It is now 2016 and I cant quite wrap my head around the fact that 2015 is over. There were quite a few downs in the past year but they were totally eclipsed by highs the year had to offer. Here are my highlights: 1. Travel One of my greatest luxuries is to travel and 2015 sure did tick off a lot of places in my bucket list. I was lucky enough to visit 6 countries throughout the year and experience cultures that were alien but interesting at the same time. Because of JCI, I attended my first ever Asia Pacific Conference in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The Philippines was a pretty big contingent that bagged a couple of awards like Best New Local Organization. Too bad however my bid didnt win -- but I am quite pleased that it was a finalist in my category. There is always next time. Added to this, Mart and I got to explore the gorgeous landscape by sea and steam train! Food too was awesome especially in the local driver pit-stops where it's cheap but damn good. Added to that we did a repeat of 2014's epic Northern Luzon road trip but this time in reverse. Our drive started from Manila then we took the west-side route and landed in Vigan for an overnight stay. The following morning we proceeded with the trip passing through Paoay, Laoag, Pagudpod before finally reaching our destination, Lal-lo, Cagayan, at 10pm. 2. Cook This year I really got to cook-- honing not just my Baking Skills. Highlights of the year would definitely be my Bun-Cha a souvenir of the family trip to Vietnam, The Monster Sandwich I prepared for H, Bacalao using a family recipe. The winners on the baking front are of course my Fudgy Brownies and making my first bread -- Cinnamon Rolls that H has touted the best he has ever tasted. Of course that could just be an extremely biased opinion. 3. Calligraphy Yes my hobby started in 2014 has definitely grown. The past year became a host of firsts regarding this topic. - Made my own DIY Traveller's Notebook from real leather and sold it - Organized and hosted the first calligraphy class in Albay - Dabbled in typography by attending classes by Abbey Sy, Alessa Lannot, etc. - Hoarded more craft supplies which includes more Holbein Watercolor, Peerless watercolor, Inks, nibs and of course my new baby -- the Silhouette Curio - Got my first BIG commission of 200+ escort cards for a wedding - wrote, edited and made a "logo" for my sister I am hoping that this year will yield even more growth for me in this craft. Of course I cannot end this blog post reminiscing about 2015 without giving a small portion in remembrance to my partner-in-crime and run buddy who is now in Doggie Heaven. Boston died on October 20, 2015 after being infected with erlichiya. It was painful for him but he really held on until we arrived from a trip to Manila so we could say good bye properly. I miss him terribly and would constantly hope that I'd still see him around the house but having JY -- his daughter and look alike-- around has soften the blow of losing him. Until we meet again buddy...
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An afternoon of art, craft, good food and learning something new Attending this seminar by Havaianas was touch and go because of our schedule. Of course I begged, cajoled and blackmailed the hubby just so I could attend. And after some reluctance, we moved our business commitments around so that I could be in Manila for the December 6 workshop. Truth be told Havaianas and I have a love-hate relationship. Whenever I buy a pair then dont last very long -- only because my dogs seem to think of them as really excellent chew toys. So when the opportunity to present itself to attend an art workshop by this brand I was a bit hesitant. It also didnt help that the registration fee was quite steep. But I reasoned that paying the Php 6,500 price tag it was actually a steal considering the seminar kit had a lot of the brands I use and yet dont have and also it was for THREE workshops discussing different topics each. All three were held in the Hillside Cafe situated along Mo. Ignacia Avenue in Quezon City. This isnt a place I frequent, even when I was living in Manila so it was an urban adventure for hubby and I that sunday. What a great opportunity that the cafe was right beside a gardening center that had everything you could possibly need when starting your own green house (something I've been wanting to get my hands on) such as seeds, roofing material, growth supplements and the like. So while waiting for the workshop to start, Hubby and I went crazy over all the gardening things we could get our hands on -- we bought a lot of seed packets!! By 1PM students began piling in the cafe to get ready for the first of three workshops which was LETTERING BY ABBEY SY (IG @abbeysy). Although not my first seminar by her this time around felt like I was able to grasp the concepts better since I've been practicing on my own lettering style. The class was a more condensed version of the one I first attended, nonetheless it was also a learning experience especially since #FaberCastellPhilippines gave a free set of PITT pens that we readily used in our foray into lettering. I didnt know