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Yes, you can paint! Start now.

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Dr Abe V Rotor


Author demonstrates use of pastel colors. Civil Service Commission, QC (circa 2002)


An arch of trees, watercolor
Red fish in acrylic; children's art workshop at the former St Paul Museum


Author conducts summer art workshop for children at National Food Authority, QC

Art is for both young and old. Art is not a matter of “right or wrong.” It is theory, and it is your own. This is what is known as expression. Art is expression. A holistic one because it takes many faculties to create one - from logic to imagination, from visual to touch, traditional to contemporary.

Group work takes away boredom, it is collectively inspiring and challenging. But work with your own thoughts, imagination, pace.

But first, how do you begin?

1. You need only three primary colors - yellow, red and blue. Plus a lot of white and a little black. You can create all the colors of the rainbow. And you can do more in various hues and shades.

2. Red and yellow make orange; yellow and blue, green; blue and red, brown or purple. If you combine the three primary colors in equal proportion, you’ll get black.

3. Secondary colors lead you to tertiary colors. If you get lost you can trace it back to secondary. And you will not deviate from your color scheme.

4. White makes any color lighter: red to pink, yellow to cream, navy blue to sky blue, black to gray, orange to tangerine.

5. Black darkens colors. It is used to make shades and shadows. Contrast. If too much, your painting become drab, even muddy.

6. You need simple tools. Hardware paintbrushes 1/2” to 3” wide are relatively cheap. For artist brushes, buy from bookstores and art supplies. Get flat brushes - smallest 1/16”, biggest 1”). Get one or two round brushes. Because latex is water based, you need only few brushes. You can wash them while paint is still fresh. 

Experiment, don’t be afraid. Take advantage of the natural characteristics of paints and other mediums, like cohesiveness, immiscibility, blending, slow or quick drying, etc.

7. Use disposable palette board such as cardboard and plywood. You can make your own canvas. Canvas is sold by yard from upholstery stores. You can make several paint canvases from a yard of 60” wide canvas. You can use illustration board. For murals I use marine plywood 1/2” to 3/4” thick, 4 ft by 8 feet.

8. Do not be afraid to experiment. Try finger painting. Palette painting. Paint as you imagine and feel. Don’t be exacting, unless your subject requires it.

9. Foundation or primer is the same white latex you will be using. I prefer gloss white latex. Get more white than any of the colors. Allow the primer to dry, sandpaper it before you start to paint. Latex dries fast, so you have to work fast, too - unlike oil, it takes hours or days.

10. As much as possible mix colors first on the palette board before you apply. Of course, you can experiment by mixing colors now and then on the canvas itself. You will discover new techniques and develop your style. Never use oil and latex at the same time, latex and lacquer. But you can use permanent ink markers for lines and margins, and to enhance details.

11. Work on the light areas first, like sky, then proceed to the dark areas, like group of trees, bottom of rocks, shades and shadows, last. Work spontaneously. You know when to stop, then prepare for a second or third - or nth sitting. One sitting normally lasts 30 to 60 minutes. Pause and study your work every after sitting.

Paint a harvest time scenery in your province or country. Do it on-the-spot with your family or friends, picnic style.

12. Never abandon your work. Every painting is a masterpiece in your own right, as long as you did your best with honestly and lovingly. Treasure it.

Express your fear, anger, and other negative thoughts and feelings. Make the canvas a battle field, like this mural I saw in the Reunification Palace in HoChiMinh City, formerly Saigon. Painting is therapy.

And remember, painting is not just a hobby. It is therapy. It is prayer. It is universal language. It is timeless. Art is a bridge of the known and the unknown, the Creator and His creation. ~





On-the -spot painting contest, UST 2012.  

Thoughts at the Edge of the Sea

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 By Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Mouth of Tabon Cave, an on-the-spot painting, Quezon, Palawan by the author, 1986.


1. We do not have the time, indeed an alibi
to indolence and loafing, letting time pass by.

2. As we undervalue ourselves, so do others
undervalue us. Lo, to us all little brothers.

3. Self-doubt at the start is often necessary
to seek perfection of the trade we carry.

4. What is more mean than envy or indolence
but the two themselves riding on insolence.

5. The worst kind of persecution occurs in the mind,
that of the body we can often undermine.

6. How seldom, if at all, do we weigh our neighbors
the way we weigh ourselves with the same favors?

7. Friendship that we share to others, multiplies
our compassion and love where happiness lies.

8. Evil is evil indeed - so with its mirror,
while goodness builds on goodness in store.

9. That others may learn and soon trust you,

show them you're trustworthy, kind and true.

10. Kindness and gladness, these however small

are never, never put to waste at all.

x x x

A Travelogue through Drawing and Painting

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20 Drawing and Painting Exercises 
Dr. Abe V. Rotor
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms. Melly C Tenorio 

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday 


Pangarap Art World: A Travelogue through Drawing and Painting, is a sequel of  workshop manuals designed to teach basic drawing and painting techniques  to  children of school age and young adults.
      Volume I, “Handbook for Drawing and Painting” has been in use since summer of 1990.  Its emphasis is to tap the latent talent of children, while Volume II, “Art and Values: Cultivating Creativity, Skills, Values and Personality through Art”, as the title implies, is values oriented. It was introduced in 1998 for the second Nestle Philippines summer art workshop and the fourth workshop for the National Food Authority. 

Country Scene in acrylic by the Author
      
 The approach in this third volume is unique.  The participants go through an imagined itinerary that takes them to different places and introduces them to experiences which they are likely to encounter in life. There are twenty exercises to be accomplished as class work or home assignment, fifteen (15) are designed for individual work, while five (5) are for group work..

     This manual provides the needs of a summer workshop which is conducted for at least ten sessions, with three hours per session. Ideally one exercise is done in the classroom, and one is given as home assignment. An on-the-spot session can also make use of a number of exercises from this manual, such as  Flying Kites, Inside a Gym, and Market Day.  Each exercise will be graded and at the end of the workshop, the participants will be rated and ranked accordingly.  The top three graduates shall be awarded gold, silver and bonze medals, respectively.
    
      Computation of grades is based on the Likert Scale, where 1 is very poor, 2 poor, 3 fair, 4 good, and 5 very good. The general criteria are composition, interpretation, expression, artistic quality and impact. The details of these shall be discussed by the instructor at the onset of each exercise.

      Like the other two manuals, the author offers this volume a respite from cartoons, advertisements, entertainment characters, programs filled with
violence and sex,  computer games, and  the like, which many children are  overexposed via media and computers.  It is his aim to help create a more wholesome culture where certain values of a growing child and adolescent are developed and nurtured.  Art through this means becomes principally a vehicle for development, notwithstanding the gains in skill acquired.

       For each exercise, the instructor shall explain the requirements and procedure with the use of visuals and through demonstration. If there is need for group interaction he shall also serve as facilitator-moderator. He shall choose the appropriate music background for each exercise to enhance the ambiance of the workshop. 

       With brush and colors one can go places and create scenarios as vivid as what a pen can do.  It reminds us of the masterpieces of  Jules Verne which he wrote many, many years ago, notably “Around the World in Eighty Days”.  More than fiction we embark on a trip for life, real and inevitable. The pleasures await us, so with difficulties and hardships. The journey takes us closer to Nature and appreciate her beauty , it leads us to meet people and learn how to be a part of society.  Here we plan our lives, make things for ourselves, enjoy success, face failure, and at the end we  return to reality once again. Our journey takes us back to our loved ones, and  with an Angelus prayer on our lips we  draw a deep breathe of gratitude.

     Thus one can glimpse from the outline of our itinerary that Part 1 introduces us to the natural world, while Part 2 integrates us into society.  The last part  provides a window through  which a growing child and an adolescent see the other side of their present world, the real world  in which they  will spend the rest of  their lives.

     All aboard!

Exercises
1.      Views from an Airplane                             
2.      Sunflower Field                                                         
3.      Riceland                                                         
4.      Rainforest                                                      
5.      Hut by a Pond on a Mountain                                   
6.      Waterfalls                                                       
7.      Inside a Cave                                                             
8.      Fairy Garden  .                                                 
9.      Lighthouse at the Edge of the Sea     
10.   Sailing                                                                         
11.   Camping                                                          
12.   Flying Kites                                                  
13.   Inside a Gym                                               
14.   Market Day                                                   
15.   Shanties and Buildings                           
16.   Building a House                                     
17.   Making an Aquarium                             
18.   Typhoon                                                                                                        
19.   Building a Bridge                                    
20.   Angelus                                                  

Exercise 1- Views from an Airplane
Leaving our world down below and seeing it as a miniature. How small it is! Rather, how small we are!

As the airplane we are riding on soars to the sky we lose our sense of familiarity of the places below us. Then our world which we left behind appears as a miniature. And we are detached from it.

What really is the feeling of one flying on an airplane? Nervous and afraid? Excited and happy? Most probably it is a mixed feeling. Now let us imagine ourselves cruising in the sky one thousand feet up. We get a clear view below. The most prominent are the landscapes. See those mountains, rivers and lakes, the seashore. See the infrastructures – roads, bridges, towers, parks, and the like. Next, buildings, schools, the church, houses, etc. Imagine yourself to be above your hometown or barangay..

This is an individual work. Use Pastel colors and Oslo paper. You have thirty minutes to finish your drawing. Let us play “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and “Up, Up and Away”.

Exercise 2 - Sunflower Field
Lessons in radial symmetry, uniformity, and unity; farm life and scenery.

