Barber's tale and Other tales

Good day people! It's been ages since I last wrote on this blog (and that was also a rush posts about the very talented artists) as time and my current job (yes I have a job finally ) didn't require me to have time to visit my lair. But fortunately, I was given time to write this post for you, guys.

  

The scene features seven customers who received a new, and spectacular perhaps, haircut from the protagonist's father who is a barber in a local town.

 




As you can see, I have a new painting (at last!) that was done in watercolor on watercolor paper. It was meant for my current application for the circle of illustrators (also known as Ang INK or Ang Illustador ng Kabataan which means The Illustrator(s) of Youth) that specializing in children's book illustrations and storytelling for children. As for the requirement to be a member, an applicant must pass their works and illustrate from a featured story "Anong Gupit Natin Ngayon?" (What's Our Haircut Today?) by Russell Molina.

You can also look the story here.

I dont have much reference for my illustration aside from my figments of my imagination about a barber in a province who always tell tales of his kin, is friends, and any topic that thrilled his customers, so that probably they were not get bored while sitting on the barber's chair for almost an hour or so.

a barber shop in the 16th century

While some barbers today were reliable to have a great and fabulous haircuts and interesting to talk with them, a long time ago they are the one who used to be a surgeon which operates severely injured people without any painkillers or some sort.

The cure of Folly by Hieronymus Bosch

"The Barber" by the Greek Artist Nikolaus Gyzis

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Recently I also received a birthday gift from the bunny the famous book of Sun Tzu, the Art of War. Since last last year I craved for this book, although there are websites or eBooks from the internet to copy or download, having a traditional book makes a difference. I had this sense of having a wonderful collection of books, imagining myself on an old library with books rather than stored in a technological manner such as computer.

 Postscript

The organization sent me a letter stating that due to competition, I didn't make it. Although I was disappointed a little bit, I am still hoping to improve myself next year.

Previously

Good day, people! Last February, the Bunny and I had a small tour of the Bozzetos Exhibit in our school since we saw they showcased Italian-inspired artworks, and we were eager to see these.

We are greeted by a print of Firenze (also known as Florence) by Giorgio Vasari.

As we entered the hall, I was happy to see this paper model of the famous Florence Cathedral. It was wonderful to see another beautiful model since I had a deep interest in this field.

And look! Another model made from scraps and found materials as we entered the gallery.

And we also took pictures of some of the beautiful works there (including an antique door of the Gallery).

And in gratitude to my amazing college professors, I just like to dedicate this work of mine to them. They were my teachers who helped shape my skills for the past five years.

It is a watercolor painting on paper I made about two months ago.

The painting shows a motherly figure teaching a boy with a book. I never encountered a nun teacher before, or rather I never had a nun teacher, only men from the religous order of Marist Brothers. My work here was inspired by Medieval marginalia figures (you can take a look what's Medieval Marginalia about in this humorous blog about it), though it is unfortunate to say that I forgot what exactly inspired this design, and from which medieval book did I take inspiration from, but the scene I think is about St. Anne teaching her daughter Mary.

And speaking of Medieval art, I just want to share to you an interesting Tumblr site which is all about Medieval Illustrations, paintings, and facts about the era. You can visit the site here.

As of now, I am looking for a job this month, and my goal (hopefully) is that I should have a job before June. Well, I'm just hoping for the best!

Print Making Class and A Gift

Whew! It has been a long, long time since I had time to write here. Anyway, I became more and more studious for the past few weeks, working on my thesis and other class work. One of those that kept me busiest was our printmaking class. We had the privilege to be mentored by Ms. Victoria Abano, who is the current president of the Philippines' only printmaker's official organization, the Philippine Association of Printmakers (PAP). For this semester, we are plowing through a repertoire of relief printing techniques. For this entry, I would like to show to you one of my first plate of prints: a rubbercut, or also known as linocut.

