A Quick Getaway to El Nido, Palawan: Sunsets, Coffee, Beaches, and Creative Inspiration
Last year, I lived in El Nido for six months without ever feeling the desire to fly out or leave the island. I didn’t need a long-term or work visa to say I was living there, and I never had to do visa runs because I wasn’t a tourist, the island is in my own country.
Recently, though, I only went back for a quick getaway. I usually consider any trip between two weeks and one month a “vacation,” so this one definitely qualifies as a quick escape. I also had a few things to sort out while I was there.
Sketching in El Nido
A snapshot from a session at one of my favorite coffee spots in El Nido. I go there for the captivating view and for a Filipino breakfast that’s actually worth it, without me having to touch the kitchen.
I realized the last time I drew hills or mountains was for a commission I did for a friend, an ink on paper, simple drawings, but it had my signature labyrinth-like lines. This one is more of a pencil sketch, unfinished.
Come Back to Now
The finale of the Snake Year was personally compelling. The universe has its own astounding timing. And frequency is real, in the most tangible, physical sense: something I witnessed in real life, with my own eyes, in an actual moment, not online, not symbolic, and not imagined. It felt deliberate. Unmistakably on theme.
I appreciated it. And then, I came back to now.
Coming back to now is a practice.
It’s not glamorous, not loud. It’s catching your mind drifting… and choosing… gently, to bring it back. Back to your breath. Back to the texture of this exact moment. Back to what’s actually in front of you. Now is where your power is, where your choices live, and where your energy gets to create.
Recent Museum Picks
Exquisite artworks in the neighborhood.
How intricate the process of putting these parts together must be!
Painting: New Friends
My artworks have always been intensely inspired by both good and unpleasant memories. But in recent years, I’ve noticed a shift in the stories I choose to create. I now gravitate toward pieces that come from joy and genuine inspiration, like “Boat Ride,” instead of building my work around experiences that once felt ugly.
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