April 7 to 12, 2014 - Urban Sketchers Singapore Visits Manila

They came, they saw, they sketched.

A 7-member of the Singaporean Urban Sketchers group had visited us for a 5-day filled with sketching activities in various parts of Metro Manila. Tony Chua, Ignatius Yeo, Lisa Huang, Wee Teck Ong, Tan Chit Seng, Edric Hsu, and Milo Sudaria sketched partied with fellow Urban Sketchers Philippine members.

Day 1, Monday, April 7 SM Megamall art galleries. Our visitors arrived and were met with USk PH members Eileen Escueta and Carlo Aces at this shopping mall.

Day 2, Tuesday, April 8 Intramuros - the old Spanish wall-fortified city. We first sketched the Manila Cathedral which was still closed due to some improvements. We then sketched the one of the Philippines' World Heritage Baroque churches, the San Agustin church. Lunch was held at the Intramuros hotel restaurant. The sketching day ended at the Fort Santiago, the Spanish barracks at the time with an overview of the estuary of the Pasig river.

Day 3, Wednesday, April 9 Visit to the Yuchengco Museum.

Day 4, Thursday, April 10 Visit to the Carriedo fountain as the symbol of Manila's modern piped water system, followed by a visit to the Binondo area; Escolta avenue, Manila's first business center; the El Hogar Filipino building, a century-old historical building in danger of being demolished; and lastly the University of Santo tomas, the 400-year-old+ and oldest university in Asia.

Day 5, Friday, April 11 San Sebatian church, the only all-steel century-old church in Asia; Quiapo, the old rich residential district of Manila; Quiapo church; the Metropolitan Theatre, a beautiful Art-Deco building built in the 1930s; and finally the Main Post Office Building. There were more places we wanted to show our visitors, but we essentially ended up scheduling these places near to each other for that day.

We wanted to show our visitors the beauty and the state of decay of our city, and some of the goodness some private communities are trying to do to arrest those decays.

Our Singaporean visitors were high in sketching spirits. It was a refreshing eye-opener for some of Filipino sketchers. The enthusiastic characters of our Singaporean friends were simply staggering. They were literally sketching as much as they could, even during our breaks. It 's relatively refreshing to see.

March 22, 2014 Sketching at the Ayala Museum

The outside the museum by Eileen Escueta

The Ayala Museum Lobby by Nonie Castillo

Janne Soriano takes the floor

On the 3rd Saturday of every month, the Urban Sketchers Philippines gather for 3 hours to sketch. We will be reaching our 3rd year anniversary this April, 2014, and we have since organized different places and themes for sketching around Metro Manila most of the time.

Anabel de la Paz,  a visiting student from Spain studying at the University of Santo Tomas  concentrates 

Sketching subjects are up to the individual artists or whatever style or medium they are most comfortable. The main idea keeping it as authentic to record whatever we observe in the area. And we are not all professional artists, in varied in ages and backgrounds.

Lauren sketches those boats

Carlo Martinez sketches with pen & ink on paper

Equipped even with the most basic pencil and paper, the main idea is recording an observation, by making a picture rather than taking one with a camera. It is the slow process of drawing what sketchers see becomes the key ingredient in discovery about the subject.

Nice Rodriguez 

Muffy  and  Ampoa Roxas  do a mother and daughter sketching session 

Assembling the sketches for us to have a look

The deliberate conscious attempt to record the things, object, people or place hasn't changed since our ancestors started scribbling on the ground and walls of rocks. Some could say drawing was the first ever medium that can transfer an idea of what was perceived by the author, or in this case the artist, to those who will see the image.

The invention of paper in abundance gave way for portability in the form of  bundling them together,  we commonly know as sketchbooks. With every sketch walk, it gives us the opportunity to share our sketches. Every page leaf indented with marks and colors form to gives us a glimpse of what made the artist spend time to observe what was sketched.

Tancho shares his sketches with us

This month's sketch walk was made possible from the permission of Ms.Mariles Gustilo, Ayala Foundations Director for Arts and Culture, and Carla Gamalinda, Ayala Museum Associate Audience Development for making our sketch walk. We highly appreciate the chance of letting us sketch at the museum.

Sketch Walk at the Ayala Museum this March 22, 2014

This month's theme: Museums
Where: Ayala Museum, Makati City
When: Saturday, March 22, 2014
Time: 9am to 12nn

Participants are requested to bring a pictured ID for free entrance to the museum during this time frame and are asked to observe the NO PICTURE TAKING at certain exhibits of the museum. Bags will need to be deposited and you are advised to bring your own materials.

We also would request participants to email their sketches of the sketch walk as complimentary copies for the museum. This is voluntary and due credit will need given to the artist if the museum chose to use them.

February 22, 2014 Sketch Walk - The El Hogar Filipino Building

We got wind that photographers were being asked not to take pictures of this 100-year-old building, requested by the new owners, now revealed to be MegaWorld Developers. They don't really have a track record of turning cultural heritage building for adaptive reuse.

This building has been a hot topic of late, since it switched owners and the tenants were asked to vacate lat February 20th, and only two security guards are there. Rumors started coming that it would be demolished to give way to a spanking new mall and condominium...

The security guards never asked us not to take pictures when they saw us. The story would have been different if a camera group came here instead of a sketching one. I asked everyone to refrain from taking picture shots of the building, well when the guards aren't looking anyway.

I guess sketching can't be considered as intrusive as taking pictorial records.

Sketching is close to observation, and the activity had 20 attendees this sketch walk. It was an enjoyable morning in Manila. We hope the El Hogar building stays, and it could still be viable for a beautiful hotel or residence.