Author Archives: admin

Because I drove all day

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I needed to relax and practice with my heat gun.

Barren. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Against the blue sky I stand alone. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

I made an impression of the photo I took during one of those lonely bike trips to Eastridge (Binangonan-Antipolo) almost three years ago. I had that photo printed and framed and it still hangs on my bedroom wall, to remind me that despite all that I’ve been through, I still can stand proudly even though I am alone.

So what warranted this stress-busting painting session? Well, I drove south again to check on my tiny house and apply for a new Converge line so by the time we move in, I will already have a 500Mbps internet connection.

The back of the girls’ bedroom door where they can hang their towels and pants. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Broom/vacuum cleaner closet. Because this structural post needs to disappear. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Fire exit in my bedroom. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
The fire exit platform that I think I will turn into a secret balcony. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My pseudo-balcony. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Digging for the foundation of my new stairs. The entire width and length of this will be laid with pavers so I will have a wide patio. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

This area will be protected by polycarbonate roofing so my patio and grilling area/brick pizza oven will be protected somewhat from the rain. It would look like the one below:

Photo from renaissancepatio.com

Beyond the stairs up to the perimeter fence/wall will be my laundry/utility area. In the future, I can convert the space under the new stairs (it will be a lot bigger with a deck midway) into a workshop of some sort for my DIYs or it can become art studio if I try my hand at acrylic and oil—the super messy media. I did oil painting twice and I never liked them. It’s too messy and my asthma doesn’t like the fumes from the oil paints and thinners.

Anyway, I will fill this area with potted flowering plants and line the walls with creepers or I can hang orchids on coconut husks. The area on the right beyond the stairs will be my veggie garden and the composting area (which my mom had been doing for 30 years).

Pathway going to the garage. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

This pathway leads to a holding area/screened porch that leads to a front garden and garage. The front garden may be demolished to make way for a three-car garage. This pathway is currently messy because of the construction but this used to be lined with plants. I will revive this with flowering plants and have bougainvillea and yellow bells creep along the perimeter wall. The door on the right is my mom’s studio unit which is currently one giant room with walk-in closet and ensuite but with no kitchenette. Beyond that is the main house.

I’ll go back to painting.

And nope. I cannot push my luck. The second painting is blaaahhh because I’ve exhausted all my creative juices in the first painting (above). I’m pushing myself too far.

Oblation. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

Broken cat and a heat gun

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My cat must be broken. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I snuggled with my cat, Sushi, before I had that call with my APAC head this afternoon. We leveled off and I told her that I was so close to quitting, among other things that I had to tell her, like I was being poached by another publication and that competitors are also hiring all over for Southeast Asia so there is always a threat that

Anyway, that is that. I just have to struggle with nobody in Singapore office, at least for the next six months or so. That means I would have to travel there frequently.

I relaxed a bit today so stomach acids are less bothersome today so I have no diarrhea. Hopefully, this continues so I won’t be harassed when I travel next week.

Meanwhile, my heat gun finally arrived.

This heat gun makes my life easier. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

I don’t have to wait overnight for my watercolors to dry completely. The drawback here is that the hot air from the heat gun pushes the liquid too much so it makes the color marks look messy.

Recreated the Metro Manila view from Padi’s Point Antipolo. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

I have to practice using the heat gun. It tends to wash out some colors so I need to layer a lot.

I’m not happy with this one. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

More practice. More practice. More practice.

Signals

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My body was full of knotted muscles so I had booked a two-hour Zennya massage last night. At the end of the session I was already snoring so I just went straight to bed and forgot about everything else.

Today, I was bombarded with edits (which was fine) and hiring chores/issues (which was not fine) that I had suffered through diarrhea the entire day due to too much stomach acids. I think I had been going to the bathroom 10x already. It seems like my proton pump inhibitor (esomeprazole) is not doing its job. If by next week I’ll still be like this (geez I’m in Singapore šŸ¤¦ā€ā™€ļø), then it seems like I need to have that endoscopy to see whether I already have peptic ulcers.

I think I need to decompress for a bit.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Let’s see what I can come up with later.

This is why I bought a heat gun from Lazada last night. A small desk fan cannot dry washes in an instant. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Yes, I repeated an old image. Art and photo by CallMeCreation,com

I redid this Binangonan sunset that I drew last year. This time, I did not resort to using fine liners to define plants and I am now more light-handed when it comes to sky colors compared to the first drawing. This paper is still very wet so I will just revisit this tomorrow when it’s completely dry.

Why did I do this?

