Weekends & Inktober

It’s been a while since I’ve written something other than exhibit announcements here on this blog. There’s another exhibit announcement that’s still pending, and I’m still waiting for the go signal to announce that one. Anyway, some life updates:

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I’m attempting inktober again this year, this time with florals. The current count is at 27 ♥ 4 to go! I hope I could finish it in time. The college unipins are out of their slumber again, and I even bought new brush pens to add to my mix of ink pens. Enjoying the process and experimentation so far!

I visited the family home a few days ago after 2 years. Got more of my artworks so I could finally scan and have a digital archive. Started to upload my 2021 works into my Print on Demand accounts as well. Next would be uploading most of my inktober works to these sites on November.

It’s a busy weekend!

Philippine Flora

I submitted another artwork for Philippine Botanical Art Society last May for their Philippine Flora exhibit in collaboration with the DFA Philippines!

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My painting is a mabolo fruit. Finding references is hard during this pandemic. Luckily, the tree beside the apartment is actually an endemic tree! This is a mabolo fruit, from the kamagong tree. This is actually the first time that I heard of the fruit, as the wood is more valuable part of the tree!

The exhibit website is found here. Hopefully its still up! ♥

Manifest

I always see this type of posts on social media nowadays. Is it something like a goal list? Well, I’ll think of it that way instead. For 2021, I hope to make progress of these goals:

  • Sketch more flowers to get the form correct.
  • Practice more with different art materials.
  • Create more patterns and designs for POD sites.
  • Expand to more POD sites.

Will add more soon.

2021

It feels so weird to say this, but yes, it’s that time of the year again.

A quieter, steady year creating art at my own pace.

I’m happy to say that my wish came true this year. With the pandemic, everything came to a halt, and I had more time to create more art.

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The first two months of the year was chaotic with two conventions simultaneously asking for requirements prior to their events. It would have been easier I think if I went solo, but it cheaper and more fun with an artist group.

March, oh my. The first week of March, our office was already planning on having 100% of the office work from home until this pandemic ends. The day after, we had to move out since the cases already doubled within a day. I initially worked at fiance’s family’s office for their restaurant since we had no space at home. But then rumors of a home quarantine were being spread, and I had to move again. We HAD to make space at home for my work pc. We did, and it was chaotic.

The rest of the months for the blog were filled with posts of events that happened in 2019. Nothing art related at all. I hope I could write more this 2021.

If I would look at my Instagram account though, I know I’ve been busy.

March to May: I painted my cravings away since there weren’t a lot of restaurants open due to the quarantine. Discovered that a cheap notebook a friend gave me can actually take the beating of watercolors, so I painted practice works there. Created and submitted patterns for a local chocolate’s wrapper contest. Started practicing portraits.

May to June: Did the 50 juice heads challenge where you need to draw portraits in 10 days. The 10 days part didn’t happen HAHA. I also started to paint with my himi miya gouache.

July: But then I went back to watercolor for the world watercolor month event. I became obsessed with poppies at one point and painted other flowers as well. Did experiments with lotus flowers, gold, ink, and then went to the gold paint route painting orchids.

August: Went on a break due to the move, but I had a ton of backlog so it looked like I was still busy lol.

September: More personal works, more experiments.

October: There was an attempt with gouachetober, but then got busy with work!

November: My backlog of works were almost out. I also bought the Mijello Mission Gold Pure Pigment set at this time and was slowly building the palette. This is now housed in a large metal tin palette in full pans. I also bought other art materials as well, especially the seamiart brush. I felt like a beginner once more, trying to get acquainted with my new items. This was also the time where I submitted my paintings for exhibition for PhilBas and Cancervants!

December: Participated in 2 online exhibits. Still getting used to my new watercolor palette but loving the journey so far.

What do I wish for 2021? I hope this quiet, steady year will continue on this year. I hope to create more personal works, more experiments with art materials.

Art vs Artist 2020

Me and my flowers.

Me and my experiments.

