All I really want to do all day

Is paint flowers and people! Work has been stealing time from me, but still determined to practice and test out a few samples for an up coming project with my sisters. Out of all the different painting mediums that I've tried, watercolor is still my favorite.

Yesterday I practiced painting some peonies, trying out combinations for the bouquets of flowers in my paintings. 

 

  

 

I feel like I'm at a crossroads right now, thinking if I should pursue my career in I.T., or change a role within I.T. and slowly edge into a different path. I like the kind of work that I do in my chosen career, but I wish I had more flexibility in my time. Ah, oh well. We make the best of what we have right now, so there's no stopping me from practicing in the evenings!

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Tropical Watercolor

As usual, my drawings are inspired by flora and fauna. The sketch was made a month ago while I was watching Jim practice with his band. I had a sketchbook with me so I passed the time with a few studies. Eventually, I decided to add a few details with some hibiscus and haleconia flowers and colored the line art using my Prang watercolor set. 

My pain point is always coloring the girl's skin, but the macaw's feathers was super fun to paint. The yellows and the blues mixing together to create another hue is a joy to watch. I get so restless when doing my under painting because I want to add details and shading right away, but alas, patience must be practiced.

After coloring, I finally inked some edges using waterproof markers. I use artline pt 0.3 for some of the details. It makes the colors pop and it adds more dimension to the image, don't you think?

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Artsy Fartsy Round Up: May and June

I know I've been posting a lot of travel and apartment-related entries lately, and I've forgotten to blog about my arts and crafts projects. I HAVE been practicing, just not writing a lot about it. Thanks to Instagram, I have proof that I have been working on creative projects.

Here's A quick round up of my artsy fartsy pursuits these past couple of months!
(Top to bottom, Left to right)

1. Stenciled my corkboard using white acrylic paint and oslo paper. It's so much easier to stencil than paint the triangles individually. (I am obsessed with them lately).

2. Lyric calligraphy for my friend who wants to use it for her tattoo. Excited to see the final outcome on actual skin! #pressure

3. Watercolored lettering on the planner's June calendar for Independence Day. Super inspired by Gang Badoy Capati's statement during that day:

"Remember: the Philippines is not its government. The Philippines is a billion other things. The ice cream guy and the cop who dances, the banana shake by the beach, and the portable lechon from an airport, the sunsets from any point, and all the mountains & smiles, and the kite surfing air space, the surf, the skateboard's sound against the midnight park, the Philippines is its music, its poets, its dancers, and more and more and more.#independenceday #philippines"

4. Watercolored portrait. Practicing my washes and painting peonies and trying to be deliberate with my techniques in watercolor.

5. Dove rubberstamp at the Bright Minds Studio! Taught my cousin how to carve stamps. She made a bamboo pattern for herself.

6. Mushroom rubberstamp which is a personal project and a new addition to my collection! Next to watercolor, this is really my favorite artsy fartsy activity.

7. Ink and graphite portrait. Trying to go back to basics with making portraits and going minimalist with black and gold details. I may have been influenced by my neutral and safe choices at the apartment, so I am practicing restraint with my illustrations also.

8. Paper flower bouquet which came in handy as decor when I still didn't have plants at the condo. They're pretty and they never wilt!

9. Monogram rubberstamp for a friend's wedding! My college batchmate Cza is getting married this August and asked me to recreate their monogram on a rubberstamp. They want to use it for giveaways for their wedding. Of course, I was totally up for the challenge! So glad they liked it!

What have you been up to lately? :)

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Watercolor Weekday: Exercising Creativity

I started this blog with the goal of documenting my creative pursuits, artistic activities and design projects outside of my day job as an I.T. Consultant. Since childhood, my love affair with art has never wavered despite the smorgasbord of interests and life events that have come my way during my adult life. There was always this need to create, to play with color, to scribble, doodle and draw, even if they were on scraps of paper, the back of receipts or an artist grade watercolor paper. I've kept notebooks of sketches/doodles and journals for calligraphy, and as a toddler, I also used to draw/paint on walls (to my mother's horror), but that's another story. 

