_Tai Toh Kung, God of Healing_

Tai Toh Kung, God of Healing

Acrylic on canvas
2004

Collection of Ryan Valera and Peachie Deoquino Valera
Photo by Peachie Deoquino Valera

_Batman _ (2004)

Batman
Oil pastels on canvas
2004

Collection of Mico Marasigan
Photo by Mico Marasigan

This still life was part of my exhibit at mag:net gallery on Pasong Tamo, also in 2004. It features a clutter of items in my old bedroom: a Batman doll a co-worker's husband bought for me in Hong Kong; a Michael Keaton Batman mug that a student from De La Salle University gave me; a dip pen; a Bat Signal sticker; a brown, leather journal my sister Lourdes sent me from Sydney; a black, leather journal also sent by my eldest sister Lourdes from Sydney; my Bat Signal tie; a white, aromatherapy lamp and a giant Batman War comic book purchased from National Book Store Superbranch; a cloissone ashtray that I bought in Hong Kong en route home from training in DC; a gold fountain pen; reading glasses in a gold case; money bills; a drinking glass; a mobile phone (yes, once upon a time I used mobiles!); an empty carton of cigarettes; an antique, sterling silver key holder; a leather cigarette case and a lighter in a silver case I bought in San Diego, California; a yellow, long-sleeved shirt; a foot roller; an antique tin; and a porcelain box, among other things.

This painting is small in comparison with my other works. I consider its triumph to be a triumph of detail, a difficult thing to achieve with oil pastels on canvas.

However, as I always tell others, "I never wanted to be Batman, but I always wanted to be Bruce Wayne."

_Young Bacchus_

Young Bacchus

Oil on canvas

1993

I learned to paint in oil from ages ten through 12 (fifth through seventh grades) at Ateneo Grade School's Arts Club under the guidance of Araceli Limcaco-Dans. From high school onward I made forays into graphite, charcoal, watercolor, chalk pastels, oil pastels, and acrylic, in that order.

In 1993 I decided to go back to oil painting for good, and this was the very first painting I made that year, a truly early work, of my younger son Chito as Young Bacchus.

In 1998 I gave this painting to Bambi Gamban, a student at De La Salle University and a member of the Spirit Questors, for safekeeping, and for the longest time it hung in her mother's lanai. I reclaimed it only a few years ago, giving Bambi my painting titled Batman in exchange. Both Young Bacchus and Batman were returned to me, however, and Batman ended up being given as a gift to Mico Marasigan.

This painting hangs in our studio foyer. I am glad to have it back.

Note that my definitive signature had not yet been developed at the time.

Exercise In Oil: Copy of Diego de Velazquez's _The Old Gladiator_

An exercise in oil, a copy of Diego de Velazquez's The Old Gladiator, a.k.a. Mars made under the tutelage of Fernando B. Sena at Saturday Art Gallery, Ali Mall, in 2000.

Most of my classmates were indigent. The cheapest student brands were used. Watercolor was done on odd sheets such as manila paper and newspapers. For the exercise in oil we were instructed to use Canola cooking oil instead of linseed oil and lacquer thinner instead of turpentine.

It's been 21 years but this painting has held up very well.

June 10, 2021: Installation Of Four Paintings At Maryhill School Of Theology