ARTISTIC LOBSTER

"Rather than worry about foods to avoid, I think of everything I can eat - lobster, mussels, crab, tomatoes." - by Sarah Beeny LOBSTER SCULPTURE: During a summer trip in 2009 to Halifax, Nova Scotia, my husband & I caught sight of this lovely lobster sculpture while walking leisurely along the cruise ship port. I had never seen something as big & beautiful like this before. It was a very colorful, fascinating and interesting lobster artwork.

FAVORITE SEAFOOD: I like all of the above listed seafood by Sarah but my favorite is lobster. It's very delicious but quite expensive. Somehow I always find good ways to satisfy my cravings for this lovely pinkish creature. Whenever I see a Miss Lobster around, I am reminded of the many happy memories I spent w/ her kind of creature Here are some occassions that I had happily spent w/ Miss Lobster & company:

1. My first good memory about lobster was during a family vacation to Maui, Hawaii many.many years ago. During our last night in Maui, my husband & I splurged on a clambake dinner at the Westin Resort w/ out the kids. They stayed behind at the condo & had pizza for dinner. We enjoyed an excellent clambake lobsters plus all the trimmings and........ a big prize tag later on. But the happy memories of that dinner lingered long after and so there was no regret as the years went by.

2.Whenever my husband & I went cruising (10 cruises so far), we always look forward to the special nights when the chefs & kitchen staffs will be serving lobsters. Usually lobster & steaks were served during formal nights. We could asked for seconds if we wanted too. We were spoiled & pampered w/ lobster dinner during many cruises. One of the best rewards of cruising.

3.When my husband was still working for L-3 Communications, I always tagged along during company trips & conferences. Some of my best memories were those welcome & farewell night dinners at the Longboat Key Resort in Florida, where I had attended four times. Spouses were included and I never refused. These were some of the company perks that's unforgettable. During those memorable dinners, they served huge grilled lobster w/ steak. All you can eat. Yum..yummm.....!!! No wonder, I got home from those conferences w/ added pounds.

4. During our 25th wedding anniversary at the NBC Resturant in China Town, Monterey Park, we picked a banquet menu w/ lobster dish included. Many of the best lobster dishes that I tasted were from many great Chinese restaurants. They cooked it differently and very palatable. The heavenly taste lingered long after the special event was over.

5. Whenever I go shopping at Costco and I see those huge lobsters for sale at $17.99/ pound, I am reminded of a simple neighborhood get-togeher lobster dinner at The Oaks, Sta Clarita, where we once lived. I vividly remember one memorial week-end when our neighbors decided to have a clambake dinner at Dr. Larry's driveway next to our house. All of us bought fresh lobsters for each member of our families. Dr. Larry was divorced and a psychologist but volunteered to share his huge pot for boiling the lobsters. What a sight to see those live lobsters jumping & struggling on top of the boiling water! When cooked they had a reddish color. We also decorated the long tables beautifully & ate together w/ friendly neighbors. Along w/ the lobsters we feasted on store bought bread, boiled corn splashed w/ butter, grilled potatoes & yummy ice cream. Five neighboer w/ their families pitched in w/ the cooking & clean up. We had so much fun with our simple neighbor get-together that it was worth the splurge and work.

Yes, lobsters are pricey but with all these wonderful memories, I think they are worth spending for. If I will be rich, I'll buy a lobster sculpture to be placed on my garden by the kitchen. The lobster will inspire me to paint more. Why not?

THE ART OF MOVING FORWARD

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. Walt Disney

BACK HOME! I am now back to the U.S. after two months of traveling to the Philippines & Southeast Asia. The above photo was choosen because of the American flag in the background. It was 4th of July 2009 in Boston marketplace. Although it's very exciting to travel in many far countries, it's also a wonderful feeling to be back home. When one is gone for months, I discovered the truth that "There's no place like home."

SETTLING DOWN:When my husband & I returned from our trip last April 1st, our priority was to find a home of our own here in San Diego, California. Two weeks later we found a cozy condo that has a great location. This condo is old, w/ only 2 bdrooms, 3 bathrooms and an interesting floor plan. Very convenient & close to shopping malls. It has gorgeous views of the river below & city. As soon as I saw this great view, I fall in love w/ this house. My hubby had the same feeling too. We knew with out doubt that this is house we have been searching for many months. You must have a sensitive artist eyes & temperament to really appreciate this place. It's very secluded at the end of a cul de sac and built along the slope. Very inspiring place! Perfect retreat for an artist like me. I am sure that I will be spending many artistic moments on this house. What more.....with all the inspirations around me......masterpieces will be created in the days to come. Right now I am still busy unpacking boxes & organizing my art stuffs. I missed painting and pretty soon will be doing what I loved best...oil paintings.

