SketchingOnLocation

101-3047-8 – Urban sketching at the corner house

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

Finally I am getting round to posting my sketches done with #UskQuezonCity at the corner house. This building was designed (by Thai architects, the Department of Architecture, in collaboration with the BAAD Studio in the Philippines) as an “aesthetic community mall”, following an open air concept along the lines of “The Commons” in Bangkok. It houses a lot of small eateries and features an atrium circumnavigated by a ramp which is supposed to be a safe jogging path for residents of the area. The building is interesting, though maybe a bit over-designed with a forest of white steel columns, but we chose to sketch the view of San Juan you can see from one of the ramps. In my first sketch I started with a simple outline of the shapes and then filled in some details.

My second sketch (of my wife) was a bit messy and full of errors. I keep forgetting that my first rule in sketching is “don’t rush even if you have only a little time – take your time to see the scene instead of jumping in”.

Sun-16-Mar-2025

100-3018 – View from parrot’s beak

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

We are sticking to our resolution of doing at least one hike a month, so on March 1st we went up Mt. Pico de Loro. According to Wikipedia, it was named by Spanish sea-farers as the summit resembles the shape of a parrot’s beak, and when seen was taken as a signal to turn east to get into Manila Bay. We had to book in advance with DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) as they allow only 90 hikers per day (it was closed for 6 years due to the volumes of trash left by visitors, degradation and soil erosion) – but when we arrived our payment hadn’t appeared on their system…so our hike started with a bit of stress (from me). However the hike was pleasant – not too steep with lots of forest cover and really old trees (the area is protected) which I would have loved to have stopped to sketch.

Sat-1-Mar-2025

99-2996 – Haddock on the malong

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

With this sketch I was sticking to the idea of sketching whatever is in front of me…in this case, Captain Haddock in one of his favourite spots in the evening – though he prefers to sit there when my wife is also trying to use the footstool. A malong (a traditional Filipino garment) is a large, tube-shaped piece of cloth that is wrapped around the body, worn by men and women. 

Tue-18-Feb-2025

99-2995 – Andres Bonifacio in ten minutes

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

Here is the last sketch I did on Sunday 16th Feb with #UskQuezonCity at the Quezon City Hall M.I.C.E building. This statue is one of many dotted around the compound…but it was the first one I saw when I realised I only had 10 minutes before the latag (show and tell)…though I did do a little more work on it later. The plaque notes that Andres Bonifacio led the Philippine revolution against Spain, founding the Katipunan, a secret revolutionary organisation. On the back of the statue it notes that the “Redevelopment of Plaza Bonifacio” was a project of Mayor Belmonte. It’s a pity that the artist of the statue is not mentioned and I couldn’t find the artist searching the internet either (although the City does have a picture of the statue on their website).

Sun-16-Feb-2025

99-2994 – An engineer’s dream

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

Here is the second sketch I did on Sunday 16th Feb with #UskQuezonCity at the Quezon City Hall M.I.C.E building. I called this “An engineer’s dream”, but equally a structural engineer might consider this a headache! Clearly the architects wanted to include lots of elements – a soaring pointy roof, a huge cantilevered canopy, a sloping glass atrium-like space and just on the edge of my sketch a domed roof. It was certainly interesting to sketch anyway.

Sun-16-Feb-2025

99-2993 – MICE shadows

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

On Sunday 16th Feb I went to the #UskQuezonCity 6th anniversary sketch-walk at the Quezon City Hall M.I.C.E building (meaning Meetings, Incentives, Conference and Exhibits…not the cute little furry things). For my first sketch I went up to the first floor and (being an architect) chose to sketch the building and the shadows of the massive cantilevered structure. The building has a modern and elaborate design. During the sketch-walk we got free snacks and lunch and a huge number of first-timers joined the event.

Sun-16-Feb-2025

99-2992 – New stool

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

Having seen the folding stool of a friend and fellow sketcher I couldn’t resist getting a new one. My old one (see sketch No. 770) has served me well but it’s rather heavy and this one packs up even smaller (although I do get a bit tangled up with it, when unfolding it). It’s made by #Naturehike and was quite affordable.

Thu-13-Feb-2025

99-2989 – Blustery on Mt. Mabilog

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

On Sunday 9 Feb we went for a short hike up Mt. Mabilog near San Pablo City (keeping up with our resolution to go on at least one hike per month). This blog gives you an idea of what you can see on the hike. It was very muddy on the way up and quite treacherous on the way down. Our guide (who was 72!) seemed to have no problem though and just skipped along chatting all the way. From the top we could see some of the 7 lakes (Lake Yambo, Lake Pandin are relatively nearby and in the distance we could see Sampaloc Lake) of San Pablo City.

Sun-9-Feb-2025

99-2998 – In the greenery

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

On the day I sketched this we went out for morning little walk and stopped at the #Brewhilde coffee shop for breakfast – I had waffles with syrup and jam…sweetness overload! I have sketched there multiple times before – see 87-2702 on 19 May and 90-2769 on 6 July last year. This time I just decided to sketch the wheelie-bin surrounded by greenery.

Sat-8-Feb-2025