Seen at Campuestohan

First of all, Merry Christmas to you!

I recently attended a small wedding celebration of a relative in Bacolod City. There were a few other activities in the itinerary in which I only tagged along, so I got the chance to take personal after a loong looong time (using the dslr).

We spent an evening at this highland resort. Typhoon Ursula in our midst, and being in a high place, it was very (very) cold during the evening. There is a lovely sunset to witness and a charming glow upon the mountains seen at golden hour.

I would say this place would be more appealing to children, those young at heart and especially to those who love the cold and the water.

As for me, I gravitated towards the colors of the sky, the teepee and hobbit house accommodations and the artworks on the character installations. The dewdrops also caught my eye and the pine trees looked more dramatic as thick clouds hovered over them.

I could have taken more photos. There was so much to see. But the cold really bothered me. So there.

Sea Glass Art

Recently, I got commissioned to create small artworks made from sea glass. The person who asked me to do this is a businesswoman and a friend. Her family owns a number of restaurants in Dumaguete but interestingly, her home is filled with so many beautiful works from local artists. These are not just paintings but different types of art a person can make.

In previous occasions, I have made a few paintings for her and my hand-painted wood slices also caught her attention. I'm so happy that my work adds beauty to someone else's home.

In this recent project, she asked for me to make tiny framed artworks from these random (but special) objects. It's something I have not done before but I was willing to give it a try. It was challenging at first and took me a while to decide on what illustrations would be suitable. One thing though, she requested that I could include birds. I did some research and found out it's quite a popular style to make art.

Sea glass, as random as they look, are very special and are made beautiful through time. What better way to preserve their beauty and giving more meaning to their unique appearance by making them into simple artworks! I had a little help from references, though, but because no two pieces are alike, you'll have to take some ideas from your own imagination!

In the end, I was able to make six artworks and I am so happy about them! I'm working on another batch and I can't wait to show you!

Word stones for Cebu Florist

My second batch of word stones were made from a friend who requested me to customize the stones. He owns a flower shop in Cebu and he thought it would be a great accessory to add to flower orders. When you give flowers to someone, you can add a short thoughtful phrase or message that (usually) comes in a card. But it doesn't have to. Instead, you can give them a piece or two of these stones which has sweet words written on them:

"i miss you"
"i luv u"
"beautiful"
"hugs"
"i'm sorry"
"hugs"
"love"

These will be placed in a nice little pouch to give to your loved one together with your flowers. It's great because it's something new and adorable which others can put on their desk, trinket dish, shelf or use as paper weight. Truly enjoyed making these and they all look very nice when put together.

See?

Painting autumn leaves

A friend recently went to South Korea where autumn leaves are falling and brought back for me these maple leaves from Nami Island! They're so pretty! I may put them in a nice frame in the future but for now I'm keeping them. So it was the perfect idea to paint them one Sunday afternoon! These are actually some of my favorite colors to use, darker shades of red, green and yellow.

My faves below would be the yellow and dark red leaves, lower left and lower center. Showing you my actual desk situation (it's not neat, I know), and the finished illustration!

Here is a video of the painting process.