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
One of my sketchbooks wouldn’t be complete without a sketch of our cats. Here they are on their cat condo. Captain Haddock, who seems to get bigger each day (big boned I say, not fat), hangs over the edge of the bit he prefers to sit on. General Tapioca is still small and seems like he is going to be kitten sized forever.
Fri-7-Feb-2025
Here is another sketch of our cat, Captain Haddock. Recently I reassembled our cat condo and we fixed this cushion onto the highest spot (my wife added a drawstring to the cushion made by our daughter). This makes it more stable and it has now become Haddock’s favourite snoozing spot. According to animal behaviour experts, many cats prefer to sleep in places that have good vantage points, as this gives them an aerial advantage for spotting any potential dangers (or watch potential prey) without being seen.
Tue-17-Sep-2024
Here is an evening sketch of a view I have drawn many times before. The (minor) difference is that our doors are now painted a more cheery colour that the dark brown of before. The day I sketched this we finally persuaded the contractor (after much nagging), to come back and correct some defects… to be honest they still did the work in a rather slapdash way.
Mon-16-Sep-2024
When I sketched this I had just watched a “draw tip Tuesday” video which focussed on contrast – I always find these videos inspiring. Meanwhile my wife has been making cushion covers for her office kneeling stool from some old fabric we bought in Syria. In this sketch I tried to get the cosy atmosphere and light from the small strip-light above her desk, but struggled with keeping the brush (an unbranded water-brush given to me by a friend) clean – my Faber Castell one is definitely the best…if only the nylon tip wasn’t so ragged.
Sat-7-Sep-2024
This is the second sketch I did on a trip we made with friends to ZenZen café in Alfonso, Cavite. I did this one in the main food hall (which is in a glass house), while we waited for our lunch. I started this off with some #Derwent watercolour pencils. The food hall is full of these trees which are decorated with sill (or maybe plastic) cherry blossoms (all part of the Japanese styling). I thought this sketch could also count to the prompt of ‘Glass’ for Day 27 of #Sketchtober2023.
Sun-12-Nov-2023
This sketch follows the #Sketchtober2023 prompt of light fixture for Day 20. I think we bought this glass lampshade in Istanbul years ago. Certainly since then it has either in storage or hanging on the side of a cupboard.
Wed-8-Nov-2023
It’s time for another cat sketch – following the #Inktober2023 prompt of ‘Angel’ for Day 16. I sketched this while bingeing a new TV series called ‘Gen V’, while General Tapioca (our youngest cat) slept next to me. He had been snoozing on the couch next to me all afternoon. What a cuddly little angel he is. By the way Gen V is not for the faint-hearted!
Sun-29-Oct-2023
This sketch follows the #Sketchtober2023 prompt of ‘watch/clock’ for Day 14. I don’t recall who gave us this clock. It stayed in storage for quite a while, then our previous one (which of course I’ve sketched before) kind of fell apart (it’s above the hob so it got all grungy), so this one went up after we redecorated.
Fri-27-Oct-2023