My volunteering week in Bohol in early January

Since I am a huge fan of paper and any surface that you can draw or paint on, my recent victim is a 2014 Starbucks planner that my sister Kat gave me at the start of the year. It was an extra planner that she had no use for and I, being on the receiving end, was happy to have another one of those planners that have a lot of space for doodling and less space for, well, planning. I've kept a bunch of planners before and while they have been useful for jotting down my to do list, most pages were used to document events after the fact, with tons of swirls and shitloads of block lettering.

Baguio doodle

Marker crazy with my Mt. Pulag entry

This year's planner is no different as I've been really enjoying with the daily activity of sprucing up my planner's weekly pages. I've improved with actually using it as a planner as opposed to only using it as a doodle notebook (yay me). Maintaining a planner has helped me in my productivity and in keeping my appointments, making sure that I accomplish what I had set out to do on a particular day. A concrete example is my weekly runs that I carefully indicate on a particular date based on my training plan. I write them in nice big letters, to make sure that I do not back out from my intended target. Mahiya naman ako sa lettering ko, diba? Plus, I get a kick out of ticking off each item on my list when I finish them. 

Since I have a perennial aversion to white space, I make sure to use up some blank pages in my planner to play with watercolor. This painting on the starting page of February was my mindless relaxing doodle when I had a couple of hours to spare on a particular weekend. I went into do not disturb mode and started painting. I love making mandalas even if sometimes I don't really know what my strokes mean. I enjoy the spontaneity of these paintings because I never have a preconceived idea on how it would turn out. 

A mindless watercolor doodle to fill in the white space

Last night, I had an urge to do something different not on the pages of my planner, but on its cover. There was something about having a planner with a generic looking brown faux leather cover that did not sit too well with me. With all due respect to Starbucks and their amazing ability to start a phenomenon on Filipinos' annual obsession with planners, I wanted mine to look a bit different because every second person in Manila probably has a card filled with peppermint mocha and toffee nut latte stickers somewhere. I remember attending a training at the office one time and I think 5 out of the 8 participants brought their Starbucks planners with them. I brought my red Mercury drug (!!!) notebook, coz I use that and not my planner to jot down notes at work. Thank you Mercury Drug, gamot ay siguradong bago.

Anyway, I took out my Reeves Acrylic paint set, and without a plan or a specific design in mind, I started painting little triangle patterns on my planner. I dunno why, but I've been crazy about these geometric patterns lately (see blog header!). Unlike watercolor, acrylics tend to adhere to different supports other than paper, so it really integrated well with the planner's cover. The dark colors were really opaque and brush strokes were hardly visible. The yellow pigment however, was bit transparent, so I had to apply triple coating. I kinda like how it turned out. There is some sort of tribal vibe to it, don't you think? I can't decide if I want to fully cover the whole thing with paint or keep it as is. Either way, I'm happy that my planner doesn't look like anyone else's.

So you see, exercising creativity can be done by anyone every day. Whether it be doing a full painting, doodling on your journal or writing down your plans and things to do for the day, everyone can practice being creative. It does not require any qualifications or a degree in art. Make a mess, play with color, go crazy with all sorts of materials! There is no real formula for it. All you need to do is open yourself to the possibilities. 

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Watercolor Feature: Happy Days Studios

Kristine of Happy Days Studios contacted me a few months back about creating a header for her newly launched Photography Website: www.happydays.ph. She sent me her pegs--nature inspired with use of calligraphic font. She gave me her original logo for reference.

Happy Days Studios' logo: Bright, yellow and, well, happy!

I reused the original font from the logo called Janda Stylish, and for the tag line, I used a Sans serif font to balance out the swirls of the header title. Then I simply added yellow and orange flowers for a hint of nature. The original elements were hand drawn and painted using watercolor, then I scanned it and re-edited using photoshop.

I came up with initial designs--very simple and no fuss, then based on her feedback, I came up with a revision which she ended up using on her website! She requested for a white background and a lighter color scheme. I created a new set of flowers and added a tinge of pink to balance out the yellows and oranges. 

So thrilled to have my work on someone else's virtual store front! Good luck and more power to you, Kristine! :)

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Have A Colorful 2014!

May the year ahead be your most amazing yet! Let's paint 2014 with wonderful experiences and exciting adventures. Let's fill it with love, laughter and positivity! 

