Solace

 

Solace (acrylic on canvas, 15"x20")

Solace 

    (noun) -comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness.

    (verb) -give comfort or consolation to.

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Initially, I never wanted to paint anything cheezy, I just wanted to try a sunset scene. I have viewed a lot of paintings depicting sunsets, but I have never actually painted one using acrylic. I tried painting it using a photo taken by my sister as a reference. In the photo was me and my girl looking at the sun as it set. When I completed the painting, I asked my girl what should be a good title for the work. One suggestion of hers that caught my attention was the word "solace". I was immediately attracted to the word and decided for it to be its title. Come to think of it, I have always told her that even though sunsets are beautiful, I find them sad. I believe that "comfort in sadness" is relatable to this painting. She, herself, finds comfort (when she's sad) in seeing sunsets -- her favorite. And I, in turn, find comfort in being with her despite the sadness of sunsets.

Hardwork's Rest

 

Hardwork's Rest (acrylic on canvas, 15"x20")

Filipinos have always considered water buffalos/carabaos as a symbol of hard work. They have long been companions of our farmers in plowing the fields, towing heavy loads of produce, and even a means of transportation, especially since most poor farmers neither have farm-to-market roads, nor trucks and automobiles. I have long been fascinated by these beasts of hard work, and have truly admired them. In fact, they are one of my favorite animals, despite not being overly cute. I even dream that one day, I would retire on a farm where I could raise a carabao, and live a chill life. It was my aim to paint a chill life with a carabao in this particular painting, hence "Hardwork's Rest".

In this particular painting, I painted the carabao wading, resting, and cooling down in a creek for I believe that all hard workers deserve a good rest. Unfortunately, I only made this on a smaller canvas. I hope I can do another work depicting a carabao on a bigger canvas, to give justice to my fascination with the beast.

Panda

 

Panda (acrylic on canvas, 12"x18")

This is a painting of a panda eating a bamboo shoot. Initially, I only intended to sketch this one, and my partner was supposed to paint it. But I got too into it that I started painting it. My partner wanted to help with the painting and she helped in painting a few things in the painting, like the first layer of the bamboo shoot and teeth. 

Eventually, I completed everything in one night. Of course, my girl claimed ownership of this painting to decorate her room. 

Teach Them Young

Teach Them Young (acrylic on canvas, 24"x30")

This painting depicts an older man playing a guitar in front of a child holding a cellphone. The inspiration for this painting is a photo taken of me and the nephew of my fiancee. He was very intently looking at me, while I was playing the guitar. The child was so focused on my guitar playing that he was not paying attention to the phone game that he was playing. This inspired me with the idea of teaching children music, art, (and etc.) while they are young. Initially, I painted this to be a "realistic" type of painting. However, I did not like how it appeared, so I changed the style of this painting. I changed the skin color and added a weird non-sense background, lighting, and splatters. It looks very chaotic and dirty. I decided not to include this one in the exhibit.

First Kiss

First Kiss (acrylic on canvas, 15"x20")

One of the iconic places in VSU is the Frog Fountain. In the past, students of VSU would joke about how one is not a true Viscan if he/she has not kissed one of the frogs of the frog fountain. I attempted to present the scene of a student and her first encounter with the frog of the Frog Fountain. I am actually quite disappointed with the painting. It had errors. Unfortunately, one of the requirements of the "Arte Centinaryo" at the university is to make an artwork depicting a scene in the university. I am really not good at painting landscapes, and environment scenes. Hence, the result.

Future Builder

 

Future Builder (acrylic on canvas, 18"x24")

The artwork depicts a young girl making sand castles on the beach. The inspiration for this scene was a daughter of my friends, who was making sand castles on the beach even when she was just alone and even when the waves constantly threatened the structure she made, she still had lots of fun building things. It is my hope that the people could continue to have "fun" while building things for the future.

I made this painting in 2023. I rushed to make this one when I heard that I had an opportunity to join the 2023 exhibit at the university. It was supposed to be my first exhibit and the first one that I could be in the exhibit with my father who happened to be one of the best artists in Baybay. Unfortunately, I was not able to reply to the invitation promptly, and when I did reply, it was already too late. The organizers have already printed the program. Sadly, this exhibit was the last one that my father was able to join in. He died days later. After his death, I vowed to join in the next exhibit to continue a bit of his legacy. Now I am one of the artists in the upcoming 2024 "Arte Centinaryo" exhibit at the university.

Provincial Life

 

Provincial Life (acrylic on canvas, 20"x28")

My inspiration for creating the artwork was a scene in the early morning when I visited a friend on the provincial outskirts of Baybay (my hometown). I came across a boy cleaning fish in a small creek. This scene fascinated me since I was accustomed to only seeing fish being cleaned in the kitchen or in the marketplace immediately after buying the fish. The scene was so “provincial” that he decided to make the artwork and entitled it “The Provincial Life”.

This artwork took too long to complete. I believe I started painting this in 2012, but I only managed to complete this in 2019, which is seven years later. Initially, I signed the painting with "DEANSTERF" which is my tag. In 2024, I started signing my paintings with a stylized "Dean Flandez", so I also signed this one with it over my previous DEANSTERF sign. 

Ang Silot kang Pandaguan

Ang Silot kang Pandaguan (acrylic on canvas, 24"x30")

Pandaguan is the son of Sicalac and Sicavay, who were the first man and woman, according to the stories of the Pintados (in Miguel Lorca's Relacion de las Yslas Felipinas, 1580s). He was punished by the gods Captan and Maguayen for the death of the shark that he captured using a net and brought to land. This resulted in him being sent to the netherworld, where he roamed for a while until the gods took pity on him, and brought him back to life. When he came back, he went to his home only to find that his wife had left with another man. Even when he ordered his son to get her, the woman still did not come since she thought that no man could come back to life. This enraged Pandaguan and he went back to the netherworld. In this painting, the artist attempts to present a scene when Pandaguan was punished by Captan and Maguayen with lightning bolts. 

Since my reading of Loarca's Relacion de las Yslas Felipinas, I wanted to paint scenes about the belief system of the Pintados, who are the ancestors of my people (Visayans). I decided to paint this one. It took me a week to complete.

Pagpanulô

Pagpanulô (acrylic on canvas, 24"x30")

Pagpanulô (or pangilaw) is the gathering of shellfish, crabs, shrimps, and other marine organisms during low tides at night. It is usually done with flashlights and headlamps for the person to see the organisms in the water and sand. I attempted to paint this said activity by depicting two women who have already collected a lot of shellfish and are preparing them to be consumed later on. The inspiration for making the painting was when I went to the homeplace of my fiancee. One of the activities we did while there was to gather shellfish (panulô) with her sisters. It was my first experience of panulô. After the gathering, we immediately ate the ones we had taken by cooking them in vinegar (kilaw). The experience was so satisfying and rewarding that I decided to make a painting about it. It took me a week to complete the painting.

This painting will be a part of the "Arte Centinaryo" (art exhibit) during the VSU Centennial Anniversary in April 2024.