A souvenir from “home”
Despite having left Liverpool in December after living there for a year, I was lucky to have a compilation of sketches sent to me by Paul Hunt, one of the many talented artists at Downtown Sketchers. They’re a group of artists based in Liverpool who get together every Monday to draw, paint, and chat over coffee or tea.
I joined the group thanks to artist and advocate Tracey Dunn, who is also part of another wonderful community in the Toxteth district of Liverpool aka Liverpool 8. Thanks to her, I learned not only about the sketchers but also about the vibrant yet tumultuous history of Toxteth. I was happy to have bumped into her a few times at the Granby Winter Gardens for drawing sessions too. The Garden is a community space carved out from abandoned homes that stand as a testament to the neighborhood’s resilience against unemployment and racism throughout the 70s and onward.
I was only able to attend 3 sessions with the Downtown Sketchers, and probably just as much with Tracey’s Granby initiatives, but I still look back fondly at both the art I made with them and of the people I met, albeit very briefly.
It’s still quite surreal for me to have called Liverpool home. I often thank my wife, who brought me along for the ride. It was she who got a scholarship and eventual permission for us to live in Liverpool for more than a year. There was a small but loud yelp from extremist right-wing groups in Liverpool during the Southport riots. But the human beings of the city, regardless of political affiliation and economic standing, came out in droves, reminding us we were welcome there.
What’s great is that this book by Paul and the sketchers shows scenes of places I find so familiar, yet so very far. Places I walked or biked by often. Now here I was, 6,600 miles (10,700 kilometers) away from Liverpool flipping through sketches in the book, being hit with a tinge of nostalgia and oddly, homesickness.
Paul told me that one of my sketches was chosen for the back cover, which blew my mind. When I finally saw it along with my name nearby, I almost teared up.
I learned from the group that sketching involves putting down on paper whatever you see. An artist friend of mine also based in the Philippines says something similar – “Put that first stroke on paper and let it flow… make a mess.”
It’s harder than it sounds at first, but this has steadily become one of my mantras when being hit with “artist’s block” – that feeling you get when faced with a blank white page or canvas. What do you draw? How should it look? One simple answer is draw what you see, no qualms, no expectations… just come as you are and draw what you see.
Coming as you are is crucial for any gathering of people coming together, whether it’s for drawing or for something that contributes to an even bigger picture. The Liverpool Downtown Sketchers offers a place for everyone – I even met people who didn’t sketch at all and have had good conversations with them nonetheless.
A year probably isn’t long enough to call a place home. But I had lived in Bohol for just as long, and I would always tell my mom before visiting her there, “Uli na ko ma,” I’m coming home.
I’m slowly realizing now that home really is where your heart is. It’s a privilege to have called a few places on the globe my home without having to be a millionaire (or even a thousandaire). They also say the grass is greener on the other side, but I have found that we will also long for the grass we leave behind.
Though we’ve left Liverpool, the people and the places there have long left their mark on me.
