passing by

a friend died early this month. i assisted him once during a photo shoot for a local magazine. and we had a number of group shows along with other artists. thanks for all the photo speaks...

whooo-hoo-hooo

friends from the office invited me to this special screening event. arrived in makati just after 6 o'clock. had fun watching the denizens of makati pass us by on their way home...or a fun night out. well i'm grateful because most of the time, i've been spending a lot of time in front of this:


my office desk, alabang, 2007

blessed new year

world pyro olympics, 2007.

i've always been amazed at the length men go thru in the pursuit of entertainment. dukes and kings sponsored shakespeare and mozart to write plays and music to entertain them at their parties. sony electronics made it's name by making radios and tv affordable to the masses. audio-visual gadgets abound in the market, with sizes ranging from the small portable mp3 players to the giant lcd screens that's seem to be the new must - have of the 2000's. in fact i work in an industry that caters to the entertainment industry - animation.

so i guess it was no surprise that i find myself overcoming my aversion for heavy traffic and crowds just to watch the 2007 world pyro olympics. unlike last year, we didn't buy tickets that will allow us to watch the fireworks explode almost directly over our head. we just positioned ourselves near the sm mall of asia, and waited for the pyro display. i find it less impressive than last year's, perhaps due to the distance. but i got an inkling why kids and adults alike risk losing their limbs trying to recreate such impressive fireworks display every new year's eve. hey admit it, we don't believe anymore that all those burst of light and noise would drive away demons, right? in the end we just enjoy the sight too much to go without it. well fleeting as it is, am glad to see the look of awe at the faces of the kids that watched the pyro olympics. there will come a time enough that all these kids will grew up and look at all of these as just crowd, heavy traffic and inconvenient lack of parking. but hopefully they will come back and watch...for the sake of their own kids. ( but please, if they're still babies, leave them at home, ok? )


morning light, carmel house, alabang.

leave you with this image taken as i come in early for work.

waking up confused

the first week of december passed by and i didn't notice it. allowed myself to get caught up in my work that it took a disaster in my parents' province to wake me up from my state of stupor. last time we heard from them, most of my relatives in albay lost their homes. we've been trying to send them medicines but all deliveries to their place are suspended ( they have to travel a good distance just to claim the packages ). it would be a somber Christmas for the people in albay.


sorry. watercolor and ink, 2006. for all the bad news that we received thru the mobile phone.

gift

afternoon, november 26, 2006.

sometime november

hope she'll understand my silence. when that is all i can do not to make matters worse than it already is.

yet, every now and then i look at my celphone...

borrowed heaven

daybreak, alabang-zapote road. taken early sunday morning during one of the numerous times i stayed over saturday night in the office. deserted streets devoid of the usual bumber to bumper traffic. for awhile i thought i was the only human left in the planet. he,he.

on a different matter: i told a friend of mine that i was finally able to start painting again. she's right in a way...i think i've lost sight of the main reason why i paint in the first place. but several minutes after our talk, my celphone beeped...and i got lost again. i yearn for the day when i could look back again at all these and give a wry smile.

farewells

how do you say goodbye while at the same time try to hide all the regrets for the things that didn't go the way you wanted them to? show remorse for all the moments of silence when a word or two could have made all the difference? and though i still hold the joy in the hope that God gave me, allow me this time to mourn...

dreaming of sundays

bathroom window, early morning at home

staring at a blank canvas...thinking of things that could have been...cryptic? just need some rest. preferably a whole week of rest far from the city.

i used to laugh at people who introduce themselves with a title in front of their names. attorney so-and-so, judge _______ , architect ______ . i know that they've earned the right to be called those things. but i remember someone telling me as a kid that one shouldn't let a man's job be the measure of what he is. ( maybe i got this advise from my parents when they were trying to pass off my lack of ambition, he,he. )
but for sometime now, i noticed introducing myself with an addendum: i am a 3d artist. or i am an artist. makes me think that without my job, i am nothing. ( hmmm, come to think of it, i am nothing...arrgh ) he,he i grew up to become someone i hate...

going...going...

it's been awhile... in fact i even considered abandoning this blog due to missing picture links, lack of inspiration and the pressure at work. but since the planned group exhibit for this year didn't push thru, i got this urge to revive this blog, restore the picture links and post new pics and artworks.


office entrance door, early morning.

spending most nights at the office due to deadlines. so much so that i seldom use my apartment bed. thank God i have the foresight to buy myself one of those thin mattresses so that i could sleep in comfort at the office.

the water is wide

we arrived in bolinao at about 1pm. the beach was worth all the calluses in the ass that we developed riding along bumpy roads. it may take getting used to...it was not like the deserted shores that you would see in albay. there were cottages and stores. we even have to walk some distance from the entrance to avoid the sound of videoke machines. but it was not that crowded. and once you get into the water you'll forget about it all as you enjoy looking at the marine life among the rocks.


the beachfront.


at the back of the beach is this strip of fresh water, with kids playing around the connecting bridge.


