Day 28: Romeo's Dagger. "O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die."

Day 29: Thumbelina. A play on red and turquoise.

Day 30: Infestation. I remember being sick and waiting in line at the hospital the day I worked on this.

Day 31: Blue Hawaii. A tropical cocktail drink personified, complete with a headdress made of anthuriums, birds of paradise, and heliconias.

This afternoon, I shall be participating at this year’s Art in the Park as an exhibitor at Art Informal‘s booth. In a nutshell, this annual event organized by the Museum Foundation of the Philippines is an affordable art fair where paintings, photos, prints, and sculptures are made available at Php30,000 and below. The event will run from 2 PM up to 12 MN at the Jaime Velasquez Park, Salcedo Village, Makati.

I invite you to drop by at Art Informal’s booth, Paper Works, at L4 (near the playground). Three of my watercolor paintings will be exhibited there and they are, of course, up for sale. Posted below is the location map for your reference.

So if not for support for the local art community, come and visit for affordable art, great food, wine, and jazz music. I do hope the overcast skies clear up. There’s much to be experienced in this much-awaited art fair!

For day 25, I drew a re-imagining of Princess Tiger Lily from Peter Pan with facial tattoos. As for day 26, I drew a water nymph – an undine brushing her hair, engulfed in water lilies and waves. That’s 1 month down and 11 more to go!

Tiger Lily. This brave princess is my favourite Neverland resident next to Captain Hook.

Undine's Spell. It is said that these graceful water nymphs can not get a soul unless they marry a man and bear him a child.

In other news, the date of DLSU Moo Media’s 5th Young Multimedia ang Graphic Desigers’ Summit has been finalized. It’s going to be on March 10 at Yuchengco Hall at the DLSU campus. Do mark your calendars!

I am slated to be the first lecturer. To say the least, it is an honor to be part of this summit’s 5th installation and to be chosen alongside some of the brightest minds in our current local multimedia scene.

The 5th YMGDS is open to all. To pre-register, visit http://tinyurl.com/ymgds5registration. For De La Salle students, ticket selling locations are as follows:
1st week (Jan. 30 – Feb. 3) — Velasco Walk Bench 8 (near Velasco Entrance)
2nd week (Feb. 6 – Feb. 10) — SJ Walk Bench F (near Zaide)
**For outsiders, contact: 0915-897-7538.

March 10 is definitely going to be a busy day with the talk happening in the morning and my two-man show with Ponj Roco opening in the evening. I am very much looking forward to it no matter how nerve-racking that day may be.

Day 21: Flower Child. She was supposed to be Lady Godiva until I turned her into a hippie.

Day 22: Victorian Cat Sisters. Twin ladies in Victorian garb and gatto masks.

Day 23: Little Red Riding Hood. Because Alice is overrated.

Day 24: Raven Hair. Literally.

Day 25: Our Lady of Poppies. Yet another study for a painting.

I’ll get back to fulfilling drawing  requests on February, which is just a day away. I needed to put down on paper ideas for paintings and images I’ve formed in my head.

Click on the image to view the article.

The article was wonderfully penned by Max Guillien and I am very much honored and grateful for it.

On se laisse envoûter par un délicieux mélange de cultures et d’influences. Un univers étrange de couleurs nous transporte au travers de parfums tropicaux et de lignes vénitiennes, on ressent une finesse orientale mêlée à des tons « latinos », où l’on sent l’influence de Frida Kahlo sur son travail, le tout dans une ambiance bandes-dessinées fascinante. On est envoûté, charmé, surpris. Les couleurs chantent, les courbes séduisent, et le résultat réussi s’affirme dans un classicisme figuratif voluptueux, parfois osé, sans renier une modernité qui s’exprime plus dans la transgression que dans la substance de l’inspiration.

Let yourself be captivated by a delicious mix of cultures and influences. A strange world of colors takes us through tropical flavors and Venetian lines, we feel a delicacy mixed with oriental tones, “Latino” where one feels the influence on her work by Frida Kahlo, all in a fascinating comic book atmosphere. We are bewitched, charmed, surprised. The colors sing, the curves seduce, and the successful result asserts itself in a classical figurative voluptuous, sometimes daring, without denying modernity which is expressed more in the breach than in the substance of inspiration.

It’s in French, so for non-French speakers like me, Google Translate should come in handy.