LAST UPDATE: I am very sorry that my last blog post was on January -almost six months ago. It's hard to believe half of the year 2010 had passed. The busy new year started with lots of open doors, travels and moving. Along the winding ways & detours, lots of new things were thrown along my path. Changes and moving are exciting. New home, new friends, new things, new landscape, new ideas and new inspirations. In our old house in Valencia, I often relaxed at the end of the day by watching the beautiful sunset from our backyard. Here in San Diego, I anticipate looking at the full moon from our backyard during starry nights. What a wonderful & beautiful sight! How could I not move forward?

NEW BEGINNING

Here's an article which I posted when first started blogging in 2007. It reminds me and my viewers why I became an artist and an art blogger. This new year will be different for me as I will be away traveling for two months starting on February. When I come back from my trip to the Philippines and Asia on April, I will seek new directions and new formats for my art blog. Meanwhile, I hope you'll enjoy re-reading some of my old post.

How wonderful to be able to start anew! This new year is good chance to comeback.

WHY "FOREVER ART?"
Do you ever wonder why I named my blog "Forever Art?" As a professional artist I always believe art last forever if preserved properly. Art continues to flourish, inspire, amaze and command millions of dollars, centuries after these masterpieces were created.
However, art is not forever or eternal compared to God, the Grand designer and Creator of all things. Although art seems forever, some faded and deteriorated. Amazingly many earlier masterpieces that survived centuries reflected sacred themes. Its hard to explain why, but there's something divine in art.

WHY I BECAME AN ARTIST NOT A SCIENTIST?
When I was growing up, I discovered that I was intensely interested in the subject of art more than anything else. But encounters with mathematics bored me to tears. If God had not given me excellent math skills, He would not expect me to be a good scientist.
On the other hand, I knew the skills I had were big clues. Where did they come from? Surely, from God. My artistic skills and interest were clues to what God wanted me to do in life.
Each of us were created with special areas of expertise and with a unique combination of talents and skills. No one is good at everything, and no one is created to have it all.

DREAMS BECAME REALITIES
I have no doubt that God wanted me to be an artist. The fulfillment of that dream became a reality when I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, majoring in Editorial and Advertising Design.
Later, I had the opprtunity to immigrate to the United States. It was another childhood dream that became a reality. Crossing the Pacific Ocean and starting a new life in a new country was one of the most exciting times of my life. I found new love, luck and good life in Southern California.

"REFLECTIONS OF MY HOMELAND"
When I immigrated to the United States, I left some paintings in the Philippines. I will never forget my motherland although I am now a naturalized American citizen. I am proud of my heritage and also enriched by embracing two cultures.
After I got married in 1971, I painted my first oil painting "Reflections Of My Homeland" in our first apartment in Los Angeles. This painting was my first entry on my blog. It's a huge painting, about 3 feet by 6 feet. Here's some stories behind this painting.

The vibrant color of this painting was inspired by my favorite artists (Van Gogh). The style was inspired by Manansala, one of the contemporary Filipino artists' that I admired while in art school.
This painting was also a labor of love. My husband streched the canvass and framed the painting. Over the years, we had moved to seven different houses, but this painting remained with us. It beautifully graced our home wherever we live. Someday, my youngest son, also an artist ( computer graphic) will inherit this beloved painting. This painting is now 38 years old and on display in our present home.

FIVE IS ENOUGH
I had painted variations of this painting five times for family and friends. Many wanted me to do the same painting but I simply said, "No more." I thought that doing this kind of painting five times were more than enough.

NEW YEAR'S EVE PAINTING

"Forgetting what is behind..... I press on toward the goal to....which God has called me."- ( Phil. 3:13)

I am reposting my New Year's Eve article from last year. Many of you have not seen it and here's another chance for those who missed it. This year 2009 is a very challenging year. I started editing my autobiography this year and worked on about a dozen paintings but didn't fiinh them.

With my husband's sudden early retirement, we packed up our things in the storage and decided to move to the beautiful city of San Diego. On 2010, after our trip to the Philippines on February and Asian cruise on March, hopefully I will be able to pursue my art goals which was on hold for many months now.

NEW BEGINNING The old year 2008 was a good year for me. An extremely busy artistic year. I am very happy to have accomplished my first solo art show last September 27, 2008. This new year 2009,I will try to complete my "Studio 65." Getting there will make this another challenging year. I will be focusing more on my art goal and may not have lots of time to blog and and visit other blogs.