Ever since I saw Holbein and Durer’s woodcuts and engravings I became so curious as to how prints were made, especially how they finely cut the details on the plate (which I had a realization that it really needs a great skill to do that later on). Understandably, the prevalent methods used for them at that time would have been woodcutting or engraving. Woodcutting, as it involves subtracting material from the plate in order to create a raised image, belongs to relief printing, whereas engraving scratches the surface of the plate and involves the ink settling in those hollows is amongst the intaglio printing techniques. We tackled woodcutting already as of this time of writing, and I will reserve writing about it for later.

We used rubber sole (in substitute for linoleum) as the printing plate and a brayer or a rubber roller to spread the oil-based ink. Using some old woodcutting tools from my sister, I developed the image that I drew on it beforehand. It depicts a knight on a small boat, wandering in the vast land and staring at the sky. This design is quite random except from the fact that I have a fascination towards knights and armors so I leave you to your interpretations towards my design. The rubbercut is usually the first done by newbies since it is easy to cut and yields to most directions when helped with a newly-sharpened cutting tool.

Then I placed the paper gently and carefully on the plate. In theory, one can use any kind of paper for printing, but as a rule, it is advisable to work with absorbent and heavy papers (by weight, about 90 grams/meter to less than 200 gsm) that are able to take up ink very well and withstand the rubbing which transfers the ink to the paper. Usually, in class, we opt for medium-toothed watercolor papers, at about 110 gsm. This holds the ink well, while being thin enough that it isn't so tiring to rub in the ink from behind.

Using a wooden spoon, I pressed the paper on the plate with ink so that the ink transfers to the paper thoroughly. I sometimes check the design underneath if there is enough to transfer, or if I missed any spots during the rubbing.

When I am satisfied, I removed the paper gently from the plate in one careful movement.

The ink takes almost a day to dry so we leave it behind in a dry and well-ventilated place.

This is the most basic thing that one does with prints. I confess that the sense of accomplishment in making these prints is rewarding, but it gets tiring if you have to do ten exact prints. Unfortunately, that is the minimum requirement for this subject. Sometimes, it takes the amateur printer some twenty attempts or more to get ten right. I shall discuss the colored prints later on.

***

I also recently changed my thesis topic, which I told to you last time about family trees and kinships. I changed them to something clockwork and kinemats, which largely inspired bySharmanka and Cabaret.

And I also recently received a wonderful gift from the Bunny. It is a painting of the Bunny and me in a strange forest, with a hut at the middle of it. It was painted by the wonderful artist and friend Rima Staines. Follow this link for further details.

Felix et Cuniculus

And so after so many ages, Cuniculus finally retured to her Felis.

This is one of my latest, almost random, illustration a few weeks past for the return of the Bunny from Spain (as I told you before). They are Felis the cat (which is his name came from the Latin word Felis means cat) and Cuniculus (also a Latin word for rabbit) facing each other on a decorated medieval marginalia-inspired frame. Since during vacation I spend most of the time in my house, I produced some random illustrations, most are executed in watercolor, as part of my practice at the medium.

Here are some of the close ups and individual shots of the panel. I also tried to achieve careful handling of colors at the patches at their background with manual execution (without any mechanical aid like tape or ruler).

I chose my leather-like cover of my notebook as a background. But before I was thinking if I should place them on a small wooden frame. And make it a diptych.

Quite lucky I borrowed a DSLR to the bunny to shoot my works in a better quality of picture.

Incidentally I came across this unusual story of half rabbit, half cat (or should I say Cabbits). You can check them here.

Despite that I am working on my thesis this year, I feel the time is still quite slow. And since I am working with my thesis, I also encountered this wonderful site about making handcrafted books. You can check them here.

I am a bit busy right now so I would like to leave you for a while.

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.

***

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.