Nothing. Just to track my progress when it comes to technique i.e. showing the opacity and how to do reflections on water. The first time I did this, Laguna Lake didn’t look like a lake at all; it was just a muddy valley. Now at least there’s a semblance of water reflecting the sky. I also mixed cadmium yellow + cobalt violet and cadmium orange + cobalt violet to produce different browns for the lake shore that would go with sunset and the lake. For the other part of the lake, it was a mixture of imperial violet + blue gray deep of varying degrees. Using the pre-mixed browns and grays made my first drawing muddy and it lacked opacity that is needed when sunlight changes every second. Watching other artists on Instagram is helping me to rely less on pre-mixed colors and create my own.

This is still ugly in my eyes so I need to continue improving this. Probably next year.

From dust to dust

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Christ the King Columbarium. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Today is my uncle’s inurnment, roughly three years after he suddenly died of suspected Covid during the early days of the pandemic. Almost all his surviving siblings came, so a number of my cousins were there, too.

From our departure from my apartment to Christ the King Seminary that is 15 minutes away, I saw the trees shedding their leaves and the branches have become bare. Dried leaves have been floating around, riding the wind. It’s the signal that the long hot and dry season is upon us. The trees have prepared for the dry spell; by late April and May, they will be a riot of colors as they show off their blooms.

In the garden, in the middle of the Christ the King Columbarium. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

My uncle has become dust while the world around us continues with the cycle of life. Leaves are dying so enough resources can be channeled by the trees into producing flowers and then the seeds may be spread before the rainy season starts, to nurture new life.

We die in different ways. There are times that our bodies have died and given up the ghost, so that the spirit can continue to live. There are times when our bodies continue to live even if our spirits have died. How do we then go on?

We just…go on…and continue with the cycle of life. We have lost our leaves and we can channel our remaining energy into planting seeds so we may live another life.

My time in this apartment is up and I’m closing this chapter in my life. I have loved, lived, and died in this home so I have planted my seeds elsewhere. Like the sturgeon and salmon, I’m going back to where I came from to give new life to my spawns while I…

I don’t know.

Maybe like the salmon, I will go back to where I came from to die. Or be like the sturgeon, I will live to a hundred even after spawning. I have no idea what I will be; all I know is that my 5 years in this apartment are enough and it’s time to leave behind the ghosts of the past. This apartment always reminds me that I was not good enough.

My new home, on the other hand, is a reminder that I am good. That I am enough. No one will treat me like dirt because I am not good enough. In this new life that I have planted, no one is allowed to treat me like dirt again. And before I become dust, I vow that I will live my life with dignity and grace.

Odd

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I had to make an advisory to other editors that our Philippines reporter and I will take the day off because idiot president hastily declared a holiday late Thursday afternoon. We could have made better plans for the long weekend.

Despite the declaration of a holiday, the event at the central bank pushed through. Of course, you can’t reset a thing like this without making a mess of bank presidents’, CEOs and conglomerate owners’ schedules.

The good thing here though is that the roads are less congested. Wohoo!

On the way to Makati to pick up another journo. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I worked for a bit at Starbucks in G5 because of companies (or rather pushy PRs) that insist on their own way, forgetting that there is such thing as editorial independence. Diva execs, pushy PRs, and unreasonable company policies–what a way to end the week.

A bit of a pain to work with MS Outlook on Android because it doesn’t have a search function and html formatting editor but it will do because my Samsung tablet is much lighter than my laptop. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Upon arriving at the central bank, I noticed there were new paintings at the 3rd floor lobby. One staff member told me they have just acquired the collection of UCPB and that is now scattered all over the main building. Unfortunately, I only had time to see three paintings when there must have been hundreds of them. I had to work my butt off last night.

I will never probably understand or appreciate an HR Ocampo piece. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
1898 by Edwin Wilwayco. I like this take on the Philippine flag. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Jose Joya, an artist that I could not appreciate when I was younger but now I do. It’s not about what you need to see but how an artwork makes you feel. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

One time I will tell my friends at the BSP comms dept I will drop by to see the sculptures and paintings in their collection during one less hectic day. It’s not easy to gain access there and I had been going in and out of their premises regularly for years as a reporter. Might as well take advantage of that.

They gave me this uncut live currency to add to my collection of like items and commemorative coins. I’m still looking for the uncut 20-peso bills where I had former central bank governors sign their names. Two of them sadly passed on. That item is one of the, if not the most precious souvenir I had kept as a banking reporter. The girls’ dad must have it with him, including my analog cameras.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com