The New Year is brimming with so much potential and so many possibilities, so let's make every day count, shall we? :)

I wish you all a colorful year ahead!

Big hugs,

Fayeshka

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Watercolor Weekend: Pinatubo Good Vibes

I went to Mt. Pinatubo early this year and chanced upon two lovely Aeta kids hanging out under a small bush. It was a brief encounter as I was about to leave with my group for our descent from the peak to the drop off point. The dark clouds were looming above the Pinatubo crater and we risked not being able to get back safely. Before finally leaving, I managed to take out my camera and grab a photo of the two pals. They had a curious exuberance about them when they realized that I was taking their picture. They smiled and posed, and seeing the innocence and good vibes in their eyes was so heartwarming. 

I used my Prang watercolor set on Canson Paper for this drawing. I still need to practice painting skin! Funny how I love painting portraits and people but my biggest weakness is actually figure drawing and painting my subjects' skin! Oh but it's always wonderful to capture brief encounters and fleeting moments with these nameless people. Even if we hadn't exchanged words, painting them makes me feel like we're friends. :)

Hope you had a lovely Monday!

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#YolandaPh

Over the past three days, I've been receiving emails from my colleagues in different countries, asking how my family is and how badly affected I am by the storm. I'm really thankful that Manila was spared, but I didn't realize how bad the damage was until I tuned into CNN on Sunday evening. Apart from the loss of power in B.F. on Friday evening, no damage has been done. I was on weekend mode, doing arts and crafts with my cousins and working on a promo material for the cupcake business on Sunday. After the news had sunk in, I was feeling restless on Monday because I had to go to the office and felt quite guilty that I was breezing through with the same conveniences and privileges of everyday life, while others are going through the worst time of theirs. But guilt won't make things better. The most immediate help that we can provide if we cannot be physically present in repacking goods is monetary assistance. I was spreading links to my onshore counterparts on how they can donate online. For us here in Manila, the easiest way to donate is through SMS. At this day and age, everyone has a cellphone after all. 

You can donate to the Philippine Red Cross through text.

Type in RED and send to:

4143 for SMART

2899 for GLOBE

You can donate the following denominations:

Globe: 5, 25, 100, 300, 500 or 1000

Smart: 10, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500 or 1000

Other ways to help:

  1.     In-Kind Donations

Donations can be dropped off in Accenture offices in Manila and Cebu. Please see the Accenture offices below. If you happen to be in this area, you can drop off your donations to these offices. 

Mckinley Hill, Taguig

Mckinley Bldg A, Campus Ave, Taguig City

Ayala Ave, Makati

MSE Building, Ayala Avenue 1200, Makati City

Pioneer, Mandaluyong

Cybergate Center Tower 1 (Pioneer St), Mandaluyong City

Eastwood, QC

Eastwood City Cyberpark (E-Commerce Ave), Quezon City

LBC Branches also accept donations in kind

 The following items are urgently needed:

·         Rice

·         Canned goods

·         Biscuits

·         Blankets

·         Sleeping mats

·         Over the counter medicines for children and adults (cough, cold, fever, etc.)

·         Water

2.     Cash Donations

You may directly remit your cash donations through bank deposit or wire transfer through any of the following Philippine Red Cross bank accounts: 

Banco De Oro
Peso: 00-453-0018647
Dollar: 10-453-0039482

Swift code: BNORPHMM

Metrobank
Peso: 151-3-041631228
Dollar: 151-2-15100218-2

Swift code: MBTCPHMM

Philippine National Bank
Peso: 3752 8350 0034
Dollar: 3752 8350 0042

Swift code: PNBMPHMM

Unionbank of the Philippines
Peso: 1015 4000 0201
Dollar: 1315 4000 0090

Swift code: UBPHPHMM

3. Relief Goods Pre-packing efforts

You may also volunteer on your own with the following organizations doing relief work.  Please pre-register to ensure your slot in the activity.
 

