Picture of the day: Sweet dreams are made of bunches of chico

If there's any fruit from the Philippines that I miss terribly, it's the chico. This fruit has got to be one of the most delicious I have ever tasted. It's soft, sweet and juicy. And it smells of wine. The chico comes into season just before Christmas, which makes it extra special. There's nothing like biting into a succulent chico to remind you that Christmas is just around the corner.

I haven't had chico for a very long time as it's always summertime when we go to the Philippines. I had given up on ever seeing them again until a few years ago, when my colleague (and Johnny Depp lookalike) Pete turned up at the office with a brown fruit which he said he found at his local Tesco's. He had never seen anything like it before and  bought it out of curiosity.

The fruit looked suspiciously familiar.  I asked Pete what the fruit was called and he said it was labelled 'sapodilla'. I googled the name and sure enough, the Wikipedia page for the sapodilla told us that it is known as chico in the Philippines. Who would've thought it would somehow show up here in the UK? I told Pete that it was a popular fruit at home and that I hadn't seen one for a long time. He kindly offered me a bit, but I declined, thinking that if that chico turned out to be horrible then I'd have that taste in my memory, instead of the lovely one I've cherished all these years. Pete gave me the seeds instead. They're still here at home somewhere. I was tempted to plant them, but sapodilla trees need a tropical environment to flourish. They wouldn't have survived the frost here.

So here's my drawing of a chico. Don't let the bumpy brown skin deceive you. Its flesh is a nice smooth reddish brown with a smattering of black seeds. And the taste, oh, is simply divine. As far as I'm concerned, the chico is fruit royalty and this drawing is my humble way of giving it the honour and respect it truly deserves.

Picture of the day: Presenting the humble aubergine

Aubergines are, quite literally, a dime a dozen in the Philippines. They're added almost as an afterthought to various dishes which frankly would taste just as nice without them. I think the main reason for this is people normally assume that aubergines (or eggplants, as we call them at home) have no nutritional value at all. Which is a fallacy, of course.

I myself was never a big fan of this vegetable (let's face it, it's not very tasty), but there is one aubergine dish that was a great part of my childhood, and which I have recently started cooking at least once a week. It's frittata (torta in the Philippines), which is absurdly easy to make. You boil or grill an aubergine just until it's soft, cut it in half, dip it in seasoned beaten eggs, and then fry it. My aubergine frittata doesn't normally look very appetising (my husband says it resembles roadkill), but I know other people who can make theirs look quite nice. I don't really mind. I know that mine tastes nice and takes me back to my care-free childhood.

Here's my drawing of this week's aubergine, made in a hurry as I was about to cook it. I tell you, the aubergine should be given a medal of honour even if just for its looks. How can you look down on a vegetable that comes in such a gorgeous shade of blue?

Picture of the day: Nanay

If there's one thing I find really difficult, it's capturing people's skin tones. They're never as simple as they look, it seems. Last night, I decided to draw a picture based on one of my mother's Facebook photos. (Yes, my mother's 71 years old and she's on Facebook. My dog's on Facebook too, and he's 80 in dog years.)

I went to bed after making a rough sketch and woke up this morning remembering that I had actually bought a set of Derwent Coloursoft pencils in their Skintones range last year. I decided to use them to finish my drawing, and here's the result.

It was actually quite fun doing this. Looking at the guide on the Derwent webiste I found out that my mother's skin tone is similar to that of a child. Also, I realised that despite the wrinkles on her neck, she hardly has any wrinkles on her forehead. Darn, I need to know her secret.

Picture of the day

I have a new project which involves drawing a picture a day using just colour pencils. I'd like to concentrate on this medium for now as I haven't had the chance to fully explore it.

Having just gone back to being a vegetarian, I will most likely focus on my favourite fruit and veggies in the next few days.

Here's my first drawing, done very quickly just now. Isn't it funny that what we were taught early in life to draw as red and round is actually a multi-coloured irregular shape?

Lola

Here's the first of my dolls. I don't recommend painting late at night in poor lighting as it wasn't until morning that I noticed the little blotches on her face. At least she looks happy. She looks a bit on the frumpy side hence the name Lola (which means 'grandmother' in Filipino). I'll make her sisters look a little bit more 21st century, I promise.

All systems go

I'm so pleased I managed to get some time this evening to add a few essential bits to this site. The gallery is up now so please feel free to look at the images in there. Unfortunately, it seems I have misplaced the copies of my postcard girls that I sent off to the printers earlier this year. This is the problem with using more than one computer for storing your files. So kids, I hope you'll learn from my misfortune and keep your files backed up on a disc that you have easy access to.

I've started working on my new project: wooden dolls. I'm still learning, as I don't really use acrylics and have never painted on tiny wooden objects before. The key to the whole thing, I find, is patience, of which I have a miniscule amount. It takes a bit of time for each layer of paint to dry, and it's essential to get the colours right because once you spray on the gloss, that's it.

I'm also working on my sketches for The Sketchbook Project 2012. It's a wonderful project that brings together sketchbooks from all over the world and takes them on a touring exhibition in the U.S. This time, though, European contributors will also have their sketchbooks exhibited in London (and Australians will exhibit theirs in Melbourne). I'm looking forward to seeing a whole load of sketchbooks when the tour stops in London next year!

When I got my sketchbook in the post a few weeks ago, I felt daunted. My inner critic went into action straight away, taunting me and saying that I wouldn't be able to fill the book because I was a mere crappy wannabe. I decided to leave the book for a while and start working on it after my husband left for his skydiving holiday in Spain. I finally started the first sketch a few nights ago. I'm quite happy with it and would love to show it here, but I think it's best to leave it for when it's officially part of the exhibition next year.

Next week, I'll be posting pictures of my dolls and a few plans for Halloween and Christmas. In the meantime, have a great weekend, everyone!

Plans

Hmm, okay, so I didn't post anything at all throughout the summer. Sorry about that. Real life sort of got in the way. I'm getting back into gear this week and will be going at full speed when my daughter starts school next week. I know mothers are supposed to feel a bit sad about our little ones going off to school, but you can call me a bad mother if you like—I'm just happy to have more time to myself! Woohoo!

Anyway, here's a link to the old website for now. I promise I'll transfer and update my gallery this week!