Sorry if you haven't heard from me in awhile. I can't blame work though since I don't have any projects lately. And that's good, y'know. After a nerve-wracking test development project, I thought I needed a break. So while I'm waiting for another project to come, --- which is anytime soon - I'm biding my time surfing the net. Shhhhhush! :-)
The 19th Metrobank Foundation art competition was just launched last month. And I'm cooking up an entry in tribute to my late maestro Mateo Beronga. I don't expect to win anything though. I just wanted to keep alive the things he taught me which was also taught to him by his late maestro, Norman Rockwell. When I was in Massachusetts, I had the wonderful opportunity to pay homage to this great American artist who have influenced, though indirectly, my style. His museum in Stockbridge, MA is a good 3-hour drive(with stops of course) from Boston. My friends were not too keen joining me on that trip. But since it was autumn, I persuaded them to see the best fall foliage in New England --- which is in Western Massachusetts. For me though, it was hitting two birds with one stone. Hehehe! With MapQuest giving me directions, it was easy driving from thereon.
My friends didn't have an inkling on who the hell Norman Rockwell was so they waited for me in the parking lot while I toured the museum. I tell you --- the first painting I saw --- I had goosebumps all over my body! Even though they have that yellow line separating you from those priceless original paintings, I couldn't help myself moving closer to see the brushstrokes. I was dumbfounded to see THE SAME strokes my maestro had! And that's what I'm using too! I really got excited and had to restrain myself from shouting. I didn't shout but in my excitement, I told a Russian woman that my maestro was taught by Norman Rockwell. I'm not sure if she understood what I was blabbering about. Hehehe!
Anyways, I soaked up everything there was to see there. Leaving Stockbridge, I felt proud and nostalgic that somehow, I'm part of Norman Rockwell's legacy... and Mateo Beronga's too. With that trip, my art had taken a sense of direction. It is to be shared, felt, and learned. That's my promise to those two great men.
Incidentally, my maestro used to paint for the National Historical Society in Cebu. He has a painting called "Old Colon" and now hangs at the Cebuano Studies Center of the University of San Carlos. Check that out if you're ever in Cebu.