My 10-hr bulalo was a success. We love how tender the beef is and it melts in your mouth. The potatoes absorbed all the flavors and the soup alone is enough to be your meal. Drown your rice with the soup and you’re good. ❤️ This is so sinful that I will only cook it once in a while. I think I can make a beef bowl noodle with this next time. I kept adding seasonings throughout the night so that the flavors will not disappear with the heat.
While I did that, I was trying to make sense of my landscape sketch.
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Since this was requested by Twin A, I will put this in their room.
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
I think I need to start doing charcoals again and build my charcoal pencil collection from scratch. In the meantime, I can make do with my multiple mechanical pencils and the ordinary Mongol ones that I have with me.
I’m so sleepy now as I slept around past 4 am, woke up at 7, slept again and woke up at 10 am. I think I need to turn in earlier tonight. Need to fix my body clock. 🥱
My cat, Sushi, tore the watercolor drawing I was trying to salvage. Oh well.
This is what Twin A has been doing if she’s not creating flowers or mushrooms with polymer clay.
Studying shadows and light. Art by Twin A, photo by CallMeCreation.com
Because she’s been learning by herself with the help of videos and online resources, I decided to have an art day today as self-love gifts to ourselves. We went to Art Bar in National Bookstore along Quezon Ave to buy supplies. I prefer that branch because there are only a few people there.
Photo by CallMeCreation.comPhoto by CallMeCreation.com
These charcoal pencils below used to be my medium of choice. I don’t know why I stopped drawing with charcoal. Ah! Because they were hard to buy in our hometown and I needed to go to Manila whenever I ran out of supplies. If there were charcoal pencils in our local art/school supplies stores, they were limited since the pencil number/grades available are few.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Twin A chose this today so I guided her in buying supplies such as erasers and blotters because those were the things that I often ran out of/went missing. It’s hard to blot/blend with just fingers at times. The little jars there are charcoal dust but I should just teach her how to make her own.
Brushes. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Of course I bought my own supplies because I find drawing/painting more therapeutic because intrusive thoughts are less compared to sewing by hand.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
After I get the hang of it again, I’ll graduate to the 90 colors. I used to work with water color tubes but they dry out on me fast and the tubes harden = unusable. I like the pan-type because they’re transportable and the artist I admire these days showed me that pans are as versatile as tubes.
This guy, Jose Naranja, inspired me to have an art journal. I was too chicken to start a few years ago but now that I need art therapy, I think I can start with my Moleskine drawing notebooks I had been keeping for a couple of years.
After ArtBar/National Bookstore (Twin I bought crochet hooks and yarn), we proceeded to Wilcon Home Depot to check out bathroom fixtures for our flat. I decided to push back the construction to November because 1) we had omicron in the compound; 2) Right after construction we can move in instead of letting the flat be empty for six months before we move in. So whatever adjustments we need to do, the workers/contractor are still on-call.
The twins convincing me to have these granite flooring for the bathroom. Photo by CallMeCreation.comI like this compact tub. I wonder how much it’s going to cost transporting from QC to my hometown…Photo by CallMeCreation.comTesting the rain showers. Photo by CallMeCreation.comDeep kitchen sinks. Photo by CallMeCreation.comChecking out kitchen counter tops. I told them I don’t like tiles. Photo by CallMeCreation.comI vetoed a shower enclosure. You always have to wipe off the enclosure every after shower, which is double the work. If you neglect doing it, water streaks or scaling will appear over time. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Checking out more loft beds. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
It was a lovely day out for us with less humans around. We treated ourselves to stuff that will keep us busy in the following days. Until the girls had their second vax dose, I think we better stick to more domestic activities before we venture out of Metro Manila again.
I’m missing the sea. Now that it’s getting hotter, the call of the sea has been growing stronger than ever. K told me he’s going to be in Boracay next week for a week’s stay. I bet he would be having a sexy Valentine’s date/s on Monday. He should just spare me the details.
The pencil sketch looked promising…
Art and Photo by CallMeCreation.com
But I can’t translate it into watercolor. Even though this is a Moleskine drawing notebook, it is NOT a watercolor paper drawing notebook. The colors bleed and the paper keeps piling. My Sakura Pigma Micron drawing pens are missing. I could only use my Pilot Dr. Grip pen to make outlines.
I think I should stick to pencils and charcoal in the meantime until I get myself proper watercolor papers and more practice. It has been 25 years since I did my last watercolor.
I’ll try to salvage this one tomorrow. I’m just a bit tired. I spent 4 hours gardening today, re-potting plants and removing old soil that has been infected by nematodes and root rot.
Aside from that I cooked brunch and dinner.
Omelette rice for brunch. Photo by CallMeCreation.comBeforeprocessing the mushroomsAfter using the food processeorCream of mushroom for dinner.
I only got 1 hr of nap today. I again was woken up at 4 am and had a hard time falling back to sleep. However, I did get better quality sleep last night after taking melatonin. I should try to make it 6 mg tonight so I can have a bit of deep sleep.
It’s better to be tired at least there’s less time thinking about the things I shouldn’t be thinking about so I hurt less. I wish it’s that easy. Thinking about dating again makes my stomach churn. I don’t think I’m made for this. I think I’ll be better solo.
My friend from my old TV network asked me if I want to have a date on Monday, because he knows someone interested and he can play match-maker. I said NO. The thought made my skin crawl. After my vehement no, my friend said he was only joking.
The Marcoses are really out of touch. Imee Marcos mocks people who work 18 hrs a day.
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com Art and photo by CallMeCreation.comArt and photo by CallMeCreation.com
No need for words. Because words aren’t enough.
There are times when writers fail but visual artists succeed in conveying indescribable emotions. That’s why I appreciate artists who could take an image to the next level. Writing is a very complex cognitive process and if your heart and brain are not in sync, it’s nearly impossible to finish the task. And my brain and heart are already tired finding the right words. That’s why I resorted to drawing again. It’s more of the emotions pushing every pencil stroke. You just have to think about where the light is coming from–chiaroscuro. Today’s drawing is composed of soft lines because I want to be nicer to myself. Yesterday was all about harsh and angular lines because I was very angry. I’m debating whether I should complete tonight’s sketch or I leave it as is, because the feeling it evokes is enough.
Despite my emotional state today, I still managed to have a call, finish an analysis piece, and work on some emails. I NEED TO SLEEP! I have an interview with a CEO of a global company tomorrow morning. Oh God, help me sleep.
It’s 2:37 am. Been waking up every 30 mins or an hour. But this shouldn’t happen because I just took alprazolam at 10 pm. I’m so fucked up.
Please, let me sleep in peace. I don’t deserve this PTSD.
I no longer know what to do with my head and hands. I can’t sleep. My heart is breaking into a million pieces but is still held by a flimsy tape.
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
I hate drawing hands. I’ll redo the hands later today after observing my own hands.
This is how I feel today. I don’t know how to channel this pain. I no longer know how to express this since words aren’t enough. Singing it isn’t enough. I need to express it graphically to make it raw. To make it more real, more tangible. Like shooting an arrow straight to the heart.
I may have to buy a big sketch pad and this Muji notebook for my work notes will not do.
