Yes! I am independently mobile now after purchasing a mountain bike from a local shop. One of the teachers at Foundation is an avid biker and knows a good place where the shop will build a bike to your specifications. And considering a local Filipino making those requests, the bike is reasonably priced. The first peddling destination forced me out of bed at 5am Friday, to beat the heat. I met up with Ray, Amy, and Mark (the teacher) to go trail riding up to the next town west of Dumaguete, called Valencia. (Map reference) The total ride from my house to Valencia was only about 6 miles, but because the terrain lead us through a patchwork of residential yards, cow pastures, and basically the rural beginnings of foothills, was challenging in the humidity, to say the least. It put a smile on my face, however, dodging coconut husks and maneuvering past baby chicks and livestock loosely tied to makeshift fence posts or palm trees.
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| Transporting a newly, purchased oscillating fan for my bedroom. It was bulky and awkward, but a successful delivery on the new bike! |
After that early morning workout, we decided to stay indoors during the hotter part of the day to create paintings for a collaborative show arranged by an emerging Dumaguete artist, Hersley-Ven Casero. The portrait sketch of the boy in the painting will be rendered 100 times by different artists. Because the overall concept of this work is about stealing images off of the web and claiming the work as your own artistic property, I chose to appropriate, Rene Magritte's "Son of Man". To the right, Amy paints in the manner of Roy Lichtenstein. Well, done. I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment and working with acrylics again after so many years. Can't wait to see the final 100 pieces all hung together in a couple of weeks.
On Saturday, Ray, Amy, and I biked 18 Kilometers south of Dumaguete, to the Dauin Marine Reserve. (Map reference) This was a beautiful place to relax by the Philippine Sea and flipper around the coral reefs. As you can imagine, hovering above the reefs to observe the life below, was a silent and mesmerizing respite for the senses. I could float there all day and get lost in this world. This experience inspired the sketch below, but it doesn't compare to the brilliant colors of dark, velvety blues and ultra violet whites contrasting against brilliant neon yellows. The corals themselves were not like you see on TV, they were a murky, earthy hue. A wonderful day indeed, timed perfectly before the beginning of the first day of classes.
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