Illustrated

Another great find from the depths of my hard drive - a folder of illustrations that friends have made over the years of yours truly 🙈

This first set of paintings is by my childhood best friend, Monica. She made these for me when she started dabbling in watercolor. I don’t think she continued with this hobby, at least not that I’m aware of. Shame but that just makes these MP original portraits all the more special x

This one is by Sol, a friend from UP. If I remember correctly, she posted on Facebook saying she would make illustrations for all the people who liked her status. So I did and I got this!

I love it because it reminds me of my uni days. The typical UP student schedule had Mondays off so we essentially had long weekends for our entire collegiate life. So I did what any beach loving girl would d0, I spent most of my weekends going on road trips around Luzon. When everyone else was out partying on a Friday night, I was usually riding in someone’s car, off to some rural adventure, unreachable until it was time to head back to the city. I suppose this gave me some sort of allure. And I fully embraced that mermaid/wanderer vibe with my “sunkissed skin” and long billowing hair. haha

I still love this tribute (left) my org-mates gave to each member of our graduating batch. (Although I was quick to point out that you don’t surf in Batangas lol)

Funnily enough, pandemic aside, I hardly go to the beach now. I always think I deserve a vacation, especially after a long shoot day but I haven’t really made time to actually go and decompress. I love living in the city and I feel like this time is meant for grinding and chasing dreams. There are just way too many things I want to try, do, and achieve that the attraction of living a beach bum life has waned. Maybe when I’m ready to slow down, I’ll make my way to an updated version of this previous self. Or who knows, maybe I’ll have an epiphany tomorrow and drop everything to go on an Eat, Pray, Love kind of self discovery journey (or Donna Sheridan, cause let’s face it, that’s more me. haha) Whatever happens, I hope I never lose this carefree spirit, living life as fully and wholly as I possibly can; completely present and content with wherever life has taken me.

These illustrations are by Pete Rich, a talented artist I had the privilege of working with on Liz’ book, Stylized. Originally, the team was supposed to be illustrated in the book’s credits but we ended up keeping it simple and listing our names instead. Can’t complain, still got myself a Pete original out of it! My only regret is not getting a copy of the team illustration layout!

The sketch on the left was too over the top so Pete had to take it back to the drawing board… But not before I asked him to give me a tail. LOL!