Revisiting the masters

Since I started this project last year which I also posted here, I saw the benefits of the project for the learners. Not only do they learn about the masters (at least some of their works), they also learn about texture and what it does for an artwork. As this is also a group work, they also learn about team work, leadership/following a leader and sorting out their differences.

While I started out with Pablo Picasso last year simply because you can segregate the colors easily, I added more artists this year. I asked the students to research about the following artists:

Foreign:

1. Pablo Picasso
2. Henri Matisse
3. Vincent van Gogh
4. Juan Gris
5. George Braque

Filipino:

1. Arturo Luz
2. H. R. Ocampo
3. Cesar Legaspi

Here are some samples of the students' work. Can you tell which painter is being reproduced?

Religion, tradition, superstition

Sometimes,there is a very thin line between religion and superstition. This can be seen here in the country especially during the Holy Week.

Holy Week starts on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday. I remember the lonely Thursdays and Fridays extending till Saturdays of the week during my younger days. There was nothing much that you can do for you were forbidden to play by your parents since you cannot have fun while the Lord suffers. TV stations were out and comes back only at 3:00 pm only to be given reruns from the dinosaur age. This went on till the coming of cable tv. Business establishments were all closed.

But that did not mean we really had nothing to do. You can read the Pasyon, which I could not figure out till now why they have to use a microphone and make the neighbors lose sleep in the evening (probably part of a scheme for unsolicited penitence, huh?), watch the senakulo (a theater production portraying the life of Christ), visit seven churches to do the Stations of the Cross. Not your idea of fun, are they? But these are nothing compared to what other people do. YOu can also see people carry the cross, walk from a to b kneeling and/or flog each other and make a spectacle out of themselves. In Pampanga, people do actually nail human beings to the cross. They would soak their nails in alcohol for one year so as to ensure that these are clean. (Why not holy water, huh? Maybe that makes it all the more potent.)

There is nothing sacred about these things if you ask me. God never instructed us to do just that. And yet we do. If you ask me, Good Friday whould be a time of merriment for on this day, God has fulfilled a covenant with us. But that's just probably me. I cannot even say that these forms of sacrifices are wrong entirely. It just happens to be how people relate with God. And when it comes to matters of faith, each individual is entitled to exercise it in whatever form he/she likes provided it does not cause injury to another.

At any rate, as I have said, we know that there is a thin border between religion and superstition. Much of the practices we see during Holy Week resulted in superstition. Ask most of the people why they exercise the sacrifices they do and most likely, the answer is because these prove that they have won God's favor through some sort of a miracle done to their lives. This is not solely a Catholic endeavor. Many religions have their own practices.

How should one view faith? I think we should look at faith in different perspectives. One is look at it in the eyes of an intellectual, the other as a child. We should view faith as an intellectual so that we can learn to differentiate a miracle from a hoax. That we don't fall prey to exploiters. We should view faith as a child so that we can accept what is that that we cannot explain and believe in it. Too much intellect and you become an agnostic or even an atheist. Too much thinking like a child and you become a fanatic extremist. As we all know, too much of everything is not good.

Happy Easter everyone.

Serendipity?

We are at the final leg of the schoolyear and everybody's busy with grades! For students, getting high marks and teachers computing them. It's really crazy this time of the year. What I could not understand is how students would relax the whole season with nothing to do but talk with their seatmates instead of working on their grades and panic on the last day trying to make up for lost time. Real valuable time, and they never learn. They'd do this again the following year. Well, maybe that is human nature. At least for most of us. I, too, am guilty with this phenomenon, you know. I would dilly dally on tasks thinking this or that is easy and when it's crunch time, would not even sleep just to complete the deed. Procrastinate all you want guys for in the end, you will have to do what you're supposed to do or face the consequences of your irresponsibility.

Anyway, while I was in a stage of stupor, thinking what and how I am to do the volumes of work that are hitherto unattended, a poem came to me and this is the result of that squalid serendipitous splendor. Here's hoping that you'll like it.

What is and what is not

I don't have to hear my baby cry
to know he craves for food
or that he wants a warm hug
on a cold, cold night.
I know what is and what is not.

I don't have to taste a mango
to know if it's sour or sweet,
nor do I have to cut myself
to know that a wound
immersed in brine hurts.
I know what is and what is not.

I don't have to see the tears
to know that not all dreams
come true making men
miserable all their lives.
I know what can or cannot be,
I know what is and what is not.

