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
I found this little plastic pot (which I think is supposed to be for cutlery on a draining board) in amongst some of our junk and have been using it to hold some of my excess sketching materials. I thought it would make a nice easy subject for an evening sketch…plus I love that green colour (I used Cobalt Green – Holbein Water Colour).
Mon-4-Mar-2024
This sketch was done early one evening when my wife and I went for a walk down the road, to where DMCI (the developers of the place where we live), store all their cranes and equipment. I think these are components of “tower cranes” that can be reassembled as needed. It was a really complicated scene to sketch and I got a bit lost in the detail…so I will probably try the subject again one day.
Sat-2-Mar-2024
So, after a lot of #UrbanSketches this post goes back to an evening sketch of something around the home. I bought this pair of flip-flops (what people call slippers here) in Bantayan Island, over the New Year, when our luggage didn’t arrive with us. They were just the first pair I saw in the Hyper-Mart and they have super knobbly soles.
Wed-28-Feb-2024
This sketch has been patiently waiting for me to finish it for a few weeks. I did this one last month when I was visiting the hospital for a few tests (old man stuff). I had to hang around for a while, so I sat in the main lobby and sketched it. I added the colour just the other day. For a change, this sketch improved when I added colour.
Mon-29-Feb-2024
The day after our sketch-walk with #UskManila in Angeles City, we went on a trip to Mt. Pinatubo. This required us to leave our Airbnb place at 4am, drive for an hour to arrive at a pick up point, take a 1 hour four-wheel drive ride and then hike for 2 hours. The volcano erupted in 1991, blowing the top off the mountain and resulting in an ash cloud which went 35km into the atmosphere, with the falling ash burying some nearby valleys in 200m thick deposits. Now a beautiful lake has formed in the crater and hundreds of tourists (like us) hike up to it…and even swim in it.
Sun-25-Feb-2024
Finally, here is the last sketch I did in Angeles City with #UskManila. After visiting the local church we went to the Museo ning Angeles, which is Kapampangan (the predominant language in Pampanga) for “Museum of Angeles”. I sketched this upstairs (culinarium comes from latin for relating to kitchens and cookery), while a demonstration was given by Lucio Sison about the Kapampangan script. He kindly later wrote my name in the script, which looks really cool.
Sat-24-Feb-2024
I did so many sketches on our trip to Angeles City with #UskManila…so here is another one. After sketching at #PamintuanMansion we visited the local church. This church was first built in 1877, but was damaged in the 2019 Luzon earthquake and is currently undergoing restoration. I did this sketch very quickly…probably too quickly as I made lots of mistakes!
Sat-24-Feb-2024
I had a very productive sketching day with #UskManila in Angeles City a week ago. Here is one that demonstrates why I prefer to sketch on location and from life. After lunch we went back to Pamintuan Mansion and started another sketch, but I only got a few lines on the paper before we were called for the ‘latag’ (when the group spreads out their sketches). So I took a picture and tried to finish the sketch at home. However, as I often find, a photo hides the detail that you can see in real life, plus colours and perspectives are changed. For me, sketching from a photo, is not a satisfying process.
Sat-24-Feb-2024