PEARL OF THE ORIENT

"A painting means as much to you as a string of pearls to an ape." (Quote by - Paul Scofield)

It's been seven months since I posted something.  Life is full of surprises. One of the many surprises that deterred me from blogging was moving back to Sta. Clarita last February.

Two years ago my husband & I moved to San Diego, California. It's a beautiful city and we were sad to leave . Moving was chaotic, messy and exhausting. Having a new place kept me extremely occupied as I decorated our home. It took me & my husband three months to organize our stuffs at home & garage. Last June I went back to oil painting although my art stuffs needs more organizing. My first oil painting done in my new art studio is the painting  below.

                                                  
                                                  Title: "Pearl Of The Orient"
                                                  Size: 12" x 14"
                                                  Medium: Oil On Canvas

I created this small oil painting for the cultural festival of the Fil-Am Association Of Sta. Clarita Valley to be held on July 21, 2012.  My husband & I are members of the association for over 25 years now. We are helping with the cultural team for the upcomming presentation. The show will include folk dances, histories and songs  about the Philippines.

My painting depicted the Philippines as a precious pearl of the orient.  The Philippines is oftened compared to strings of pearls scattered in the orient. As many of us know, pearls are the rarest things in the world.  Their value is high and quality genuine & true.  

SUNSET & HIBISCUS OIL PAINTINGS

"An artist needn’t be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men."- Vincent Van Gogh
"I want to touch people w/ my art. I want them to say "he feels deeply, he feels tenderfly."-Van Gogh

It's been a while since I posted some of my latest oil paintings.Since moving to San Diego, Ca. on 2010, I didn't have the time nor the mood to paint. Now that I am settled in our new home, I started going back to what I always love to do, painting in oil.

Sometime in March, an old friend from church & IVCF (inter Varsity Christian Fellowship) e-mailed me if I would be willing to donate a few small oil paintings for the Balikatan auction on July 4, 2011. The proceed with help toward the salaries of the staffs in the Philippines.

Without hesitation I said yes. I remembered back in college, this Christian organization helped me a lot in my spiritual life through bible studies & conferences. When I could not afford to attend a Kawayan camp, some generous people paid for me. Now, it was my turn to help this organization. 

Although I had sold many oil paintings before, I was anxious. What if no one would buy art because of the hard economy? So while doing the paintings, I also prayed that God would touched some people's heart, to buy them.

After the Balikatan conference, I got an e-mail that a generous couple from Canada bought thes two paintings for $600.00 at the auction. I was speechless. Unbelievable! To God be the glory.  

"YELLOW SUNSET"-Oil On Canvas- 11" by 14"
My inspiration for the sunset & hibiscus paintings are the colorful art of Vincent Van Gogh.
My friend e-mailed me that when she showed the photos to her collegues, they said...."the paintings are cross between Van Gogh & Gauguin's paintings.

"YELLOW HIBISCUS"- Oil On Canvas

FOLK DANCES

Dancing is the loftiest,the most moving,the most beautiful of the arts,because it is not mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself."- Havelock Ellis

It's true there's no place like home, no matter how humble. When my husband & I got married on 1971, our first home was only a one bedroom apartment at La Fayette St., Los Angeles, but to us it was a castle. The apartment was located near my job at Trade Service Publication, & so I just crossed the street. In 1972, my husband found an engineering job at Litton Industries in Canoga Park (SFV) California. So we bought a brand new, single, one story house w/ 4 bedrooms in a place called "Hidden Lake" in Canoga Park. As an artist I was deeply attracted to the lovely lake and serenity of the area. We bought a house located around the lake. We could access the lake from our backyard-where we could go fishing, row boating, feed the ducks and walk around the lake. We lived there for 14 years.

FOLK DANCES OIL PAINTINGS IN FAMILY ROOM

During 1977, we moved next door because we fall in love with this model home.We liked the layout of the house, the cathedral ceiling,detailed stuffs that came with it, like fancy faucets in the bathrooms, papered wall to wall, lush and thick white shag carpeting,gorgeous wardrobe mirror on the master bedroom, wall to wall mirror on the dining area, and many more. It was professionally decorated and matched our theme color, which is yellow.

To fill an empty wall in our family room, I painted these four Philippines folk dances. The Philippines, where I was born, is well known for its many beautiful folk dances. The costumes are very colorful but I took the liberty to paint them in monochromatic color. To match the bamboo wall paper, I painted these folk dances in yellow, light lemon yellow, beige, white and added some sienna. I was pleased with the results.

When we moved to Valencia, Sta. Clarita (Ca.) we kept the same yellow as theme color. We displayed the folk dances on the wall leading up the stairs to our bedrooms. Later, my first cousin Cely (from Maryland) inherited two of the oil paintings. I kept the other two.

Painting#1-Salakot,Painting#2-Singkil,Painting#3-Itik-itik,

Painting#4-Pandango Sa Ilaw.

LOVE FOREVER

"LOVE many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever LOVE much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in LOVE is done well."- Vincent van Gogh

"I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to LOVE people."-Vincent van Gogh ( Post-impressionists painter)

"LOVE" PAINTING (1972) - I created this "LOVE" oil painting when my husband & I moved to our first house at the Hidden Lake in Canoga Park (San Fernando Valley, California). I painted it specifically for our bedroom wall. These lovable kids (Rodney & Joy) were not born yet.

This painting was inspired by a Christmas card designed by Robert Indiana for the Museum of Modern Art, for which he made 3 small paintings of the word LOVE. These cards were printed in 1965 and have been the most popular card MoMA has ever published. Since then LOVE has become a cultural icon and has been used extensively throughout the art world and media.

