Rizal sa Los Baños: An Art Exhibit

The MakiSining: The Makiling Art Group in cooperation with the Rizal Family and the Municipality of Los Baños presents Rizal ng Los Baños: An Art Exhibit.

The exhibit features works on Paciano Rizal, the elder brother of Philippine National Hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal and other artworks with themes of Los Baños and Mt. Makiling.

Venue: General Paciano Rizal Shrine
Opening: 13 Sept 2011, 5PM
Exhibition dates: 14 to 17 Sep 2011. 10AM to 6PM

Strictly by invitation only.

Step by Step: Painting in the Making Part 2

After five hours the painting takes shape even more.

In this image the painting is almost complete.
Most of the elements have been painted in and would only require additional touches to improve.

This will include highlighting certain areas. Highlighting gives additional life to a painting. It gives instant contrast because it is the lightest shade of a color in the painting.

See the lighest shade of purple red on the hair? That is your highlight. The streaks of color (blue) is a signature of mine.

Drop shadows, shadows that fall between two objects create a connection between two elements. Without the drop shadow a plate may appear to float over a table rather than be on the table. Of course this does not necessitate every artist to make drop shadows. Again, art is flexible.

Drop shadow of plastic bag and rice kernels.

I like to use high contrast. Improving contrast in the painting adds drama plus it makes your other colors pop. Without contrast the painting is flat. Other artists prefer it flat.

High contrast of dark blue near yellows.

High contrast of light violet-grey adjacent to dark violet-grey, Vandyke Brown and Burnt Umber

I dry brush some more areas to create a different look.

Dry brush effect. Light violet-grey over dark violet-grey

I carefully sprinkle/spray some diluted paint in some areas.  Its not noticeable in this pic. A painting is always 10x better to look at in person. You see all the details.

Do you remember the underpainting of Burnt Sienna? See the effect when they show through even under an overpaint.

Can you see the Burnt Sienna showing through? Notice that its not all blue, grey and white.
There is some brown in there.

Here they are again.

Making a painting requires a lot of decisions to make and the hardest for me is color selection.
Yes, that's the hardest.  You have to decide what color to use and what colors to put together. An artist will have to decide especially if he is making a painting from his own imagination and not copying a picture or an object. And sometimes even if he is copying an image he still has to decide what colors to use!

Only one additional color was used not mentioned in Part 1. Brilliant Red. That makes 15 colors used.
But I was mixing a lot and not using the colors straight from the tube.
Examples of combinations I used are as follows:
1. Yellow + Gey + White
2. Violet + Grey + White
3. Red + Flesh + White
4. Purple Red + White
5. Burnt Sienna + Raw Sienna
6. Raw Sienna + Yellow Ochre
7. Yellow Ochre + White
8. Raw Sienna + White
9. Grey + Blue + White
10 etc...

Here's the finished painting after a total of 22 hours.

Have you guessed the title? Its very easy really. Its about rice and all the visual clues are there.


So there you go. Thats how I do it but sometimes of course I do deviate from my norm to experiment.
For those who are interested to paint or are paintng already, I hope you got something out of this article.

Step by Step: Painting in the Making Part 1

How do I paint? In this two part article I will share to you how I develop a painting.

The piece I will be using as an example is part of my exhibit in November at SM Calamba. I won’t divulge the title but it is a rice painting even if it doesn’t look like one.  Hope you can guess the title once the painting is finished.

After deciding what to paint, I do my concept on a sketch pad. Normally, I use the Rule of Thirds as my guiding principle in figuring out where images will be placed. I redraw the image directly on canvas using a 2H graphite pencil.  The hardness of the pencil doesn’t create a dark black line on the canvas and it can be easily covered by paint.  I am using acrylic in this painting. Painting size is 24 inches by 30 inches.  

Sketch and underpaint.  At this point no brushes were used. I used an ordinary sponge to make the underpainting. There is no fear in overshooting an outline or messing it up since most will be covered anyway.

