The Old and the New

December is a special month for me. Aside from the fact that I was born in that month, on the 19^th day, and that there's a chilly wind during the days and nights, gifts from Christmas, and people simply merry-making, it is the end of the year. This something really special for me. From there you could see the summary of what you did in that year, that is, the last 11 months. Just reminiscing about them, the beautiful times as well as the worse ones. Sometimes, I try remember them and write about it like a story of sorts. With this, I could see how the story went by throughout the year.

I can still remember the December from two years before. The sun shone on morning dew on the grass, and there was fog over a distant green field. We saw this the morning after that painful night when we slept on the cold stone corridor of the college. During that time we were working overnight for the float that will be shown for the annual lantern parade in our school. And after a short sleep, the bunny and I spent the beautiful morning walking and taking in this wonderful view before we had our breakfast in a cafeteria. The cold numbed our ears and fingertips as we slowly walked on the damp road. It was a wonderful experience. We seldom have the pleasure of strolling during mornings when the sun shines gently, with morning dew on the grass and cold breeze brushing our faces. But if I had another chance, I won’t hesitate to do it again.

As I have said before, my childhood age had ended this past year, on my 21^st birthday, and a fresh new phase is starting for me. For that occasion, I received a watercolor pad from the bunny. I always wanted to have this so that I can practice more on my watercolor since I started watercolor as a medium about two years ago (yes, before that my primary medium before was pastels and acrylics). A fresh start. But of course, I cannot deny that cannot help feeling nostalgic sometimes, that I always want to recall some of my beautiful memories, and wishing I can relive them again.

And now it is the new decade. I have to wait for several months more before December, before I can have a chance to experience all those memories again. There is no winter in our country, or snow, but I still feel happy about it. And for me this is December.

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I saw this random antique house interior in the blog called "Iloilo on Foot". It is a very wonderful blog that features old Spanish colonial churches (which are some of the places I'd like to explore) and other things in Iloilo, in the Philippines. You can visit their site here. I just remembered my grandparent's house (that is, my mother's parents) in our province, Tarlac, in this picture. Similarly, they had many religious statues during my grade school days. But my aunts and uncles gradually dismantled the collection one by one, bringing the icons to their own houses.

When I was a child, my aunts to make me draw religious icons for them.They sometimes called me "Father" (as in Reverend Father) during that time because I would almost draw religious things excusively. Almost one and a half decade later, when we last visited our province, my Aunt Rosalinda showed me some of my drawings, done in pen on cheap paper, of those religious images that kept all those years in her old wooden cabinet. I am quite happy for this since she kept my drawings there for a very long time (because I don't keep much of my works since my shelves are too small for all them). The picture of Saint Rita above is from a book about religious icons in South america. Though I forgot what was the name of the book but it features Latin American images from around the 16th to the 19th century.

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This year, I must find a sideline to earn some money for the next school year since my sister told me that I'll be paying for myself from now on. And also I must buy new sandals and bag since they started to retire from their jobs (they are the ones the bunny bought for me as a present before she went to Spain almost five months ago). I wonder if I should sell some of my works over the net, or to my colleagues. I know it is hard to earn money; especially it is your first time to experience it. But I don’t have plans to place ads in my blog. I just want to tell stories here and keep it that way. Stories and beautiful art should somehow be told and done for themselves.

This is a recent illustration of mine entitled Chasing the Sun. I made it last December. I haven't posted this illustration last time because of other things, and that I've been working with my recent posts. With this illustration, I tried to do an exaggeratedly bent body but with Limbourg faces and tones, but it was hard to do it with watercolor. Though I don't have much words about this one, I leave the theme and the message of the illustration to you. :)