The sunflower has a central disc, surrounded by a ring of bright yellow petals which resemble the rays of the sun. But the most unique characteristic of the sunflower is that it faces the sun as it moves from sunrise to sunset. Because of its “obedience” to the sun, botanists gave the plant a genus name, Helianthes, after the Greek sun god, Helios.

Draw a field of sunflowers. Central Luzon State University in Munoz, Nueva Ecija, is the pioneer in sunflower farming. Imagine yourself to be at the center of sunflower farm. It is a bright day. Walk through the field among the plants as tall as you. Examine their long and straight stem and large leaves. Touch the large flowers, smell their sweet and fresh scent. Observe the bees and butterflies visiting one flower after another. Make the flowers prominent in your drawing. Remember they are uniform in size, height and color, and they are all facing the sun. Make the sky blue with some cloud to break the monotony.

You are given thirty minutes to complete your work. Use pastel colors on Oslo or drawing paper. Fill up the entire paper as if it were the whole field and sky. You may draw butterflies and bees. And you may draw yourself as you imagine yourself in a sunflower field. Here are suggested musical compositions for music background. “Humoreque”, “Minuet in G”, “Serenata”, “Traumerei”, “On the meadow”, “Spring Song”, “Ang Maya”.

Exercise 3 - Riceland
Lessons on the Central Plains, birthplace of agriculture and seat of early human settlement, rice granary of the country, where typical farm life is observed.

Rice, rice everywhere with few trees, no mountains, except Mt. Arayat. The wind sweeps over the plains and make waves and soothing sound. Suddenly a flock of herons and maya birds rise into the air. Herds of cattle lazily graze. Their calves are playful and oftentimes get lost. You hear both parents and calves calling one another. There are carabaos which like best areas where there is water and mud to wallow in..

Because we are in the Philippines we do not have zebras, lions, tigers and leopards. These animals live in Africa and on the vast plains of North America. We are going to draw a Philippine scene instead. We have our Central Plains where we grow rice. Here the farmer plants when the rains come and harvests towards the end of the monsoon. His hut in the middle of his field is made of nipa and bamboo. It is small. Beside it are haystacks that look like giant mushrooms. Children help on the farm, they mature and learn to live with life earlier than city kids.

Draw a typical ricefield scene in Central Luzon. It is like Fernando Amorsolo’s seceneries of rural life where there are people planting or harvesting rice. A carabao pulls a plow or cart, a nipa hut is surrounded by vegetables, haystacks or mandala dwarf the huts and people around. It is indeed a typical scene that gives an excellent background for our native songs and dances like Tinikling. Ang Kabukiran song fits well as a background music for this exercise. Let us play Nicanor Abelardo’s Compositions. Filipino composers like Padilla de Leon, Verlarde, Canseco, and Umali excel in this field.

Exercise 4 - Rainforest
A lesson on different kinds of plants and animals living together in a forest, the richest ecosystem in the world, their organization, adaptation and relationships.
 
          As we enter a tropical rainforest, the trees become taller and denser, grasses disappear, and shrubs and vine plants called lianas take over their place.  In the center of the rainforest are massive trees several meters high. Their trunks are huge, it takes several persons to wrap a tree with their arms stretched.  Sunlight is blocked, except rays seeping through the green roof.  We imagine we are inside the forest of Mt. Makiling in Laguna.

          We walk through the forest by first clearing our way with a bolo. Be careful, the ground is slippery.  In the rainforest, rain falls everyday, in fact anytime,  from drizzle to downpour.  That is why it is called rainforest.  Be careful with wild animals and thorny plants.  Do not disturb them, just observe them. Look for reptiles like lizards and snakes, amphibian like frogs and toads, fish swimming in a stream,  birds singing up in the trees, insects of all kinds, animals like deer and monkeys.

        Draw a cross section of a forest showing the different creatures.  Show their interrelationships. For example a snake eats frogs, frogs eat insects, insects feed on plants.  Observe the trees are of three levels.  We appear very small standing on the ground floor of a seven-storey natural building that is the forest.  Joey Ayala’s compositions on nature fit best as background music in this exercise. Why don’t we try  some songs of  Pilita Corales and Kuh Ledesma which are appropriate for this topic? “Sierra Madre”, for example.

Exercise 5 - A Hut by the Pond on a Mountain
Lessons of peace, tranquility, and of  unspoiled landscape; feeling of being on top of the world.

The title alone tells a story. It is picturesque. Here one imagines himself to be in a simple hut made of wood and stone and grass which shelters a woodsman or a hunter on Mt. Pulag in Benguet which is the second highest mountain in the Philippines after Mt. Apo.

There are no houses, buildings; no road, except a trail. The trees are gnarled and stunted. They are covered with ferns, epiphytes and mosses which make them look haunted. Feel the great comfort the hut gives you after a long day hike, and how soothing is the cool and clear water of a pond nearby. There are water lilies growing on the pond. Their flowers are red, orange, white and yellow. Sometimes a breeze come along, followed by drizzle, then everything is quiet. Enjoy stillness. It is a rare experience to one who has been living in the city.

   Draw first the mountain top where a pond and a hut are found. There is an faint trail which is the only way. The trees are dwarf and sturdy. They are bearded with mosses. Mist will soon clear as the sun penetrates through the trees, and makes a prism on the mist and dewdrops. Selections from the sound track of “Sound of Music” provide an ideal musical background.

Exercise 6 - Waterfall
This exercise makes us reflect at where a river abruptly ends.  The energy and scenery of  a waterfalls stir our imagination and make us think about life.

         Here we follow the river.  It meanders, then at a certain point it stops.  But it does not actually end here.  As water seeks its own level the river drops into a waterfalls and continues its journey toward the sea. We think of Pagsanjan Falls in Laguna or Maria Cristina Falls in Mindanao.

As we stand witness to this natural phenomenon, we are awed by its strength, it roars as it falls, sending spray and mist that make a prism or small rainbow. It pounds the rocks, plunges to a deep bottom before it becomes placid as if it has been tamed, then resumes to flow, seeking a new course toward its destiny.

Look around.  Trees abound everywhere and make a perfect curtain and prop of a great drama. The background music is a deafening sound. And it is just appropriate.  Be part of the drama.  Be still and capture the scene.  You have thirty minutes to do it on Oslo and pastel colors. Let us play heavy music from Beethoven, and Ryan Cayabyab.  Toward the end of the exercise let us have a  Rachmaninov or  a Listz composition. 

Exercise 7 - Inside a Cave
Looking back at the past, the home of our primitive ancestors, window of early civilization, and study of a Nature’s architectural work.

Have you ever been inside a cave?  Jules Verne wrote a fancinating novel, “Journey to the Center of the Earth”.  Look for the book or tape, or find somebody who had read it. It is a story of three daring men who traveled down a dormant volcano and explored a huge cavern, a world in itself inhabited by strange creatures of the past.

This exercise leads us to a cave in Callao, Cagayan, or Tabon in Palawan. On the face of a cliff are openings.  We enter the biggest one.  It is dark and scary.  We hear bats, dripping water, and the wind making its ways through the cave. We see tiny lights like hundreds of distant stars.  These are crystalline calcium deposits, phosphorescent materials, and glow worms. They cling on the stalactites which are giant teethlike structures hanging from the roof of the cave. The stalagmites are their counterpart rising from the cave floor.  When both meet, they form pillars of many shapes and sizes. See that beam of light coming  through the roof?  It is a window to the sky.

Now draw the view from here and show the main entrance which frame the stalactites and stalagmites, and the seeping beam of light coming from the opening at the sky roof.  You have thirty minutes to do it. Play a tape of  Johann Sebastian Bach as background music. Robert Schumann’s symphony fits  as well.

Exercise 8 - Fairy Garden
Introduction to fantasy, richness of imagination, and familiarity of  make-believe stories.

        This exercise relies principally on fantasy.  We are in fairyland. What kind of garden is this?  It is a garden made by our imagination and dreams. It is a garden in the world of Jonathan Swift’s second book, “Gulliver in Brodningnad”, where Gulliver was a dwarf in a land of giants where everything is big.

        Imagine yourself a dwarf among mushrooms, mosses, grass, and insects. But here everyone is friendly, you imagine you can even ride on an  ant like in “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!”, if you have seen the movie.

        Here harmony of nature and creatures is at its best.  There are no cars, buildings, highways and skyways.  The amenities in life are very simple. Nature is left alone in her pure state.
    
        Use  Oslo paper and pastel colors. Draw a part or section of that garden in your imagination. Do not draw the whole panoramic view.   Include  the things that make that garden in your imagination, one that belongs to fantasy land. “The Last Rose of Summer’” by Flotow fits well in this exercise. How about Schubert compositions? Ballet music like, “The Dying Swan”?  Let us try these for background music.

Exercise 9 - Lighthouse at the Edge of the Sea

Lessons in the wild, where Nature can be at times angry and cruel to those who do not take heed of her warning.
      
          Here we are at the end of the land, and the beginning of the vast ocean.  We stand on the coral reef and stones where we are safe from the angry waves. Above our head is a tall structure, strong, painted white, and on top of it is a strong light which guides seafarers  at night, keeping away from dangerous rocks and shoals. This is an old lighthouse in Calatagan, Batangas.