I don't have to hear wailing
to know hunger exists and lingers.
I only have to see children
with open palms, begging for alms.
I know what is and what is not.

I do not have to witness a man
manacled with strong chains
being dragged into the corner,
beaten with truncheons
or bombarded with water cannons
to know that there's injustice.
I know what is and what is not.

I don't have to smell the land
bathed in blood to know
that your greed can only be sated
by my sweat and tears,
I know what you can and cannot do
I know what you will and will not do.

I don't have to see the sun
to know it hides behind
dark clouds on a stormy day.
I know what is and what is not.

I know I can't go on whining
and do nothing about it.
I know it's what it is
snd not what it's not.

rolly

Boy, but he grows fast!

It's just been a month since I mentioned that we got ourselves the first family pet. You might be thinking that it's a little late for us to acquire a pet but I was not very kin on having one while the kids are growing up since I know that having a pet dog can be serious business. I would like to make sure that my children know how to handle a dog responsibly as I did not want any problems on my hands. As a matter of fact, my youngest had a tragic experience with my SIL's dog. He was bitten on the head! The doctors made sure that he has got to have his shots as the nasty bites were near the brain. Anyway, seeing how excited the children are upon seeing this puppy, I knew we are prepared to have a pet.




His name is Yogi, probably a mongrel given to my wife as a gift from Tagaytay for having stood as sponsor for a friend's child's wedding. He is a very cute little puppy and a darling to all of us.



Well, he is beginning to learn the rules of the house now. He no longer bites hard and has lessened jumping on everyone when excited. I have gotten him accustomed to having his neck on a leash everytime I take him out for a walk. Even managed to make him stay put while on a leash while I cleaned the car. Last Saturday, I bought him some goodies like dog biscuits which he adored. Took him only three days to finish the whole pack. I also bought him a nail cutter and a fake bone, which I might say are both inutile right now as I could not work the nail cutter with him refusing to give his paw, and yes, you figured out correctly, probably a tasteless bone.

He's grown very big now. I could not imagine how he'd growb this big in just a little over a month. He's gotten so big that we had to find a new haven for him. Have a look for yourself:







GOTCHA!!!

Rants!

It seems like we who are traversing the SLEX are going to be facing hard times again. The continuation of the skyway will soon be ongoing and now that they have narrowed down the road, the telltale signs of heavy traffic on both sides are imminent. There has never been a single day when I have not been stuck in traffic going home for two weeks now! What's worse is that a new construction is ongoing at C5 and I have to endure another traffic grid from Market Market all the way to Buting.

What really gets my goat is learning that the operators of the SLEX have revived their stupid solution of decongesting the north bound vehicles every morning by having a counterflow scheme. What this does is decongest the traffic by some 10 per cent for the north bound vehicles and demobilize the south bound ones a hundred percent from the foot of the connecting C5 bridge all the way to Bicutan.

I have told a friend once that Citra (the company running SLEX) should not charge vehicles using the highway everytime there is a humongous traffic. To think that commuters have to pay a whopping Php65 from Nichols till Alabang one way! And for what? Only to be stuck for hours. But then, my friend said, the more that we should be charged. After all, we are staying on the highway a longer time.

______________

In a different story, I was watching the news this evening when a story caught my attention. The story links Joe de Venecia to smuggling. Naturally, De Venecia denies the charge and countered it is the First Gentleman and his son who have connections with smugglers. One of the good things that come out from this ZTE deal is that these trapos are on each other's throats and throwing mud at each other. Hah! Let them kill one another, I say, and rid the Philippines of them. We don't need these greedy bunch whoever they are.

color harmony

One of the projects I give my students is one that teaches them to use three basic color harmonies, viz., monochromatic (use of different shades of one color), analogous (related colors), and complementary colors (colors lying opposite each other in the color wheel). What I do is let the students choose their own theme, their own medium which they are most comfortable with minimizing my control over their form of expression. Anyway, here are some of the works they produced.

The HIghlanders

"The HIghlanders"
Oil on canvas 36" X 36"

This is another commissioned work which is bound to go to Canada. It is one of the hardest pieces I've done so far for the simple reason that I could not decide the colors to use, I had to change colors as I went along. Since it was the owner who suggested the theme and color scheme, my main problem was how to make a scene of mountain people who are accustomed to living in a cold emvironment look good on a warm tone, ie., red. That was my patron's request, red! Very limiting and yet very challenging. I decided to go analogous on this one using tones related to redm and yes, a little blue hre and there. There's the finished product. Hope she likes it. Hope you like it, too.:-)

Much ado about nothing(?)

