Category: Watercolor

Moleskine

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It’s April already! ♥ Why do I feel like everything is just a blur? The months went by so fast, huhu. There are still so many things that I haven’t talked about here on my blog and I feel like I’m running out of time already. One of them is about my rekindling relationship with my Moleskine watercolor notebook.

Peony. (2018 version)

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2016 03 peony

Peony. (2015 version)

I bought this notebook a few years ago through Amazon since it was rare in the Philippines. When I started using watercolor back in 2015, I used this notebook for practice. I found this moleskine notebook again about when I was looking for a notebook to use for the food illustration thing that I did. Since both pages can be used for watercolor, I painted on the opposite side to compare my watercolor journey.

Hydrangea. (2018)

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Hydrangea. (2015)

Sunflower. (Sketch 2015 / Colored 2018).

I loved the comparison paintings. ♥ You could see my improvements from the muddy, save-the-painting-with-color pencil peony from 2015 to the bright, confident, lots of contrast peony from 2018. It’s the same with the hydrangea! The old one I tried to save it by using white poster paint, while the new one is just confident and used shadows for contrast. With that confidence, I felt like I could finally use my moleskine to its potential lol.

A red rose with confident, bold strokes. I didn’t do a pencil sketch for this.

A waterlily that I had a hard time painting. I think I did this on IG live.

A warm-up painting referenced from pinterest.

Quince from an art tambay. The pinks I used there was seamountainco’s newest color. ♥

Magnolia ♥ My favorite!

During our StickerCon prep, I didn’t have any idea on what I want to do as a new sticker pack. But then someone told me that I already have a lot of current art that I could use as a product, so I followed their advice and made them into stamp-sized stickers.

I also wanted to do a StickerCon aftermath blog but I don’t have any pictures HUHU. It was a crazy, yet fun-filled day. Thank you to everyone who came to our booth that day! ♥

Artworks (November 2017 – February 2018)

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I think it’s about time for another compilation post. ♥ The last one that I did was way back in September! And during October, I did the Inktober prompt. So here are the artworks that I did after that. Another picture heavy post ahead!

Left: A sunflower painting I did with a waterbrush + seamountainco palette when I was at Zambales. | Right: I tried to do a facade painting HAHA.

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Left: A photo referenced from a friend. | Right: Another sunflower painting. I liked the leaves here. ♥

Some artworks that I did during our despedida art tambay for Ruth. We played monopoly deal afterwards HAHAHA.

Left: A wisteria painting practice. This was one of the prompts during inktober, and I really wanted to try painting it. (Also suggested by Nickey!) I like this one! | Right: My painting from our December art tambay. The theme that day was self improvement, so I thought why not peonies & white flowers?! HAHA. That was a fun day ♥

More peony practice. ♥ I love the left one!

Left: Stargazer lily. I really don’t like this one though. | Right: Christmas season meant poinsettias!

I also did a bunch of artworks for friends that I didn’t get to scan. Luckily, I posted them all on my Instagram page:

Some of the artworks here will be updated on my portfolio page. Please do check it out! ♥

Handmade watercolors by seamountainco

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I’d like to talk about seamountainco, one of my favorite watercolors! Seamountainco is a local store that specializes in portable handmade watercolor sets & notebooks. Their products are perfect for those who love to travel! The owner is a dear friend of mine & also one of the co-founding members of January Makers PH. ♥ Though we are friends, this post is not sponsored in any way & is not biased. Hopefully.

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(This post is long overdue. I planned on posting this last July 2017! But I was too lazy to do the sample artworks.)

The basic set (middle tin with 4 watercolor half pans).

We received one of the first batches of the Basic set last February 2017. You can read more about that here. The Basic set includes a portable tin can, four artist grade handmade watercolors in half pans that are highly pigmented with excellent light fastness. The four colors are: Ultramarine Blue, Indian Red, Yellow Ochre, and Raw Earth Umber.

We were tasked with reviewing the quality of the first batch. It really is highly pigmented. Just one swipe is enough. ♥ I used to joke that her watercolor is similar to the dishwashing liquid commercial: “Isang patak, sangkatutak!“. HAHA sorry.

On fabriano acquarello postcard paper.

