Batangueño Artist Paints Mini ‘Streetscapes’ of Lipa To Capture The City’s Beauty At Dusk

Batangueño artist paints ‘streetscapes’ of Lipa City

Most of us capture beauty mostly through quick cellphone photo snaps, but for some travellers, appreciating the sights in front of you can take an old-school, yet more detail-oriented approach through drawing.

This is how travel artist and furniture designer Banjo Magnaye chooses to capture the beauty of Lipa City, Batangas at dusk by creating miniature ‘streetscapes’ or gouache paintings based on his self-taken photographs.

C.M. Recto Avenue, Lipa City
Image credit: Banjo Magnaye

Walking home from work while capturing photos of Lipa’s streets

Since the start of June, Magnaye has been walking from work to his home due to the lack of public transportation and the costly price of special tricycle rides.

Along the way, he takes photos of the streets of Lipa City showing the everyday scenes of life in the southern city as it turns to dusk. Later in the evening, he paints his photos on a sketchpad, using gouache paints. 

Plaza Lipa
Image credit: Banjo Magnaye

“Pag kakalabas ko po galing work naglalakad po ako pauwi ng bahay due to lack of public transportation and medyo kamahalan ang special ride ng tricycle… Nagcacapture lang po ako ng mga moments around Lipa City, Batangas habang naglalakad pauwi ng bahay,” Magnaye shared in an interview.

MK Lina Street
Image credit: Banjo Magnaye

(When I leave work, I walk home due to the lack of public transportation and somewhat costly price of special tricycle rides…. I just capture moments around Lipa City, Batangas while walking home.)

Painting using gouache

Magnaye has been painting using gouache (pronounced as “gwosh”), a combination of opaque watercolor with a high ratio of color pigment and a solid white chalky pigment. He even shared a tutorial on YouTube about this type of art material and how to paint using it.

GOUACHE painting TUTORIAL PROCESS | SKETCHBOOK PAINTING SERIES

The detail of his paintings is all the more impressive when you consider that he doesn’t have much space to work with – each painting is only the size of a palm.

Using his time during the quarantine to create more art of Lipa City

Image credit: Banjo Magnaye 

The additional time we have now allows us to be more introspective, giving us opportunities to appreciate our surroundings in deeper detail, like this Batangueño artist does. 

Even though this pandemic is challenging, hopefully, we can create something positive in small ways. 

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• Filipino artists produce art about COVID-19

Cover image adapted from: Banjo Magnaye