In the image above you can still see my pencil lines and I’ve also used Burnt Sienna to create my underpainting. You can use other colors to underpaint depending on the mood you want to set in a painting. Now why do I under paint? Some artists prefer to paint directly with no underpainting but I prefer this method for the following reasons:

1.       It gives you an idea where you will put the dark and light tones.

2.       It removes the stark white canvas that can show through if you missed some difficult areas.

3.       Some of the Burnt Sienna will peek through the overpaint and this creates a nice contrast or complementary effect to your painting.  

4.       It provides for an immediate change in color hues and tones when you apply a wash, thin or a not overly opaque paint over it.

5.       It sets an additional mood to your painting. What do I mean? Well, you can decide between a warm or cool mood in a painting. Warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows) will give warm paintings and cool colors (blues, greens, pinks) will give you obviously a cool mood. But you can of course use a warm underpaint in a cool painting and vice versa. Art is flexible.

Painting in the background first.

Filling in the colors and details. I usually paint midtones first. The midtone is the color between your shadow and highlight.  I used dry brush technique exclusively so far. I do not add any paint medium to my acrylic paint.  Marcel Antonio, a popular Filipino artist, takes dry brushing to a whole new level.  I consider him as one of the best.  

In this next image, after 6 hours I think, I’ve painted in the dirt street, painstakingly painted the rice and maybe ¾ of the blue denim jacket. Remember I am not a realism painter hence I try not to be so detailed in all the things in the painting. I like to cross pop art and impressionism although I know I can paint realistically if I wanted to. 

For the dirt street notice that I painted it dark colors on the bottom then light colors on top – this creates an effect of distance and light source.

The figure I’m painting is the quintessential Filipino action hero.  Here you see a square-jawed man with sideburns wearing a jacket.  He has a thick neck, broad shoulders and is a mestizo.  Sounds familiar? Could be him or also not. Depends on how you see it.

More details filled in. I will rework the lips since I find it too small.

 In this picture, after another 2 hours, I’ve finished the jacket except for the brass buttons. I’ve also worked on his face. I’ve decided to change his right hand position and keep it on his side rather than grasping the plastic bag with rice. I decided that I wanted him to have some separation from the rice on sale.  This I think provided an additional clue to the title of the painting.

The colors I used so far are the following:

1.       Vandyke Brown

2.       Burnt Umber

3.       Burnt Sienna

4.       Raw Sienna

5.       Yellow Ochre

6.       Titanium White

7.       Paynes Grey

8.       Flesh Tone

9.       Lemon Yellow (Where?!) Yellow plus grey/black creates a greenish/grey color. I used that on the stalls in the background.

10.   Crimson Red

11.   Purple Red (Where?!) All my figures have this hair color (including eyebrows, eyelashes etc) instead of black.

12.   Violet (Where?) I never use black and instead I use violet.

13.   Rose (where?!) Mixed with Burnt Sienna and Flesh Tone for the skin.

14.   Pthalocyanine Blue (my fave)

Notice that the effect of the colors at this stage is quite somber. That is on purpose. This obviously is not a bright and sunny painting. I usually do paint bright pieces. In this one I wanted to create a cool mood.  Burnt Sienna is quite neutral and could work both for warm or cool pieces.

Stay tuned for Part 2…

MakiSining Joins Philippine Art Awards

Several members of MakiSining: The Makiling Art Group, an art organization founded in Los Baños, Laguna last July 2011; joined the prestigious biennial Philippine Art Awards.  Members travelled to Taguig last 6 Aug 2011 to submit their artworks. Check them out below.  




Marvin Oloris (left) and Doel Mercado registering their artworks





Marvin Oloris' "KUNG BAKIT KASI PALIKURAN ANG TINAWAG SA PALIKURAN, 4 ft by 5 ft. Oil on canvas. Funny, fantastic and different concept. Excellent skill and execution. Guess who's the model?

Doel Mercado's MERCADO, DOEL, Mixed Media on canvas, 4ft by 6 ft. His autobiography in code. The box in the frame is his casket. Again, a style not found in any artworks i've seen. Very unique. Doel is a GSIS Art Competition Juror's Choice awardee last 2009.

Emil Rivas (left with sunglasses) and Turing Cruz (white shirt and holding green envelope) registering their artworks.

 

Emil Rivas' MY BREAD AND BUTTER, Oil on canvas. Don't know the size probably between 3x4 and 2x3 ft. Great concept of an artist's livelihood. Highly skilled impressionist/realism execution. Pork Adobo anyone? 