The prompt is trending again on Instagram. So let’s do this again! ♥

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The first photo shows the works that I am proud of. The orchid pattern that I created for a contest (which made me try out patterns for POD sites), a white anemone flower that I really loved the rendering of, a bunch of bright poppies for world watercolor month, a lotus experiment with gold poster paint, a fully fledged gold poster painting of an orchid (that I donated to our office for their donation drive!), a set of poppies painted on stubborn paper by a stubborn artist, my katmon painting for an exhibit, and finally, a red rose that will forever be a challenge.

The second photo shows the works that I experimented with. I used most of my art materials this year. On days that I don’t paint flowers, I usually do portraits or food instead. But someday I hope to do animals and landscapes too! I experimented with: himi miya gouache, started sketching again with pencils, played with ink and gold paint, food illustrations with my usual palette, and finally used my markers again and color pencils. ♥

Also got a new watercolor palette! I bought the Mijello Mission Gold Pure Pigment set and its a dreammmm to work with! The paints are vibrant and I sometimes have a hard time adjusting to it lol. But its really great! Just need more practice. ♥

Overall, I’m happy with my works this year. I created art at my own quiet and steady pace that I wished for last year. I experimented with art materials! I tried out all of my ideas. ♥

I wish for it to continue to next year.

Punla Exhibit

Last month, the Philippine Botanical Art Society and Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society, Inc. had an open call for artists for their December exhibit entitled “Punla”. The exhibit aims to showcase the beauty of indigenous and endemic plants of the Philippines.

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I’m proud to say that I got in! My Katmon and Waling-waling works were selected under the botanical inspired art category.

I hope that my works could be categorized under botanical illustration in the future! Its a long, challenging, and hopefully fun road ahead HAHA. ♥

You can find the online exhibit here.

October

I hope to finish another 31 day challenge this year. Well, even if I can’t finish on time, that’s okay! I just want to use all of my materials and experiment on different things. I just want to indulge myself, like every October. So wish me luck!♥

StickerCon 2020 Haul

It’s time for the haul post! I had a bit of time to explore the venue since we took turns manning our booth. 

Loot from our table: Sawsawan sticker sheet by MNQ Illustration, Skyscapes by TingeofShine, Herbs set by seamountainco, and Pomeranian stickers by Hmb_urger. ♥

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Can I just say that uploading photos in WordPress is a bit of a bitch right now? Whenever I publish a post, the image captions get jumbled up and when I try to edit them, the text separates from the image caption setting. Ugh. 

Calligraphy sticker sheet and Planner stickers by claircolors, But first coffee by MNQ Illustration, and Fashionable girls by HMB_urger.

Caution and Tita sticker from ella_lama, The artist sticker from louisermos

Sunflower strip, white flowers by alfajone, Penguin by Studio Dondon, Cat from meowproject, Proud Plant parent, moon, and rose by Kara Leonardia, Goodbye money by _katepaints

Hannah and I bought cat stickers as pasalubong for Aira lol. 

Anddd I think that’s all of my haul! ♥

StickerCon 2020

I will finally blog about the most coveted event of the year – StickerCon MNL 2020! We got the group table for our 6 member team. ♥

Our IDS!

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Some last minute promotions lol.

Super happy with our table set-up. Shine bought a pink furry throw that we could use on our table. The table cloth usually used for cons is in black. The throw completes our girly aesthetic HAHA.

Sticker sheets by Clair, Fashion stickers by Hannah, Skyscapes sticker by Shine. ♥

 

On the left side of our table were Clair and Hannah’s individual stickers. ♥

 

More of Hannah’s animal stickers on our mesh wire display.

 

Some of Hannah’s fashion stickers.

Hannah’s post cards. ♥

 

Monique’s best sellers – sticker sheets!

Hello to my post card collection. ♥

 

And my new flower sheets!

How will I describe our experience here? It was tiring yet amazing, crazy fun, and super supportive! The line outside was super long the whole day. We are grateful to everyone who attended and supported all the artists in this event. ♥ Thank you again to the organizers for another successful event. To our friends who visited, promoted, and supported our group. To table mates who understand the craziness of it all. I hope there will be a 4th one after this pandemic. But for now, let’s all STAY SAFE!