Finally, Rodolfo Lozada, has surfaced after a search for him since he arrived from Hong Kong last Tuesday. As you may know by now, he is supposed to testify on the NBN deal at the Senate, presumably to shed more light into the controversy. People had been worried for his life as the powers that be may have had him liquidated lest he spill out a testimony that will bring a lot of people down.

This morning, I received a text message from Doc Emer saying that Lozada has been found. As the text message was received at around 4:00 am, I have no way of checking the news on tv. It was later on, at around 5:00, after my morning routine, that the news came out that Lozada was in La Salle Greenhills.

So, what was the fuzz all about? He strengthened the case on former Comelec chair, Benjamin Abalos and stopped there. All he kmows about the FG Mike Arroyo are not first hand information - hence, hearsay. We all know that hearsay testimonies are not acceptable in court. With Lozada's emergence, we are still left in the dark. Too much ado over nothing, I might say.

I gotta do it right!

As I have mentioned in my previous post, I am a new father again. Well,it seems like it only that the new comer is a puppy. The only thing is that this is the first time we are owning a pet dog, hence, we are just being introduced to a new world of raising a puppy just as the world is being introduced to it. ONe of the problems we now encounter is that Yogi has not yet acquired biting inhibition. He bites when he is excited as puppies do, as I learned from my research. This puppy has been separated early from its mom that it has not been socialized with its own litter and other dogs. You see, puppies do not have hands like us humans (duh) so what it does is to use its mouth. Biting inhibition is taught by the mother and siblings. When the puppy's bite gets strong,probably while sucking on the mother's teat, the mother gets angry, growls or leaves. The same thing with other dogs during playing time. This is how the puppy learns to control its bite. After a series of reading various materials on dog training, I think I've got it right. He no longer does that to me. But still does it with my daughters.

I think I have established with him that I am the alpha dog. He can now follow my commands - that is nobody is there with me. I guess he's still too young for training. But I can already make him sit when I tell him to. Patience is what I need and he'll get it in due time. Who wouldn've thought I will be a father again! :-)

The latest addition to the family

We have another addition to the family, the youngest. He, yes, he's a boy, did not come after having stayed 9 months in my wife's belly but only in a day! Last Thursday, my wife sponsored a wedding at Tagaytay. It would have been just another one of those weddings my wife attend but this one was different. When I got back home, I saw my daughter tenderly patting him on the head while he remained steadily lain on the garden table. He was very quiet, not a sound came from him, not even a whimper. IT turned out that my wife has returned with a puppy which she intends to give to either her brother or a friend, as she knew I didn't want any pet in the house. She just couldn't resist taking his one home!

I had always been adverse to having pets in the house for several reasons. First and foremost is that having a pet is a huge responsibility. Uncared for pets turn out with mighty, disgusting fleas, can be ferocious and bite the neighbor's child and put us into trouble. You have to clean up after them and cleaning poop is not one of my favorite chores.

And yet,there is something unique with this puppy. He's just so lovable. I did not want my emotions get over me so I ignored my daughter's plea to keep the dog. HOwever, that night, when my eldest, and later on, my other son came, I saw how bright their smiles were upon seeing the dog. They excitedly went to where it was, petted it and my heart melted. Nothing in this world could ever give that kind of happiness to my children. And so, the following morning, I gave out the simple rule that they should all have their share in caring for the dog, otherwise, he will have to go. And so my friends, I would like to present to you the latest addition to our family, Yogi!

Wheel of fortune

Fifty years living in this planet has taught me that karma does exist. While in its strictest sense, karma is not about retribution or vengeance as most people believeit to be. Simply put, karma speaks of what we become as a result of our decisions. What we are now is due to what and how we live and that includes how we treat other people. This is the reason why we should treat other people fairly. Filipinos have a similar viewpoint. We believe in life being lived like a wheel. Sometimes we're on top, other times, we're at the bottom. Gulong ng palad (wheel of fortune) is what we call it.

To those of you who are at the top right now, let me share with you a quote from Thomas Paine.

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.

Trouble finds you anywhere

i don't know but it seems like trouble will find you anywhere you are, even in the most unexpected places where you think you are safe. What's more, it comes unexpectedly. This happened to me last Friday. I was home early and was watching cable tv when the phone rang. It was one of my nephews. He was at a precinct somewhere in Pasig.

