Intramuros

86-2683 – Nun with skull

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Here is the second sketch I did on 23 April in Intramuros, with #UrbanSketchersManila at the San Agustin Museum for the Unesco World Book and Copyright Day. On the left is a molave wood statue of Sta. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine (from Bacolor, Pampanga dating back to the 1700s). On the right is a statue of Saint Rita of Cascia. According one website she may have been holding a crucifix in her left hand – and she is known as the patroness of impossible causes including sterility, loneliness and marriage difficulties! I’m not sure why she is holding a skull though.

Tue-23-Apr-2024

86-2682 – Museo de San Agustin

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For the second part of our afternoon off on 23 April in Intramuros, we joined #UrbanSketchersManila at the San Agustin Museum for the Unesco World Book and Copyright Day, hosted by the UNESCO-Philippine National Commission. The museum has an amazing collection of religious artefacts, housed in a former monastery, with beautiful courtyards (I could sketch there for days). In my sketch the figures at the ends are St. Augustine and St. Paul (17th century Molave wood from Sexmoan, Pampanga …yes that is a real place), and in the middle is a 20th century Risen Christ. The museum notes didn’t say anything about the wooden altarpiece.

Tue-23-Apr-2024

83-2616 – Courtyard in the rain

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I am really behind with posting my sketches…because I have been so busy going out sketching! Anyway here is yet another one from the event with Instituto Cervantes Manila (ICM) last weekend. After lunch it was raining a little so we all had to find somewhere to shelter and sketch. I positioned myself under an archway and drew the courtyard of the Institute. The cobbled stone floor was wet and I was trying to get the reflections … but I wasn’t satisfied with how it looked, so I finished off quickly and moved on to another one. In the background you can see some Segway scooters…maybe some tourists were using them to get around Intramuros?

Sat-9-Mar-2024

83-2615 – Charles IV King of Spain

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Here is the second sketch I did after the initial talk of Enrique Flores at the ICM workshop last Saturday. This statue in the Plaza de Roma, in front of Manila Cathedral, was originally erected in 1824 (and later reinstated in 1981) to honour Charles IV of Spain having sent the first batch of smallpox vaccine to the Philippines. In my sketch the king looks like he’s about to fall off his pedestal. The building in the background is the Governor’s Palace and was built in 1976.

Sat-9-Mar-2024

83-2614 – Manila Catheral

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This is the first sketch I did after the initial talk of Enrique Flores at the ICM workshop on Saturday. Enrique gave us 40 tips on sketching, one of which was about including people to give a sense of scale – so I deliberately included the crowds outside the Cathedral. For a change I also masked off the edges of this sketch before painting (instead of using a wobbly line)…got to get some washi tape though.

Sat-9-Mar-2024

83-2613 – Instituto Cervantes

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Here is the first sketch I did when I joined the “Intramural” workshop with Enrique Flores in Intramuros. I had expected bad traffic and difficulty parking (neither of which happened), so I set off really early, and ended up with time to do this sketch of the ICM building, before things began. During the workshop Enrique mentioned that your first sketch is often not so successful…so I am counting this as my duff warm up effort.

Sat-9-Mar-2024

2073 – Peter and fountain

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Here is my last sketch from the #UskManila sketchwalk last Saturday. A fellow sketcher (Peter), asked if he could sketch me, sketching…so I sketched him sketching me. This sketch didn’t work out for me though – somehow the fountain gets all muddled up with the background.

Sat-28-May-2022

2072 – Baluarte bastion

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This is the second sketch I did on the #UskManila sketchwalk last Saturday. To do this one I climbed the stairs up to look down on the remains of the bastion. The original fort was built in 1586. Nowadays the gardens are used for wedding photo shoots and the upper area overlooks a golf course.

Sat-28-May-2022

2071 – Steam power

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On Saturday I joined #UskManila for their 11th anniversary sketchwalk at Baluarte de San Diego gardens. It was raining lightly, so I took a huge umbrella – but in the end didn’t need it, as I sketched this from a sheltered walk-way. This one took me far too long to finish – but it was a challenge. Why there is an old steam engine in the gardens I don’t know.

Sat-28-May-2022