PeopleSketching

122-3539-41 – Poblacion Barangay, Museo ng Makati and people

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Poblacion Barangay

Here are the other sketches I did when I joined Urban Sketchers Manila at the Rosas ng Sampiro festival in Poblacion Barangay of Makati City. This is an annual cultural and street-dancing celebration by local schools, that honours the city’s patroness, the Virgen dela Rosa de Macati (an 18th-century statue at the Saints Peter and Paul Parish, apparently brought from Mexico via galleon in 1718).

Museo ng Makati

I first drew a group of fellow sketchers and then went up to the balcony of the Barangay Hall where I sketched the view and the crowds of people. The costumes and performances were fantastic, but they moved so fast that I couldn’t capture them in a drawing.

People at Rosas ng Sampiro

Sat-27-Jun-2026

122-3537-8 – Powerplant outside Dunkin’ and people at The Grid

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Powerplant outside Dunkin’

These are the first two sketches I did when I joined Urban Sketchers Manila at the Rosas ng Sampiro festival in the Makati Poblacion Barangay (more about that in the next post). I first met up with my friend @the_uban_sketcher at the Powerplant Mall (it’s built on the site of a former power plant) and did the first sketch where we met up. After that we went for lunch at The Grid – which is a high end (meaning over-priced) foodcourt – but at least I could get some vegetarian food there.

People at The Grid

Sat-27-Jun-2026

121-3515-19 – People sketching at the skate park

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Intensely staring at his phone

I decided to just do quick sketches of people when I joined @UskQuezonCity for our sketch-walk. The first one of three separate people was done when I arrived early and went to get coffee. In the skate park perhaps I should have tried more to capture the action?

At the skate-park

Anyway, the last one was done from a shady spot below the park, of the sketchers using umbrellas to keep the sun off – it was roasting hot with all the heat radiating off the concrete.

Discussing the grind
More hanging around
Umbrellas

Sun-7-Jun-2026

121-3514 – Mother and daughter

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Here is another sketch of my mum – this time with my sister by her side. She was sitting in a slightly different spot from normal, giving her a view out the window into the garden. I struggled with this one a bit and it took me quite a while to get it to a state that I am ok with.

Sat-6-Jun-2026

120-3493 – Sketching each other

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After having been banned from sketching my wife for quite some time (due to some quite uncomplimentary efforts) – and after a little cajoling and practice sketching my mum – I was finally allowed to try again. We sat down to sketch each other across the table…and my sketch was approved!

Sat-16-May-2026

118-3460 – Mum

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Here is another sketch of my mum done while we were having a video chat. The day I sketched this she was sadly very confused and distressed about where she was and what was going on around her. Thankfully the day I am posting this she seems a bit more back to normal.

Sat-18-Apr-2026

116-3419-21 – Tomas Morato, Centris and Art in the Park

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Breakfast along Tomas Morato Av.

Here are the sketches I did when I joined Urban Sketchers Quezon City at the Car Free Sunday event along Tomas Morato Avenue. I first met up with my friends @the_uban_sketcher and @pixl8tor for breakfast at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

Where are the people?

Then after the latag we went to Centris Mall where we bought some second hand paint brushes from a little stall in the market called – more about that later. I sketched in Centris in 2019 (see Sketches 1016, 1017 and 1018)… one of the first gatherings of Urban Sketchers Quezon City. As I sketched a little boy came up to me and looked at what I was doing…and asked why I hadn’t included any people in my sketch…so I added one very small person!

Lastly after lunch, I headed to Art in the Park 2026 to say hi to my fellow sketchers from Urban Sketchers Manila. My sketch is of the entrance to the park where it takes place – somehow the person in the foreground ended up looking really tall…but they were actually just a lot closer to me.

Sun-15-Mar-2026

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