TITLE: "NEW YEAR'S EVE AND NEW BEGINNING"
MEDIUM: OIL ON CANVAS
SIZE: $8" X 30"
DESCRIPTION: (PAINTED IN 2008)
Another oil painting from my solo art show last year. Here's a short story behind the scene. New Year's Eve in the Philippines is celebrated with lots of noise and fire crackers like America's Fourth of July. We also have what we called "Media Noche" (midnight dinner). Here in United States, it's celebrated with lots of spirits ( wine, beer and champagne) and finger foods. We like to add Filipino flavors like lumpia Shainghai ( small meat rolls), chicharon (pork crackling) and fried squid. I painted my "ideal" New Year's Eve celebration at home. It's a beautiful "seafood Feast" with lots of fresh oysters, jumbo shrimps cocktails, crab legs, clams, mussels, etc. This is a healthy and elegant New Year's Eve feast with lots of veggies, fruits and salad too.

NEW YEAR 2009 With the holidays nearly behind us, many are looking ahead into 2010. It's hard not to be a little afraid. Things still look a little glumm with our bad economy. But somehow, we should be optimistic and hope that a good change is about to come. We must be innovative, creative and willing to take risks this new year. We must have lots of faith. It is faith in God that helped me achieved my art goals last 2008. This new year I will continue to trust God for my future. If you believe, like I do, that the turning of the new beginning is a cause for celebration and welcoming change.
"HAPPY NEW TO ALL! MAY THE NEW YEAR BRING YOU GOOD HEALTH AND MORE WEALTH."

CHRISTMAS PAINTING

"JOY to the world the Lord is come......" Christmas song

CHRISTMAS DAY Is celebrated around the world differently. In my former homeland, the Philippines, we call CHRISTMAS "PASKO." We say both "Merry Christmas" and "Maligayang Pasko." Although I live most of my life here in the United States and spent more Christmases here, I still have good memories of past Christmases in the Philippines. I have been away from my homeland for about forty years but our Americanized-Filipino family Christmas celebration hasn't lost it's Filipino flavor. We learned to adopt the good things from our beloved America and cherished old traditions from our heritage and homeland. By having bi-cultural influences our Christmas celebration is enriched with different flavors and traditions.

"CHRISTMAS IN CALIFORNIA"
MEDIUM: OIL ON CANVAS
SIZE: 48" x 30"
PAINTED IN 2008
DESCRIPTION: This is another painting I did for my art show. Here's my short story behind the painting. One of our greatest blessing when our family immigrated to the United States was having our big family together at Christmas time. There were only a few years of separation from one another, and we were all united. Being in a foreign country, we were happy and secure to have our family together. It's difficult to be happy at Christmas time when one has loved ones left behind in the Philippines. In California, Christmas feels warm compared to other states that have snow and dreams of a white Christmas. Our family continues to celebrate Christmas with abundant and traditional Filipino food, but also added American flavors, like shrimp cocktails, champagne, wine, fresh green salad, pasta salad, cookies, pies, rolls, cakes and more. Traditionally, a rich Filipino Christmas has lechon (roasted whole pork), pancit palabok (noodles). embotido, morcon, fresh lumpia, paella, camaron rebosado (shrimp) and more. Desserts are favorites like leche flan. brazo de mercedes, sweet ube, etc. Because America is
a very rich country, part of our festive celebration is having huge, fresh, ever green pine Christmas tree with countless of adoring ornaments and overwhelming presents surrounding them.
"Wishing You All A "Merry Christmas" or ("Maligayang Pasko").

CHRISTMAS EVE PAINTING

"May all your Christmases be MERRY and BRIGHT.....'' From a Christmas song

In past years, I would already have adrressed my Christmas cards and will be mailing them soon. But this is a different year for me. With my husband's early retirement last August, we decided to move to the beautiful city of San Diego. Been extrememly busy months for us. So instead I am re-posting an article that I wrote last Decemeber 2008. I feel the message still rings true today.

CHRISTMAS EVE Is just few weeks away. I am getting excited as I see our neighborhood dazzling brighter every night with myriads of multi-colored Christmas lights. Christmas time is the happiest and merriest of the holidays, not only in my former country, the Philippines, but in America as well. For Filipinos, Christmas celebration is not complete without celebrating Christmas Eve too. It is an important part of our Christmas celebrations and cultures. Christmas Eve is also about caring families, comfort food, caroling and chit-chat. The night before Christmas, our family attend church services. Then, we have a big get- together with other members of the family we will not see on Christmas Day. Sometimes others open their Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, but our family opens our presents on Christmas morning. The Christmas Eve celebration is almost as abundant and festive as Christmas Day. So the feasting called "Noche Buena" actually starts the night before and continues till Christmas Day.

