{"id":4571,"date":"2016-01-31T04:00:21","date_gmt":"2016-01-31T12:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/?p=4571"},"modified":"2016-01-30T18:45:32","modified_gmt":"2016-01-31T02:45:32","slug":"sketching-baguio-an-artists-favorite-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/art\/sketching-baguio-an-artists-favorite-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"Sketching Baguio, an Artist’s Favorite Holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Baguio,<\/a>

Baguio, photo by ossiak<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

For an artist, a sketching trip is the best kind of vacation. And for an artist living in the Philippines, nothing beats Baguio for its breathtaking mountain scenery and cool weather.<\/p>\n

In 1979, I was spending most of my spare time painting. So when friends invited me to spend a week at their home in Baguio, I was sorely tempted to leave my kids in Manila with my husband and the maids and go. “You can spend every day sketching,” Deli assured me. “John will go to work; I’ll putter around the house; and our driver will take you anywhere you want to go.”<\/p>\n

That clinched it. I packed up my sketch pad and the jeans and sweater I wore only on home leave. Manila, with its hot tropical climate, is a sleeveless dress sort of place. But Baguio is more than 5000 feet above sea level. Its average high temperature is in the low seventies. Its average low is 59 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n

After a hair-raising ride up the mountains on Kennon Road, we settled into the cozy routine Deli had promised. Every morning we ate breakfast together–scrambled eggs, toast, fruit and coffee.<\/p>\n

The first day we started out early so John, a geologist who was intimately familiar with Baguio’s mountains, could point out some good spots before the driver dropped him at the office. Then I’d choose a spot and the driver would take me there and wait while I sketched the view.<\/p>\n

I ended up with a sketchbook full of mountain scenes.<\/p>\n

I’ve lost many of the sketches and sold or given away some of the paintings based on those sketches. A few remain though. Here’s a simple sketch I turned into a simple batik painting:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"sketch<\/a><\/p>\n

\"batik<\/a><\/p>\n

I made a batik from the faded sketch below, but I either sold it or it’s in a closet somewhere.<\/p>\n

\"sketch4<\/a>Here’s another sketch and some batik paintings.<\/p>\n

\"sketch2<\/a>\"batik\"<\/a>\"batik<\/a>Since my sketching trip to Baguio, I’ve been on cruises and stayed at nice beach resorts. But when I think of a luxurious vacation, the trip to Baguio comes to mind. Imagine! I had a driver at my disposal. My generous hosts served me breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And I had the whole day to sit on a mountainside and sketch. What a deal!<\/p>\n

Do you have a favorite kind of vacation?<\/p>\n

\"my<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For an artist, a sketching trip is the best kind of vacation. And for an artist living in the Philippines, nothing beats Baguio for its breathtaking mountain scenery and cool weather. In 1979, I was spending most of my spare time painting. So when friends invited me to spend a week at their home in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,529,755,148,253],"tags":[1127,530,1130,1128,928,1129],"class_list":["post-4571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-batik","category-holidays","category-philippines","category-travel","tag-baguio","tag-batik-painting","tag-best-vacation","tag-mountain-scenery","tag-philippines","tag-sketching-in-nature"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-1bJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2540,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/art\/batik-saving-and-resisting-color\/","url_meta":{"origin":4571,"position":0},"title":"Batik: Saving and Resisting Color","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"November 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Thinking in reverse. 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