low tide exposes the rock covered with sea plants

sanctuary

most of the 3d people went to pangasinan over the weekend. we rolled off alabang late friday evening and arrived in dagupan about 4am. after some hours of sleep we went to the home of a relative of one of our officemates to ask for direction to the beach in bolinao. the house we went to was surrounded with with bonsai ( which i should have taken a picture of ) and on the top of the garage roof are cages for breeding pet birds.


didn't get to take note of what particular bird specie these are. sorry.


as we wander around the cages i realised that most of the birds are frightened by our presence. you could see them huddled in one corner in this picture.

after lunch adventure(?)
a combination of alcohol addled brain (we suspect), a bicycle and a number of short tempered bystanders postponed our trip to the beach. still, i THANK GOD for the reflexes of our friend who was driving at that time!


the boy in the red shirt is the grandson of the guy we 'bumped'. before i clicked the shutter, all three of them were smilling and having fun.

wheuw!

took me sometime to figure out why i can't upload my pictures to my image server. something to do with pop ups. and i got my mind set in posting this particular image...


despite my angst-ridden life, i tend to make caricatures that friends call "cute". maybe it's an unconcious attempt to hide or lose myself in my art. oh, and don't think of that observation as something profound. i often think of my art as stomach gas. if i hold it inside, it's painful. to find relief i have to pass it out, yet the only people who will understand and symphatize will be those who have find themselves in similar situation before, he,he. hmmm...at this point i want you to imagine an exhibit of smells...

home

sorry for the lack of updates. just finished modeling a character at work, and between that and the things i've got to do at home, well i was not able to find time to post.

been thinking a lot of the changes at home. decisions, decisions...


side table, quezon city - reminds me of the 3d mesh that i've been working on.

by the way - i was forced to scale down the drawing in my previous post. it takes too long to load in my computer.

coffee

coffee girl, watecolor and ink, 2006

it's the start of summer. more often than not, my choice of evening brew tend to be iced tea. the ones you get from jollibee, wendy's or chowking. not those iced tea that comes from vendo machines with carbonated water. and in case you've seen the green iced tea of KFC, don't bother trying it. it doesn't taste that good. at least for me.

and in case anyone of you like chocolate drinks, try cafe xocolat in megamall. this one is more convenient than their first branch which is in greenhills promenade. it's located on the 2nd floor bldg A. near chowking.


cafe xocolat, megamall
_____________________________________________________________

meanwhile in pilar village, alabang...

our apartment got robbed. the robber/s got my friends' money. if you want to know the details and you know my friend lui, ask him yourself. he's better at telling the whole story. the result of all this is that we spent the night and early this morning installing security locks. i was thinking of just putting stickers outside the door and windows saying "this house is protected by time delay locks". you know like those bank vaults. but that's just me. like i said, i'm lazy.

state of what?

friday night, feb. 24, 2006. enough comments on how crazy politics in this country is. so i'll just share with you this image:


restless night. tiendesitas. south superhighway, on the way home. U2 singing 'silver and gold' on the cd.

even this...

leyte landslide. i could rage about it as a lesson in forest mismanagement. or an opportunity for more politicking in the part of government officials. or former government officials out to regain public trust. it is heartening to see strangers working together on the search and rescue. but i can't forget about the victims; kids, mothers and sisters, husband and brothers. a whole village of them. yet if all of these things would bring comfort to those left behind then i say let it be.

lost in time

i welcome the times i spend entertaining myself with the creative works of other people. songs, books, films, paintings, i can't seem to get tired of it. maybe it's because i've got this admiration for people who were able to substantiate their vision unto their respective medium. or then again, maybe i'm just lazy and all willing to lose myself into anything that will excuse me from doing something else.


cinemas, alabang town center

anywhere but in between

night. decided to take pictures for reference for another art project. went back to the office and downloaded the pics to my computer. should i watch a movie tonight? nah, got a lot of stuff with me that going thru all that security check in the malls make it impractical. decided to update my blog.


hmmm...


hmmm...


hmmmm...


hmmmm...


what can i write about? the things that happened to me at the start of the month that made me realize am back to square one? that is still a raw wound. my trip yesterday down memory lane? arrgh...


exit, folk arts theater.

anyway...happy valentine's day. everyone. really.

friends

i don't know how long this video will reside on this site before it gets sent to the archives. but try watching it...here. i was struck by what one of the old gents said about old age and living life day by day. and yes, i admit that it won't apply to all circumstances. but it does bear keeping in mind.
__________________________________________________________________


chair, afternoon

a lot of my drawings and pictures have chairs in it as a subject or background element. i often think of it as a representative of people i've encountered. you would have noticed perhaps that people tend to have a particular chair that they sit on when they eat at home, another 'personal' chair for when they are relaxing in their living room. well in my case, when drawing chairs, i often try to think of people that that particular chair reminded me of. it's not a new concept really. van gogh and gauguin have done it before. but i still do it anyway.