Hello, everyone! I’m back. I’m really sorry to have left the conversation hanging. It’s tough getting back on track when you’ve spent a whole chunk of time making sure that one of the best days of your life will go as you envisioned. I’ll try to talk about the wedding in better detail, in a next post.

Mid-March, before the planning kicked into high gear, one of the best things that happened to me was getting into the local children’s illustrator group Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK). It was my second time to try out, and this time I was really determined and committed. After submitting in February and anxiously waiting for the results, I received news that I was in! It really not only made my day, but my whole (birthday) month.

It really never ends, nor is it ever an easy task, trying to define who you are as an artist. When INK asked us members to each come up with a page for the annual catalog, I decided to make something new yet something I was comfortable with. With the very little (or none) experience I have with children’s illustration, I’ve realized that having a younger audience in mind helps you think of yourself in smaller shoes, to fantasize about the things that could have been. Ballet, for one. As a kid, I somehow couldn’t see myself in tights and a tutu, and yet today I am seriously amazed by the dance, the dresses, the grace, and art of it.

But even before I started sketching, I got the biggest inspiration from a trip to the mall–where, at the newly opened Repetto shop in Greenbelt 3, I was greeted by this frothy, sumptuous, dreamy, uber-girly piece at the window. And I knew I had to paint a young ballerina getting ready, tying her shoes, in an imagined rose garden.

Repetto is a frustrated ballet dancer’s fantasy come to life–and is obviously more a fashion boutique than ballet store. It’s also one of those pretty places where you know you’ll have to save up before you’ll get to buy anything, sadly. So for now, I’ll just content myself with photos and that little fantasy of mine.

My illustration for Maven magazine has been published! I’m so happy with how it turned out. This was the initial pencil sketch I made last December:

I was excited when Maven got in touch with me last year, asking if I was interested to create an HIV awareness-themed illustration for their upcoming summer romance issue. Apart from the advocacy, they also wanted to promote a local artist and give readers their very own “pin-up” of my work (yay!). I envisioned a girl wrapped in layers upon layers of ribbons, in a way that looked like she was wearing a sexy dress, while being “protected,” as it were. I didn’t want the ribbons tightly draped, so as not to create a stifled feeling. The ribbons had to be mostly red (HIV awareness) and not pink (breast cancer awareness).

I’ve never read Maven, so this issue became a great introduction. I haven’t gone through every single article, but from what I have, the stories are really smart and well-written. They have that much-needed dose of wit, while still keeping it real for the modern-day Filipina. I find it a cross between the (now defunct) Marie Claire Philippines and Cosmopolitan Philippines–a good mix of real life, entertainment, fashion, and those issues no one dare talk about.

Pick up a copy of Maven‘s February-March 2012 issue, featuring the very pretty Kim Chiu on the cover (available in all major bookstores and newsstands nationwide).

Kitch’ Café provided a really wonderful backdrop for my last exhibit. When I think about it now, the process of creating the artwork was greatly influenced by the decision to mount my pieces here.

I think all art directors (and designers in general) go through the same design thinking–it’s hard to isolate just one element amidst other aspects. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing for an artist–being conscious of the spaces where one’s work goes. I’m definitely working on making my art meaningful, with its own story to tell, even without the context of a place.

During opening night, I arrived at the shop early–and I was delighted to find the café bedecked in lovely soft lights, which gave everything a warm, romantic glow. (It was my first time to see the place at night, so I wasn’t sure if the tivoli lights were a year-round thing.) I really fell in love!

At one point, people started coming one after the other (some family, but friends mostly), and I had to entertain so many people at once. I was really, really floored. I’m not used to getting so much attention, and usually I just want my work to speak for me.

I was also really happy that some people stayed with me till the end! Since it was after-dinner hours, many ordered coffee and dessert. This was the selection in the pastry display that night:

People kept asking me if I did the art on the glass window. I wish I did!

As of this writing, I’ve been able to sell about half of the collection. One piece was bought by local TV host/actress Janice de Belen!! I was speechless and extremely grateful when I learned about it. It turns out that Janice’s food/lifestyle show Spoon shot an episode there last month, and that’s how she saw my work. It’s really so amazing how life throws these sweet surprises!

I’m not sure how to begin talking about my recent exhibit, so first I’d like to say THANK YOU to all those who made time to drop by, not just during the opening night on December 12, but over the rest of the exhibit period. (This one ran for a month, and we took down the pieces just last Thursday, January 12.) I’d also like to mention how incredibly supportive Kitch’ Café has been, and how honored I am to be the first person to exhibit in their shop.

I mentioned before how incredibly difficult and challenging it was to mount this exhibit. It really felt like a whole year, when in reality it only took about seven months. In the beginning, I envisioned a whole collection inspired by my two obsessions at the time (well, they still kinda are)–portraits, and French pastry (macarons, to be specific). To merge these two loves, I imagined the “Macaron Girls,” where a macaron flavor got personified, in a zodiac-sign kind of way.

Unfortunately, after completing the fourth piece (photo above, farthest left), I got exhausted, bored, and stuck. After taking a break, I changed course–not abandoning my French-inspired state of mind–and allowed myself to explore other subjects.

Having recently completed some background illustration work for Candy magazine, I was inspired to produce “Kitch’ Café in Paris” (above left, and shared here). I wanted to take a local café to Paris, instead of just painting a French cafe per se. Still, soon after, I couldn’t help but pay tribute to famed French patisserie Ladurée (not in this post, but shared here).

These last three pieces (titled, “Cloud & Cream,” “Blush & Bloom,” and “Ribbons & Roses”) were a surprise even to me. I’d already completed seven pieces, but I forced myself to come up with three more, if only to make a total of ten. I finished these in just under a week–right before the scheduled exhibit date!

Yet, if you were to ask me, these are my favorites of the bunch. It might be that I finally understood the medium better (I used higher quality, Arches paper here, too). It might have been getting a certain color palette right, and the happiness I felt doing intentional, cloudy washes. It was probably these, breaking free from expectations, and finding my groove after being steeped in so much internal doubt. They precisely express who I am at this point, and how I want people to perceive my work. To me, they represent that moment when an artist successfully marries obsession with self-awareness.

Above are some behind-the-scenes snaps of my little show opening in a couple of days (see previous post). They’re from the last three pieces I finished this week. For my friends–I really hope you can make it! This exhibit was a little over half a year in the making. I struggled with myself for months in the process (so much angst and confusion, but luckily it gave way to a clearing in the end!). Beyond any unifying style or theme, I hope this exhibit shows my humble progress as an artist, and my growth as an individual. I want to show a range of work that chronicles all the learnings and adventures I’ve taken this year.