Watercolor Weekend: Bukidnon

Together with my goal to discover more about various Filipino ethnic communities,  I'm starting a series of drawings about Filipino Indigenous people to practice my watercolor portrait skills. Jim and I have been talking about going to different Philippine Festivals and immerse ourselves in some cultural education while we travel. Our bucket list includes the Maskara Festival in Bacolod, Sinulog Festival in Cebu, Higantes Festival in Angono Rizal and Kaamulan Festival in Bukidnon among others. 

Kaamulan Festival is an ethnic cultural festival held annually in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon from the second half of February to March 10, the anniversary date of the foundation of Bukidnon as a province in 1917. It is held to celebrate the culture and tradition of the seven ethnic tribal groups—Bukidnon, Higaonon, Talaandig, Manobo, Matigsalug, Tigwahanon and Umayamnon—that originally inhabit the province.^[1][2] It is the only ethnic festival in the Philippines.^{[3] Source: Wikipedia.org}

I used water color, acrylic and ink for this painting. I started with the background first, then working through the underpainting of the skin and the clothes and finally added details for the head piece and accessories. The reason why I selected different media for this painting is because of acrylic's characteristic to be more opaque. It has been useful for adding the little stitches on the dancer's clothes and the beads of her necklace.

"Bukidnon"
5.5 x 8.5 Inches on Strathmore Paper, 118 g/m

I will be selling this painting soon, and will be available in my newly registered Etsy Shop! 

For the meantime, email me at faye.marcos@gmail.com if you're interested :)

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The Garden Exhibit at Sweet Ecstasy, Cubao X

Last June 22, art, music and tons of inspiration converged at Sweet Ecstasy in Cubao X for Coy Placido's The Garden exhibit. Despite the rainfall and traffic that Saturday night, people crowded the venue to view the artist's work. The exhibit showcases more than 30 artworks that include digital paintings, vector art and photo manipulations, created with the central theme of duality or in Coy's own words, "the inescapable condition of our nature within humanity and beyond the bounds of society to think in contrast or in twofold." 

Two floors of Sweet Ecstasy displayed Coy's work, and exhibit goers were also engaged in an origami challenge  to be included in the sea of paper cranes that served to support one of his more minimalist digital illustrations called "Sweets In Every Fold". I struggled to follow the instructions lined beside the staircase, but eventually managed to give my share of paper folding sweetness.

Aside from awesome art, the crowd was also treated with fantastic music from Abby Asistio, Session Road, KAZE, Pedicab, Top Junk, Peryodiko and Coffeebreak Island. It was an exhibit turned street party as the audience inched closer to the stage, ignoring the rain drops whilst singing, dancing and taking photos of the performers. 

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Artist Spotlight from The Home Girl Blog

Hello Wednesday! So thrilled to be given an Arist Spotlight from The Home Girl Blog!

Felice sent me a message on Facebook asking if she can give me questions about my art and my blog and of course I immediately said yes. The questions were challenging, given that I'm not doing this full time (yet), but it also gave me a chance for self awareness and see where I really am in terms of my artistic pursuits and what I want to focus on. There is still so much to learn and I still have A LOT of work to do to make a mark in the world of art, but the fact that someone has taken interest in what I do has been really motivating and encouraging.

Thank you Fifi for sharing my artistic journey!

Do check out their site for design trends and other artist features at http://thehomegirlblog.blogspot.com

Excerpts from the article:

What do you wish to communicate with your work?With my paintings, I don't think I have a single message to communicate. I just like drawing pretty patterns and I enjoy capturing expressions and movements of people. The message that gets sent to the audience depends on them. 

With my blog, however, I would like to think that I am promoting pursuit of one's passion and a ton of positivity and motivation to just do what you love and love what you do. I would love to be able to write and draw more about environmental issues, conscious living, and our indigenous people.

You can read the complete blog post here: Homegirl: Spotlight: Faye Marcos, Creative Cube Dweller

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Fete De La Musique 2013

I've always disliked the month of June. It meant the end of summer and the start of school (hence, awful traffic and difficult commutes). It signals the the ever dreaded beginning of the rainy season with the universe giving us its middle finger for complaining about how hot and sticky it is in April and May. This year, June seems to have given me a peace offering with a new project at work, news of an opportunity to go to Europe, good business for Sugar Lily Cupcakes, gigs with my band KAZE, my love's 29th birthday and an awesome celebration of music held annually around the world called "Fete De La Musique".

Now I've heard stories about The Fete from previous years. My friends who went, cursed at the weather and how terribly disorganized the event was, given that it was held outdoors. Imagine looking forward to seeing your favorite bands play only to get soaked in the rain while you're at it. I had my reservations when Jim invited me to go, but then I never had the chance to do this before, so I thought, what the heck, might as well seize the opportunity now. I will worry about soaked shoes later.

Finger Trap performing I Know by Save Ferris

Microphone sharing at its finest

We decided to check out the Ska and Soul stage at Heckle & Jeckle near Jupiter street, because it seemed like a good starting point. The main stage was in A. Venue in Makati Ave which intersected with Jupiter so it gave us flexibility to strategically roam around if we decide to crawl from one pocket stage to another. The timing was perfect when we arrived as the stage was being set up for the next band, Finger Trap. They played Come on Eileen by Save Ferris and right then I knew I was going to really enjoy the evening. I was amazed by the horn section of the band that consisted of three saxophones, a trumpet and a trombone. Imagine five guys blowing their instruments shitless while sharing a single microphone. It was awesome! We talked to the guitarist and told him that we enjoyed their set. A four piece trip hop/soul band followed after Finger Trap, which set a more laid back mood for the audience. I call it Romansa sounds or MOMOL sounds. Haha. The vocalist's tone reminded me of a mash up between India Arie and Erykah Badu, I told Jim. Throughout their set, we grooved to the basslines and the twinkly sounds of the synths.

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June In A Gist

Because I haven't had any updates for the month of June (eeep!), I will be posting a few creative sparks here via Instagram. Blame it on my laptop going berserk, and the fact that I've been working on the cupcake biz with my sisters, been rolled into a new Project at work and also arranging some paper work for my upcoming business trip to Belgium! Visa application has been a pain because of so many requirements, but I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to learn something new (I won't be working on an Oracle Siebel Project this time!) and of course, see new places!

Anyhoots, here's a few of this month's artsy farts.

Worked on new rubber stamps! I've been super enjoying murdering erasers to make these foliage inspired (as usual) stamps. I can't wait to make pretty stationery out of them!

Remembering the little furballs in Bohol! I made this small drawing at a cafe while I was waiting for the rain to stop. 

Reuniting with my calligraphy tools! Oh how I missed them! This one is of course lyrics from Joni Mitchell's song Case of You

Remembering Gat Jose Rizal on his birthday! June 19, 1861, the coolest most amazing Filipino over achiever slash hero was born. I did this while having lunch. I didn't have a pencil so I went ahead with drawing using my gel pen. Sorry Pepe, if your eyes are not aligned!

This is an accidental artwork a.k.a. mindless doodle on a piece of craft paper! I ended up adding so much details on this diwata that I actually liked the result. Ah, art. It's indeed unexpected sometimes. 

The latest work that I've done for the month of June--this Audrey Kawasaki inspired drawing that was a result of my diwata doodle earlier! I rediscovered the joys of using ink in my drawings, so I made one that required a lot of lines and details. Channeling a bit of art nouveau on this one. Do you like it? :)

There you go! Next post, I will be telling you about my experience at the Fete De La Musique last June 15! Happy Friday all!

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