In the Zone: Another Philex Mines on Canvas

In the zone. 

Finally, after months and months of not holding an actual brush.  

I almost forgot how satisfying this is.  Colors are just not well reproduced here due to camera white balance limitations. 

One of the pleasures of working on a commissioned work about a motiff you grew up in is you get to choose composition and  colors that evoke the joy of the southern Cordillera mountains.  You get to paint and recall the slopes you ran up and down on, the road you daily walked to and from school with elementary and high school friends.  You get to combine your personal abstractions with a visual language that is still identifiable to those who share roughly the same memories.

Sprawling Philex Mines. 47" x 31" Acrylic on canvas

A great advantage of painting over writing is the ability to listen to music as one works.  Apart from Spotify and Youtube music, you also get to listen to the beloved Philex Pep Song in your mind:

"Up, beyond those mining lines/ rest the sprawling Philex mines/ Where the climate is truly fine... the rushing of winds through the pines...with precious gold and treasured silver..."

Then my mind passes through the Saint Louis song since the High School is the general vantage point from which this painting is based on:

"Let's all sing a song gay and cheerful/ bursting forth from our young and joyous hearts/For our life is so bright for we study right..."

Batchmates, sorry I haven't been active in our chat groups lately but you are all still in my thoughts, wherever you all are.  To our teachers from Elementary and High School, do remember that we are all so thankful to all of you.

May everone still find joy and hope despite this pandemic.