum) was spent at my sisters house stuffing ourselves with a veggie barbecue, strawberry merengue and cake!

Tue-23-Jul-2024

90-2770 – Minor basilica and archdiocesan shrine

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This sketch was done at the local Saint Anne Parish church, where we cycled to last Sunday morning. The first church on this site was built in 1609 but after several earthquakes the present one was started in 1883. I sketched here way back on 12 May 2016, when I first began sketching regularly (see post No.40 on my blog). That time I managed to get the whole tower in…my current small format sketchbook tends to make me focus on details…that’s my excuse anyway.

Sun-7-Jul-2024

83-2607 – Holy Rosary Parish Church

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I did so many sketches on our trip to Angeles City with #UskManila…so here is another one. After sketching at #PamintuanMansion we visited the local church. This church was first built in 1877, but was damaged in the 2019 Luzon earthquake and is currently undergoing restoration. I did this sketch very quickly…probably too quickly as I made lots of mistakes!

Sat-24-Feb-2024