time could go by so fast, after 1 hour the Lettering class was finished! In conclusion, I have a deeper appreciation now for all the posters and advertising materials I see around -- there was a lot of thought placed into what font, position or color to use in order to catch your attention! Someday I hope to make my own Lettering pieces of art. The second class was a Watercolor Seminar by Alessa Lanot (IG @lifeafterbreakfast) who incidentally is also the owner of Hillside Cafe. In all honesty, watercolor is not my forte. The only reason I dabbled in it is because of Imma and seeing all the Pinterest Craft pins on my feed. I have had no formal training in this medium (something I will say over and over again) but I love how it works. So I was pleasantly surprised and very excited when Alessa mentioned that this was her area of expertise and something she has been doing for more than a decade! If there is anything I will not forget form this afternoon of art is the concept of TEA, MILK & CREAM -- various mixes of water and pigment to create a difference in your painting. TEA is a mix of mostly water and very little pigment-- exactly how tea looks. MILK is 50% water and 50% pigment. Meanwhile CREAM is primarily pigment. Learning how to utilize these three mixes in order to sketch and finally color your end project was an eye opener. The class output was a family crest and this is what I made: The shape of the shield resembles the JCI shield -- an organization we are both very much active in. The letters M & I represent our names. The mountain at the bottom is supposed to be Mayon Volcano -- the premier tourist attraction where we live. Finally the banner at the bottom spells out our family name - Reynoso. The final seminar was FLOURISHING By Patrick Cabral (IG @DarkGravity) and was the one I was most excited to attend. You see flourishing has always intrigued me -- how can some calligraphers create such intricate designs with swirls and circles? Although I was not able to finish the entire seminar -- I had to leave earlier to go to another engagement -- I was able to pick up some tips in creating my own flourished beauties. 1. SYMMETRY - if you flourish on the left you must do so on the right, same goes with the top and bottom to create some symmetry in your design. 2. PICK WHAT LETTER YOU WANT TO EMPHASIZE - not all letters are made to be flourished. Some are easier to add flourished to than others such as L, N, S, & T. Remember to not go overboard though! 3. EXPERIMENT- there are no set rules on how to flourish so dont be afraid to experiment with the swirls and circles In conclusion, I had an awesome afternoon! Leaving the seminar, I had an entire canvass bag filled to the brim with freebies such as artist-grade watercolor paper, book by Summit Media and the materials included in the seminar kit that had items such as Zig Real Brush, Dr. Ph Martins Hydrus Watercolor ( 3 Bottles), Dong-A Hexaplus Pen Set, CraftDoodle Water Brush, Stabilo pens and more! And finally the best surprise, all participants got to take home a pair of the Limited Edition Filipinas Slipper designed by the 3 Workshop Facilitators!! Yes guys a free pair of Havaianas Slippers!!!!!!! I was such a giddy teenager that I couldnt wait to wear my pair right away. And I did -- during the car ride home. So yes, I was quite the happy camper bringing home not just the workshop goodies but also a free pair of LIMITED EDITION Havaianas Slippers. What more can you ask for?
Finally got a hold on the Peerless Watercolor and It's a dream to work with The Peerless Watercolors have been around for more than 100 years and are unique in that they come in highly-pigmented papers which you dilute with water. Yes they come in papers. Yes they are watercolors. Yes it means they are highly transportable! After stalking youtube and pinterest about this brand I finally decided to purchase mine from ArtWhalePh. I ordered the Small Bonus Pack which gives me 48 very vibrant colors in 2x2 inch squares. This is the draw of the Peerless brand, because the colors are in paper form you can cut to size the colors you want, paste it on a board then just bring your water-brush and you are good to go! Also, dont be fooled by the way the papers look. When I first opened my small bonus pack I thought that the final color would look exactly like it did on the pigment paper -- yellows look orange, reds were almost black, blues were so dark you couldnt tell. But when I began swatching them into my "travel palette" the true colors would come out and what bright vibrant ones they were! Additionally I just love the way they named the different hues -- peacock blue, forget-me-not-blue and so much more! Some are even hard to pronounce!
As a final word, I'm very happy with this brand of watercolor. You dont need much pigment, just a tiny dab and it can go a long way in lettering or coloring what you need. I also found out by accident that if you go over pencil lines with this brand you can still erase the pencil afterwards. Something I cant do with Prang and Holbein. This is also especially valuable when working with yellows or light colors where pencil will surely shine through.
