SOUTHWEST YEARS - ("JADE YEARS #1)

" I don't see why we ever think of what others think of what we do -- no matter who they are. Isn't it enough just to express yourself?" - Georgia O'Keeffe

 

 

NEW HOME COLOR: We didn't lived very long at Lochmmor Road,  our first house in Valencia. We were attracted to a bigger brand new house at " The Oaks." Sooner a huge Allied moving truck moved our endless material stuffs to our new house.  

 

Living at "the Oaks" was a revolutionary experience. Finally I changed our color and theme decor. I happily said good-bye to our the "harvest" or yellow years." We lived w/ yellow for almost 20 years. The harvest color is synonymous with the 6o's and 70's. Convinced it was an outdated color for our home, I embraced the new color trend of the Southwest during this time.

 

As always, I am the bold interior decorator of our many houses. Although my art major was in Editorial & Advertising Design, I have learned many basic principles about color and art. I have long understood how color can dramatically affect moods, feelings and emotions. I knew what colors are compatible.
 

For this new house, my color choice was PEACH and JADE. My feeling about these colors were deeply personal. As I got older, I liked more subdued and calming tones. So I embraced the popular Southwest colors. PEACH, a light shade of Orange. JADE, the lighter shade of Green.  Combined together, they could lived well w/ each other.

The other name for this Southwest years was the "JADE YEARS." GREEN meant growth and a "GO" color. Also meant freshness, new chapter, new beginning in our family lives in our new house. Green, an optimistic color too.

I enjoyed decorating this house w/ my husband. He liked what I liked. No fight about my choices. He’s an engineer and very reliable  handyman. We were proud of the overall home decorating project. Our many friends who saw our house told us....."Your home is more beautifully decorated than the model home."  I didn't know we got talents for home decorating. My husband and I were good decorating team. So grateful to God for our wonderful gifts. No need to hire expensive interior designers.

Ironically, I didn't have time nor mood to do any oil painting while we lived in this house. I   worked full-time. Busy mother of 4 children. Endless "homework's". Instead, I bought a big Southwest Cactus oil painting by an unknown artist. We hanged it on top of the fireplace. We also invested on five Southwest sand paintings and 2 oil paintings by Mario Dumas. Watercolor works by A. Fetz. With a big house buying ready made art works was the fastest way to fill up the empty walls.

Changing colors meant parting w/ some of my old “Yellow” oil paintings. It’s sad that the long “Yellow Waves”had no space in our new house. So we donated it to Goodwill. Not thinking of it’s sentimental value. Hopefully, the person who owned those paintings now, were enjoying it.

 

YELLOW YEARS #4

“The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye, the story of love is hello and goodbye...until we meet again” - Jim Hendrix

 

 

                           "THE YELLOW WAVES"
 

VALENCIA, STA. CLARITA: We moved this huge " Yellow Waves" painting to our third house in Valencia (Sta. Clarita). Surprisingly, in our new home, it had a high ceiling and long entry way. We wall papered the wall w/ dark brown and displayed the long painting here.  The painting pop-out. We added a long wooden shelf on top of the painting. Updated our decor and arranged many new different shape and size of native baskets. This wall was across the living room. 

SAYING  GOOD-BYE:  It was hard to forget  our beautiful house in Hidden Lake. For a while we missed the lake. But exchanged the gorgeous lake view for a gorgeous pool view. Surprisingly, our family and friends enjoyed having our own private pool and spa at our own backyard. To minimize being "Homesick" in our new house, I duplicated the feel and style of the house we had in Hidden Lake. In time, our love were transfered to our new home. Hidden Lake became one of the beautiful MEMORIES of past homes we lived in.

YELLOW YEARS - MODERN ART #3

 

WELCOME HOME!

How sweet to hear those soothing words after a long journey away from home. More and more I find myself turning inward to our home as true haven on earth.

 

Most of us spent the largest portion of our lives at home. For 10 years, I became a full-time mom to our four kids. I gave up my art job and truly enjoyed staying home. I found those long years, creative and very fulfilling. I believed its in our homes that we could become more truly ourselves. I paid attention not only to nourishing the physical, spiritual but artistic growth of our young kids and my husband.

