On the second day

This year’s theme is self-love.

Last year was just brutal and I couldn’t define what it was but it was an uphill battle. Thank God for supportive friends, some of whom had to literally drag me out of the house to join the living.

So as part of this year’s theme, I’m celebrating the things that made me who I am.

My gallery wall. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My photos and my watercolors. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
When I was in high school I experimented with a Chinese paint brush. My control was dismal but at least I tried. Photo and art by CallMeCreation.com

I ran out of picture frames so I guess I would have to order online from Ikea.ph instead of going there again. I have a lot of photos I can print and hang. Or I can paint again with watercolors. But I’m super rusty. It has been 25 years since I have picked up a watercolor brush. I’m not good but at least I’m enjoying it. I’m not even aiming to have an exhibit like my sister but this is just something for my own home. Some of the better watercolors I did in high school were given away to classmates.

I’ll take photography seriously again, just like when I was in college. I didn’t invest in DSLRs because I know how time-consuming photography is as a hobby to justify the expensive equipment. And time is something I didn’t have for decades. For now I’ll use what I have–my cellphone and my Fujifilm XQ1–until I can say that I can now commit time before I step up and buy myself a mirrorless Fujifilm, which I find to be the best when it comes to low-light photography. I’ve worked with Canons, I had a Nikon, and two Olympus cameras but I find Fuji to be the best when it comes to color rendering and low light scenes. I have yet to try a Lumix. I’ve read about Hasselblads when I was still fooling around with films because those are the go-to cameras for medium formats–for book covers and posters. But those things are out of reach of the general public, especially now in digital. I’ve only seen a Hasselblad in a studio for portrait photography.

I lost all my Lomography cameras 😔 I had a Holga and I still had a black abd white film stuck in there when I left it in the old house. All that is left of my Lomo stuff is the 135 film converter. 😕

Rose tea to stave off colds. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I’ve been imbibing copious amounts of tea as I’ve been feeling under the weather. I might have contracted the girls’ colds so I took 500 mg of vitamin C, Neozep every 8 hrs, and a lot of bed rest. I slept early last night and slept some more after lunch. So far it has worked but I’m refraining from going out because this may turn out to be the dreaded omicron variant. It can’t hurt to be paranoid; look at what happened last year when I thought what the girls had was just an ordinary flu turned out to be Covid that knocked me down.

There is this Gwyneth Chua from US who broke her quarantine stay to party in Poblacion, Makati. She was positive for Covid and has infected 15 people whom she had dinner with or partied with. Stupid, stupid privileged asshole. And Twitter has the receipts. As it turns out, she studies at De La Salle University and Lasallians are now disowning her.

https://manilastandard.net/news/314026121/woman-cuts-quarantine-to-party-15-test-positive.html

Now, we’re back to a higher restriction due to tripling of cases in the last three days. Another lockdown to stem another Covid wave is not far behind. 😩

When uninspired, we go to Pintô Art Museum

Just because. Sometimes we want fresh air. Sometimes we just want to be artsy fartsy.

Pintô (“door” in Tagalog) Art Museum sits on a two-hectare garden in a subdivision in Antipolo, Rizal. I’m sorry, I’m pretty useless when it comes to direction on how to take the public transport to get to the museum.

I’ve always encouraged the girls to appreciate art so when I have the energy, I bring them to museums like this one. The first time I brought them to Pintô was when they were three or four years old. I remember the exhausting moment when Twin A threw a tantrum and Twin B kept coming back to the wire sculpture of the “disappearing man.” They were also scared of the bulol (rice god) displays in the lower gallery

This also captured their eyes

Twins by Marina Cruz. Pintô Art Museum

The museum also has a lot of art installation and sculptures in the garden/outside the galleries. New buildings and gardens have been added in the years that followed after I first brought my girls there. Like this building below, which is reminiscent of an adobe house in Mexico.

Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com.
Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

The nice thing about Pintô, aside from the outdoor spaces, it has a lot of sitting areas. Like the ones below.

Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com
Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

Last month when we went there, we were able to visit the newest and biggest gallery, Gallery 7.

Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com
Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

My girl, Twin B, liked the Bamboo Forest art installation.

The first time I visited the Bamboo Forest room, I stayed there for a bit and soaked in the atmosphere. It was strangely peaceful. There were others who appreciated the artificially induced peace by meditating on the benches along the walls.

Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

This painting struck me down. Because I love leather bags and shoes. 😩

The Mindanao collection is below.

Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com
One of the posts in the gazebo outside the Mindanao gallery. Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

Opening hours
Tuesday – Sunday
9 am – 6 pm

Pintô Art Museum
1 Sierra Madre St. Grand Heights Rd,
Antipolo, Rizal, Philippines

T +63 2 697 1015
pintoartmuseum@yahoo.com