Here is the second sketch I did with #UskManila on Saturday 11 May, at our 13th anniversary #SketchWalk at the Chinese Garden in Rizal Park. This one was done very quickly (and is kind of unfinished) just before we tucked into the pot luck picnic.
Sat-11-May-2024
On Saturday 11 May, we had the 13th anniversary for #UskManila and celebrated with a #SketchWalk at the Chinese Garden in Rizal Park (I’ve been sketching with #UrbanSketchersManila since 2016, so that’s 8 years for me). We had a little picnic too with everyone bringing something to eat (we brought home-made chocolate biscuits and vegetarian sausages). According to the plaque on this statue, Confucius was born in September 551 BC and is considered one of the world’s greatest teachers. The statue was put up in 2009 by the Anvil Business Club on behalf of all students and learners to honour all teachers and mentors.
Sat-11-May-2024
“If you are going to live to 100, you might as well be happy” – this is a quote from Rhee Kun Hoo from an article I read in the Guardian. I thought of his philosophy of life and how to be happy, while I was sketching this. These are those mini tubes of toothpaste that airlines sometimes give you. I didn’t realise we had accumulated so many…so I’ve started using them – though some don’t taste so nice!
Thu-9-May-2024
After doing two postcard sketches on Sunday 5th May with #UrbanSketchersQuezonCity at the Maginhawa Food Festival. I managed to find time to do another sketch. We were sitting at the back of all the food tents, so this one captures the jumble of all the boxes, water jugs and ephemera that each food stand had. I also managed to get in a few people, so I think I captured the feel of the event in this one. I only had time to do the ink work on the spot so added the colour at home…deciding to leave some areas white and focus on the contrast with the dark green trees in the background.
Sun-5-May-2024
Here is the second postcard sketch I did on Sunday 5th May when we joined #UrbanSketchersQuezonCity at the Maginhawa Food Festival. Like the previous sketch this was part of our postcard exchange with #UskSaoPaulo, Brazil and I wrote a short message on the back to my “secret sketcher”.
Sun-5-May-2024
In the afternoon on Sunday 5th we joined #UrbanSketchersQuezonCity at the Maginhawa Food Festival. This event was part of National Heritage Month and for the group, International Urban Sketchers Week. To celebrate this we did a postcard exchange with São Paulo, Brazil. Each of us received postcard-size watercolour papers provided by #Hahnemühle through @DeovirArts and then we sketched a scene from the Food Festival. On the back we each wrote a message to our “secret sketcher” from the #USkSaoPaulo group. All our cards were sent off to Brazil and, assuming the postal service works, sometime later this year we will each receive a card from our fellow sketchers. I wonder who my secret sketcher will be?
Sun-5-May-2024
This is the first sketch in a new sketchbook – No.87 – (going back to using Clairefontaine Aquapad 300gsm cold pressed paper), done at the Pino restaurant on Malingap Street in Quezon City. I did this one as we arrived early for the #UskQuezonCity #SketchWalk at the Maginhawa Food Festival. The restaurant has a separate menu (called Pipino – which means cucumber) for vegetarian food.
Sun-5-May-2024
Sunday 5th May started with a drive into Makati with my wife attending a meeting and me hanging around in Washington SyCip Park (which is named after a Filipino accountant and banker). It’s quite small but contains several sculptures by Impy Pilapil – this one is called The Mangrove Nature Embrace. The park is a rare but desperately needed public green space in Metro Manila (the rest being eaten up by greedy developers), demonstrated by how crowded this park is with dog walkers, picnickers and people just eager to get outside… even in the heat. Sitting under this sculpture a couple were having a picnic and had brought their ginger cat, who regularly disappeared into the bushes.
Sun-5-May-2024
We bought this Hollywood bike rack (that fixes on the back of our car) years ago. When I tried to put it on the car a while back, it was so long since we’d used it, that I first put it on upside down. All those straps and buckles and get pretty confusing! As I often find with my sketches I ran out of space at the bottom of the page for this one.
Thu-2-May-2024