domaination....

okay.

this is the last and final time i'm changing my domain name.

sorry about that. haha....i keep changing things. but yeah..like i said...i'm still finding my place in the blogosphere....hopefully this time...next year...it sticks :)

my old domain names:

-creativebygrace (2009)
-sinigangsagabi (2009)
-sinigang.sa.gabi (2010)
-sketchgabi (2010)
-artistbygrace (2011)
-soupforthehungry (2011) 

to make up for it...here's a lovely song by the awesome 500days of summer couple zooey deschanel and joseph gordon-levitt

See you on 2012

This blog started with a lovely spark...a flame that was beginning to shine bright with promise 11 months ago. Shooting up to the sky with a lovely trail of memories and accomplishments, and a little bit of disappointments as well.

But as the year progresses, you will notice a decline, a sort of downfall even, from that little spark. And now that little spark has lost its momentum and is now gradually increasing in velocity on falling back to earth.

Much has been said, but not enough to inspire. I feel like I am lacking something. Probably something worth sharing that would inspire and impact not only my life, but other people as well. So it got me thinking.

Initially I wanted this blog to be a mix of my personal life and my experiences with my God or my spiritual life so much like Fabiola Garza's...but I end up sounding like a "trying-hard" poser. Somehow I fear that people will find it cheesy or too religious, and that's what I'm trying to avoid. Also, I feel like I'm not living up to the name I gave this blog...and it feels like I am failing miserably even on the smallest things such as this.

Sometimes I wonder if I do have a voice...or the fact that if I have something to say. I only talk and talk and talk...but no action was ever seen from me -- ever. I'm just one of those wise-ass people who think they know everything, but in truth, have never seen the dark realities of life. How, indeed, can you comfort when you have not encountered the problem and has proven to come out of it successfully? How can you inspire people when you've never faced the same troubles they did? How can you reach out to people when you yourself are closed?

So many things are running in my mind right now. One of them is recalling my high school blog (friendster took it down, along with other precious memories), where I used to post passionate, angst-driven post that actually got a lot of readers. How did I do that? I used to be burning forests already....and now I can't even light a damn candle.

Another thought is change or inspiring people to make worthwhile things. Deep down, a lot of us desire to make a change...a lot of us have those "if I ruled the world" mental monologues. And it's one of the things I do wish to pursue. I used to be on track, almost grasping the prize...but now all is lost. I can't even reach out to the people I love so dearly in the office -- what more to the blogosphere?

And what is my true purpose for posting this blog anyway? Was it really for the greater good? Or just my vanity talking? To be honest, sometimes I am embarrassed of what I let you see here, because it's in contrast to what I desire for you to see. Most of the time I just feel like I'm wasting your time.

Yeah, insecurity talking. Sorry.

Anyway, this is why I'm putting this blog on hiatus until January so I can think things through....again. Do pray that by 2012 I shall know what I want to do with my life...and that I may share with you whatever treasure it is that I find.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Now I'm all at sea~

The past brings good tidings!

I used to think that maybe I should've brought down my old blogs filled with a mix of emotional rant-poems and drawings, illustration and doodles. But now I am grateful that my sentimental side won over my saving-face side.

Eventually it's one of the ways people reveal to you that it's the honesty they're looking for in your work, and vain conceit will do no good. So I'm glad.

Most glad above all because this particular drawing got some loving attention~

http://sketchgabi.blogspot.com/2010/02/faces.html

I'm happy and grateful~

Gleaning..

Just gathering inspiration as of now...and this song posted above ^ plays a huge influence. It's been a struggle really...since we already found the perfect song a couple of month's back. But the songwriter apparently already had some copyright thing posted up his webpage that says it's purely for listening only, and no other means of production...whether it be a fan's work is allowed. :| so...yeah. You get the picture. It was honestly a big damper...I got disheartened because of that and stopped functioning properly for a while (hahaha). But praise God for One Republic! (a fanart is due i believe! hoho!)

Will keep you posted on the days ahead... for now just immerse yourself in the good vibes of One Republic's song~

Have a productive Saturday! God bless =)

other inspirations:


http://fabisart.blogspot.com/2011/08/be-silent-or-be-lost.html


http://heidschoetter.blogspot.com/2011/03/toto-house.html


http://www.onehundredthmonkey.com/monkeyblog/?p=3513#respond

Pascal Campion has infulenced us greatly...

