Hello, hello! Can’t believe it’s been two months since I’ve last posted. Work is too demanding lately which means less painting time for me. But today is a great day because I’m now taking my two-week break from work to spend the holidays *that’s why I’m now able to update the blog haha* . Yipee! I’m already thinking of speed painting everything that I should’ve finished before.
Anyway, I was supposed to publish three new posts weeks ago to feature my recent illustrations but then, since I was too busy I just decided to group them all together here in this post. Below are the illustrations I’ve done last November and during the first week of December.
Fish Chips and Peri Chicken Platter from Fish & Co. in Greenbelt, Makati. Done in a 200gsm Canson paper using my Winsor and Newton paints. I’ve already stopped using my Prang for artworks because I’ve already acquired quite a lot of paint tubes hehe. As for the paper, just looking at the pan’s shadow will show that the paper warped. Not really sure how to fix this in Photoshop or maybe during the scanning phase?
La Pinay Crepe from Cafe Breton also in Greenbelt, Makati. My friend and I had this during our post birthday celebration. This is a crepe with slices of mango, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some chocolate drizzle. Yummy! Plus it’s super affordable and for sharing too. Painted this on my Winsor and Newton Cotman Watercolor Pad that I bought online via Instagram. It’s cream-colored and I love the texture. However, it’s only 270 gsm so buckling was kind of expected though I was really hoping that it will hold water quite better than the Canson 200gsm. The paper just warped as soon as I painted my first layer. I hope local online stores would offer W&N 300gsm papers, would want to try them out too for comparison.
Now off to the third illustration. Months before, I’ve already listed the illustrations that I want to accomplish within the year. One of them was to create a collection of candies. It was supposed to be about candies that we have now in the market but during image research, I found some list of well-loved Filipino sweets that we no longer have today. Some childhood memories played as I read the list and saw images of the candies we used to buy in nearby sari-sari stores. See any familiar or favorite candies of the past?
I have to tinker more with the scanning settings because I think this illustration looks better on my watercolor pad. And speaking of pad, this was painted on a Daler and Rowney Aquafine Smooth watercolor pad. I found it on Fullybooked, Greenbelt 5. I was eyeing the textured one but I haven’t tried yet a pad with a smooth surface so I ended buying the Smooth one instead. No regrets! It’s my favorite paper for practice so far. Cheap but good quality. Too bad I didn’t buy a few pads because now it’s out of stock. I wanted to try out too the Langton Prestige paper but it’s a little pricey for me so I just settled with the Aquafine. Might have to check Fullybooked weekly just to see if the pads are available again *hoarder feels lol*
So that’s it. I have a pending illustration as of the moment, something that we ate after covering a fun run event and I’d say it was one of the best dinners I’ve taken. I wonder if I’d be able to finish it before Christmas *which is tomorrow*. I’d like to create some Filipino Christmas dishes too so that I have something to post online and caption with “Merry Christmas” haha. We’ll see if my painting skills could handle everything I’ve listed.
Merry Christmas everyone!!! Whether you’re in the Philippines or in other parts of the world. Hope you’re all having a good time. Enjoy the holidays! xoxo
Monique Hilario 