Itapon, Basura Nyo

Sa bawat araw na ginawa ng Diyos, marami tayong nagagawang basura. Balat ng kendi, buto ng prutas, plastic cups, bote ng Coke, papel, balahibo ng manok. Ilan lamang ito sa mga basurang ating tinatapon sa mag-araw.

Dahil sa talamak na pagtatapon ng basura sa ating kapaligiran at ang mga kaakibat na problema nito, likas sa atin ang maghanap ng kasagutan. Karamihan, pinagbubukud-bukod natin ang bawat uri ng basura. Malata, di-malata, residual.


Meron namang biodegradable, non-biodegradable. Sa ganitong sistema, may mga basurang  nare-recycle. May iba  namang ginagawang biofuel.

Ngunit may mga basurang di nakikita. Tinatago natin ito sa kaibuturan ng ating kaluluwa. Mga pighati, poot, kabiguan, inggit, galit at iba pa.Ito ang mga basurang karapat-dapat na itapon sa paglubog ng araw. Sa tagal ng panahong pagkimkim sa salansang na damdamin, ito ay aalingasaw at sisira sa bawat relasyon ng mag-ama, mag-asawa, o magkaibigan.

Ito ang mga kaugnayang di natin hahayaang mawala. Kung sa gayon, isang mapanglaw na pagsalubong ang ating maidudulot sa pagsikat ng araw.

Sketch it..Live!

As Pareng Jotay had mentioned, taking photos of a toddler is no easy feat. For one, setting up the lights will wrack one’s analytical brain, only to realize that the little subject is no longer within the shot area. I may have not assisted him shooting his nephew but I can surely testify how much effort he puts in to get the right combinations of exposure, shutter speed, and power. (Free advertisement ni, P’re.)

I am not here to talk about photography, though, I plan to buy my own camera next year. It could be a Christmas gift though, if my brother is reading this.

I am here to talk about making a portrait of a live model.

Pareng Jotay was my first victim er … model. Very few people knew how many portraits Jotay had to endure until I was able to at least show his George Clooney-look on paper. This is my first portrait of Jotay, live! He was working on his netbook while I sketched him using a graphite pencil.

Lesson #1, never sketch while the model is doing something. Unless, of course, you asked him to minimize the head movement.

In my frolic with arts during summer, Carmel was gracious enough to sit for our class. I was personally grateful to her for she sat especially for me as a make-up activity  for my absence (No, I didn’t get sick or married, no one died in my family, and I was not sent by USC to represent the school to Big Brother’s house!)





Eventhough Carmel has to sit still for an hour, we allowed her to take breaks in between to stretch her sleeping muscles and mainly to relax.

Lesson #2, be considerate to your model. True, making her a portrait is not an everyday occurrence but one has to remember, your model is doing you a favor for sitting still when she can do other important personal stuff.





My third model is Stian, my classmate in art class. This time, we applied lesson #1. We let him surf the net. Our only request is for him to hold his head in one position. Afterall, we will sketch only his head.



Lesson #3, show your model your work, no matter how far the real one looks, for his comments.

Some might go berserk because the portrait looks like a monkey. Some will just smile and go in their quiet ways. Some will give you helpful comments.

While some, like Stian, would say “That looks like an actor from a movie! “.

Bai Awak Went to Town

The Chemistry Board Licensure Examination is coming up and I can’t help but feature my lucky charm when I took the exam in 2001. No, it was not the then-chair of the department who enticed luck to perch on my shoulder.



Mama bought me this bayawak or water-monitor lizard, if you want the English name, as a Christmas gift. I was already in college then but on that particular yuletide season, my child alter ego took hold of my sanity and asked Santa a toy bayawak for Christmas.

Kuya Bugoy and I love to dress up the bayawak. He usually tied a bandanna (a la Robin Padilla) around the head of the bayawak and put on a Ray –ban on its eyes. Mama would reprimand us, warning us of lighting bolt from the sky for making fun of an inanimate object. When I drew this, Mama was about to reprimand me as well but decided not to when she saw my plan. Knowing her, she must have whispered a prayer to redirect the lightning bolt away from me.

When girls usually have rag dolls or stuff toys beside them on their bed, the bayawak slept beside me. Mama warned me I might get nightmares when I woke up in the middle of night and the lizard’s head is reared up.