          Draw the waves breaking on the rock at the foot of the lighthouse. Give life to the sky. Put some moving clouds, some sunset colors.  This is a sign of bad weather.  There are sailboats leaning with the wind, their sails distended.  They burst in different colors and designs, breaking the gloom. Other boats lay in anchor, their sails lowered, while others have been carried to higher ground.  The shore is deserted now, except a few fishermen securing  their paraphernalia in their anchored  boats. Let us play Antonin Dvorak Jean Sibelius and other Scandinavian compositions.  They have a special touch that creates the ambiance for this topic. 

Exercise 10 - Sailing
Pure joy of adventure at sea, freedom riding on the wind and waves, a test of courage and endurance

        Have you ever gone to sea?  Have you ever ridden a sailboat or banca?  I am sure all of us have.  For those who may have forgotten it, or were very  young at that time, here is a way to relive the experience. Let us have a rowing song as background., “Like Volga Boat Song”, or  music about  rivers and sea, like “Over the Waves”, “On the Blue Danube”.

        Let us go sailing in Manila Bay. Sailing is both pleasure and competition.  Get your boat, and organize yourselves into a crew. Be sure you are ready when the race starts.  Other sailboats are also preparing for the race. You can not afford to be left behind.  The wind is building now.  Is your sail set?  Do you have enough provisions?  Water, food, first aid kit, fuel, tools, map, flashlight, and others things.  Review your checklist.

        Group yourselves into 5. Assume that you are in your boat moving with other boats.  This is the perspective of your composite drawing.  Draw on illustration board  using  pastel or acrylic colors.  You have the whole session to finish it.  Ready, set,  go!

Exercise 11 - Camping
A test of survival, a life without parents and home, gathering around  a bonfire, and counting stars.

        Let us go camping like boy scouts and girl scouts. Let us go to a summer camp.  Check the things you bring.  Do not bring a lot of things, only those which are essential will do.  You do not want to carry a heavy load, do you?  Besides camping has its rules.  Read more about camping. Let us play “Moon River”, “You Light up my Life”, Tosselli’s “Serenade”, and   Antonio  Molina’s  “Hating Gabi”.
After this we play “Nature Sounds” which are recorded sounds of frogs, birds, waterfalls, and insect.  To fully appreciate these sounds we will observe complete silence while we all work.

        Like “Market Day” and “Flying Kites” (Exercises 10 and 12), this is a group exercise.  Group yourselves into 5.  Set your camp,on Tagaytay Ridge overlooking Taal Volcano.  From this imagine view   there are tents are of many colors and designs.  There are big and small ones, round and triangular in shape.  There are tents set under trees, tents in the open, along a trail, even on hillside.  There is a central area where a large bonfire has been set.  Around it are people singing, dancing, telling stories, others appear cooking something on the embers. Why don’t you join them?

        But first, finish your drawing.  Use pastel colors or acrylic on one-half illustration board.  You have the whole session to do it.
Exercise 12 - Flying Kites
Reviving an old art and outdoor sport; taking part in a friendly and festive competition.

       It is summer time.  It is also kite flying season.  When was the last time you flew a kite, or saw a kite festival?

Flying Kites mural by AVR

      Well, this is your chance.  Let us see if you know how a kite flies.  First of all, a kite must be light and balance, and with a string and fair wind, it rises and stays up in the sky.  Notice that the wind keeps the kite up as if suspended in the sky.  This where the art of aerodynamics comes in.  You learn more about it in books and tapes about kite flying.

          Here we go.  This is a composite exercise.  Just like in Market Day (Exercise 10) you will group yourselves into 5 up to 7 members.  Plan out your work.  Kites come in many shapes, figures, designs and colors.  No two kites are the same.  Be sure your kites fly against the wind, and only in one direction.  Do not let them get entangled.  Your setting is a park where there are people watching and cheering.  Kite flying is both a festival and a competition. There are prizes at stake. The setting is in San Fernando Pampanga.  Here beautiful Christmas lanterns are also made. Saranggola ni Pepe gives an excellent musical background. Let us play Fredericka Chopin and imagine the light notes from his composition blending perfectly with the flying kites. 

        Use pastel or acrylic on illustration board. You have the whole session to complete your work.       

Exercise 13 - Inside a Gym
A  lesson on sportsmanship, physical fitness,  will to win, humility in winning and dignity of losing.

        It is sports season.  Intramural! We are in a sports center. Join the  parade of athletes, go with the beat of lively music, cheer with the big crowd.  The gymnasium has  covered courts, swimming pools, and arena. Competition is in basketball and other ball games, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, fencing, martial arts like aikido and taekwando,  darts, and many more.  We are in Rizal Coliseum.

          This is composite drawing. Group yourselves into five to seven members. Each one imagines himself a player in his favorite sport.  Draw at least three kinds of sports.  Complete your work by including the crowd, other athletes, and the festive atmosphere.  Play some marches.  Get a tape of the Philippine Brass Band.

        Plan out you work as a group.  Present your finished work in class.


Exercise  14 - Market Day
A place where people meet people, the pulse of our socio-economic life, where all walks all of life converge.

 Market Day,  by Fernando Amorsolo

Everyday is market day in Divisoria, Baclaran, Pasay, Balintawak, and many public markets and talipapa in the city.  In the province, Market Day comes maybe once a week, and when it is on a Sunday, the market comes alive after the mass.

Here we are going to meet people, we meet the common tao. We are among them.  We are going to draw a complex scene.  Here are the things we are going to put in our drawing. Let us play a lively tune, “Gavotte” and Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”.  Because Amadeus Mozart music is light, let us have one or two of his compositions toward the end of the exercise. 

1.  A noisy crowd, people, people everywhere.
2.  People selling and people buying.
3.   Stalls and stores, carinderia, vendors and hawkers.
4.  Wares, commodities, goods, services
5.  Tricycles, jeepneys, trucks, carts
6.  Festive moods, decors, colors, antics.

   This is a group work.  Each group has 5 to 7 members.  Use one-half illustration board.  Before you start, each group must convene its members and plan out what to do.  Then it is all yours.  You are give the whole session.

Exercise 15  - Shanties and Buildings
Lesson on contrast – between beautiful, high rise buildings and ugly shanties; between affluent and poor, modern and undeveloped  communities.

          It is ironic to see high rise buildings as a backdrop of shanties in Pasig and  Makati, our country’s business capital.

          It means there are very rich and very poor people living together in one place.  It reminds us of  Charles Dickens’s “Oliver Twist” and the Bastille before the French revolution.  These are stories about inequality, and where there is inequality, many social problems arise, such as unemployment, disease and epidemic, drug abuse and problems on peace and order.  Play the tapes, “Les Miserables” and  “Noli Me Tangere, the Musical”. We  can use these also in other exercises, like Typhoon and Angelus.

          Here we stand  viewing the dwellings of the so-called “poorest among the poor” which  line up the sidewalks and  esteros.  They are found  under the bridges, on vacant lots, and even on parks and shorelines. What a perfect contrast they make against the skyscrapers!  This view is what you are going to draw.  In each sector, include the inhabitants in their  own lifestyle.

Exercise  16 - Building a House
A step-by-step follow-me exercise in building a house, making it into a home and ultimately a part of a community

         This is quite an easy exercise.  But  it  needs analysis and imagination.
Your score here will greatly rely on the interpretation of the theme.  That is why you have to pay attention as we go through the step-by-step process.  Do not go ahead, and do not lag behind either. Draw spontaneously as we go along. Our musical background is “Home Sweet Home” a classical composition you must have heard in “The King and I”. Let us also try the  music of Leopoldo Silos, Buencamino, Abelardo and  Mike Velarde Jr. in this exercise.

Let us start.
1.      First put up the posts
2.      Put on the roof.                                                                                                 
3.      There is a floor, maybe two, if you like.
4.      The walls have windows.
5.      Stairs meet the door
6.      Extension for additional room, kitchen, etc. as you wish.
7.      Think of the amenities for functional and comfortable living.
8.      You are free now to complete your house
9.      Make it into a home. 
10.  Make it as part of a community

          The proof if you really made it good is, “Do you wish to live with your family in the house that you made?” Let us see.  Exchange papers with your classmates who will correct and score your paper.  What is your score?

           Exercise 17 - Building an Aquarium
           An exercise on doing things ourselves, following basic rules in maintaining life and  keeping environmental balance.

        An aquarium is “ a pond in glass”.  We can build one in  our backyard or in our house.  It may be large or small depending on the kinds of fish we want to raise as pets. 

      Why this exercise?  We want to try our hands not only in making things, but to play a role as guardian of living things. Can we make a stable and balanced aquarium?  Are we then good guardians? Is so, can we say to our Creator we are  good keepers of  Earth?

                   Each one will make his aquarium, using pastel colors on Oslo  paper.  Be guides by these components or parts of an aquarium.

1. Clear water.
2. Sand bottom with rocks
3. Light
4. Aquatic plant
5. Fish, one up to three kinds (Your pet)
6. Snails and scavenger fish
7. Air pump to supplement oxygen and filter the water

      Describe in class the aquarium that you made.  Let’s play “Life Let’s Cherish”, “Fur Elise”, and Peter Tschaichowsky’s  songs and waltzes as background.

 Exercise 18 - Typhoon!
Preparedness, learning to deal with disaster, lending a hand.

           PAGASA Bulletin:  Signal No. 3  And it is going to be a direct hit.

           List down the things to do.  Imagine you are in one community.  Choose your members, five to seven per group.  Prepare for the coming super typhoon.

          When you are through with your list, pause for some time and let the typhoon pass.  Do not go out during a typhoon.  Stay at home or in your safe quarter.  If it is direct hit, the winds will reverse after a brief  calm.  The second part is as strong as the first. Think of Typhoon Yoling or Typhoon Iliang which had more than 100 kilometers per hour wind at the center. (Music background from Gustav Mahler, George Bisset, the Spanish composer and violinist, Sarasate,  and  Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” and “Fireworks”).