What happened was he was at a mall window shopping. He did not know that an artist was preparing to mount a pastel painting into a glass frame. He accidentally stepped on it causing the glass to break. He was being asked to pay for the frame. He argued that it was not his fault as they were in a hallway where people pass by. He was taken to the police station when they could not agree. My nephew is currently jobless and had no money to pay for anything. Frantic saying that he was being threatened to be put to jail, he called me. I asked to talk to anybody from the precinct and was given the mall's security guard who took him there. (I had to know what happened from someone else's point of view.) True enoughm the artist is in one of those whose stalls are in the middle of the walkway. I told the guard that I don't think it was my nephew's fault. After all, he knew that the place where he was mounting his frame is a walkway so he should have done something to protect his work. I even told him to go ahead and sue my nephew but they have to release him first. Realizing that nothing can happen that way, I asked them where they were and promised I was on my way.

When I got to the station, I learned that the painting was being framed as it was already being sold. However, because of the incident, the buyer did not want to purchase it anymore as she believes it was bad luck. Tough! When I met the artist, I expected an argumentative, aggressive person, ready to charge my nephew with everything. I was ready to argue that it was him who was negligent. To my relief, he was soft spoken and kind. When I asked him what he wanted, he said if we can just at least shoulder half of the price of the glass frame. I acceded knowing that he has lost so much that day. However, I did not have any cash with me and will only have money on Monday. At first he wouldn't agree. "If that's the case, then I will just have to argue that my nephew has done nothing wrong and that we won't agree to paying anything."

To make a long story short, he finally agreed and the case was blottered by the police. Here's the catch. When I went to my sister's house on Sunday to withdraw money and give the amount to my nephew, I found out that my money is Php000 short. He really has to wait for Monday. So I told my nephew that I (read my wife) will take care of it. The thing is we lost his contact number and had no way of reaching him. Since my wife has given him her office number, we were hoping he'd contact us but even that did not materialize. I guess I will have to go to the shop myself on Sunday. Such trouble!

Two days in Paradise

Petronas Tower


Wife and I had a taste of heaven for two days! We went to a much needed respite from
our jobs as parents and bread winners for a brood of four and party we did! This could not have been possible without the help of Bayi, a known and well-loved visitor of Filipino bloggers, and his charming wife, Sok Kin who gave us a two day packed tour of Malaysia through sites and delicious food.






We started the day with a delicious breakfast in China Town where we had porridge with a choice of different goodies like fish with herbs that you dip on a bowl of scalding rice soup to cook, Malaysian lechon with its delectable crispy skin, pig innards (chicharong bulaklak) which are as crunchy, and a soft noodle cooked in a sweet, hot sauce on the side.











Next was a short tour of Kuala Lumpur on our way to the Petronas Tower, compliments of SK who was then at Penang and will join us up for dinner the following day.

Next stop was a taste of Indian culture through cuisine for lunch where one eats with his hands on a banana leaf. We were joined later by Sok Kin and were off on the road again. Next stop was the Batu Caves, a well-known sacred place thirteen kilometers north of Kuala Lumpur. Thereafter, we headed off for an overnight stay at the Colmar Tropicale, a French theme resort up on the hills at Bentong, Pahang of Bukit Tinggi. Again, we were taken by Bayi and wife to the town for a sumptuous dinner of seafood and vegetables.

Day 2 - Malaysia in pictures

Malaysian culture is similar and yet very much different from our own. For one thing, I can sense my own heritage based on familiar words which we share as a people. Apart from their get ups, the Malay brown skin is the same skin we have. And yet there is something unique about Malayan culture that is distinctly its own. The cuisine which is borne out by the various ethnicities present in its land viz., Malayan, Chinese and Indian, maintain their own culture amid the presence of the others and yet they seem to blend into one from my point of view. The influences of one culture over the other may not be evident at first glance but looking at it from a distance, one can sense the amalgamation of the different cultures and how they have transformed into one.

If there is anything that impressed me more in this trip, it would have to be the warmth, generosity and the selfless giving of one friend to another. A friendship that blossomed between two strangers from different lands, brought together by their love of the written word, the sharing of thoughts as they come and the passion by which they view life as a whole. Through this trip, my wife and I have had the experience of knowing that in this world of distrust, apathy and chaos, we would come to know that there are people with golden hearts ready to accept us for who we are. Hopefully, we can return the favor one of these days. And so, with our deepest gratitude, we thank Bayi and Sok Kin for the love they have shared with us for two glorious days.


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