What can you do with the Basic Set? I usually use mine for my sunflower watercolor paintings. I really love the yellow ochre for this. Its versatile that it can do the light yellows and also do the darker, muted tones that I want on my paintings. (Did that make sense?!). The only problem I think is the green. You can mix Ultramarine & Yellow Ochre to create an Olive green, but its not my preferred tone of green.

On further meet-ups, I received these from Jean: Philippine Indigo (aka #Jeandigo), Venetian Red, Verona Green, Cassel Earth, and Nicosia Green. I also bought the Purple Ochre, Pink Pipestone and Gold during our recent bazaar.

Clockwise from Top Right: Philippine Indigo, Venetian Red, Purple Ochre, Gold, Pink Pipestone, Nicosia Green, Verona Green, and Cassel Earth.

Even though seamountainco aims to cater to those who love to travel, their sets are also versatile in other subjects. My fellow January Makers PH members can attest to that! Check out their works below:

I’m very happy with my seamountainco set. ♥ I plan on buying more when I get the chance! HAHA.

You can follow seamountainco on Instagram & Facebook! For online orders, click here. ♥

Something New

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On one of my recent art tambays with Hannah, we talked about our art. I told her that I was tired of painting flowers, that I didn’t want to known as the girl who can only paint one thing. She agreed saying that she was also tired of seeing my sunflower paintings, “eww”. Of course she said it in jest, but it got to me a bit HAHA. So I decided I’ll try to paint something different, something new. I went with food illustration which is Monique’s specialty.

Matcha Parfait and Halo-halo ♥

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It all started with the left painting. I was craving for Kissako’s matcha parfait that time, so I painted it HAHA. The right one was a request by a friend. I used a Sakura Gelly roll for the whites for both paintings. Speaking of Kissako, we went there last year to have that same parfait. Read more about it on Inggo’s blog. (Yup, it’s back!)

I also attempted to paint Friuli Trattoria‘s margherita pizza and ravioli. I don’t like my first attempt, haha. Its a bit obvious that I tried to save the drawing with inks. I’ll try better next time. I also painted my favorite dessert from said resto: their tiramisu gelato (below, left). The pyramid-shaped thing is their pharaoh’s delight gelato. I thought it looked challenging to paint a white gelato.

Avocado Sans Rival (Left) & Avocado Cupcake (Right).

I find food illustration a bit challenging. From the photo above, I tried inking the paintings to see what it would look like. I liked the effects on the cake, but meh on the cupcake. These are Lia’s Cakes in Seasons cakes. ♥ I already blogged about them here. The avocado sans rival is my favorite!

Puto Bumbong Cake (Left) and Avocado Cheesecake (Right).

More Lia’s Cakes. I haven’t tried the puto bumbong cake yet, but I’m really curious about the taste. Their only branch is in Kapitolyo, so its a bit of a hassle to commute from where I live (QC). The avocado cheesecake is also one of my favorites.

And finally, I tried painting matcha desserts referenced online. I tried to make different line thickness for the white parts and failed. HAHA. The main color that I used here is Winsor & Newton’s Sap green, mixed with a bunch of random colors.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience with food illustration. Its a bit challenging on deciding on how I want to render the drawing: to ink or not, to be realistic with it or as loose as I can. I used my moleskine watercolor pad for this (which I bought years ago and didn’t like). But now I love this pad HAHA. I guess through experience with watercolor? I want to try painting food again soon, but for now, I’ll try another different subject.

Ragnarok Addiction

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Suffrie x Rainee forever ♥

Last year, it was announced that the first MMORPG in the Philippines will return. Ragnarok Online opened its servers once again. Obviously, I made fanarts.

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During my marker phase. ♥ I drew differently back then!

I’ve already mentioned my addiction to Ragnarok from this post. So, obviously we (those on the cover image) hardcore played the game. It was our first time to play together on an official server though! I don’t think I’ve mentioned here before, but I met Inggo at RF Online instead of Ragnarok. It was also a good thing that are chosen jobs are perfect for each other! ♥

Full Support Priestess & Agi/Dex Hunter. ♥

The 3rd jobs: Ranger & Arch Bishop.

I’ve also mentioned this on Instagram. I think that you need to be obsessed with something in order to improve your art. I’ve accumulated a ton of fanart because I was this obsessed with this game! If I would compare my artwork from 2003 to now, I could say that there really was an improvement on everything: anatomy, color selection, inking, etc. Not the best, but there’s personal improvement.