Turing Cruz's EXODUS, Oil on canvas, roughly 3 ft by 4 ft. An excellent abstract interpretation of a biblical event. Can you see Moses?

Nilo Delos Santos (seated with checkered shirt) and Dante Palmes (right) registering their work.

Dante Palmes' AMEN. Acrylic on canvas, 4 ft by 5 ft. Fantastic technique and execution using acrylic. Good concept also. Dante is a 2-time finalist and a one-time Juror's choice awardee, all in his first year to compete,  at the GSIS art competition. This picture do no justice to the artwork. You need to see the painting up close to really see Dante's mastery of his craft. 

Nilo Delos Santos' CREATION, acrylic on canvas, roughly 2ft by 3 ft. Colorful abstract rendition of another biblical event (or not). Pink doesn't scare Nilo. Real men wear pink hehe.

My painting - NAINIP NA SI BANTAY SA TAGAL NG HININTAY, Acrylic on canvas, 3 ft by 4 ft. This is a fun play on the progress of communication. Today messages are sent within milliseconds via SMS and thru emails much to chagrin of our beloved guard dogs. When I see a postman, sometimes I think that they are a dying breed - an endangered species.  See if you can find four letter envelopes, a mailbox, postman's bag, clock, picket fence, and a motorcycle in the painting. There are other items there also.

Another MakiSining member, Ritche Yee, a grand prize winner at the recently concluded GSIS art competition, submitted his artwork in Mindanao. I don't have a pic of his artwork. Sorry.

More on MakiSining - The art group will hold its activities and operate around 6 localities lying at the foothills of Mt. Makiling namely, Alaminos, Calamba City, Calauan, Bay, Los Baños, and Sto. Tomas, Batangas.  Its members are composed of decorated, student, veteran, professional and amateur visual artists and photographers.  The group hopes to promote art awareness and appreciation in the places mentioned.

In the future, MakiSining hopes to equal other prime art hot spots in the Philippines such as Angono, Rizal and Baguio.

ART WORK RETRIBUTION

MakiSining's Dante Alarcon's painting for the GSIS competition proudly displayed with the GSIS finalists and top paintings in the main hallway of the GSIS Museum. Thanks to the GSIS and Art Association of the Philippines for this.

RESTART

My Art Story in a Nut Shell Part 3

My wife, Tet, bought me a complete set of brushes, several canvases on board, oil and acrylic paint when she returned from her study leave from the Netherlands in 2010.  For many months I didn’t touch the stuff until December of 2010.  Yes, I was already 38 years old when I decided to give my failed aspirations a chance.  I have no formal training and relied only on the good genes that I think I got from my Lolo, the late Gabriel Reynoso.  My Lolo, I was told would have been a great Filipino artist had he not concentrated on commercial art.  He had my mother and a brood of eleven others to feed.

Here is a self-portrait my Lolo that he drew back in 84 while visiting my relatives (his daughter) in the US. 

The late Gabriel Reynoso - artist

And here is an oil painting of my Lola by my Lolo also in the 80's. 

My Lola Remedios Reynoso

Anyway, I experimented on using acrylics as it was (1) relatively cheaper than oil unless you buy the best brands of acrylic like Golden http://www.goldenpaints.com/index.php, (2) easier to clean brushes, (3) did not require adequately ventilated rooms to work with and (4) it dries up faster.

 I work in layers most of the time and get impatient waiting for paint to dry.  Sometimes I’ll direct an electric fan to the painting just to dry it up faster. Lastly, with acrylics the effects you can achieve can mimic watercolor or oil.  It’s almost impossible to differentiate it from watercolor.  With oils, you can blend and blend paint as long as you like which is difficult in acrylics to do.  You only have a window of about 5 to 15 minutes to do that unless you use a retarder to extend drying time.  Now all this may be boring you now so I’ll move on to my first piece done last Dec 2010.

Anak Araw. 10 x 10. Acrylic on canvas board.

This one was made under an hour and I used another canvas board as my palette (I didn’t have one yet). It’s a very simple painting since I was still trying out stuff. It is *significant in the long run because it is my first painting (*Caveat - might not be too significant if I dont make it hehe).

