Things we usually do during our free time.

We went to a local church called San Agustin in Manila last time (the one I told to you before). We are mesmerized with its old beauty, despite that it is now poorly maintained. The Bunny and I were always fascinated with old structures, especially when they are mashed up with other foreign cultures since the church is mixed with Spanish Colonial style and native styles. When the Spanish came in our country a long time ago they brought their culture in here and mixed with the native tastes.

We saw this around 18th century painting of Christ in a dimly lit stone hall (so we need to picture it with flash). According to the Bunny, grotesque paintings like these were made by the natives who had only slight idea about what Christ might look like, as well as the Romans and their costumes. And they only rely on printed book from Europe.

An around 19th century statue of Virgin Mary that is very much look like a Guanyin statue

Waiting for the Carillon to ring in 5 in the afternoon

Spending time appreciating the beauty of the trees and green fields.

Art Fair and the Thesis Progress

First of all, my apology to you guys for a very long absence into the blog realm. But above all, I feel quite happy from my return. For the past few weeks things are getting busier for the thesis and the approaching deadlines of papers and submissions and the household chores as well. Let me show to you a preview of what I am doing for almost every whole day for the past few weeks. And for those who still wait for new posts, and still following my blog, thank you very very much. And thank you for your patience as well!

As I told to you before, my thesis is about mechanical diorama with a theme based on a poplar historical play in the Philippines. I started the base made of hardwood.

As for the drawer, which is where the textual details of the diorama, I assembled it by myself, so that’s why it is not so carpenter-woodworker level of construction since recently I’m trying to study woodworking by myself with of course with the help of Papa.

Anyway, inside the drawer there’s a small door that leads to the portraits of the characters in the story. The characters, which are in bust form, are executed in acrylic on cardboard. It is quite small that I had a difficult time adding further details of the faces. But thanks to the Bunny’s very fine brush I borrowed last, last year somehow I managed to make it.

I made frames for the miniature portraits and later I will label them with their corresponding names. Here is the list of characters.

v Inangbayan (Mother country) symbolizing the Philippines

v Tagailog (River dweller) the hero of the story and Inangbayan’s son

v Haringbata (Child king) symbolizing the Chinese Empire

v Dahumpalay (Grass snake) symbolizing the native collaborators

v Dilatnabulag (Wide eyed blind) symbolizing Spain

v Matanglauin (Hawk eyed) the Spanish colonial government

v Halimau (Monster) the friars

v Asalhayop (Animal like) another collaborator to the enemies, also one of Tagailog’s sibling

v Bagongsibol (Newborn) symbolizing America

v Malaynatin (We don’t know) the American colonial government

v Masunirin (Obidient) and Ualangtutol (No object) are the loyal siblings of Tagailog

And yes, it’s a bit nationalistic drama which is sometimes required to the research.

***

Me and the Bunny also recently visited the annual Art Fair in our college. Though it is quite unfortunate that we don’t submit some works to sell, we toured ourselves the college and looked for some interesting works. And at the beginning of the fair a school Jazz band played. They are wonderful since that was the first time I personally saw a jazz band.

And I posted some of we found noticeable. Like this one made by our Printing class professor Abano.

And some of beatiful works that sadly I never saw their name. Like this small bust sculptures.

And this painting.

Well, I got to go; piles and piles of works are still waiting for me. See ya!

After the End of Summer

Days are getting warmer recently. I've been working, and would probably keep on working, on my thesis for the deliberation before the semester ends on March next year. And I would just like to share this sketch of one of my prototypes for the thesis. It is some kind of a toy theater crossed with automata mechanisms, with a little touch of Sharmanka and Cabaret.

For the trial mock-up.

I used materials like cardboard for the gears and foam board for the walls. For the figures, I used papier mache so that it is easy to build. The final output, which will be constructed out of wood, would be started on by next year.

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.