So the other night, after finishing off with the couples...Eveth and I were doodling again. I saw her drawing kids...and we both came up with the idea of making our kid versions our children. In the end...we drew our future families.

For the next hours of December 7th at 11 or so in the evening...we created these up until December 8th of the afternoon. One of the best creative days of our lives. :) And finally my sleepless nights have a cause! LOL

Daddy Mitz

Mommy Eveth

Daddy Wes

Daddy Robin

Daddy Noel

Mama Gabi

After drawing these...and the post prior....I realized something and I made it my Facebook status actually:

i love doodling sentimental things~

sa wakas nadiscover ko rin yung isang passion ko. hahaha. =))

I've never felt so alive and energized with work. The last time I felt this way was...probably in highschool? It's pretty awesome to finally realize that all along, this is one of the things I'm passionate about. Sure, I still don't know how this will be able to boost me up career-wise but on the existentialist sort of thing...it felt like a giant gate was opened for me. And it's the most refreshing thing I've had this month. Thank you Daddy God.

Well, that's all for now~

I believe in Christ like I believe in the sun- not because I can see it but by it I can see everything else. -C.S.Lewis

So I drew romance...

I was just sketching the other day...and my friend Eveth, ended up wanting to color the sketches I made...so here are the mushy stuff!

WARNING: too much cheese!!!

the doodles...

The actual drawings, in chronological order...

eveth and gab

mits and michelle

wesley and amanda

me and sda. haha

robin and a VS angel

noel and elisha haha

Yeahp...well...forgive me for the mushyness....to make you feel better...here's the first part of what will be soon updated spin-off of the entire mushy thing...

robinXnoel

will be updated sooooon~

UPDATE!! Here's the other drawings =) Enjoy the love~

gabiXebet

wesXmitz

Sleepless in Cubao

guess the song lyrics!

Yep. I'm at the office again. I'm surviving on borrowed clothes from guy friends. Haha! I couldn't get some sleep though because I have no snoozing space...so I decided to just doodle some of the work assigned to me while waiting to meet Mr. Sun...who is up and out now by the way...hellooooo misterrrr suuuunnnneeehhh!!! And of course...for vanity's sake...I drew yours truly in this fashionable doodle "look book" of sorts. How classy. How high fashion. It can pass for a Vogue cover. Look at that finesse! That morning elegance! Haha!

In other news...I drew a friend of mine out of curiosity's sake. So here's the portrait of this rad Swedish historian physicist/ mechanical engineer student...dang I seriously forgot which course was he taking up. D8 Shaaame! Haha! But anyway...here he is

I seriously think he looks like Hans Bacher. Haha. He's 21 btw...I just exagerrated his beard.

Haha! Well...I guess that's it...now I don't know what to do to keep myself up. :|

Toodles!

I am circling around God, around the complexities of my life,
and I have been circling for most of my life,
and I still don't know if I am a child of a lion, or the crashing waves,
or the best story you'll ever hear of.

A rendition I did of some site that suggested I make my own version of this poem:

I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,
and I have been circling for a thousand years,
and I still don't know if I am a falcon, or a storm,
or a great song. - Book of Hours by Rilke

 Hey! It was his birthday yesterday! Awesuuum...hahaha. Happy birthday Mr. Rilke. Thank you for the inspiration...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainer_Maria_Rilke

will update this post later to do a portrait of him =)

UPDATE! Here's the drawing finally =D

Just one of those things...

10 months and counting~

Nothing's Changed - Jacob Vanags

I believe that, I believe that
When I was a child
If I could jump off a wooden table in my room
And prayed for flight
I would fly before I fall
And it seems like nothing's really changed at all
So forgive me, so forgive me
If I fail, but you know
That I've got to try to put all of everything
Into who and what
I love instead of who and what I'm supposed to need
If I, if I crash and burn
I'd smile 'cause cause I'd do it in style
And rise and dust of the light
'Cause I know we can get this right
I see you, I see you standing
In your summer dress
and I must admit I, I must admit
I've never done a thing like this
If I might be so blessed that you might jump with me
and we'll hope for the best
If we, if we crash and burn
We'll smile 'cause 'cause we'll do it in style
And rise and dust off the light
'cause I know we can get this right
If one more thing breaks
Then I'm broken
But I have no problem
Spring boarding off my hopes and
You may call it reckless
But I'd like to say it's trying harder
To regret...less
If we, if we crash and burn
We'll smile 'cause 'cause we'll do it in style
And rise and dust of the light
'cause I know we can get this--

5 minutes

before December 1 ended.

