The first painting below was started 12 years ago
while I was still living in Upper Rock Quarry, Baguio City. This was my second acrylic on canvas work and was started with all the basic colors in place then forgotten for twelve years. It found its way back to me last year when a friend found it stored in our organization's staff house. All I did after having it back was wash it with water and cloth then arbitrarily filled the empty spaces with more colors.
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| QM Houses from Upper Rock Quarry. 26.5" x 31". Acrylic on canvas |
This is a view of the houses at QM as seen from our bedroom and kitchen windows at Upper Rock Quarry. We normally look at this direction when we're waiting for a jeepney on our way downtown or when we're washing our dishes or brushing our teeth. This blog entry shows how this painting looked like after washing off all the dust on the canvas. It also shows a quick oil painting of the kitchen window and sink from which I would stare at this view. I love painting houses. House paintings are like portraits. You paint the house and you paint the character of the owners or the occupants.
The next painting below is a very recent one, based on a photograph I took this April when we toured our friends in Baguio following our hike up Mt. Pulag, just before we dropped by
Bing's Bed and Breakfast and Retreat Center. This is the courtyard of the Dominican Monastery ruins, a nearly hundred-year old stone building prominently standing on Dominican Hill, just above QM; so this is just a few meters above the location of the painting above. I always wanted to see how this building looked like from the inside but it was abandoned and locked as it was also the source of famous ghost stories when I was still living in Baguio.
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| Courtyard Area, Dominican Monastery Ruins (Diplomat Hotel) 18" x 22". Acrylic on canvas |
I was told that the local government now owns the property and is being renovated for use as a spiritual center -- a move that I believe will boost both the spiritual and tourism life of Baguio City. This building has a 360 degree vista of the entire Baguio downtown, Marcos Highway and Naguilian areas. I always thought that Baguio should have a cable car system and the best place to hang it is from Mt. Sto. Tomas/ Green Valley to Dominican Hill then over at the SM area.
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| The front of the Dominican Monastery showing section subject to current renovation work. |
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