NAME OF ORGANIZATION	VENUE	PHONE NO.
ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya	13 Examiner St., West Triangle, Quezon City	4152272 local 3765, 4114995
DSWD-National Relief Operations Center	Ninoy Aquino Ave., Cor. Chapel Road, Pasay City (behind Air Transporation Office)	852 8081, 851 2681

I've always been proud of Filipino resilience, hospitality and bayanihan. Despite the hardships and trials that our nation is going through, I still believe that we can rise again and recover from the damages of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, all in God's grace.  Bangon Pilipinas! Kaya natin ito!

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Watercolor Weekend: Sugar Lily Cupcakes

Hello everyone, here's a quick post for my Watercolor weekend series! I made a Christmas Ad for Sugar Lily Cupcakes and Pastries since the holiday season is just around the corner. I made these cupcakes individually on canson paper then stitched them together with Photoshop. I used two of my favorite fonts, Pompiere and Hero Light, discovered via thefozzybook's Oh Hello Friday Font Series.

This year, I've been practicing with watercolor and I feel more comfortable with the medium already. I still have a lot to learn, but next year's plan is to get digital and learn more advanced Photoshop skills and really get a good grip of illustrator. I also spent Sunday afternoon with my niece Sofia and my cousins Bea, Venisse and Via for some artsy fartsy bonding time. More on that in a different post!

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Watercolor Weekend: Wrapping Paper Doodle

November Day 1 and I'm off to a good start with my creative sparks. My family and I drove to Batangas last night, and I made a couple of drawings while I was there. Our home in Batangas is such a nice place to get creative. I disconnect myself for a while because there's no internet and the television only has limited channels. I didn't mind, because I was really looking forward to getting some sketching and painting done. More on those in my next post!

I did this drawing a while back, but I haven't had a chance to post it in full color. I used my Prang watercolor set and limited my self in using just a handful of pigments, unlike my usual psychedelic take on colors for my paintings. This drawing actually started out as a doodle, and I can't remember where exactly I got this paper, but it was really a wrapping paper that came with an appliance of some sort. You can really tell up close that it's not for watercoloring, let alone for drawing because it's so thin! But I didn't want it to be put to waste, so I thought, might as well draw on it. Reduce, reuse, recycle, yo!

My 8 year old niece Sofia was watching me at work earlier and we bonded over art and painting topics. She told me she's the vice president of her visual arts club in school, which made me so proud! She's really creative, so I encouraged her to continue practicing and keep on drawing even if sometimes she doesn't know what she's going to draw. I told her that this piece started out as a mindless doodle and that she doesn't have to over analyze things to come up with an interesting drawing. I gave this piece to her today and hopefully she becomes motivated and inspired to pursue art and remain creative. :)

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Watercolor Weekend: Mother Gypsy and the Wrinkled Folks

Finally, another painting! It's been a while since I had a proper sit down but things have been looking up with work and life in general, so I have more time for watercolor practice. I spent the entire afternoon yesterday at Cafe Mary Grace to get some sketching done. Whenever I feel like I need serious uninterrupted time for drawing/crafting, I go to a coffee shop and just spend the hours in solitude.

I've always wanted to draw this gypsy lady ever since I came across her in Paris. I've read stories of really aggressive beggars who take advantage of tourists in Paris, but I didn't get that vibe from her. The kindness in her face was just so beautiful, I wanted to draw a portrait of her.

I was walking outside the Notre Dame when I came across her. She was looking at me as I walked past and I just had the urge to drop a coin in her cup. She clasped her hands together as if to give thanks to an answered prayer. I didn't understand what she said but her eyes showed so much gratitude, and were welling up with tears. As I took out my camera, she gave me the warmest smile I've seen from a stranger that day. I took a photo of her and I headed off. That brief moment with her was remarkable.

I tried my best to copy her face and her features, but I always end up straying away from my original subject and just skew some things here and there. Usually when I do the pencil sketch, I  try to be as exact as possible, but when I start coloring, I refrain from looking at the photo reference so that I can make my own changes to the drawing. It's like getting lost in translation, only on paper.

Mother Gypsy
Watercolor on Paper

The most challenging part of this drawing is coloring her jacket. I've learned that mixing black with another dark hue is a good way of putting some dimension to the color. My own technique with watercolor is just really self taught, but I always just start with the skin and the lighter colors the follow with the darker shades. There's still so much to learn and I loved the challenge of doing this painting because of the creases of the subject's face and the draping of her shawl as well as the stitching of her jacket. I've never really mentioned it before, but I love to draw aging people. Their faces are more interesting to paint because their features help me to look into the details and allow me to practice seeing better. 