           The typhoon has passed.  What happened to the community.  Did your preparation help you face the force majeure?  Draw the scenario of the typhoon’s aftermath. Imagine yourself  a boy scout or a girl scout, or simply and good citizen.

Exercise 19 - Building Bridges
Reaching out, connecting places and people, building friendship and love

          After the typhoon many roads and bridges were destroyed.  Our houses may have been destroyed, too. 

          There is a different kind of destruction that you and I must prevent to happen in our lives by all means destruction of relationships.  Our teachers tell us that a broken house is easier to repair than a broken home.  Aristotle always reminded the young Alexander the Great, “ It is easier to make war than to make peace.”  Relationships endure as long as the bridges connecting them are kept strong and intact.  And once they get destroyed, do not lose time in rebuilding them.

          Let us reflect on the illustration below. There are bridges washed away by the typhoon and flood.  You are going to rebuild them.  Analyze and imagine that these bridges are not only physical structures.  These are bridges to reach out  a person in need, to share our talents, to say sorry, to comfort, to congratulate, to console, to amend, to say what is right, to befriend, to stand for a cause, and many other virtues.  With these, - perhaps even by our very intentions alone -  we are also building a bridge with God. 

        With a solemn music as a background (“Meditation” from “The Thais” by Massenet), complete the outline on the attached page and be guided by the aforementioned scenario.  Take your time.  This is an exercise in meditation. Show and explain your work in class.

Exercise 20 - Angelus
Time for reflection and retreat, retirement for the day, time with the family, thanksgiving

          This is the end of our travelogue.  We come home from our journey at last.  It is Angelus.  It is a time to put down everything and to thank God for the day – for our journey.

          It is time with the family, with our parents, brothers and sisters. It is time to say the Angelus Prayer. Let us pause for a moment and meditate. Isn’t it wonderful to be alive?  This is God’s greatest gift to us.

          With a background music from “Messiah” by Georges Friderick Handel, “On Wings of Song” by Felix Mendelssohn  and Toccata and Fugue  by Johann Sebastian Bach, compose the scenario of a family at Angelus  Let us have also our own Nicanor Abelardo’s “Ave Maria”.  This is a highly individual exercise.  Work in complete silence. You have all the time in  this session.

Workshop References by Dr. A.V. Rotor
·         Light in the Woods (Photographs and Poems), 90 pp Megabooks, 1995
·         Nymphaea: Beauty in the Morning, 90 pp., Giraffe Books, 1996
·         Light of Dawn, 80 pp, Progressive Printing, 1997
·         4 . Handbook for Drawing and Painting (Revised 1997),  Vol. 1 photocopy
·         Art and Values 20 exercises, 1998, photocopy.         
·         Experiential Approach to the Study of Humanities, 6 pp Philippine Echoes
·         Teaching Art and Values in Children, 6 pp. Philippine Echoes
·         Ebb of Life: Essays and Poems (Photocopy)
·         Reflections on Dewdrops (Manuscript) with Megabooks
·         Violin and Nature, one-hour cassette tape of popular and semi-classical
               compositions accompanied by sounds of  Nature, 1997.
          Light from the Old Arch, 2000 UST
          Living with Nature Handbook 2003 UST
          Humanities Today: An Experiential Approach 2012 C&E Publishing Co.  


Yes, you can paint! Start now.

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Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Author demonstrates use of pastel colors. Civil Service Commission, QC (circa 2002)


An arch of trees, watercolor
Red fish in acrylic; children's art workshop at the former St Paul Museum


Author conducts summer art workshop for children at National Food Authority, QC

Art is for both young and old. Art is not a matter of “right or wrong.” It is theory, and it is your own. This is what is known as expression. Art is expression. A holistic one because it takes many faculties to create one - from logic to imagination, from visual to touch, traditional to contemporary.

Group work takes away boredom, it is collectively inspiring and challenging. But work with your own thoughts, imagination, pace.

But first, how do you begin?

1. You need only three primary colors - yellow, red and blue. Plus a lot of white and a little black. You can create all the colors of the rainbow. And you can do more in various hues and shades.

2. Red and yellow make orange; yellow and blue, green; blue and red, brown or purple. If you combine the three primary colors in equal proportion, you’ll get black.

3. Secondary colors lead you to tertiary colors. If you get lost you can trace it back to secondary. And you will not deviate from your color scheme.

4. White makes any color lighter: red to pink, yellow to cream, navy blue to sky blue, black to gray, orange to tangerine.

5. Black darkens colors. It is used to make shades and shadows. Contrast. If too much, your painting become drab, even muddy.

6. You need simple tools. Hardware paintbrushes 1/2” to 3” wide are relatively cheap. For artist brushes, buy from bookstores and art supplies. Get flat brushes - smallest 1/16”, biggest 1”). Get one or two round brushes. Because latex is water based, you need only few brushes. You can wash them while paint is still fresh. 

Experiment, don’t be afraid. Take advantage of the natural characteristics of paints and other mediums, like cohesiveness, immiscibility, blending, slow or quick drying, etc.

7. Use disposable palette board such as cardboard and plywood. You can make your own canvas. Canvas is sold by yard from upholstery stores. You can make several paint canvases from a yard of 60” wide canvas. You can use illustration board. For murals I use marine plywood 1/2” to 3/4” thick, 4 ft by 8 feet.

8. Do not be afraid to experiment. Try finger painting. Palette painting. Paint as you imagine and feel. Don’t be exacting, unless your subject requires it.

9. Foundation or primer is the same white latex you will be using. I prefer gloss white latex. Get more white than any of the colors. Allow the primer to dry, sandpaper it before you start to paint. Latex dries fast, so you have to work fast, too - unlike oil, it takes hours or days.

10. As much as possible mix colors first on the palette board before you apply. Of course, you can experiment by mixing colors now and then on the canvas itself. You will discover new techniques and develop your style. Never use oil and latex at the same time, latex and lacquer. But you can use permanent ink markers for lines and margins, and to enhance details.

11. Work on the light areas first, like sky, then proceed to the dark areas, like group of trees, bottom of rocks, shades and shadows, last. Work spontaneously. You know when to stop, then prepare for a second or third - or nth sitting. One sitting normally lasts 30 to 60 minutes. Pause and study your work every after sitting.

Paint a harvest time scenery in your province or country. Do it on-the-spot with your family or friends, picnic style.

12. Never abandon your work. Every painting is a masterpiece in your own right, as long as you did your best with honestly and lovingly. Treasure it.

Express your fear, anger, and other negative thoughts and feelings. Make the canvas a battle field, like this mural I saw in the Reunification Palace in HoChiMinh City, formerly Saigon. Painting is therapy.

And remember, painting is not just a hobby. It is therapy. It is prayer. It is universal language. It is timeless. Art is a bridge of the known and the unknown, the Creator and His creation. ~





On-the -spot painting contest, UST 2012.  

On-the-spot painting contest in our computer age - a test of genius

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Verses and passages by Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

What lesson in life shall he write,
the simple and the meek 
where affluence and waste abound
with so few to speak?
  

On-the-spot contests the test of originality and wit,
sans technology that denies fairness 
and truth coded in the clouds, not in mind and heart,
rise the genius outside cyberspace.      


When the flag becomes a robe to keep away the cold,
to cover the naked body and suffering soul;
 comes an emissary, neither white nor black, but a li'l bird
a house sparrow robbed of its home and freedom.


There is Pablo Picasso in a troubled  being 
like ghost walking down the hall;
modern art, its essence is clear, its message  
neo-renaissance for all. 


As beauty begets beauty, so is ugliness, 
like vicious and abject poverty,
mired in the ages and posterity of man,
lest he faces a bleak destiny. 
   

Life's a jester in the court of everyday living,
from birth to death, from womb to tomb,
and beyond - as it was with our forebears,
more so with Homo sapiens et ludens.* 

*Homo sapiens (Man, the thinker); Homo ludens (Man, the player) 

Jared and the Wild Bean

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A modern version of "Jack and the Beanstalk"
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

A modern day Jared, the boy scholar who popularized the wild bean. Wild Lima Beans or patani (Phaseolus lunatus) was first domesticated by the natives living on the Andes mountain of Peru some 2,000 years BC.
  
On the the slopes of the Andes mountains, lived a family of indigenous origin. People would describe the region as "far from civilization," as if only those living in town are regarded civilized. 

There was this boy, the only child of that family who wished to live in town.  "No, you are a stranger there." his parents would say.  "Beside it is very expensive to live in town." For indeed up on the slope, everything is free that land, water and air can give. And there is peace and quiet no town can provide.  

Until one day the boy stumbled on a kind of plant that grows up on trees. There it bore pods, plenty of them, green when young and on maturity split open and spill the seeds to the ground. The seeds germinate and produce pods the following season. The family soon learned to cook it as part of their diet, specially when there was little food around.  

Then a year came when the rains did not arrive as people expected.  It was due to the effects of El Niño - a period of drought that starts at the lower part of Peru.  

The boy's parents by experience knew the grave consequence.  Even if you have money you cannot buy anything.  So people looked for alternative food. On hearing this the boy brought the wild beans to town. At first people did not know what it was, until they learned how good it is to eat the beans with their own recipes.   

Secretly the boy brought more of his secret beans. And he made a lot of money. 