You're Able to Look Back for a Reason

May 26, 2007

4 years and 7 months ago
You sent me off with a promise
Represented by a fresh blossom
Dusted with the dews of the morning
Glistening in the pale 7am light
Though I stumbled and fell throughout the years
I manage to stand up and walk on
Because of this lovely orchid
I waited for all summer to bloom
Only made possible by the power of love and grace...


I keep looking back,
My sense of joy made anew
Refreshed by a new sense of understanding
Strengthened by grace
Overwhelmed by a love that surpasses everything.

:)

Gaya nga ng sabi ni Eugene Domingo sa isang pelikula nya na kasama si Kristine Hermosa ata at Piolo Pascual (nakalimutan ko title e basta cheesy): 'God is good...All the tiiiime~'

Colossians 3:22-25
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and with reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

choices

a little storyboard attempt i did back in May.

honestly it just fits the mood of how I feel right now.

Funny...

Now that I think about it...since I've drawn that like...6 months ago or so...it must only mean that I've felt that way 6 months ago or so.

I have been feeling that way for half a year now. And that should really disturb me now more than ever.

To feel that way over something means something...right?


I'm miserable to my very core.


A choice must be made.

Before I completely die.

Oh the things we do for life.

everything's been said and done

'pitter patter'

the rain drops said.
I listened to their words as I lay down to my makeshift bed.
This is a memory I say. A dream perhaps.

It was always during rainy cold nights that I remember being lost.
Where and when everything's been said and done.
Where and when I'm not truly myself.

But you accepted me wholly...in hopes to fill the hole in your heart.
Much as I wished that you could fill mine.
And instantly I was falling.

This is for you, my estranged lover.
And this is the apology that I hope would reach yonder.
Though I beg to differ...

For we met as strangers...
And we sadly part the same.

old drawing that fits the mood...now that i think of it...i think i'm stuck in a miserable cycle.
something's wrong with me. D:

---

Inspiration

http://nicholaskole.blogspot.com/2011/11/on-god-art-and-dragons.html

Not much to say because he's practically said it all without the dark, depressing tone i tend to put into my words when I write things. Haha! I believe it's worth sharing...and very encouraging for every artist out there stuck in a rut.

Sometimes it's just going back to the basic truth that'll make you realize things in a much much more profound way. :)

OJT junk.

Some work I did for my On the Job Training class back when I was still in college. Bad memories really, but these are the works I'm most fond of during those days.

Aside from that, since I got into some depressing fits last year around the same period as now (August to November)...I ended up doing some risky things that almost cost me my college degree. But God is good always, and he provided me with a way out from the graves I dug for myself. And here's one of the blessings that saved my college life:

Commission/Sideline gigs that a college friend offered me to do. I was so depressed then, and I was quiet-emo-ishly making sad, dark illustrations with serious linework in one classroom, and that college friend of mine saw me drawing. He gasped, picked up the paper I was working on and asked his friend immediately if I could draw some designs for their t-shirt print business. He was willing to pay me in advance for the whole shebang. And let me tell you, that payment...though i never got the second half... saved my sad butt from the registration office fee. Hahaha. Here's their awesome Facebook Page.

And here's some comic thing I did for another class. History I think...I colored it traditionally with watercolors but I never got the chance to get them back again...all I have are the roughs. So here they are. I think it's about Rizal...an artwork dedicated to anything about him...or basically describes him in a way...haha oh well...enough talk more show:

That's all for now. It's just fun to reminisce sometimes. Plus the fact that I really dont have anything to post as of late....so...yeah. Heheh. I hope you liked them as much as I am laughing at them now and how a year has already passed. It feels freaky sometimes, especially when you think about how you were doing the things you were doing just over a year ago.