A set like what I bought is a bit pricey (at Php1,500) but you also have to understand that something like this will go a long way since you wont be needing that much pigment and there are a lot of colors to choose from. Also, since they're dry until you use them, it makes this brand perfect for traveling and on-the-road art doodling. What are your thoughts? sorry to be M.I.A. but I'm back with a vengeance September has been quite a busy blur for me which is why you didn't hear a peep on this blog. I didn't have much access to internet during the entire month or time to really sit down and organize my thoughts. But that's in the past -- October is here and I'm all for starting on a clean slate. The onset of the "~Ber" months here in the Philippines means it's Christmas season. Even before my blog hiatus I had already begun to hear the carols and see the decorations being set up all over the place. Christmas here is the longest celebrated in the world ending on the first Sunday of January or the Feast of the Three Kings. It is also one of the Filipino's best holidays -- endless parties, food, gift giving etc. For me it is also Wedding Season. A lot of my friends have scheduled their weddings during the holidays for various reasons but primary of which would probably be because all the family is home so why not add another big PARTY to the numerous festivities already in store? This would also bring me to my newest project. A friend, despite me saying that I have never done this before, has asked me to be her wedding invite calligrapher. No, not the entire suite -- I am not that greedy or ambitious. But just the addressing of her envelopes. Truth be told I AM NERVOUS! I have a window of about 2 weeks to address 370 envelopes and not much experience in doing so. (None at all in fact!) But despite telling her so, she pushed on with her request. This is why I have spent the past sleepless nights (hence the photo above) writing in script made up names using MAJUSCULES (a fancy way of saying "capital letters") in formal flourishing. Personally I prefer the comfortability and ease of minuscules (or small letters) which is why this is my go-to for practice calligraphy. There is no fuss and it's very hard to make a mistake. However I am finding out that with capital letters you gotta be more precise and sure of each stroke. Did I also mention that there are numerous ways to write letter "M", "D", etc?? As of the moment the letters I find hardest to write is "E" and "D". The loops and curves of these letters escape me and I end up with a lopsided mess. With this in mind, I have a couple of days left before the blank ivory envelopes and guest list arrive. Gotta keep practicing!
Crafting obsession realized. And yes, my wallet hates me. I have always had a crafting obsession. As a kid I would collect stamps, guard steadily my Crayola stamp markers and use sparingly my 180+ crayon set. This habit of mine has continued to accompany me as I grew up and my wish list would change to suite whatever I fancied then -- metallic pens in high school, journal notebooks in college, reliable blue ballpen during the corporate phase, etc. Nowadays my Craft Wishlist has revolved around my Calligraphy hobby --- it includes anything that will make my writing pretty and stand out. So this collection has included iridescent inks (love you Dr. Martin's!), flexible nibs (I am loving the leonardt line up), colorful brush pens (Kuretake, Pilot and Tombow are my go-to brands) and different cutters or punches -- you can read about the great craft re-organization here. But for the quite some time I have been lusting over the Midori Traveller's Notebook that I dedicated a blog post about it -- read here. After hemming and hawing I finally caved and bought for myself a black regular sized TN from Scribe Writing Essentials. This gloriously luxurious purchase of mine felt like such a reward that after taking it out of the box I found myself just staring at it for a few minutes. The paper is my biggest come on -- it's light and smooth and can take any kind of ink i throw at it WITHOUT BLEEDING. Yes you head me right it does NOT bleed. I've used brush pen ink, acrylic ink, watercolor and calligraphy. The paper just eats it up like it was nothing. Thus far I have only written in a few pages but find doing so such a relaxing experience. I don't need to worry if my nib will snag the pages, if the ink will blur, etc. For the front pages I even decorated them with little sayings using white ink just for added inspiration upon opening the leather cover. I am looking forward to filling this notebook -- and it's refills-- with my thoughts and even considering making it a true TRAVELLER'S NOTEBOOK when I leave for my adventure this September. (I'll keep you guys updated regarding this, sketching might prove to much of a commitment while on the road and I might just get frustrated trying.)
So here's a peek of what my Midori looks like these days. I might shuffle up the inserts after a while. That's the beauty of this notebook it's totally customizable that you can change the insert arrangements whenever, wherever, however you want it. I totally recommend this for notebook and writing aficionados such as myself. You will not regret! |
Who is sab_adventures?I have always wanted to write. This will now be a creative outlet-- home to all my arts and crafts. So feel free to browse around my everyday adventures. Interests
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November 2016
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