After the great drought which lasted for three years, the boy left the slopes to live in town. His parents followed to live with him. 

People wondered where the bean that saved them from hunger came from. The search was far and wide but to no avail.  

Until a boy scholar was able to trace the trail leading to the upper slopes of the Andes. There in a clearing among trees he saw the secret bean, a liana with pods dangling from the trees it made into its own trellis. Jared, the boy scholar took some mature seeds and studied them in school. 

He popularized the bean we know it today as Phaseolus lunatus, or Lima bean, after the capital of Peru. And lunatus for its moon-shape seeds.  Its native name patani survives to this day to places it was introduced which includes the Philippines.   

As to the boy who brought the wild bean downtown, no one had ever heard of him again. But the people in town remembered him whenever the cyclical El Niño struck. 

And Jared, the boy scholar? The one who tamed the wild bean. To them it's a fairy tale. ~ 
   

NOTE: Today, Lima bean is one of the important legume in the world. It is a good source of dietary fiber, and a virtually fat-free source of high quality protein. It contains both soluble fiber, which helps regulate blood sugar levels and lowers cholesterol, and insoluble fiber, which aids in the prevention of constipation, digestive disorders, irritable bowel syndrome and diverticulitis.

Like other legumes Lima beans contain symbiotic bacteria called Rhizobia within he root nodules of their root system that convert N2 or free Nitrogen into Nitrates (NO3). Nitrates combine with other elements to form compounds needed by plants and other organisms. Wikipedia

A Travelogue through Drawing and Painting

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20 Drawing and Painting Exercises
Dr. Abe V. Rotor
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms. Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday

Pangarap Art World: A Travelogue through Drawing and Painting, is a sequel of workshop manuals designed to teach basic drawing and painting techniques to children of school age and young adults.

 Volume I, “Handbook for Drawing and Painting” has been in use since summer of 1990. Its emphasis is to tap the latent talent of children, while Volume II, “Art and Values: Cultivating Creativity, Skills, Values and Personality through Art”, as the title implies, is values oriented. It was introduced in 1998 for the second Nestle Philippines summer art workshop and the fourth workshop for the National Food Authority.

Country Scene in acrylic by the Author

The approach in this third volume is unique. The participants go through an imagined itinerary that takes them to different places and introduces them to experiences which they are likely to encounter in life. There are twenty exercises to be accomplished as class work or home assignment, fifteen (15) are designed for individual work, while five (5) are for group work..


This manual provides the needs of a summer workshop which is conducted for at least ten sessions, with three hours per session. Ideally one exercise is done in the classroom, and one is given as home assignment. An on-the-spot session can also make use of a number of exercises from this manual, such as Flying Kites, Inside a Gym, and Market Day. Each exercise will be graded and at the end of the workshop, the participants will be rated and ranked accordingly. The top three graduates shall be awarded gold, silver and bonze medals, respectively.

Computation of grades is based on the Likert Scale, where 1 is very poor, 2 poor, 3 fair, 4 good, and 5 very good. The general criteria are composition, interpretation, expression, artistic quality and impact. The details of these shall be discussed by the instructor at the onset of each exercise.

Like the other two manuals, the author offers this volume a respite from cartoons, advertisements, entertainment characters, programs filled with
violence and sex, computer games, and the like, which many children are overexposed via media and computers. It is his aim to help create a more wholesome culture where certain values of a growing child and adolescent are developed and nurtured. Art through this means becomes principally a vehicle for development, notwithstanding the gains in skill acquired.

For each exercise, the instructor shall explain the requirements and procedure with the use of visuals and through demonstration. If there is need for group interaction he shall also serve as facilitator-moderator. He shall choose the appropriate music background for each exercise to enhance the ambiance of the workshop.

With brush and colors one can go places and create scenarios as vivid as what a pen can do. It reminds us of the masterpieces of Jules Verne which he wrote many, many years ago, notably “Around the World in Eighty Days”. More than fiction we embark on a trip for life, real and inevitable. The pleasures await us, so with difficulties and hardships. The journey takes us closer to Nature and appreciate her beauty , it leads us to meet people and learn how to be a part of society. Here we plan our lives, make things for ourselves, enjoy success, face failure, and at the end we return to reality once again. Our journey takes us back to our loved ones, and with an Angelus prayer on our lips we draw a deep breathe of gratitude.

Thus one can glimpse from the outline of our itinerary that Part 1 introduces us to the natural world, while Part 2 integrates us into society. The last part provides a window through which a growing child and an adolescent see the other side of their present world, the real world in which they will spend the rest of their lives.

All aboard!

Exercises
1. Views from an Airplane
2. Sunflower Field
3. Riceland
4. Rainforest
5. Hut by a Pond on a Mountain
6. Waterfalls
7. Inside a Cave
8. Fairy Garden .
9. Lighthouse at the Edge of the Sea
10. Sailing
11. Camping
12. Flying Kites
13. Inside a Gym
14. Market Day
15. Shanties and Buildings
16. Building a House
17. Making an Aquarium
18. Typhoon
19. Building a Bridge
20. Angelus

Exercise 1- Views from an Airplane
Leaving our world down below and seeing it as a miniature. How small it is! Rather, how small we are!

As the airplane we are riding on soars to the sky we lose our sense of familiarity of the places below us. Then our world which we left behind appears as a miniature. And we are detached from it.

What really is the feeling of one flying on an airplane? Nervous and afraid? Excited and happy? Most probably it is a mixed feeling. Now let us imagine ourselves cruising in the sky one thousand feet up. We get a clear view below. The most prominent are the landscapes. See those mountains, rivers and lakes, the seashore. See the infrastructures – roads, bridges, towers, parks, and the like. Next, buildings, schools, the church, houses, etc. Imagine yourself to be above your hometown or barangay..

This is an individual work. Use Pastel colors and Oslo paper. You have thirty minutes to finish your drawing. Let us play “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and “Up, Up and Away”.

Exercise 2 - Sunflower Field
Lessons in radial symmetry, uniformity, and unity; farm life and scenery.

The sunflower has a central disc, surrounded by a ring of bright yellow petals which resemble the rays of the sun. But the most unique characteristic of the sunflower is that it faces the sun as it moves from sunrise to sunset. Because of its “obedience” to the sun, botanists gave the plant a genus name, Helianthes, after the Greek sun god, Helios.

Draw a field of sunflowers. Central Luzon State University in Munoz, Nueva Ecija, is the pioneer in sunflower farming. Imagine yourself to be at the center of sunflower farm. It is a bright day. Walk through the field among the plants as tall as you. Examine their long and straight stem and large leaves. Touch the large flowers, smell their sweet and fresh scent. Observe the bees and butterflies visiting one flower after another. Make the flowers prominent in your drawing. Remember they are uniform in size, height and color, and they are all facing the sun. Make the sky blue with some cloud to break the monotony.

You are given thirty minutes to complete your work. Use pastel colors on Oslo or drawing paper. Fill up the entire paper as if it were the whole field and sky. You may draw butterflies and bees. And you may draw yourself as you imagine yourself in a sunflower field. Here are suggested musical compositions for music background. “Humoreque”, “Minuet in G”, “Serenata”, “Traumerei”, “On the meadow”, “Spring Song”, “Ang Maya”.

Exercise 3 - Riceland
Lessons on the Central Plains, birthplace of agriculture and seat of early human settlement, rice granary of the country, where typical farm life is observed.

Rice, rice everywhere with few trees, no mountains, except Mt. Arayat. The wind sweeps over the plains and make waves and soothing sound. Suddenly a flock of herons and maya birds rise into the air. Herds of cattle lazily graze. Their calves are playful and oftentimes get lost. You hear both parents and calves calling one another. There are carabaos which like best areas where there is water and mud to wallow in..

Because we are in the Philippines we do not have zebras, lions, tigers and leopards. These animals live in Africa and on the vast plains of North America. We are going to draw a Philippine scene instead. We have our Central Plains where we grow rice. Here the farmer plants when the rains come and harvests towards the end of the monsoon. His hut in the middle of his field is made of nipa and bamboo. It is small. Beside it are haystacks that look like giant mushrooms. Children help on the farm, they mature and learn to live with life earlier than city kids.

Draw a typical ricefield scene in Central Luzon. It is like Fernando Amorsolo’s seceneries of rural life where there are people planting or harvesting rice. A carabao pulls a plow or cart, a nipa hut is surrounded by vegetables, haystacks or mandala dwarf the huts and people around. It is indeed a typical scene that gives an excellent background for our native songs and dances like Tinikling. Ang Kabukiran song fits well as a background music for this exercise. Let us play Nicanor Abelardo’s Compositions. Filipino composers like Padilla de Leon, Verlarde, Canseco, and Umali excel in this field.

Exercise 4 - Rainforest
A lesson on different kinds of plants and animals living together in a forest, the richest ecosystem in the world, their organization, adaptation and relationships.

As we enter a tropical rainforest, the trees become taller and denser, grasses disappear, and shrubs and vine plants called lianas take over their place. In the center of the rainforest are massive trees several meters high. Their trunks are huge, it takes several persons to wrap a tree with their arms stretched. Sunlight is blocked, except rays seeping through the green roof. We imagine we are inside the forest of Mt. Makiling in Laguna.

We walk through the forest by first clearing our way with a bolo. Be careful, the ground is slippery. In the rainforest, rain falls everyday, in fact anytime, from drizzle to downpour. That is why it is called rainforest. Be careful with wild animals and thorny plants. Do not disturb them, just observe them. Look for reptiles like lizards and snakes, amphibian like frogs and toads, fish swimming in a stream, birds singing up in the trees, insects of all kinds, animals like deer and monkeys.