The original design was painted in RED, BLUE & GREEN. For our bedroom I customized the color and painted in YELLOW OCHRE, RUST, and MEDIUM BROWN for background. It was a huge square painting- 4 ft. x 4 ft. I no longer have this painting. I re-painted it over and gave it away to someone else to enjoy. Truly, it's LOVE that makes the world go round.

And the famous artist Vincent van Gogh quoted it so well.

MODERN OIL PAINTING

“It is not hard to understand modern art. If it hangs on a wall it's a painting, and if you can walk around it it's a sculpture.” Tom Stoppard (British playwright)

OIL PAINTING -"THE WAVES"

In the 70's, our home decor was modern, so I created this modern oil painting. Back then I liked our home decor to be matchy-matchy. Colors & theme matched our couch and drapes in yellow ochre, beige & brown.

This oil painting consisted of three canvas panels. I custom-made it particularly for the long wall on our formal living room.

This oil painting was inspired by the ocean waves. Watching the ocean waves during beach trips is very hypnotic. The sights, sounds and sensation of the waves never left me. I often think of the endless waves. Here was my modern and colorful impression of the waves.

ANOTHER VIEW OF "THE WAVES" PAINTING FACING TOWARD THE WINDOW

NEW HOME FOR "THE WAVES": In the 80's, when we moved to Valencia, in Sta. Clarita Valley, we transferred this oil painting to our new home. It fitted beautifully in our large entry wall. We also hanged the Modern Painting#1 on the right side. When we moved to another brand new home at The Oaks in 1989, I fall in love w/ the Southwest theme & cactus, so I changed our home decors. I preferred colors like peach & lime or coral & jade. I changed many oil paintings to match our SW theme and color. Although I majored in editorial & advertising design, with no interior design background, I had the guts to decorate our home by myself. I became the interior decorator of our house and just followed my instincts.

What happened to "The Waves?" I no longer have these oil paintings. Only photos reminded me of them. I remember, that I re-painted over the "Waves." I experimented w/ other subjects and passed on the oil paintings to others, to enjoy. I wished I had kept those experimental oil paintings, so I could compare my progress in painting. Like the waves of the ocean that came and left, so was my other paintings.

MY OTHER ART BLOG

"LIVE YOUR LIFE FROM YOUR HEART. SHARE FROM YOUR HEART. AND YOUR STORY WILL TOUCH AND HEAL PEOPLE'S SOULS." Melody Beattie MODERN PAINTING#1

This is one of my early oil paintings in the 70's. It's a huge painting, approximately 3 feet x 2 1/2 feet. I created this modern painting in our beautiful brand new house in Hidden Lake, San Fernando Valley, California. Then we moved to the house next door which was a model home. It was our dream house by the lake. Our backyard gate open up to the lake -where our family spent many happy days fishing, boating and feeding the ducks.

I created & customized this painting to match our modern decor and color. During the 70's, the color "Harvest" was in vogue. So our kitchen appliances were all in harvest. Our theme color through out the house was yellow.

GOOD-BYE TO A PAINTING:

It's sad....that this oil painting is no longer with me. What I remember it that I gave it away. Not thinking of it's sentimental value. When we moved again to another brand new house- in Sta.Clarita Valley, I donated it to Goodwill because it didn't match our new Southwest theme and color. I am happy for the person who ever owns it now. She or he must be happy with the yellow painting.

MY OTHER ART BLOG:

This art blog will focus mostly on my art works. So I just started another blog called "PAINT PRAY TRAVEL" where I will be posting my art activities, spiritual experiences & exciting travels. . Please visit my other blog:

http://paintpraytravel.blogspot.com/

THE JOY OF COLOR

"The JOY you give to others is the JOY that comes back to you." -Anonymous
I am re-posting my painting named "LIGAYA" in honor of my daughter JOY. She is the inspiration behind this oil painting.

MARCH IS A GREEN MONTH With the change of month comes the change of color. I am sure you're tired of the color RED, so it's time to go GREEN. It is a secondary color. By mixing BLUE and YELLOW you get GREEN. On the color wheel Green is the opposite of Red. No wonder when you put these colors side by side, the effect is very gorgeous. Green is a cool and calm color. It also comes in different gorgeous names like emerald, jade, verdant, olive, electric lime, viridescent, java green, etc. Sometimes Green comes in delicious vegetable names like arugula, celery stick , cilantro, green tomato, rhubarb leaf, string beans and many more.

A PAINTING FOR JOY I have a beautiful daughter named JOY. Like her name, she's a joy to behold. Many years ago, I painted this colorful portrait for JOY. This is not a masterpiece like a Rembrandt but I love it. Painting a portrait is very challenging but rewarding. Yes, JOY looks close to this young Latina model in the painting. She has black, long hair, lovely eyes and lips. I apologize that the photo of the painting didn't turn out well. It's a bit blurry. This post is dedicated to JOY who's celebrating another birthday on the 9th (Sunday). "HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOY!!!!"
CLOSE -UP VIEW OF PAINTING This oil painting on canvas is (16" x 20"). The painting is entitled "LIGAYA" - meaning JOY in our native language (Filipino). This painting is among my collections at home. Like this painting JOY brings color to our family and imperfect lives.

THE JOY OF COLOR Just imagine a world without the color green. What if the vegetables we eat are not green but black? Will it look appetizing? Black and white are neutral colors and not consider real color like green or red. So a colorful green food and world bring lots of JOY.