UskQC

107-3197 – Imelda’s roller

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After going to Bahay Modernismo with #UskQuezonCityI spend a nice long while sketching at the Presidential Car Museum. I have sketched there many times before (see sketches No. 1030 and No. 2587 to start with), but it’s always a bit of a struggle because the lighting is low – so you are never sure what colours or what values you are using until you step outside! This car is a 1960 Rolls-Royce Phantom V used by Imelda Marcos (mother of the current president of the Philippines and wife of Ferdinand the 10th president, who’s dictatorship was marked by cronyism, corruption, and human rights abuses – while his family amassed great personal wealth at the expense of the country).

Sun-3-Aug-2025

107-3196 – Bahay Modernismo

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Here is the first sketch that I did with #UskQuezonCity at Bahay Modernismo. This is a recently opened heritage museum at Quezon Memorial Circle which “aims to safeguard mid-century Filipino architecture and culture”, with the rooms filled with vintage furniture and classic products. We had 45 minutes inside but 30 minutes of what was the tour. This was sketched in the living room space.

Sun-3-Aug-2025

103-3114 – Café sketching

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Lights at High Grounds Café

After sketching #UskQuezonCity on Tomas Morato Avenue we joined a huge crowd of fellow sketchers in High Grounds Café for a bit of lunch, chat and an opportunity to test out Ohuhu Markers. I sketched the lights and the patterned wallpaper.

Sketch by Pamella S. Simioni
Líbero Badaró – Centro SP

The prompt for this day of International Urban Sketchers week was “giving”, which was appropriate as I finally received the sketches that I exchanged for two of mine with São Paulo, Brazil from the same time in 2024 (see post 87-2693 and 87-2692). The first sketch is by Pamella S. Simioni – I hope I got the right person. The second one was done by @andrawde and is of Rua Líbero Badaró a road in the centre of São Paulo. Each postcard had a nice little message on the back…I used google translate to try and understand what Pamella had said!

Sketch of me by al Vargas

I also exchanged sketches with my friend Al Vargas (@pixl8tor). I am including in this post the quick sketch he did of me.

Sat-3-May-2025

103-3113 – Flashback retro dance club

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On May 4 we joined the #UskQuezonCity on Tomas Morato Avenue where the city temporarily pedestrianises a section of the street every Sunday morning (from 6am to 10am) allowing residents to walk, bike, and enjoy the area. This event was part of the celebration of International Urban Sketchers week 2025 and was supported by @Ohuhu_Ph and @BeeHappyCrafts who gave a free set of fine-liner pens to the first 30 sketchers to arrive…which of course we didn’t make because the start time was 6am! My first sketch was done in Café Dulcinea, where we had breakfast

Sat-3-May-2025

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

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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

99-2995 – Andres Bonifacio in ten minutes

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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

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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

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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

98-2962 – Benitez Hall

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This is the second sketch I did with #UskQuezonCity at the University of the Philippines sunken garden on Sunday 12 Jan during our first #SketchWalk of the year. This building (used by the College of Law and designed by Filipino architect Juan M. Arellano) is one of the first academic buildings constructed at UP and was built “in anticipation of the official transfer of the University of the Philippines from its original location at Calle Isaac Peral, which is now known as the United Nations Avenue”.

Sun-12-Jan-2025