If ever there was anything I'm futzing about lately...then this is probably it:

drawing couples. hahaha!

I just laughed at one of Mommy Dionisia's dresses. I swear it's a lobster dress!

Last Night..Last Year

Last Night Last Year
I was mourning over lost coffee
The sweet aroma
The strength of the taste
The power of the loss

Last Night Last Year
My drawing was about a man
Formed in my dreams
Conversing with me from far away
Promising me empty words of love

Last Night Last Year
My song was Something About Us
Because we both loved Daft Punk so much
Because you refuse to communicate with me
And that was my way of expressing how I feel


But that was all Last Night Last Year
Tonight, This Year
I'm mourning over other things
Something far more grave than feelings
Far more bitter than coffee
And that is a life...not well spent.

----

Haha...yeah I just suddenly remembered what happened this November around last year...I was moping over a lost relationship with some guy. Funny how I feel down on the same dates as before -- thankfully it's not the same situation though.

Still just quite upset with how I'm dealing with my creative life. I'm in the 'downhill' phase of my relationship with art...hopefully we manage to work things out once more.

A song that coincidentally fits the mood of my drawing

amor vincit omnia!

Happy 13

13

Years of being with You
Growing up with You
Learning with You
Living with You

Life has not been a smooth path
But that's the point of the narrow road
Where we die in ourselves
And live anew in the Spirit

Thirteen years has it been
And I still do not regret
The day I decided to be Yours
Thirteen years ago...and forever more.

---
Instead of moping around....because I couldn't work on things properly these days, I suddenly remembered my Spiritual Birthday -- which is today! Hahaha!

My spirit's a frickin teen-ager. Hahaha. I find it amusing. I'd love to celebrate it with a lovely slice of Shepherd's Pie in honor of the love I share with the Shepherd of my life. Hahaha! sorry for the puns! XD but yeah...I don't have an oven to make the pie...so just a metaphorical drawing will do. :) cheers!

I thank my God every time I remember you, always praying with joy for all of you. I thank God for the help you gave me while I preached the Good News—help you gave from the first day you believed until now. God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.

  And I know that I am right to think like this about all of you, because I have you in my heart. All of you share in God's grace with me while I am in prison and while I am defending and proving the truth of the Good News. God knows that I want to see you very much, because I love all of you with the love of Christ Jesus.

  This is my prayer for you: that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love; that you will see the difference between good and bad and will choose the good; that you will be pure and without wrong for the coming of Christ; that you will be filled with the good things produced in your life by Christ to bring glory and praise to God. - Philippians 1:3-11 (NCV)

This is what I got from my devotionals for today. Thanks Paul. Haha! To God be the glory indeed. :)

Also...a song~ maybe I'll make a related illustration of this tomorrow once I get it done tonight. wooo!

I can’t win, I can’t reign
I will never win this game
I am lost, I am vain
I will never be the same
I won’t run, I won’t fly
I will never make it by
I can’t rest, I can’t fight
I can’t quit now
This can’t be right
I can’t take one more sleepless night
I won’t soar, I won’t climb
If you’re not here, I’m paralyzed
I can’t look, I’m so blind
I lost my heart, I lost my mind
Without You~

Don't Wait Up

Have you heard of Robh Ruppel's style of digi painting? I tried to do my own take on his method by using just the rectangle selection tool and the 'ctrl+u' command. Hahaha! Mine was a bit tough to use...but I'm happy with the pixelated effect it gives.

Also...I'm going crazy over Diane Birch as of late...not to mention that I find her fashion sense one of the most adorable things ever. So here's a fan drawing...you should check her youtube channel out!Actually...no. You MUST! haha! :D

Well...that's all for now! Just got really inspired plus my sleeplessness fit and all...so here ya go. :)

"Gettin tired of living
Living for a moment
Gettin tired of hanging on the line
Wake up every morning
And I pull back the curtain
Wonder if it's gonna rain or shine"
- Nothing But a Miracle

"I looked at the clock and it was quarter to twelve
I started counting the minutes to the freedom bell
I said the midnight hour is gonna take me home
And today's sorrow will be here no more
I said

Oh, oh, don't wait up for me
Oh, ooh, 'cause you ain't gonna like what you see
No, no, no" - Don't Wait Up