I finally got outside to sketch…around this time I was busy with work and had been doing too many evening/indoor sketches. Many of the trees in the communal garden look like they are about to fall over with their roots lifting out of the ground. I am dreading the next big typhoon to hit Metro Manila.
Fri-13-Feb-2026
After our veggie and fruit shopping at the wet market we went to Manila Memorial…we didn’t go during Undas (observance of all saints and all souls days), so this was long overdue. I’ve sketched this tree before (see No.2028 in April 2022 and No.337 in 2017)…not sure if I’ve improved my tree sketching much!
Sat-8-Nov-2025
I sketched this sitting outside Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Serendra. It’s the first sketch in a new but old, (because it’s been left unused for decades) Daler Rowney sketchbook with 150 gsm cartridge paper, given to me by my brother-in-law. I used sketchbooks like this in Australia and Cambodia in the 1990s. It takes a bit of getting used to the paper – but it’s nice and thin and challenging. I like cheaper paper – its less intimidating. This is Hotel 101 in the Fort Bonifacio – an exercise in ugliness and painted the gloomiest of greys.
Sat-12-Jul-2025
On the day I did this sketch we went out for breakfast (lugaw, tokwa, boiled egg and gulaman) at Goto ni Juan in the local supermarket and then had a wander though this little market. Mostly they sell veggies that you can already buy at the wet market the same distance away (in the opposite direction)…but probably at exaggerated prices. We did buy some spuds and avocados though, while we sheltered from the rain under one of the umbrellas.
Fri-27-Jun-2025
This day I was trying to start my day in a better way. Rather than doomscrolling, I sketched this view from our balcony (as I have done several times before – see sketch No. 1424), while I had my morning coffee. I took off the washi tape border for this one as I wanted to fill the paper with the lush greenery.
Wed-25-Jun-2025
On this day we drove to Wales for a walk in Nercwys Forest, followed by a visit to a (non) castle in Mold (there was only a mound where a castle used to be), coffee in the “Cracked Coffee House” (@_crackedcoffee), then a visit to this castle hidden in the woodland. This one was probably built by “Llywelyn The Great” around 1210 but otherwise has a “murky” history. We all sat in the bailey and I sketched this fantastic huge oak tree. Meanwhile nearby some local kids were smoking dope on the battlements and our daughter got bitten by something (probably a spider) which later swelled up into large lumps! After sketching we had our own little our own little ‘latag’ (show and tell).
Fri-30-May-2025
On Sunday 2 March, we decided to go out into the communal garden for a change and do a sketch – but somehow this ended up looking a lot gloomier than it really is. I’ve sketched that big tree a couple of times before – the roots are really coming out of the ground now and there is always a danger it will topple over in a typhoon.
Sun-2-Mar-2025