I’m happy for the lady who bought it. It was very cheap! Hehehe.

Now I don’t entirely remember the sequence of all the paintings that I have made since I only indicate the year in them.  The pieces that I will always remember of course are the first and the latest one. 

The latest one I'm working on now is a piece for the  Philippine Art Awards. 

See link for details for the competition. 

http://philippineartawards.org/competitionrules.php 

I am also finishing artwork number 6 for my exhibit in November 2011 entitled "Kapagka Palay na ang Lumapit sa Manok" at SM, Calamba City, Laguna, Philippines.  I will be featuring 15 to 20 pieces there along with another 10 to 15 pieces from artist Manuel "Jimboy" Bactong Jr.

The exhibit focuses on the influence and importance of rice in Asian culture by way of popular beliefs, proverbs, cinematic lines, and similar. The pieces needs some analytical/creative thinking to understand. In fact, those who have seen some of them cannot guess the titles of each one. They will only realise what the painting is telling them once the title is revealed. How do we do it? Just watch in November and you'll see why.

My next article will be about MakiSining: The Makiling Art Group. Its an art organization that we formed here in Los Banos.

Till next time...

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: My Art Story in a Nut Shell Part 2

COLLEGE

I took up BS Biology Major in Microbiology at UPLB.  I joined an academic organization, Genesoc, wherein I became sort of a resident artist for a while. 

The Oblation of UPLB in front of the HUmanities Building. The Oblation was designed by National Artist Guillermo Tolentino.

We had yearly exhibits that required my assistance. It was still not the age of computers, tarpaulin and full-color large-scale printing. One exhibit that I remember quite well was “Genetics in Pop Literature”. At that time Jurassic Park was just a recent major hit and the X-Men where very popular but not yet made into a full length hi-tech movie. Walter Laviña, and Leonel Cadapan (I think) and I labored several nights to make the posters. We only used poster color paint, pens and markers to make them.   

The logo(?) of Jurassic Park that we recreated.

The X-Men. I used to draw a lot of cartoons when I was younger and I believe Wolverine is the most drawn character for the X-Men.

I represented the organization in one poster making contest for the annual February Fair and got the top award for the environmental poster category.  I received about P1,500. This is the only award that I ever received during my college years. It was the only art contest that I ever entered.  I have no copy of the artwork and not sure where it is now.

Sadly the UPLB Feb Fair has changed so much. Back then organizations built exhibit booths for the public and not just a place to hang-out.  I remember we made a giant crocodile's head with a ballot box body and a face with a giant gasmask back in the early 90's. The crocodile was a political statement. The gasmask was environmental.

I drew portraits and experimented on miniature water color painting during my baccalaureate years.  I have given some as gifts and have not seen one since nor remember who I gave it to.

I also joined a music ministry in college – The UPLB Lisieux Music Ministry.  Here I shared my singing (?!) and dancing (?!) talents.

I worked as a student assistant for the UPLB Museum of Natural History in the last year of college.  There I was again - an artist.  I drew animals for T –shirt printing and painted on small wooden blocks that were sold as souvenirs. If you bought one in 1995-96 its probably my painting. 

A huge whale skull at the Museum of Natural History.

I doodled a lot whenever I didn’t like my subjects.  My notebooks are always filled with drawings. Threw them all away though.

EMPLOYMENT

For many years I stopped drawing and settled into the professional life.

Occasionally of course I would pick-up a pen whenever I didn’t have anything to do and doodled.

I helped my then med student girlfriend on her school manuals.  It was a requirement to illustrate external and internal, macro and micro details of the human anatomy.  I used colored pencils for these.  I do that for her in the weekends. Now I believe that I have a fair knowledge of structures of the human body that I can illustrate each part with some justice.

The Gregorios at the lobby of Riceworld. Behind them is a rare tile mural by National  Artist Vicente Manansala.

I started working at Riceworld Museum in 2003. As a visual person, I used my skills to design exhibits for IRRI.  When I started, every exhibit that I designed was all hand-drawn.  Today I do 3D designs and photorealistic rendering using Google SketchUp Pro with IDX Renditioner.