Draw a cross section of a forest showing the different creatures. Show their interrelationships. For example a snake eats frogs, frogs eat insects, insects feed on plants. Observe the trees are of three levels. We appear very small standing on the ground floor of a seven-storey natural building that is the forest. Joey Ayala’s compositions on nature fit best as background music in this exercise. Why don’t we try some songs of Pilita Corales and Kuh Ledesma which are appropriate for this topic? “Sierra Madre”, for example.

Exercise 5 - A Hut by the Pond on a Mountain
Lessons of peace, tranquility, and of unspoiled landscape; feeling of being on top of the world.

The title alone tells a story. It is picturesque. Here one imagines himself to be in a simple hut made of wood and stone and grass which shelters a woodsman or a hunter on Mt. Pulag in Benguet which is the second highest mountain in the Philippines after Mt. Apo.

There are no houses, buildings; no road, except a trail. The trees are gnarled and stunted. They are covered with ferns, epiphytes and mosses which make them look haunted. Feel the great comfort the hut gives you after a long day hike, and how soothing is the cool and clear water of a pond nearby. There are water lilies growing on the pond. Their flowers are red, orange, white and yellow. Sometimes a breeze come along, followed by drizzle, then everything is quiet. Enjoy stillness. It is a rare experience to one who has been living in the city.

Draw first the mountain top where a pond and a hut are found. There is an faint trail which is the only way. The trees are dwarf and sturdy. They are bearded with mosses. Mist will soon clear as the sun penetrates through the trees, and makes a prism on the mist and dewdrops. Selections from the sound track of “Sound of Music” provide an ideal musical background.

Exercise 6 - Waterfall
This exercise makes us reflect at where a river abruptly ends. The energy and scenery of a waterfalls stir our imagination and make us think about life.

Here we follow the river. It meanders, then at a certain point it stops. But it does not actually end here. As water seeks its own level the river drops into a waterfalls and continues its journey toward the sea. We think of Pagsanjan Falls in Laguna or Maria Cristina Falls in Mindanao.

As we stand witness to this natural phenomenon, we are awed by its strength, it roars as it falls, sending spray and mist that make a prism or small rainbow. It pounds the rocks, plunges to a deep bottom before it becomes placid as if it has been tamed, then resumes to flow, seeking a new course toward its destiny.

Look around. Trees abound everywhere and make a perfect curtain and prop of a great drama. The background music is a deafening sound. And it is just appropriate. Be part of the drama. Be still and capture the scene. You have thirty minutes to do it on Oslo and pastel colors. Let us play heavy music from Beethoven, and Ryan Cayabyab. Toward the end of the exercise let us have a Rachmaninov or a Listz composition.

Exercise 7 - Inside a Cave
Looking back at the past, the home of our primitive ancestors, window of early civilization, and study of a Nature’s architectural work.

Have you ever been inside a cave? Jules Verne wrote a fancinating novel, “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. Look for the book or tape, or find somebody who had read it. It is a story of three daring men who traveled down a dormant volcano and explored a huge cavern, a world in itself inhabited by strange creatures of the past.

This exercise leads us to a cave in Callao, Cagayan, or Tabon in Palawan. On the face of a cliff are openings. We enter the biggest one. It is dark and scary. We hear bats, dripping water, and the wind making its ways through the cave. We see tiny lights like hundreds of distant stars. These are crystalline calcium deposits, phosphorescent materials, and glow worms. They cling on the stalactites which are giant teethlike structures hanging from the roof of the cave. The stalagmites are their counterpart rising from the cave floor. When both meet, they form pillars of many shapes and sizes. See that beam of light coming through the roof? It is a window to the sky.

Now draw the view from here and show the main entrance which frame the stalactites and stalagmites, and the seeping beam of light coming from the opening at the sky roof. You have thirty minutes to do it. Play a tape of Johann Sebastian Bach as background music. Robert Schumann’s symphony fits as well.

Exercise 8 - Fairy Garden
Introduction to fantasy, richness of imagination, and familiarity of make-believe stories.

This exercise relies principally on fantasy. We are in fairyland. What kind of garden is this? It is a garden made by our imagination and dreams. It is a garden in the world of Jonathan Swift’s second book, “Gulliver in Brodningnad”, where Gulliver was a dwarf in a land of giants where everything is big.

Imagine yourself a dwarf among mushrooms, mosses, grass, and insects. But here everyone is friendly, you imagine you can even ride on an ant like in “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!”, if you have seen the movie.

Here harmony of nature and creatures is at its best. There are no cars, buildings, highways and skyways. The amenities in life are very simple. Nature is left alone in her pure state.

Use Oslo paper and pastel colors. Draw a part or section of that garden in your imagination. Do not draw the whole panoramic view. Include the things that make that garden in your imagination, one that belongs to fantasy land. “The Last Rose of Summer’” by Flotow fits well in this exercise. How about Schubert compositions? Ballet music like, “The Dying Swan”? Let us try these for background music.

Exercise 9 - Lighthouse at the Edge of the Sea

Lessons in the wild, where Nature can be at times angry and cruel to those who do not take heed of her warning.

Here we are at the end of the land, and the beginning of the vast ocean. We stand on the coral reef and stones where we are safe from the angry waves. Above our head is a tall structure, strong, painted white, and on top of it is a strong light which guides seafarers at night, keeping away from dangerous rocks and shoals. This is an old lighthouse in Calatagan, Batangas.

Draw the waves breaking on the rock at the foot of the lighthouse. Give life to the sky. Put some moving clouds, some sunset colors. This is a sign of bad weather. There are sailboats leaning with the wind, their sails distended. They burst in different colors and designs, breaking the gloom. Other boats lay in anchor, their sails lowered, while others have been carried to higher ground. The shore is deserted now, except a few fishermen securing their paraphernalia in their anchored boats. Let us play Antonin Dvorak Jean Sibelius and other Scandinavian compositions. They have a special touch that creates the ambiance for this topic.

Exercise 10 - Sailing
Pure joy of adventure at sea, freedom riding on the wind and waves, a test of courage and endurance

Have you ever gone to sea? Have you ever ridden a sailboat or banca? I am sure all of us have. For those who may have forgotten it, or were very young at that time, here is a way to relive the experience. Let us have a rowing song as background., “Like Volga Boat Song”, or music about rivers and sea, like “Over the Waves”, “On the Blue Danube”.

Let us go sailing in Manila Bay. Sailing is both pleasure and competition. Get your boat, and organize yourselves into a crew. Be sure you are ready when the race starts. Other sailboats are also preparing for the race. You can not afford to be left behind. The wind is building now. Is your sail set? Do you have enough provisions? Water, food, first aid kit, fuel, tools, map, flashlight, and others things. Review your checklist.

Group yourselves into 5. Assume that you are in your boat moving with other boats. This is the perspective of your composite drawing. Draw on illustration board using pastel or acrylic colors. You have the whole session to finish it. Ready, set, go!

Exercise 11 - Camping
A test of survival, a life without parents and home, gathering around a bonfire, and counting stars.

Let us go camping like boy scouts and girl scouts. Let us go to a summer camp. Check the things you bring. Do not bring a lot of things, only those which are essential will do. You do not want to carry a heavy load, do you? Besides camping has its rules. Read more about camping. Let us play “Moon River”, “You Light up my Life”, Tosselli’s “Serenade”, and Antonio Molina’s “Hating Gabi”.
After this we play “Nature Sounds” which are recorded sounds of frogs, birds, waterfalls, and insect. To fully appreciate these sounds we will observe complete silence while we all work.

Like “Market Day” and “Flying Kites” (Exercises 10 and 12), this is a group exercise. Group yourselves into 5. Set your camp,on Tagaytay Ridge overlooking Taal Volcano. From this imagine view there are tents are of many colors and designs. There are big and small ones, round and triangular in shape. There are tents set under trees, tents in the open, along a trail, even on hillside. There is a central area where a large bonfire has been set. Around it are people singing, dancing, telling stories, others appear cooking something on the embers. Why don’t you join them?

But first, finish your drawing. Use pastel colors or acrylic on one-half illustration board. You have the whole session to do it.
Exercise 12 - Flying Kites
Reviving an old art and outdoor sport; taking part in a friendly and festive competition.

 
 It is summer time. It is also kite flying season. When was the last time you flew a kite, or saw a kite festival?

Flying Kites mural by AVR

Well, this is your chance. Let us see if you know how a kite flies. First of all, a kite must be light and balance, and with a string and fair wind, it rises and stays up in the sky. Notice that the wind keeps the kite up as if suspended in the sky. This where the art of aerodynamics comes in. You learn more about it in books and tapes about kite flying.

Here we go. This is a composite exercise. Just like in Market Day (Exercise 10) you will group yourselves into 5 up to 7 members. Plan out your work. Kites come in many shapes, figures, designs and colors. No two kites are the same. Be sure your kites fly against the wind, and only in one direction. Do not let them get entangled. Your setting is a park where there are people watching and cheering. Kite flying is both a festival and a competition. There are prizes at stake. The setting is in San Fernando Pampanga. Here beautiful Christmas lanterns are also made. Saranggola ni Pepe gives an excellent musical background. Let us play Fredericka Chopin and imagine the light notes from his composition blending perfectly with the flying kites.

Use pastel or acrylic on illustration board. You have the whole session to complete your work.

