PeopleSketching

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

115-3400 – But first breakfast

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Here is the first sketch I did with Urban Sketchers QC on the “Banaag Sketching Heritage Tour” in Taal. A friend kindly drove a group of us and we arrived just in time to register, get a goody bag and for the opening talks. We then went to straight to breakfast at @GalleriaTaal (where there is also a camera museum though we didn’t go and see that).

Sat-21-Feb-2026

107-3209 – Three ladies waiting

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It was my duty/pleasure/turn to drive into town with my wife on the day I sketched this…plus I knew I would be travelling (and be away for a while) soon. We drove to the Taguig Comelec Office (a branch of the Commission on Elections in the Philippines, which deals with voter registration and certification), which is peculiarly housed (temporarily I assume – or at least it looks temporary), in a parking structure near Vista Mall. In fact the whole structure looks like it is not used by the mall but by the local government. Anyway the whole process was over very quickly so I finished this sketch at home. I think speed helped and this is one of my better sketches of the backs of peoples heads (a common subject for me)!

Fri-15-Aug-2025

107-3201 – Medical records

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Here is another sketch done in a crowd – this time waiting in a corridor for my wife’s medical records to be released. I sketched the heads on the left first, followed by a bundle of legs below them – I’m not sure if they meet up properly!

Wed-6-Aug-2025

105-3143 – Brunch at idle hands

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I did this sketch while we were waiting for our brunch at a nice little café (@idlehandscoffee) and saying goodbye to our daughter who was heading back down south to London. I had a lovely 3 cheese grilled sandwich. The waitress took a photo of my sketch and my daughter said I should make more effort to “shamelessly promote” my artwork!

Sun-1-Jun-2025

104-3133 – Mala

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I had missed doing a sketch, the day before this, because of the long drive up from Brighton, but made up for it by doing two sketches on our first day in Manchester…this is the second one. We started our day with a visit to #FredAldous (my current favourite art supplies shop, where I bought new palette) and ended with a nice cup of tea in this cafe (@mala_mcr), which is described as an all-wooden, pop-up style, outside-inside bar, with a surrealist design ethic.

Mon-26-May-2025