An outdoor exhibit for rice.

3D render of a proposed rice product exhibit.

THE AGE OF KALESAS AND DINOSAURS: My Art Story in a Nut Shell Part 1

As far as I can recall, I believe I was a muralist at age 4. I used to draw on our rented apartment walls whenever my father, Frank Hilario, would not have enough scratch papers to give me. He was a writer and editor and had lots of access to paper.  Of course, I always got spanked and cried whenever I do this but never seemed to be wise enough to learn the next time around.

I recall that I drew a lot of dinosaurs. I was a fan and was obviously influenced by watching the hit 70’s TV show “The Land of the Lost”.   

This was the original Land of the Lost. Most people would know the movie that Will Ferrel starred in.

I would also draw a lot of native kalesas (horse-drawn carriages) but would have them equipped with all the comforts of home.  Yes, these were top-of-the-line kalesas with all the nice furniture and appliances that you can find in rich folks homes at that time.  

•Kalesa, an oil in canvas painting with a size of 36 x 48 inches. Done by Dante Hipolito*.

*Born in San Andres in 1959. Hipolito is known as a hyper-realist artist.He studied in PWU , 1977-81 . Among his batchmates were hyper-realist Chris Mirang and Carlo Magno. In the mid-80's, he worked as an illustrator at Kalaro publishing doing a magazine for children under editor Lorna Kalaw Tirol. After a short stint as a seaman in Singapore, he went back to work as an artist at Adformatrix Agency, and then at FCB Intl. In 1993, he worked as art director for a Saudi Arabian sdvertising firm, and was active with Pinta Pilipino Art Group.

Our family was never rich so perhaps, looking back, this was my way of fulfilling our needs and was a reflection of my aspirations.  But even then by using the lowly kalesa as my basic structure, I reflected that this is because I was still grounded in reality that we were poor and that we moved houses a lot.  In fact, I can recall six apartment changes when I was growing up.

ELEMENTARY

During my primary years in school, I always get invited to draw for the school. I only know how to use a pencil then so all my drawings were never colored. I remember one drawing of Jose Rizal, the Philippines' national hero, displayed in front of the school during Rizal Day. That was a proud day for me. Below is the exact picture that I copied.  I don't know where my pencil drawing is now.

I also made my own comic book heroes and comic books when I was in sixth grade.  I rented them out for 25 centavos to my school mates. I sold some of them for 5 pesos which was good money already back in 1984.

I don’t know where my comics are now.  Wish I can get some back.

  

HIGH SCHOOL

I submitted artworks (that I never got back) and took the entrance tests for the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA).  It was three days of examinations at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. 

The Cultural Center of the Philippines

The first day we had the standard written exams. The results were released in the afternoon and those that didn’t pass were not entertained the following day.  The second day was another series of written exams plus an interview. Again, many were sent home.  The last day was for the practical tests at UP Diliman.  I thought I was a pretty good illustrator at that time but those with me were light years ahead in skill and talent.  I never received training in any medium and that was my downfall.  I was pretty raw. Only 10 visual arts scholars were accepted out of the hundreds that applied.  I was waitlisted but none of the 10 backed-out of the opportunity.

I instead finished my secondary school at UP Rural High School in Los Baños, Laguna.  Truth be told, I would have not entered any school at that time had it not been for my mother who pushed and helped me with all the requirements.  You see I was so dead set at studying at PHSA that I never bothered to apply to other schools.  I was even feverish while taking the entrance exams at UPRHS. It was good that I passed.

In school and at home, I doodled a lot when I get bored.

Posting part 2 and 3 soon... 

The GSIS Art Competition 2011

Its my first year to join the GSIS art competition. Heck I haven't even been painting for a year - just 7 months doing it seriously when I have the time.

The exhibit is located at the GSIS Museum and artists were instructed to claim their pieces on 3 July.
If you are interested to see the exhibit then you have to schedule a visit soon.

During the awards night last 3 June I got to see for the first time all the other artworks. There were more than 400 entries.  If I can remember correctly there were 18, 14 and 4 finalists for Non-representational, Representational and Sculpture categories.

I've learned a lot in that competition and in my own opinion I can summarize it as such.