TITLE: "CHEERFUL CHRISTMAS EVE"
MEDIUM: OIL ON CANVAS
SIZE: 48" x 30"
PAINTED IN 2008
DESCRIPTION: This is one of my oil paintings shown during my solo art show last September 2008. This is a typical Filipino-American Christmas Eve celebration in California, with abundant food, parol (lanterns), Christmas tree, caroling, merry-making, glowing fireplace and aromatic candles. Food is always an important part of the festive celebration. Let me describe what food I painted:
1. First Row (half round table)- Pot of arroz caldo ( chicken soup) and fried chicken w/ asparagus.
2. Small round table -Assorted fresh grapes in different colors and an apple.
3. Middle Table- Grilled pusit (squid) and camarron rebosado (shrimps) with lemons.
4. Right rectangular table- Huge platters of morcon and paella.
5. Left top table- Desserts such as banana cupckes, ube cake, bowl of candy cane, apple topiary and keso de bola (edam cheese).

CHRISTMAS SEASON Is not only a time for enjoying lots of favorite food but "spiritual food" as well. Let us not forget that JESUS is the reason for the season. SOON............ it will be Christmas Day.......!!!!!!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN

Hello to my family, friends and viewers! I am back after a long absence. Since I moved to the city of San Diego, I have not updated my blog. When one is extremely busy moving and then traveling a lot, there is not enough time & energy to blog. I am re-posting something I wrote a year ago and hopefully it's more interesting to read the second time around.
"Christmas is a time of joy, not because of gifts and toys, but because Jesus came ......"-Anonymous

RELIVING CHRISTMAS CHILDHOOD#1 Isn't the best thing about the holiday season reliving our childhood? I first heard the above Christmas song when my first son Rodney was going to elementary school at Faith Baptist School in Canoga Park, California. This son is now in his thirties, but I still remember this simple song vividly. As we count the days to the merriest time of the year, let's remember that Christmas is a time of joy. This song reminds us that Christmas is a joyful time because of Jesus, who's birthday we celebrate.
RELIVING CHRISTMAS CHILDHOOD#2 While growing up in the Philippines I was fascinated with a movie named "White Christmas," a song depicting Christmas in the United States, with lovely white snow scenes and beautiful carols. I was twenty seven years old when I immigrated to the U.S. I live in Southern California most of my life, which do not have four seasons. If we like to see real snow , we take a trip to the mountains. Southern California is a man-made city that dazzles with genuine-fake stuffs, entertainment centers, and amusement parks . With it's proximity to Hollywood and other movie studios this city sizzles with numerous creative and imaginative minds. A trip to Disneyland during Christmas time will fill our imaginations to the fullest. They make incredible snows, more whiter, purer and truer than the real snow, with computerized technology. Many times a trip to Disneyland or Universal Studios are more enjoyable than making a hassled journey to Snowland.

"SNOW AND SHRIMPS SINIGANG" During my recent solo art show, I raffled away the above oil painting. This is the only snow scene I have painted so far. I believed in technology but when it comes to real painting, I am old-fashioned and used oil paint and brushes to create my art works. This window scene with mountains covered with snows was inspired by a past trip to Lake Tahoe in California. In front I painted a simple Filipino dish called "Sinigang." This dish can be cooked using fish, pork or beef but my favorite is the jumbo shrimp. This dish is good to eat when the weather is very cold, gloomy or freezing. The warm dish will comfort and replenish you not only your soul and heart but your tummy too. It's simple to cook. Here's my version in 5 steps:
1. Put about 2 cups water on a medium pot.
2. Add few tablespoons of lemon juice, diced tomatoes and a green chili.
3. Bring to boil and then put about 6 pieces of jumbo shrimps.
4. When the shrimps turn pink add some fresh green beans and bok choy.
5. Don't overcook and serve warm.
TIPS: I like to serve this delicious and piping hot dish on an orange native pot like the one on the painting over a colorful table cloth. I eat it with a bowl of cooked white rice and sprinkle a little patis (fish sauce) on the shrimps for a dazzling taste. I will be cooking this dish many times this cold holiday season. The secret to good cooking, is doing it from your heart.

WINNER OF THE OIL PAINTING The lucky guest during my art show was our next door neighbor, Mary. She and John (her husband) posed for this photo. They loved snow scene and were very happy to win my painting. Mary is an American and probably have never tasted shrimps sinigang. Anyway, she can still enjoy the dish by looking at my painting.