Escolta Street Sketch Walk - 23 July

The Urban Sketchers Philippines Third Official Sketch Walk along Escolta Street in the old section of Manila was last Saturday, 23 July. It was my first sketching venture into the old areas, where life can be a constant daily pursuit of survival for many people who live there. These are my results - less my unfinished view of the Art Deco Capitol Theatre - the Arsenio Lacson statue, a view of the Santa Cruz Church, seen thru the many criss-crossing power lines, and a dilapidated building perched along a small (and rather odiferous) 'estero' (canal) on Escolta St.

Sketching Result of July 23, 2011

With the sun blazing half the time and the other half raining, we could say the sketchcrawl at Escolta street in Manila was a success.  Sketching or drawing on location offers a more direct and personal way of recording what you see, feel and think. The level of artistry does not bare importance and the result does not matter much. What is given emphasis is the experience of the place captured on paper. Heritage places offer an interesting theme for sketching as you get a glimpse of the cultural and artistic richness they emanate. You notice things more, taking in the place more intimately than merely taking pictures. In this case, you would be making the picture, instead of taking it. The process of making utilizes a deeper brain procedure, which in turn makes everything more memorable and personalized. This is what we recently experienced during our sketching session we had at Escolta street. The façade of the Capitol Theatre was particularly interesting since we noticed the details of the two ladies relief, otherwise unnoticed looking or taking a picture. Street children started to flock to us, curious of what we were doing. We wished we had extra pads and pencils to give away for their chance to sketch along. It's the first time we've encountered curious street kids and with Ryan suggestion of carrying sketchbooks and pencils next time, we could make a point of encouraging anyone to join us impromptu and notice our city. Adults who stop would strike conversations with us, and it makes the whole experience of being there richer that what we’ve expected. 8 of us had a blast. We hope a lot more be encouraged to join us. Next theme will be a museum. Details to follow soon.

Sketching on July 23, 2011

 

 We join the rest of the world with the official Sketchcrawl event on Saturday, July 23 2011. So, if you will not be able to join this official Urban Sketchers Philippines sketching session, and need to be elsewhere, you can virtually join us by sketching what you see, wherever you are during the day. You may then scan or take a picture of your work to upload to Flickr and add to the Urban Sketchers group. Rain or shine again, there would be no cancellation for this session!

Article on Drawing and Sketching on BluPrint Magazine

In BluPrint's special issue number 2 2011 (July), I got a chance to write about sketching and drawing. I can't really post the entire article, so please do get a copy out on stands now. More articles coming up, and the next one will feature Buz, Ryan and my sketches on an article on travel sketching by August. I hope to feature other's sketches in future writings, so keep on sketching!

Manila Street Scenes

Just a couple of random sketches here from a few weeks back. The one above was from when I was having my car airconditioner fixed in Makati repair shop. Even though I've lived my entire life in Tropical countries, or perhaps because of it I am a slave to airconditioning.

This other one is pretty random. I was waiting for my brother in law to get a haircut, so I stepped outside to sketch the HSBC building along President's Avenue in Paranaque.

Talk on Travel Sketching last July 2, 2011

Museum director Gerry Torres introduces

Buz talks about his sketches in Asia and his hometown

Janeil reveals more sketches from Ryan and Buz used in his article on travel sketching

Ryan shares his observation about his camera

The audience got to see the actual illustrations

Janeil, Buz and Ryan were very grateful to be able to share their experiences

With a number 30 or so audience, we conducted this some 2 hour talk on travel sketching in connection with Philippine National Artist for the visual arts Jose Joya's travel sketches exhibition at the Manila Metropolitan Museum. A couple got inspired and convinced to joining future sketching sessions in Manila soon.