On sketches, green malls, and curses

New payroll period's resolutions are easier to keep than the ones we write down on New Year's Eve. That doesn't mean, however, that I don't make annual To-Do Lists. These yearly plans are as natural for me as my monthly grocery list. To a friend of mine, they're as necessary as his quarterly office attire plan, plotted on MS Excel.

Here are a few notes on how I've been working on my 2012 Stuff-To-Do No. 1: To visit at least 20 museums, art galleries and public libraries. In other words, weekends are for loitering. 

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In this room full of Fernando Amorsolo's sketches at the National Museum, there are only four drawn with ink.

My favorite is this one called Baguio Scene, sketched with a ballpen:

The four ballpen and pen-and-ink sketches are all images of landscapes. I imagine that the master took a walk, forgot his pencils, and stopped to draw the scenery with whatever medium he had with him. 

I can't imagine him taking a walk, stopping, and taking his ballpen out to sketch, say, a green mall. He was lucky to be born at the right time.

When the guards weren't looking, I sneaked inside the Old Senate Session Hall, which is undergoing renovation. 

A friendly reminder of how the Senate used to be:

There's a bone gallery upstairs, which is open even on Sundays. Entrance is free. You have no excuse for not bringing your kids to the National Museum, if you live nearby.

The sperm whale that died of osteoarthritis. 

My dream doorknob is an Abueva.

I'm guessing it'll be hard to forget a lover who kisses you in front of the Spoliarium. That may be partly because after seeing the painting, you feel as if life's complete and you can already die. If you believe in both romance and curses, make sure that kiss happens in front. Luna's Mi Novia is at the back.

Other museums and galleries we've visited since the year started:

Museum of the Filipino People (no admission fee on Sundays)

The Metropolitan Museum of Manila, BSP Complex

The Yuchengco Museum, RCBC Plaza

Art galleries at La Fuerza Compound, Chino Roces Avenue

That black shirt hanging on my wall is from the Yuchengco Museum. It is sold for PhP300 and has Dr. Jose Rizal's Mi Ultimo Adios printed on it in Chinese characters.