Now for Day 20 of my 365 Women Project, I ended up making a study for a painting I should be able to start working on by mid-February. She’s a shaman in matador pants. A stylish high priestess perhaps.

Horns for Pigtails. A study for a painting.

Recently, I’ve began to realize how important studies are before starting to work on a painting. I usually find huge, freshly primed canvases sort of intimidating, but once I put my thoughts on paper, either through writing or drawing, the painting process becomes so much easier.

Year of the Dragon. Not to be confused with the dragon dance, the girl in the drawing is a lion dancer.

Something for the first day of the Chinese New Year. Her dress was inspired by Maggie Cheung’s cheongsam in “In the Mood for Love.” Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Sleeping Beauty. A peacock keeps her safe underneath its wings in her deep slumber.

It’s a reimagining  of the classic fairy tale character as a Maharaj Kumari sleeping upright with a majestic peacock as her protector. I decided to do without the usual splashes of colour for this piece and just keep it in black and white.

Spanish Rose (2010). 38.1 cm x 25.4 cm. Watercolor and acrylic on paper.

For this piece, I wanted to draw the 3 ladies dancing at first, but the size of my sketchbook wouldn’t do justice to the image I pictured in my head. I guess I’ll save that one for a large painting instead.

Flamenco Dancers. These three ladies are getting ready for their dance.

No bata de colas forming large blossoms this time, just three Spanish señoritas about to start dancing under the shade of cascading bougainvilleas. It’s sort of a study on their dresses and hair ornaments. One thing I love about this 365 Women Project, is that it gives me a lot of concepts that I could someday develop into series of paintings for future exhibitions. Perhaps dancers as subjects will be one of that.

Day 15. MindlessSpirit wanted an angel with phoenix wings done Art Nouveau style. So I took inspiration from a couple of works of Czech artist Alphonse Mucha, and tried to keep the few splashes of colours I used close to the warm palette he used for most of his paintings. Then, I gave a little twist to this angel. Instead of making her a celestial being, I turned her into a Victoria’s Secret Angel complete with lace lingerie.

Art Nouveau Angel. Her wings were inspired by how phoenixes are usually depicted in tattoos.

Day 16. Vida was very specific with this second request of hers. She wanted a girl with long, wavy hair in a leather jacket and boots. So I gave her exactly what she wanted, a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and a cigarette included.

Friday Night. She just might be Batwoman Kate Kane with an undercut.

It’s kind of a wishful thought of what I should be doing on a Friday night instead of working. Haha! I’d like to think she’s a biker chick or maybe even Kate Kane.

Anyway, for day 14 of my 365 Women Project, I granted Mariel‘s second request and drew her a girl with many cats.

Cats and Coffee. Sipping coffee al fresco with 6 cats doesn't seem like a bad idea at all.

I toyed with a couple of ideas while working on the sketch for this. Either I turn it to a girl having coffee while taking a break from painting while her cats nap around her (which would be a self-portrait) or a girl in a cafe who took her cats along with her. I went with the latter. The cat on top of the girl’s head was inspired by a photo of my friend Myka.

One of the Apsaras at the entrance of Bayon temple.

Taken at the Angkor Wat.

One regret I have when I went to Cambodia in 2010 was not being able to go to an Apsara show. I remember reading about these female figures intricately carved on Khmer temples. When we finally had our fill of exploring the Angkor Wat complex, I was really looking forward to seeing an Apsara Dance. I was, however, discouraged by one of my companions.

Yes, it would have been a very touristy thing to do, but it would mean a lot especially for a Cambodia first timer. Besides, it is said that no visit to Cambodia is complete without attending at least one traditional Khmer dance performance. So the next time I return to Siem Reap, it will be second in my to-do list; taking more portraits of people being the first since I concentrated too much on architecture the first time around.

Apsara Dancer. Three different photos were used as reference for her 3 pairs of arms.

A bit of information: Apsaras are beautiful, elegant supernatural females who are proficient in the art of dance. As wives of Ghandarvas who make music to which they dance to, each of them represents a distinct aspect of the performing arts in Indra’s court. This makes them somehow equivalent to the muses of ancient Greece. On the other hand, the Apsara Dance is a traditional Khmer ballet-like performance known for its distinct ornate costuming, arched back and feet, fingers flexed backwards, and slow flowing movements. More than a dance, it presents a story inspired primarily by the Reamker (the Cambodian version of the Ramayana) and the Age of Angkor.