***

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. :)

Binukot

Last year my history 1 professor introduced to us through a documentary film an unusual and interesting tribal story in the rough and remote mountains of Capiz in the Philippines. There is a community there, just like any isolated group of people, with their last binukots, a seventy three year old grandmother named Isiang. Binukots are the princesses chosen by their community as the most beautiful woman in the place. She will stay in a hut, unexposed to sun and any kind of labor. Whenever she gets out, she must cover with a cloth for protection from the outside elements, and she is lying on a hammock attatched to a bamboo pole carried by men or her servants. She never exposed to public, and her husband was chosen by her parents.

She wear a veil so that nobody could see her face, perhaps except to her closest servants. She had the best food in their community. The binukot is also bathed by her servants, and she never allowed to work, even going to school. All she have to do is to memorize by heart their priceless heritage, the hours-long epic song. The ten epic songs is about the history of their tribe and the lineage of the family of binukots, mixed with exaggerated stories and tales that are considered legendary. These epics are the "Tikum Kadlum," "Amburukay," "Balanakon," "Sinagnayan," "Kalampay,"and "Nagbuhis," "Pahagunoy" and "Alayaw".The song is passed only to the binukot, and her successor should also memorize the epic song, and so on.

Since binukots never allowed to do any work, they become frail and weak. During the second world war, where the Japanese occupied the country, their were the first victims since they can't run or probably even walk. Quite sadly, the binukots seemed raped. So after that the family of producing binukots stopped, until it gradually fades. They say that only seven binukots left, and they are all too old now.

The famous binukot, Elena Gardoce died recently at the age of 98. Her daughter and apparent successor Angga, forced to become a binukot to preserve their tradition and the generations-old songs. But Elena's grand daughter Emily refused to take her mother's place. Rather she wanted to become a teacher. It is quite sad to see them gradually fade, especially the remaining seven binukots who know the song by heart.

Picture of the binukot courtesy of flickr.com

And also, thank you, thank you so much for your concern about the typhoon Ondoy. Well, luckily, we live in a nearby hills so the flood didn't reached us, only the heavy rain and wind, and also brownouts. Maybe I should also say sorry because you worried too much about what happen to me (especially the bunny, sorry if I worried you.). Again thank you for your concern.

The Wandering Knight

A knight walks under the blue, blue sky. He has traveled over many lands, had lost his horse, and is tired of this long, long walk. But despite this, he, in his shining armor, still wants to finish his ultimate goal. This is a not so recent illustration of mine from my sketchpad. I drew it months ago in watercolor. I want to dedicate this to Alex, who is an old friend of mine. Though sadly, I haven't seen him again since the last time we met about a year ago. I wish him good luck, wherever he is.

Randomly, I placed a dragon and a bird at both sides of the knight. I put them there because I sometimes see Russian icons or Byzantine paintings of portraits,usually mother and child, flanked by figures of angels at their sides.

Of Paintings and Old things

This a small illustration of mine for my eldest sister Joyce of an Angel called Ardarel. As you know, Ardarel is an angel belonged to the Elohim class, and he is known as the Angel of fire. She told me that this is her guardian angel, and she requested me to portray her angel and post to her blog as her picture. So I started looking for angels and I come up with these gothic angels, which always fascinates me every time I see them in Netherlandish paintings or in illuminated manuscripts. So I looked for medieval portraits and depictions of angels, from the most grotesque, bizzare face to the highly realistic ones.

Of course, I look to the most familiar ones, including my favorite artist Jan Van Eyck, which I truly admire his strong handling of colors and details, as well as the faces of her angels and saints. I also saw, again, this painting of Van Eyck of a statue angel. He truly achieve the illusion of the angel, setting as a statue on a flat surface, and somehow, I am recently practicing this illusion, which is quite difficult to. I compiled this pictures into one and you can click it for better viewing.

I also encountered this Gothic sculpture of an angel by an unknown master. The technique used by the master in sculpture is somehow had a resemblance to Tilman Reimenschneider, another favorite artist of mine. The heavy drapery, thick clothing, and Gothic, elongated faces and bodies is their signature and this feature makes them unique and graceful for me.

