Painting & Rizal Docus for New Year

How my "studio" looked like yesterday.  The 29" x 47" canvas on the easel was started just yesterday from a photograph I took of Philex Mines during our High School batch reunion a few days ago.

As most were busy preparing for media noche and for New Year's fireworks, I spent the entire day yesterday frantically touching up one painting and starting a new large Philex Mines painting.  I just had to do this so I can claim to have finished something before the year ends and to have started something new as another year trails in hot pursuit.

Above is how my "studio" looked like yesterday as I painted (or attempted to paint :-)) the whole day in between stints in front of the TV watching GMA's "Jose Rizal weekend" special programs on channel 11.

The Rizal programs were at 2:30PM (Piging Para Kay Pepe), 5:10PM (Mga Kuwentong Pambata ni Rizal, one story of which, "Si Pagong at Si Matsing" was the very first Adarna book I owned as a child, or was it "Tembong Mandarambong"? :-)) and 10:00PM (several docus like the story behind Rizal's Monalisa smile, the controversy in Rizal's maternal lineage, and Rizal the bad boy who topped his elementary class in Binan).

Thanks for being the best Philippine Public Affairs TV station, GMA!  Howie Severino, please release these docus again on DVD.

Wearing a mischievous half-smile and an unusual head dress, Jose Rizal, extreme left, looks away from his sweetheart at the time, the demure Nelly Boustead, fourth from left, in Paris. Howie Severino wove a documentary around this intriguing picture, "Ang Mahiwagang Ngiti ni Rizal," airing December 31 at 10 p.m. Photo courtesy of Pardo de Tavera family.  Photo and caption from GMA News.

The end of the last docu signalled the start of the fireworks in our compound and was punctuated by awesome displays across the Metro Manila skyline that lasted several minutes until everything went black with smoke.

Happy New Year everyone!  Mabuhay si Rizal! Mabuhay ang sining, kultura, at talinong Pinoy! :-)