Left: Watercolor practice | Right: Color pencil practice.

These were some requests from my former guildmates on Fenrir server.

I would also like to note that the watercolor pieces were made with canson paper and prang watercolors. They’re the student grade representatives for watercolor and I still love using them! I don’t have to worry about anything, I just had to create. ♥

And I think I have to draw more with this style. I still need improvement!

Art Tambay

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A few weeks ago, we had an impromptu art tambay at Banawe. It was composed of me, Aira, and my block mates from college Ruth and Hannah.

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Messy table!

I used the paper that I got from Katya. Thank you again for the paper samples!

Pictured below are some artworks that I did with my hue&ai #NoPaintNoGain watercolor pad. I was still testing out some techniques with this paper.

Experimenting with blooms. I like the bloom effects with this paper. ♥

This is what happens when I paint without a reference. I enjoy too much and forgot about everything else. HAHA. This was supposed to be white!

Hannah & Suff

Aira & Ruth

We had two more art tambays after this one last December. It’s great to meet up with friends to catch up and paint. ♥ I hope we could arrange another one this January!

Coffee Project revisit

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A few weeks ago, I revisited a cafe that I used to go to when I was still working near the area. I was surprised that they’ve expanded their interiors! And it’s still so pretty huhuhu. This is Coffee Project at Wil Tower.

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They are known for their garden-inspired interiors. With faux flowers everywhere, wood furniture, bicycles, and metal accents. I’ve said before that this is a good place for an art tambay, and I still agree with that statement! The weird thing is that I haven’t done that YET with my friends, why?! Just look at the photos:

Their tables. ♥

Full of garden-style decor!

Decor beside me. ♥

Hi Zinah. ♥ HAHAHA.

I had a funny story that day. While I was talking those interior shots, there were 2 ladies who kept looking at me. Thinking that maybe they thought I was a weirdo for taking pictures, I paid them no heed. After a while, the girl in blue (pictured above) approached me and asked:

“Hi ikaw ba si Paulina?”

It was my batch mate from college. HAHA. So I moved my things to her table to catch up on each other’s lives. Apparently she was one of the designers for Coffee Project!

Those are my stuff. Sorry for the mess HAHA.

And after 2 months, I finally bought my own hue&ai #NoPaintNoGain watercolor pad! My friends recommended this pad to me thinking that it would suit my painting style. I got this at Common Room Katipunan for 170php.

Pretty decor! ♥

Of course I tested mine when I got home. I always turn to sunflowers or peonies when testing paper. The reason for this is that I’m so used to painting sunflowers that it became my painting style: a mixture of wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry. For the peonies, I could test my very wet-on-wet painting style so I could see the bloom effects.  I’m liking it so far!

My paints of course are seamountainco. ♥

Messy peony bloom. ♥

Now the reason that I revisited this place is because I asked Hannah to meet up with me here. I met up with Dandi of Agueda Manila at Gateway because I ordered two boxes of her brigadeiros – one for me & one for a client. I got the mini box of 15pcs briggies in custom flavors (matcha, barako, and cacao) for me, while the other box contains their best sellers. I offered Hannah and Zinah to taste my personal box haha. They loved the matcha one!

Whenever there’s a Just Add Water event, we always buy from her lol. (JAW2 / JAWInk).

What’s left of my box LOL.

We went home a few hours later after talking all night. We really should plan an art tambay for this place. Anyone up for that?!

SGD Coffee + Commission

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A few weeks ago, my friend commissioned me to make her a watercolor family portrait painting as a gift to her husband. I gladly accepted since she was a close friend way back in elementary. I wanted to paint outside of the house, so I asked Inggo to accompany me to Maginhawa.

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We had lunch at Friuli Trattoria because we were thinking of having coffee at Negative Space Coffee after. Unfortunately, the cafe has closed operation. I was distraught because this was my favorite coffee shop in Maginhawa! I didn’t even had a chance to blog about it properly huhu.

So we decided to look for another cafe around Maginhawa. Then I remembered Tricia Gosingtian’s blog post about her adventure around this area where she recommended a coffee shop called SGD Coffee. Thanks to the internet and google maps, we easily found our way there HAHA.

Coffee round 1!

We ordered the SGD Black (120 php) and SGD Cold (175 php) for our drinks. Inggo also wanted a snack so I ordered a Lemon Bar (65php) for him. The place was packed full but we found a corner space on the second floor.