Here's a collection of past drawings of the beautiful, wrinkled folks:

Hope you had a great weekend!

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Watercolor Weekend: Bukidnon

Together with my goal to discover more about various Filipino ethnic communities,  I'm starting a series of drawings about Filipino Indigenous people to practice my watercolor portrait skills. Jim and I have been talking about going to different Philippine Festivals and immerse ourselves in some cultural education while we travel. Our bucket list includes the Maskara Festival in Bacolod, Sinulog Festival in Cebu, Higantes Festival in Angono Rizal and Kaamulan Festival in Bukidnon among others. 

Kaamulan Festival is an ethnic cultural festival held annually in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon from the second half of February to March 10, the anniversary date of the foundation of Bukidnon as a province in 1917. It is held to celebrate the culture and tradition of the seven ethnic tribal groups—Bukidnon, Higaonon, Talaandig, Manobo, Matigsalug, Tigwahanon and Umayamnon—that originally inhabit the province.^[1][2] It is the only ethnic festival in the Philippines.^{[3] Source: Wikipedia.org}

I used water color, acrylic and ink for this painting. I started with the background first, then working through the underpainting of the skin and the clothes and finally added details for the head piece and accessories. The reason why I selected different media for this painting is because of acrylic's characteristic to be more opaque. It has been useful for adding the little stitches on the dancer's clothes and the beads of her necklace.

"Bukidnon"
5.5 x 8.5 Inches on Strathmore Paper, 118 g/m

I will be selling this painting soon, and will be available in my newly registered Etsy Shop! 

For the meantime, email me at faye.marcos@gmail.com if you're interested :)

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Watercolor Weekday: Harry and Minerva

People watching is one of my cheapest hobbies. To set the record straight, I am not a stalker, nor do I have any intentions of being one. (Sa twitter at instagram lang, promise!) I just like to observe how people interact from afar and sometimes make up stories about them in my head. When I see an interesting looking person, I try to imagine what he or she is like--what she does for a living, what could be his errands for the day, where she could be headed or why he has that peculiar expression on his face.

While on assignment in the US for 2 months, I got to see and interact with different sorts of people, specially when I was doing my usual touristy rounds in New York City. I remember a Saturday afternoon spent at a Cafe in Manhattan with a couple of my friends, just watching strangers pass by. We were seated right across the cafe window and it felt as though we were watching strangers from a big screen television.

I've recently started a habit of carrying a camera every where I go and taking photos of random people in hopes of being able to draw them eventually. For today's Watercolor Wednesday entry, I decided to draw an old couple I saw at the Lillie P. Bliss Garden at the MoMa. They seemed to be perusing some book or article and I loved how they were seated side by side, never taking their eyes off of what they were reading.

Let's call them Harry and Minerva.

Started with a pencil sketch of Harry and used him as a scale reference for Minerva.

Doing a wet on wet wash for the background, because I have an aversion to white space. Haha.

I did an underpainting of the skin, making sure that the wrinkles had shadows to be able to show more texture

While doing the initial underpainting to their clothes, I chose a contrast of green and red for Harry and Minerva respectively. In the photo that I took of the couple, Harry's jacket had a more subdued color, but I wanted it to be a bit brighter on my drawing since I will be adding more shadows on it later on. I also added a bit more texture on Harry's hat.

I added more dimension to Minerva's hair and clothes and outlined her eyes and mouth. I super loved the fact that she still had her backpack on. Despite her age, she looks like a young stundent still eager to learn.

Did some final touches on Minerva's glasses and scarf and outlined their shared reading material.

So there's Harry and Minerva, reading side by side. Perhaps they were reviewing the map of the MoMa or reading the MoMa Highlights. I can imagine them doing an exchange of thoughts about what they saw at the MoMa that day, sharing their favorite paintings and discussing the mind boggling minimalist and abstract art. Whatever it was they were doing, it was a pleasure to watch them and even more so to draw them.
If you wish to share some interesting photos of people, let me know! I'd be glad to include them in my next installations of Watercolor Wednesdays. :)


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