Exercise 13 - Inside a Gym
A lesson on sportsmanship, physical fitness, will to win, humility in winning and dignity of losing.

It is sports season. Intramural! We are in a sports center. Join the parade of athletes, go with the beat of lively music, cheer with the big crowd. The gymnasium has covered courts, swimming pools, and arena. Competition is in basketball and other ball games, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, fencing, martial arts like aikido and taekwando, darts, and many more. We are in Rizal Coliseum.

This is composite drawing. Group yourselves into five to seven members. Each one imagines himself a player in his favorite sport. Draw at least three kinds of sports. Complete your work by including the crowd, other athletes, and the festive atmosphere. Play some marches. Get a tape of the Philippine Brass Band.

Plan out you work as a group. Present your finished work in class.

Market Day, by Fernando Amorsolo
Exercise 14 - Market Day
A place where people meet people, the pulse of our socio-economic life, where all walks all of life converge.

Everyday is market day in Divisoria, Baclaran, Pasay, Balintawak, and many public markets and talipapa in the city. In the province, Market Day comes maybe once a week, and when it is on a Sunday, the market comes alive after the mass.

Here we are going to meet people, we meet the common tao. We are among them. We are going to draw a complex scene. Here are the things we are going to put in our drawing. Let us play a lively tune, “Gavotte” and Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”. Because Amadeus Mozart music is light, let us have one or two of his compositions toward the end of the exercise.

1. A noisy crowd, people, people everywhere.
2. People selling and people buying.
3. Stalls and stores, carinderia, vendors and hawkers.
4. Wares, commodities, goods, services
5. Tricycles, jeepneys, trucks, carts
6. Festive moods, decors, colors, antics.

This is a group work. Each group has 5 to 7 members. Use one-half illustration board. Before you start, each group must convene its members and plan out what to do. Then it is all yours. You are give the whole session.

Exercise 15 - Shanties and Buildings
Lesson on contrast – between beautiful, high rise buildings and ugly shanties; between affluent and poor, modern and undeveloped communities.

It is ironic to see high rise buildings as a backdrop of shanties in Pasig and Makati, our country’s business capital.

It means there are very rich and very poor people living together in one place. It reminds us of Charles Dickens’s “Oliver Twist” and the Bastille before the French revolution. These are stories about inequality, and where there is inequality, many social problems arise, such as unemployment, disease and epidemic, drug abuse and problems on peace and order. Play the tapes, “Les Miserables” and “Noli Me Tangere, the Musical”. We can use these also in other exercises, like Typhoon and Angelus.

Here we stand viewing the dwellings of the so-called “poorest among the poor” which line up the sidewalks and esteros. They are found under the bridges, on vacant lots, and even on parks and shorelines. What a perfect contrast they make against the skyscrapers! This view is what you are going to draw. In each sector, include the inhabitants in their own lifestyle.

Exercise 16 - Building a House
A step-by-step follow-me exercise in building a house, making it into a home and ultimately a part of a community

This is quite an easy exercise. But it needs analysis and imagination.
Your score here will greatly rely on the interpretation of the theme. That is why you have to pay attention as we go through the step-by-step process. Do not go ahead, and do not lag behind either. Draw spontaneously as we go along. Our musical background is “Home Sweet Home” a classical composition you must have heard in “The King and I”. Let us also try the music of Leopoldo Silos, Buencamino, Abelardo and Mike Velarde Jr. in this exercise.

Let us start.
1. First put up the posts
2. Put on the roof.
3. There is a floor, maybe two, if you like.
4. The walls have windows.
5. Stairs meet the door
6. Extension for additional room, kitchen, etc. as you wish.
7. Think of the amenities for functional and comfortable living.
8. You are free now to complete your house
9. Make it into a home.
10. Make it as part of a community

The proof if you really made it good is, “Do you wish to live with your family in the house that you made?” Let us see. Exchange papers with your classmates who will correct and score your paper. What is your score?

Exercise 17 - Building an Aquarium
An exercise on doing things ourselves, following basic rules in maintaining life and keeping environmental balance.

An aquarium is “ a pond in glass”. We can build one in our backyard or in our house. It may be large or small depending on the kinds of fish we want to raise as pets.

Why this exercise? We want to try our hands not only in making things, but to play a role as guardian of living things. Can we make a stable and balanced aquarium? Are we then good guardians? Is so, can we say to our Creator we are good keepers of Earth?

Each one will make his aquarium, using pastel colors on Oslo paper. Be guides by these components or parts of an aquarium.
1. Clear water.
2. Sand bottom with rocks
3. Light
4. Aquatic plant
5. Fish, one up to three kinds (Your pet)
6. Snails and scavenger fish
7. Air pump to supplement oxygen and filter the water

Describe in class the aquarium that you made. Let’s play “Life Let’s Cherish”, “Fur Elise”, and Peter Tschaichowsky’s songs and waltzes as background.

Exercise 18 - Typhoon!
Preparedness, learning to deal with disaster, lending a hand.

PAGASA Bulletin: Signal No. 3 And it is going to be a direct hit.

List down the things to do. Imagine you are in one community. Choose your members, five to seven per group. Prepare for the coming super typhoon.

When you are through with your list, pause for some time and let the typhoon pass. Do not go out during a typhoon. Stay at home or in your safe quarter. If it is direct hit, the winds will reverse after a brief calm. The second part is as strong as the first. Think of Typhoon Yoling or Typhoon Iliang which had more than 100 kilometers per hour wind at the center. (Music background from Gustav Mahler, George Bisset, the Spanish composer and violinist, Sarasate, and Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” and “Fireworks”).

The typhoon has passed. What happened to the community. Did your preparation help you face the force majeure? Draw the scenario of the typhoon’s aftermath. Imagine yourself a boy scout or a girl scout, or simply and good citizen.

Exercise 19 - Building Bridges
Reaching out, connecting places and people, building friendship and love

After the typhoon many roads and bridges were destroyed. Our houses may have been destroyed, too.

There is a different kind of destruction that you and I must prevent to happen in our lives by all means destruction of relationships. Our teachers tell us that a broken house is easier to repair than a broken home. Aristotle always reminded the young Alexander the Great, “ It is easier to make war than to make peace.” Relationships endure as long as the bridges connecting them are kept strong and intact. And once they get destroyed, do not lose time in rebuilding them.

Let us reflect on the illustration below. There are bridges washed away by the typhoon and flood. You are going to rebuild them. Analyze and imagine that these bridges are not only physical structures. These are bridges to reach out a person in need, to share our talents, to say sorry, to comfort, to congratulate, to console, to amend, to say what is right, to befriend, to stand for a cause, and many other virtues. With these, - perhaps even by our very intentions alone - we are also building a bridge with God.

With a solemn music as a background (“Meditation” from “The Thais” by Massenet), complete the outline on the attached page and be guided by the aforementioned scenario. Take your time. This is an exercise in meditation. Show and explain your work in class.

Exercise 20 - Angelus
Time for reflection and retreat, retirement for the day, time with the family, thanksgiving

This is the end of our travelogue. We come home from our journey at last. It is Angelus. It is a time to put down everything and to thank God for the day – for our journey.

It is time with the family, with our parents, brothers and sisters. It is time to say the Angelus Prayer. Let us pause for a moment and meditate. Isn’t it wonderful to be alive? This is God’s greatest gift to us.

With a background music from “Messiah” by Georges Friderick Handel, “On Wings of Song” by Felix Mendelssohn and Toccata and Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach, compose the scenario of a family at Angelus Let us have also our own Nicanor Abelardo’s “Ave Maria”. This is a highly individual exercise. Work in complete silence. You have all the time in this session.

Workshop References by Dr. A.V. Rotor
· Light in the Woods (Photographs and Poems), 90 pp Megabooks, 1995
· Nymphaea: Beauty in the Morning, 90 pp., Giraffe Books, 1996
· Light of Dawn, 80 pp, Progressive Printing, 1997
· 4 . Handbook for Drawing and Painting (Revised 1997), Vol. 1 photocopy
· Art and Values 20 exercises, 1998, photocopy.
· Experiential Approach to the Study of Humanities, 6 pp Philippine Echoes
· Teaching Art and Values in Children, 6 pp. Philippine Echoes
· Ebb of Life: Essays and Poems (Photocopy)
· Reflections on Dewdrops (Manuscript) with Megabooks
· Violin and Nature, one-hour cassette tape of popular and semi-classical
compositions accompanied by sounds of Nature, 1997.
Light from the Old Arch, 2000 UST
Living with Nature Handbook 2003 UST
Humanities Today: An Experiential Approach 2012 C&E Publishing Co.

Yes, you can paint! Start now.

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Dr Abe V RotorLiving with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday



Author demonstrates use of pastel colors. Civil Service Commission, QC (circa 2002)



An arch of trees, watercolor

Red fish in acrylic; children's art workshop at the former St Paul Museum




Author conducts summer art workshop for children at National Food Authority, QC
Art is for both young and old. Art is not a matter of “right or wrong.” It is theory, and it is your own. This is what is known as expression. Art is expression. A holistic one because it takes many faculties to create one - from logic to imagination, from visual to touch, traditional to contemporary.

Group work takes away boredom, it is collectively inspiring and challenging. But work with your own thoughts, imagination, pace.

But first, how do you begin?

1. You need only three primary colors - yellow, red and blue. Plus a lot of white and a little black. You can create all the colors of the rainbow. And you can do more in various hues and shades.

2. Red and yellow make orange; yellow and blue, green; blue and red, brown or purple. If you combine the three primary colors in equal proportion, you’ll get black.