 

Our home decors and paintings were selected and created to make our home into something uniquely our own. As an extremely busy mom, I had to be creative and resourceful in using my time to maximize my artistic gift. While our children were growing up, my mind was filled w/ endless wonderful ideas and art projects. After an exhausting day of child care, the only time I felt I still had energy left, was when I was painting or doing something creative.  Here were some wall paintings I created for our children's room.

 

 

JOY'S ROOM: Her room was wall papered w/ yellow butterflies. I painted and extended the butterfly designs, like they were fluttering out of the wallpaper.

 

 

JOY'S ROOM: I also designed this flower mural for the closet sliding doors. I added some round mirrors on the flowers and some butterflies too.

 

RODNEY AND RYAN'S ROOM:  I  designed and painted this wall mural for Rodney and Ryan's bedroom. Later we bought a bunk bed. They shared this room w/ Robin. This room became the hide out for our three musketeers.

 

" Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life is more interesting than it really is." - Charles M. Schulz

YELLOW YEARS - MODERN ART #2

"Art evolves. So does life. Art is never stagnant. Neither is life. The beautiful, authentic life you are creating for yourself & those you love is your art. It's the highest art." - Sarah Ban Breathneath

 

 

"MODERN ART #2 - YELLOW, ORANGE AND OCHRES"
SIZE: 3 feet by 2 feet
MEDIUM: Oil On canvas
YEAR PAINTED: 1972
WHERE ABOUT? Donated

This oil painting was influenced by a favorite Filipino contemporary artist Jose Joya. I admired him while my professor at the U.P. School of Fine Arts. Joya "spearheaded the birth, growth and flowering of abstract expressionism" in the Philippines. His mature abstract works have been said to be "characterized by calligraphic gestures and linear forces, and a sense of color vibrancy emanating from an Oriental sensibility." Joya's sense of color has been said to have come from the hues of the Philippine landscape, and his use of rice paper in collages demonstrated an interest in transparency.

 

 

  ONE OF JOSE JOYA'S  ABSTRACT PAINTINGS

 

 

"Mother's hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts FOREVER."- Unknown

 

FIRST MOTHER'S DAY This photo was taken during my first Mother's Day on May 12, 1974. I was the young mother on the left side with my first baby (Rodney). He was born March 19,1974 and was only about 1 1/2 months old when this photo was taken. The other woman and children were our Argentine neighbors across the street.

This photo was taken inside our first house in Hidden Lake (Canoga Park) California. I painted the oil painting on the background. It depicted many Philippine folk dances.
Further back in the living room, was the "Modern Art #2" oil  painting. It was the centerpiece of our first home in Hidden Lake.

"You expect me to tell you what ART is? If I knew, I would keep my knowledge to myself."- Pablo Picasso



YELLOW YEARS - #1

"MODERN ART #1 - YELLOW,ORANGE AND OCHRES"

SIZE: 3 feet by 2 feet
MEDIUM: Oil On canvas
YEAR PAINTED: 1972
WHERE ABOUT? Donated

                                     Photo taken on my First Mother's Day 1984

FIRST MODERN ART- This colorful painting was my first modern oil painting created at Hidden Lake. I did this painting before my four babies were born. Since it's modern art, it's anything goes. This painting no longer exists. I didn't have any subject in mind. I did this painting with numerous colorful shapes to match the yellow and orange colors of our home decors. This was an experimental work w/ yellow color. 

 

"MODERN ART #1 - YELLOW, ORANGE AND OCHRES"

                              Photo taken on Mother’s Day w/ first baby (Rodney) and Rhod

Our house in Hidden Lake (San Fernando Valley) California became my art gallery as a young artist. Here, I had the freedom to express my taste, style and personality. When I was younger, I like modern art. Loved the works of Jose Joya, a famous Filipino contemporary artist. He was one of my art professors at the U.P. School of Fine Arts. I also liked Jackson Pollack, an American modern artist.

I created this huge painting specifically for one of our walls in the living room. I wanted to see and enjoy this painting everyday on my way to the kitchen and family room. I'd like my friends to enjoy it too while visiting our home.

Yellow is a cheerful and sunny color. Also an attention getter. It is considered an optimistic color. Yellow symbolizes hope and motivation. It can be overpowering if overused. But yellow enhances concentration, hence its use for legal pads.  Knowing about color meaning would help us understand other people better.