Here is the second sketch I did after the initial talk of Enrique Flores at the ICM workshop last Saturday. This statue in the Plaza de Roma, in front of Manila Cathedral, was originally erected in 1824 (and later reinstated in 1981) to honour Charles IV of Spain having sent the first batch of smallpox vaccine to the Philippines. In my sketch the king looks like he’s about to fall off his pedestal. The building in the background is the Governor’s Palace and was built in 1976.
Sat-9-Mar-2024
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
Here is the last sketch I did with #UskQuezonCity at the Tandang Sora shrine last weekend. I managed to find a shady spot and sketch the building in which a little exhibition and gallery space is housed. Eventually nearly all of us sketchers ended up sitting in the shade of this building…and you can just about pick them out in my sketch.
Sun-21-Jan-2024
Here is the second sketch I did with #UskQuezonCity at the Tandang Sora shrine last weekend. For this one I decided to sketch the buildings outside the compound. Like in my last one my choice of scene depended on finding a shady spot to sit.
Sun-21-Jan-2024
Here is my first sketch done with #UskQuezonCity at the Tandang Sora shrine on the weekend. We were there to celebrate the 212th anniversary of her birth. I sketched the same place back in October last year and learnt then that she offered shelter and medical aid to the Filipino revolutionaries. This time I had to hunt for a shady spot and ended up sketching the monument from a slightly awkward angle.
Sun-21-Jan-2024
Here is the second sketch I did after my little workshop on bookbinding with #UskQuezonCity last Sunday. We held the workshop at the Audio Visual room of @MuseoNiManuelQuezon, and in the back of the room was this bust of Manuel Quezon (the first president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines). I am always attracted to bright colours and contrasting tones when I look for something to sketch, so sketching this was a no-brainer! I am not sure which country’s flags these are (though the Philippines flag is the 5th from the right)…maybe someone will point that out for me.
Sun-10-Dec-2023
I am jumping ahead a little with this post, done after my little workshop on bookbinding with #UskQuezonCity last Sunday. We held the workshop at the @MuseoNiManuelQuezon, which is a mausoleum/museum (which I didn’t even know existed) on the ground floor of the Quezon Memorial Shrine, containing the remains and memorabilia of Manuel Quezon, the first president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. I didn’t get a chance to look round the museum but we were lucky enough to be allowed to climb up to the top of the shrine, up the few hundred steps of a narrow spiral staircase in one of the columns of the shrine. The views were fantastic.
Sun-10-Dec-2023
Here is another sketch I did in Baguio…again taking photos of each step in an effort to show how I sketch. The truth is though, that I am usually not quite so careful and just launch into the sketch without any ‘construction’ lines…that’s why I often miss out the top of a tall building or find what I am sketching disappearing off the edge of the page! This one is done in my favourite restaurant in Baguio, a place called “Oh my gulay” – a local expression literally meaning ‘oh my veggies’ but effectively more like OMG. I’ve sketched here several times before – if you are keen you can hunt for sketch numbers 1643 and 2297 in my archive.
Sun-3-Dec-2023
We have been on a little trip to Baguio and stayed in a nice little apartment way up in the mountains (or it certainly felt that way for our poor little car which struggled with the hills). This is the view we had from the rooftop. I did this sketch on the first day we arrived, after a long drive up from Manila, having setting off at 4am!
Fri-1-Dec-2023