For the representational category

1. Use 1 subject only - never do a mural type painting with so much going on at different parts of the painting. Overly intricate or detailed paintings don't usually win.

2. Always use realism as a style. Impressionism will also work (such as the winning piece will show you) but employ surrealism as well.

For the non-representational category

1. Don't scrimp on paint. Use lots of it! Use lots of textures.

2. Use a non-traditional color palette and don't over do it. The less colors the better.  A sweet eye-pleasing  abstract would do.  Of course it still boils down to the judge's tastes.

3.  Get a good title. 

Here's a look at some of the pieces. I didn't bother to get the titles and names of each one. Unfortunately I had to use my cell phone to take these pics. I didn't check the batteries of the Nikon D40 camera I brought with me.  Sorry for the bad pics.

Juror's choice.  There seems to be a lot of paintings with children drawing on sand or on the ground. The realism in this painting clinched it for the artist.

Very intricate and laborious painting to make. As  I have observed, paintings like this seldom win. Too bad.  

Abstract. Very simple. Very nice minimalist painting.

Artist Dante Alarcon of Los Baños, Laguna with another Laguna artists painting.

Fantastic corn painting.  Love the details on this one but the subject did not conform with the theme.

Another nice painting.

Laguna artist Emil's painting.

Mang Turing's painting

Nice painting. When I saw this painting, the execution was very good  that I almost felt like that he was using chalk.

Fantastic realism on this one.  Concept was also very good. Wondered why it didn't make the finals.

Nice minimalist painting. The colors in this pic are bad.  Original color is very red.

Some more paintings.

Good concept...a city on a rooster's comb.

Non-representational paintings

Mang Dante's painting.  I felt a visible change in Mang Dante's aura that time when he saw where his painting was located.  I have a beef with those who placed this painting here. Number 1 - Part of it is behind a column. Number 2 - There are ATMs in front of it. Number 3 - There is a movable bulletin board also blocking the way.  In my opinion, each and every artwork should be respected.  Handlers should also be educated not to drag paintings.  Mine was dragged on the floor during the submission. My painting has no frame and with sides painted.

Finalist on the right.  Excellent classical impressionism painting.

Very nice painting.  Notice child-like drawings on the brick wall?

Very intricate painting .

The most intricate I've seen in this competition.  Fantastic skills!

My personal favorite.  The title is also a winner "Punong puno ng Pag-asa". This is pop surrealism so it didn't make the cut. Will there be a day for this style?

Excellent skill!

Some more top abstracts.

2nd Place - Aris Bagtas (left) and Dante Palmes' Virtual Zone - Juror's Choice. Pic lifted from Dante Palmes' fb album. Dante has 2 entries - both finalists and 1 made it as a Juror's Choice. Congrats Dante!

Laguna artist Dante Palmes' painting. Finalist!

Grand Winner and P240k richer. Deserving to win it!

Laguna artist Lito Ballaran's painting. When I saw this I knew it would be up there competing for the top prize. Nice concept and execution.  Finalist.

My personal choice to win it. Without the tower on his head, it would be better in my opinion. Juror's choice.

Incredible painting. Sort of like Manansala in curvism instead of cubism.  Juror's Choice I believe. But the mural concept doesn't really bode well with the judges.

Education concept for a better future.  I guessed that this was the default of many and was also the judges slant. Juror's choice.  I decided to stay away from education as my theme. Not that I think that it mattered at all.

2nd place - Representational.  Education concept = winner!

Fantastic astronaut in the background.  This guy has been painting bubbles shaped-like letters for a long time. 

Aside from the skill look at the reflection and you'll see why this was a finalist.

Sam Occeno's (guy in white) painting along with the top abstracts.

Finalist - nice strokes.

Very simple concept - Finalist.

A personal favorite. One of the top abstracts I believe. 

Children drawing on sand - a favorite concept. 

Look at the cursor pulling one of the strings. Juror's choice.

My painting covered by a railing and with the light at the back hence the painting was dark.  I didn't think I'll win anything but as I mentioned every painting deserves respect. Each one should be treated as the winner.

Congratulations to all the winners! When I say winners I mean the organizers and all the artists who joined.