Bruegel also influenced my angel. He painted this allegorical painting of the fallen angels. His bizzare figures always took me to his world. Somehow, Bruegel's works is another realm to me, and not just a mere interpretation of their beliefs. Every time I see his work I had this feeling that he came to a world far far beyond our countries, and then returned to his home and started to illustrate the world he visited.

Well, weeks and weeks after I finished the angel, I started to have interested to the angel's life. So I researched about him. According to legend, Ardarel was born mortal, with human parents. But soon he transformed into his real form as angel in the age of seventeen and joined other angels. To be honest with you, despite of my interest about celestial creatures, I don't much researched about their specific lives, even I had a story commissioned by a friend about angels and the after world.

The Fool

Staring at the sun. Trying to see if his eyes will go blind.

Grotesque and Mockery

My Anthropology professor said that humans don't like reality, especially in their art. So they tend to exaggerate real proportions, distorting figures in desired areas, and they probably interpreted real as something like that. Well, I know it is still open for an open debate, but for me I interpreted grotesque as something more than just real, and they are not just mirrors of the real but something to discover with.
I've seen so many artists that they rely their works on grotesque. One of my favorite is the ones who are not much recognized; the artists of Gothic cathedrals.


Perhaps I spent a couple of minutes just staring at the pictures of gargoyles in a book in our library, thinking how did they manage to establish such beautiful and mysterious works. Although they are largely influenced by secular matters, they had freedom to unleash their imagination that is almost incomparable today. I heard a legend about a sculptor of gargoyles in Notre Dame who set the faces of his works from his appearance. His works are filled with sorrow, and so as the artist because he was left by his beloved girl. Somehow, these grotesque creatures portrayed from their infinite imagination, where for them there was a thin boundary between real and unreal. And I salute them for their immeasurable imagination and strangeness.

I also saw from a book in our library about Pieter Bruegel. They had a picture of Bosch's illustration of quite strange creatures
The book also had a picture of a flying buttress in the cathedral of St. John in Flanders. They are quite interesting to observe.

Picasso's blue period is my favorite works of him. It just reminds me of El Greco's Burial of Count Oegaz. He portrayed decay-like skins, thin, almost androgynous people.
Since I illustrated my works inspired by medieval art, I illustrated this picture of my youngest sister, cracking her fingers while laughing exaggeratedly.

Done in watercolor on board, this is one of my little works last summer, before the this semester started. Although this is not her actual portrait, most of the features are based from her. From her tangled hair to her bony arms and legs.

The Tale of the Two Worlds

I have just finished the blog diptych for my header and footer. Panel paintings fascinate me. They are like boxes within boxes, filled with picture of stories enclosed by wood. I like how they are enclosed, with several divisions sometimes leading to another set of boxes hidden behind the outer panels. Imagine they are drawers and bookshelves with tiny doors. Each chamber has paintings of stories, and in order to continue up to the end you must open the painted doors, which lead to the innermost chambers, where the most hidden part of the story awaits for you to reach it. Maybe that's the reason why I was fascinating with Netherlandish painting of their triptychs, as well as German Gothic altarpieces, and my favorite among them is the Isenheim Altarpiece. It is a polyptych altar executed by Mattias Grunewald for the hospital chapel of Saint Antony's Monastery in Isenheim in Alsace. It is a complicated, four-layered, painted structure. It was created for those who were ill, to give hope to them during that time when most people resort to their religion because medicine is still relatively primitive and almost as hokey as folk remedies.

Anyway, going back to my previous topic, the diptych was based on my little tale I created when I started painting them. It is a story about the two worlds with one name. Let me begin the story from the upper panel. There was a small village called Estrella.

It was named after the red angel flying around the evening sky to attach the jewel-like stars so that the villagers have lights in the evening. It wants to make the people happy so it does the best to do this.

Until the monsters from far away lands came and savaged the village. The sky became red, monsters are everywhere, and Estrella was no longer a happy, peaceful village.