We were amused with the plating for the lemon bar. (ehem, /r/WeWantPlates). We’re not coffee connoisseurs, but sagada beans is our favorite Philippine variety because this one has a smooth, non-metallic, and not burnt taste. But it will still depend on the coffee shop. The drinks here were good! It has the same taste with other shops with sagada beans, but this one is much smoother.

Progress.

My table setup: watercolor pouch, power bank, and my seamountainco set. ♥

I also liked the interiors of the store. It was an old house converted into a coffee shop and learning center. I loved that it had large windows bringing in natural light inside. Perfect for me since I needed it for painting.

Another view of my table setup: Seamountainco set, portable mixing palette, and my w&n cotman set.

I also decided to paint another portrait of my friend because of our conversation. She mentioned that I made her a portrait when we were in Grade 6. Sadly, she lost the portrait due to constant moving. So I made a new one for her. ♥

We shared this plate. ♥

While doing the second painting, Inggo ordered food and drinks. He ordered the Longganisa (220php), Cappuccino (145php) for him, and Flat White (145php) for me. The food was really good and filling! I liked the runny egg yolks mixed with the etag and black rice. The veggies were also delicious. I think these are all Sagada products.

Coffee round 2!

His cappuccino had cinnamon powder on top instead of the usual chocolate powder. He said his drink was good. I don’t usually drink flat white, but this was also good. You could still taste the smooth sagada brew in it. The only pet peeve I think is that they serve hot drinks on glass cups. But that’s just my preference.

Finished! ♥

Overall, we had a good time here in SGD Coffee. It’s the perfect place for art tambays with the natural light. The food and drinks were good, although a bit expensive for the student crowd. They also teach everything about coffee, so do check out their Facebook page and website for more details.

Is this my new favorite coffee shop in Maginhawa? I’m still not sure.

Further reading:

SGD Coffee wants to make Sagada coffee among the best in the world.

Coffee from Sagada is challenging the way we think about local beans.

Katipunan Art Festival

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The Katipunan Art Festival held two weeks ago was the most fun we’ve had as a group! I finally got another charger for my digicam woohooo! High quality and picture heavy post ahead:

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The  January Makers PH team was complete that weekend. Monique was part of the organizer team, so she wasn’t available 100% of the time at our booth. We were seated beside Abbey Sy‘s table where Jean (owner of seamountainco) was also a part of. It was a good thing that our booths were beside each other! ♥ Manning the JanMakers table was Hannah and I.

Our table!

Pictured above is our finally complete table setup lol. We finally got to use Monique’s mesh wire where we could hang stuff. Thanks to our first workshop, we finally had the funds to buy our own table for bazaars. It was also by fate that on the day we went shopping, the table was at 30% off! Lucky! ♥

Monique’s side of the table.

Her cute 90s candies & chichirya stickers!

Harry potter-inspired food stickers, 90s candies & chichirya stickers in their cute packaging. ♥

The mesh wire display. ♥

Hannah’s cute animal cut-it-yourself sticker packs. ♥

Other side of the wire mesh: my flower sticker packs, seamountainco individual pans, and our logo. ♥

The center of the table: my individual stickers, home decor (lol), and cute birds.

My postcards. ♥

Jean also made postcards of her artworks. She also made her own sticker pack. ♥

An original watercolor painting for sale. ♥

My original watercolor painting – Magnolia. ♥

Which was sold to this gentleman. ♥ THANK YOU so much!!! (That’s me in my “presko/pochahontas/buwan ng wika” outfit. HAHA.

It was a good thing that the weather cooperated the whole weekend, albeit a bit rainy in the morning but sunny (and windy) the whole day. It was the perfect weather that provided a big crowd for the booths.

Hello to our neighbor The Republika Shop!

Abbey’s table.

Oh, and I love the fact that some of the sellers were also participants from 10a Alabama years ago. I think some from the organizer team were also a part of it? So this event was a mixture of veterans and newcomers.

Graffiti wall!

I’m also thankful for our friends who visited us during the fair. Thank you for the effort! ♥

Ruth & Joy visited our table! ♥

Thanks for visiting Gerard! ♥

Thanks Ma’am Cara! ♥ (Check out her blog!)

Thank you also to Aira and Shine huhu sorry we didn’t get to take photos.

Until the next event! ♥