There are days that you just feel down but there is nothing that picks me up than a day of travel sketching and watercolor painting. 

I took this photo some summers ago with my art students for our plein air painting in the fishing village of Balaring in Silay City, Negros Island, Philippines. This is the photo reference for the painting.

This is a roadside convenience store called “sari-sari” store in Filipino or “tiangge” for us Ilonggos. It usually caters to the community around it by selling essentials like laundry detergent, rice, salt or what you might have forgotten to buy from the main market. They even serve native freshly brewed coffee and some “pan de sal” (small tasty buns).

Usually, I keep an album entitled “To Paint” of the photos I want to later on paint. I add to this album if I took pictures of the places or objects that I want to paint.

From pencil, to pen:

I edited some of the details that I want to put in my travel sketch. For the paints, I used a mix of Daniel Smith, Winsor and Newton Cotman, and Holbein watercolors. And I use this Seawhite Travel Journal with 200gsm Acid-Free paper from UK.

By the way, one of the reasons I chose this because of these neighborhood stores is part of our culture in the Philippines. Tons of childhood memories for most of us. As the youngest in the family, I was always asked to go to the “tiangge” to buy a beef cube or noodles or anything that my grandmother would forget buying from the “tienda” (bigger market). 

I wish I could have done a video or the process of the painting for this piece but I was too engrossed with doing it. Next time I will try to share more.

If you have questions, please do message me so I can give you some suggestions. Or just say Hi!

Salamat guid!