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116-3411-12 – Waiting for our guide at Alitaptap Art Cafe

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Waiting for our guide

My daughter and her partner had an extra day in Manila (after their trip to Boracay) because their flight (via Doha) was cancelled and they rebooked a flight going through China …and then over Russia (not much better in my mind…the world is an unsafe place at the moment). Anyway we took advantage of the extra time and visited Tagaytay and then went to Alitaptap Artists Community in Amedeo. My first sketch is of my daughter.

Alitaptap Art Cafe

After a fascinating tour round the community visiting various artists studios and encountering huge dogs, turkeys, tortoises (also huge) and a white (albino) carabao, we rested in the art cafe and had some refreshments where I did another sketch. The community is well worth a visit and the artists and apprentices (one of which guided us – Eric) were very friendly and welcoming.

Thu-5-Mar-2026

116-3410 – Compelled to sketch everyday

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If I don’t use my preppy pen (with the blue sludgy Kung Te-Cheng Noodlers ink) every day, it dries up (update….even every day is not enough…it just dries up anyway). I had to work hard to get the ink flowing when I did this sketch…I next tried a little bit of damp tissue in the cap but that didn’t work either. This is one of the plants (one of the few that grows despite our “black thumbs”) that grows well on our balcony.

Tue-3-Mar-2026

116-3408 – Hatching my mum

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Here is another try at sketching my mum while we had a video chat. This time I was hatching a lot using my fine TWSBI pen and black noodlers ink. As we chatted squirrels were eating the nuts in the bird feeder outside her window.

Sat-28-Feb-2026

116-3405-6 – Cafe Dionysus and who is this sculpture by, at the Pintô Art Museum

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Cafe Dionysus at Pintô Art Museum

In February we made a visit to the Pintô Art Museum. Our first stop was lunch (at Cafe Dionysus (Dionysus is the ancient Greek god of wine, fertility, theatre etc., known as Bacchus in Roman mythology), where I had panini with queso puti (local white cheese made from carabao’s milk) that was actually three pieces of pan de sal (local bread rolls). A lot has changed since we visited years ago. These sketches was done in a new sketchbook made with Cass Art hot pressed 300 gsm watercolour paper.

Who is this sculpture by

After a few hours of wandering around the galleries we stopped at another cafe (it seems there are three at the museum these days), for a cold drink and I did a second sketch. Despite a long time searching I cannot find the name of this piece or the artist. I should have looked more carefully when I was there.

Tue-24-Feb-2026

115-3404 – Kintsugi again

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I sketched this on the second day of our daughter and her partner were visiting us – we made a trip into Makati for ukay-ukay (thrift store) shopping, wabi-sabi lunch (a noodle house in Makati Cinema Square – where we spent too much time trying to get a phone repaired, without success), then Greenbelt Mall. This teapot (from Syria – see sketch No.613 done in 2018) had a plant growing in it and the cats broke it…so another repair job is needed. Kintsugi is the the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery.

Mon-23-Feb-2026

115-3402-3 – Street in Taal and water bottles at Lomi House

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Street in Taal

Here are my last two sketches done with Urban Sketchers QC in Taal. The first of these was done in a random street – with the Basilica still visible in the background. The second of these was done at the end of the day after the Latag (show and tell or throw down – when the Mayor came!) while we waited for our Pancit Lomi before heading home.

Water bottles at Lomi House

Sat-21-Feb-2026