Here is another sketch of my mum done while we have a video chat – I think she looks younger in this one!
Sat-7-Mar-2026
116-3413 – Face practice again
SketchingPeople
116-3408 – Hatching my mum
Here is another try at sketching my mum while we had a video chat. This time I was hatching a lot using my fine TWSBI pen and black noodlers ink. As we chatted squirrels were eating the nuts in the bird feeder outside her window.
Sat-28-Feb-2026
98-2961 – Guys watching guys at UP sunken garden
On Sunday 12 January we joined our first #SketchWalk of the year with #UskQuezonCity at the University of the Philippines sunken garden. The sunken garden is a large green basin-shaped area at the Diliman campus, surrounded by large trees and is popular as a venue for sports and outside events. I did this first sketch of a group of young guys quite quickly…after 15 minutes they all got up and left together, so I had to be fast.
Sun-12-Jan-2025
97-2937 – Mall Christmas decor
This sketch was done at the local mall (Market Market!), when we stopped for a light lunch (at Beiruti Bites) while we were doing a massive Christmas shop for all the ingredients we needed to cook our Christmas dinner. I added all the sparkly lights with a Posca pen.
Mon-23-Dec-2024
97-2936 – Bowling party
This quick sketch was done when we had a family tenpin bowling get-together to celebrate our youngest daughter’s birthday. As you can see from the table, plenty of beer and soft drinks were consumed as well as mountains of food. We hired a VIP space at Studio 300 Pioneer, which was perfect. I haven’t been bowling in years…it turns out that I am still rather rubbish at it…but at least I was consistently mediocre!
Sun-22-Dec-2024
97-2934 – Old city hall
This isn’t my favourite activity just before Christmas, but by paying our property tax early (in December), we get a discount. I first headed to the new city hall (ugly, partially finished …maybe they ran out of funding), near our apartment, but then had to take a tricycle to the old one (which I thought had been closed) and did this sketch while I waited. I don’t know how good the municipality of Taguig are at providing services, but when it comes to collecting taxes they are really efficient, so I didn’t have much time to do this.
Fri-20-Dec-2024
97-2911 – Get on the plane
After my snooze at the airport in UAE I woke up with only a few hours to go before my flight, so I only managed this quick sketch at the gate, before boarding. This elderly couple appeared to be travelling the world together – they were wearing matching baggy trousers and had similarly coloured puffer jackets. What a fantastic moustache the guy had (my sketch is not an exaggeration)!
Wed-27-Nov-2024
94-2659-60 – National Museum of Natural History and Manila Doctors
Here are two sketches I did while waiting for procedures during our annual health check up at Manila Doctors Hospital. The building in my first sketch (viewed from the window of the hospital) was initially built as the Agriculture and Commerce Building in 1940 (it was designed by Filipino Architect Antonio Toledo in the late 1930s). American forces bombed the building in 1945 and it was reconstructed in 1949. It was then repurposed from the Department of Tourism to a museum in 2013.
The second sketch was done during the inevitable endless hanging around in waiting areas – and was done at two different times in two different waiting areas, hence the skewed perspective.
Sat-5-Oct-2024
80-2542 – Medical center
Sketching patients during a quick visit to the medical center for a cough that won’t go away (not me but my wife). Both airports and clinics are good places to sketch people. When sketching people I have to remind myself to accept errors (and just make a correction) and keep the pen moving and roaming around the paper.
Tue-19-Dec-2023