Villa de Acuzar Resort

Philippines is rich with heritage structures from the influence of  European and American colonists. But with poor policies, we lose old houses and buildings to new high accommodating structures.

Villa de Acuzar in Bagac, Bataan is a resort with the concept of using transferred old houses and buildings to its site for leisure stay. This concept is more for business than conservation and I have mixed reactions towards this issue - yes, at least they are not gone forever but they were modified somehow from their original construction. I've learned proper conservation adhere to certain strict rules to the way a heritage buildings should be handled and cared for.

With my 3 day stay at the resort due to my work, I have managed to get some impressions of how these buildings were seen and felt before. Just their essence since these uprooted buildings are not in their original context of how they responded to their original environment.

Pasig City Sketches

On the veranda of Bahay Na Tisa, in Barangay San Jose, Pasig.


The "azotea" - original main entrance to the house.


A street scene in Pasig City - I first noticed the leaning power poles with its' cacaphony of electrical wires.

Due to a late announcement, the November 26th monthly Sketch Walk in Pasig City was only attended by Carlo Martinez and Buz (me). We started with some sketching in the original city center, in Rizal Plaza. After a visit to the Pasig City Hall & lunch, we sketched on the grounds of a 160-year old house, Bahay Na Tisa, in the Barangay San Jose. The house design & interiors gave me a peek of what life in old Manila would have been like.

Quiet Views of Manila

The Santuario de San Antonio Parish Church


The Manila American Cemetery

Several recent sketches from the McKinley/Bonifacio area - drawings done during the past holiday weekend & on a warm Tuesday morning.

Manila Bay

I spent quite some time sketching in Manila Bay a couple of weeks ago while my was taking care of a work event. The sketch above is probably one of the most polished I've ever done, which makes sense since it took me about an hour to finish it.  I was actually sketching it outside in the wind and rain until some employees of Yellow Cab Pizza took pity on me and invited me to stay inside since there weren't a lot of customers that day. I wanted to order something in thanks but I was really full after one and a half sandwiches at Starbucks, so I sheepishly sneaked away after I was done with my sketch.  This one was done with a pencil outline, then brush pen and gray marker brush for shading.  The little squiggles on the upper right were supposed to be birds flapping in the wind, which I wasn't quite successful with.

This sketch was done in the aforementioned Starbucks.  I must have looked suspicious to the Starbucks crew and customers because I spent maybe 10 minutes just walking around Starbucks trying to find the best view.  These were all sketched in Harbor Square opposite the CCP complex.  I'd actually had no idea that this structure existed before that Saturday, but it's a pretty nice place to go and view the sunset or the boats and yachts moored in Manila Bay with skyscrapers and the piers in the background.

Sketching Results of Manila Monuments last October 22

A brief introduction to some new art materials

Sketch by Carlo Martinez

After a brief talk by an art supply distributor before starting out October's sketching session, we first proceeded with the statue of Queen Isabela II just outside the Intramuros, Manila. Most of the statues found in the area of Intramuros reminds us about the old Spanish empire that ruled the Philippines for 300 years. We got to sketch about 3 statues of former Spanish rulers namely Queen Isabela II, King Philip II and King Don Carlos IV. 6-year-old Ampao Roxas' drawings were utterly cute! This is how sketching should be - pure connection to what you are observing. She even noticed that King Philip's name was spelled in the Spanish version - Felipe.

New participant, Noipy Cruz' excellent pen sketch

Janeil's try on a large Derwent panoramic sketch pad

Ampao's mother, Muffy's sketch.

6-year-old Ampao had the right attitude with this sketch of Queen Isabela

by Carlo Martinez

King Philip's statue

King Don Carlos

Janeil's sketch last January

by Carlo Martinez