Well, that never happened. But I could never forget the surprised look seamen gave to my bayawak when I boarded the ship to Cebu.

When I went to Manila for the exam, the people at the Air Philippines’ check-in counter asked me to find a container for my bayawak. Even though it is a toy, it might cause a stampede inside the plane.

However, I missed the frightened scream when the visitor of my roommate in Manila upon seeing the bayawak on my hotel bed.

Whether this toy is my lucky charm or not, it is no longer important to me. When I saw this toy over the weekend, I know its body striations would be an interesting subject for charcoal.

Once done, the piece did give me something more than a lucky charm could. It gave me a satisfaction I usually get when I finish a piece of art.


Good luck to the examinees. Wanna borrow my lucky charm?

This Shoe is Made for Flying

Eight hours from now I will be on my way home and I haven’t packed up yet. Important things got in the way. Foremost of these is this watercolor painting of my sneakers or sneaker since there is only one. :-p

I have started this piece last Sunday, inspired by rhyming lines I kept repeating on my head while feeding the laboratory mice. Rushing home, I grabbed my sneaker and placed it on my table. Feverishly, I made the outlines and decided to use my new water color paints.

At a young age, I knew what a watercolor is. My eldest brother, Kuya Bugoy (he is not a pain in the ass unless he started teasing me fat when I was a kid), used watercolor in his drawing. He paints portraits of men, women and lovers.  However, it was only recently (actually nine minutes ago) that I learned the difference between watercolor and acrylic paints. Watercolor paints used arabic gum as a binder while acrylic paints used ..well..acrylic resin (Organic chemists better hit the Merck. It might come out in Chem 120.)

It took me days to finish the piece. Duties in the salt mines took a chunk of my time, among other things. And yes, my sneaker is becoming a familiar sight on my study table. Plus, I had a hard time controlling the watercolor. It attracts a lot of water and once I made a mistake, the trick of using white paint to cover it didn’t work! That’s why I ended up with gray shoelaces. :)

My beginner’s charm may not have worked on this piece. But just like my acrylic paintings, I am glad to finish this. It is one hurdle conquered, new technique learned, and a soothing balm to a weary traveler.

Let me share with you the poem, Snickering Shoe, that started this all:

‘Twas a day of blue

A snickering shoe

I found in my stew.

Blubbering lots o’goo

This snickering shoe.

Suddenly it flew

Up and down the loo

Then I couldn’t chew

‘Failed to bid adieu

To the snick’ring shoe.

Color Dilemma

Picture this in mind: A man breezing through the hallway in white pants and shoes and blue dress shirt. I must admit I have seen a man like this before and I know him. Can’t believe he was wearing a Christmas green polo shirt and a golden brown corduroy pants with brown sandals (and navy blue socks showing) while clutching a black bag ten years ago.

True, colors can be intimidating.  My good friend, Ising, would spend a good amount of time to plan her wardrobe for the whole week. From the color combination of the clothes down to the accessories to be used.
It is understandable for who’d want to be  the topic in a conversation of two individuals you don’t even know.

“Unsa man na iyang  gisul-ob uy? Green na gani ang blouse, green pa jud ang slacks.”


“ Murag sagbot sa kadalanan.”


When I first dipped my brush in acrylic paints, I was definitely intimidated. For one, I didn’t understand Andreas’s instructions. Then, my meager knowledge on color harmony has seemingly dissolved in acrylic. It’s no wonder I got this as a result:

A work of art a Kindergarten can very well improve. I could still see the hard look Andreas gave to my piece, trying to come up with a suggestion to save my work.

But on the second try, my meager knowledge on harmony has recrystallized out from the acrylic medium. Some of my teacher’s instruction was becoming clearer to me as I got used to his accent. I made this piece before I called it a night.

This may look like another poor attempt to abstract but I initially planned to make this look like a ribbon. Then as the night went on, it became an eagle then a snake. As of now, I don’t know what this is but it gave me confidence to try my luck  at home.

This led me to this piece.

Photo by Joel R. Locaylocay

I can think of a lot of reason why this is not good. For one, the paper was not suitable for wet techniques as it wrinkled due to excess water. There is too much blue and I was afraid I would lose all my paints (It does show I am still greenhorn to this! )

Nevertheless, I passed the first stage of acrylic painting. It may be a low-pass, but still, it is a PASS.