3. Secondary colors lead you to tertiary colors. If you get lost you can trace it back to secondary. And you will not deviate from your color scheme.

4. White makes any color lighter: red to pink, yellow to cream, navy blue to sky blue, black to gray, orange to tangerine.

5. Black darkens colors. It is used to make shades and shadows. Contrast. If too much, your painting become drab, even muddy.

6. You need simple tools. Hardware paintbrushes 1/2” to 3” wide are relatively cheap. For artist brushes, buy from bookstores and art supplies. Get flat brushes - smallest 1/16”, biggest 1”). Get one or two round brushes. Because latex is water based, you need only few brushes. You can wash them while paint is still fresh.

Experiment, don’t be afraid. Take advantage of the natural characteristics of paints and other mediums, like cohesiveness, immiscibility, blending, slow or quick drying, etc.

7. Use disposable palette board such as cardboard and plywood. You can make your own canvas. Canvas is sold by yard from upholstery stores. You can make several paint canvases from a yard of 60” wide canvas. You can use illustration board. For murals I use marine plywood 1/2” to 3/4” thick, 4 ft by 8 feet.

8. Do not be afraid to experiment. Try finger painting. Palette painting. Paint as you imagine and feel. Don’t be exacting, unless your subject requires it.

9. Foundation or primer is the same white latex you will be using. I prefer gloss white latex. Get more white than any of the colors. Allow the primer to dry, sandpaper it before you start to paint. Latex dries fast, so you have to work fast, too - unlike oil, it takes hours or days.

10. As much as possible mix colors first on the palette board before you apply. Of course, you can experiment by mixing colors now and then on the canvas itself. You will discover new techniques and develop your style. Never use oil and latex at the same time, latex and lacquer. But you can use permanent ink markers for lines and margins, and to enhance details.

11. Work on the light areas first, like sky, then proceed to the dark areas, like group of trees, bottom of rocks, shades and shadows, last. Work spontaneously. You know when to stop, then prepare for a second or third - or nth sitting. One sitting normally lasts 30 to 60 minutes. Pause and study your work every after sitting.

Paint a harvest time scenery in your province or country. Do it on-the-spot with your family or friends, picnic style.

12. Never abandon your work. Every painting is a masterpiece in your own right, as long as you did your best with honestly and lovingly. Treasure it.

Express your fear, anger, and other negative thoughts and feelings. Make the canvas a battle field, like this mural I saw in the Reunification Palace in HoChiMinh City, formerly Saigon. Painting is therapy.

And remember, painting is not just a hobby. It is therapy. It is prayer. It is universal language. It is timeless. Art is a bridge of the known and the unknown, the Creator and His creation. ~








On-the -spot painting contest, UST 2012.

Photo editing with light and color tone

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Dr Abe V Rotor*
Effect of Black & White
Splash of light in two tones.
Effect of bluish and golden tones 

Lighting's magic creates various moods, 
enigma and secret combined,  
weaves a veil beauty is hidden yet seen
through the keyhole of the mind. 

* Author is a professor in digital photography and photojournalism.  
Model is a coed in Communication Arts, UST Faculty of Arts and Letters

It's sineguelas time!

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Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday



Close-up of ripe fruits, fruiting habit; author scrapes bark for home remedy.     
We kids in our time couldn't imagine summer without sineguelas.  It is a very inviting fruit tree growing in the wild or on some backyard. If you have a bamboo pole - which also serves as fishing pole - you will be able to fill your pockets with its fruits that stain skin and clothes when crushed. We would rather climb the tree and settle at the fork formed by its limbs like a hammock, and there we had our fill of fruits, stories and laughter.     

It is likely that those who did not grow up in the province may have seen sineguelas only in the market - but not all markets for that matter. Because it is not a popular fruit.  Beside it is seasonal. 

Summer is here and it is sineguelas time. Would you like to join the fun?  But first there are things we should know about this not-so-familiar fruit. Here are some interesting facts about sineguelas.    

Sineguelas (Spondias purpurea Linn), or ciruela, plum in Spanish, hence called Spanish ciruela, was introduced into the Philippines during the Spanish regime most likely from Mexico.  The tree is large and squat, with fleshy trunk and branches.  Its wood is soft and not ideal for lumber and construction.


It is dehiscent in summer giving way to numerous fruits arising from the branches singly or in cluster. The fruit is eaten raw on reaching maturity as indicated by the change in color from green to purple, hence purpurea. A decoction of the bark is an efficacious, astringent, antidysenteric and also in cases of infantile tympanites, often characterized by gas buildup.    
The mineral content and food value of fresh sineguelas in percent are: Phosphorus (P2O4) 0.11, Calcium (CaO) 0.01, Iron (Fe2O3) 0.003, Proteins 0.63, Fats 0.09, Crude Fiber 0.62. Surprisingly it is high in Carbohydrates - 21.16.

Sineguelas is a relative of Hevi (Spongias cytherea) and Libas (Spongias opinnata), Family Anacardiaceae, which also produce edible fruits but inferior to that of S. purpurea. Their fruits are eaten fresh, made into preserves, or  cooked in stew.

This summer is a chance for kids to see - if not climb on - a fruiting sineguelas tree. And have their fill as we did in our time. Just be careful, the branches are not as sturdy as how they look. 


If you wish to bring home the tree itself, just get a mature cutting from it, a meter long or so, then plant it in your backyard (like malunggay).  It begins bearing fruits in three to five years. The tree has a lifespan of more than fifty years if grown from seed, half that long if it came from cutting. ~

Aratiles - petite berry children love

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Aratiles - petite berry children love 
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday
 Little Mackie and Gelyn enjoy the taste of the petite berries 

Aratiles or datiles (mansanitas Ilk) - Muntigia calabura - is a favorite tree on the backyard and neighborhood, on vacant lots and parks.  Actually nobody owns the tree; children just gather with stick, stone  - or scamper into its branches and pick the ripe red berry.  And pronto!  straight to the mouth, spitting the spent skin there and then. 

The tree is not theirs alone; birds like the perperroka (Ilk) pick the ripe fruits during the day, while fruit bats have their share in the night.  But thanks to the prolific fruiting of this tropical tree which has become adapted in the Philippines after it was introduced from tropical America during the early Spanish period. Throughout the year the tree is without fruits in succession.  You only see them when they turn yellow to golden, and finally to bright red ready to fall to the ground at the slightest disturbance.

That's why you have to be vigilant. If you miss a day to pick the ripe ones, your winged competitors will, or the fruits simply fall to be eaten by stray fowls, and goats. This prompted us at home to have a ready ladder to pick the fruits direct from the tree.  Now and then children come to their delight.  And once in a while we serve aratiles on the table - for a change. 

If you have seen Castaway movie starring Tom Hanks, there is a part when he fitted some logs to make a raft to escape the island  after four years of solitary living.  Have you noticed the binding material he used as rope?  That was stripped bark of aratiles. The bark has strong and pliable fibers like cotton.  In fact the two belong to the same family - Malvaceae.   

The aratiles tree is being left alone - wouldn’t man cultivate it like any crop?  But you see, trees -  and other organisms for that matter -  are taken cared by Nature.  In fact the advice of ecologists is to "leave nature alone." Better still, " Leave it to Nature." This is the key to the survival of species and the stability of the ecosystem where they live.

Strange that you find aratiles virtually everywhere, where the birds and animals are, so with the children.  You see aratiles growing in all stages, sometimes forming a woodland. The other secret of its prolific nature is that the seeds - hundreds of them in a single fruit – remain viable in the digestive system to be disseminated far and wide.  There after sometime you will be glad to see and listen to lilting kids in their finest hour of their childhood. ~ 

"Carpe diem." Seize the day with the camera

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Looking for a subject?  Here are samples. (Unscripted and unedited for authenticity and naturalness) 
Dr Abe V Rotor 
"Fleeting, fleeting, 
seize life with the lens,
for the world awhirling 
now and thence." AVR

  A clown comes to town 
Texting, a new pastime  
 Music calms tired muscles and nerves  
 Posing with colleagues  

Youngest chef
 Kainan na, Vamos a comer
Flying carpet to a child 
Preparing for exam with the greats
Welcome to the Christian world 
Making  a tree happy  
 
 Mimicking the wind mill 
 Oversize helmet
  Janus' mask
Dried flower bouquet, anyone?

Sketch your way to relaxation Self-administered relaxation through drawing

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Sketch your way to relaxation Self-administered relaxation through drawing
Dr Abe V Rotor

Here is a simple way to free you from the clutches of stress and tension. Recharge with this simple method, instead of taking medicine or using paraphernalia for relaxation.

1. Get a piece of bond paper and a pen, preferably with a felt tip.
2. Find a comfortable place with chair and table.
3. Avoid disturbance, prefer to be alone.
4. Start with the model you think it's easier to do.
5. In either model, start at the center and proceed outward.
6. Do not copy, these are just patterns.
7. Draw spontaneously at your own normal pace.
8. Detach your thoughts from anything. You are in the clouds, so to speak.
9. As you relax, your drawing may go off course. That's good.
10. You don't have to complete your drawing. Give way to relaxation - and to sleep.
Model A - Flow, let it flow


Model C - Build a labyrinth  
This exercise will help you fight boredom. The ultimate proof that it is effective is that, it induces you to sleep and attain good rest. Why, you can compile your drawings into a workbook and share it to others!


Mount Makiling Botanical Garden: Perfect Site for Nature Study

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Dr Abe V Rotor







 


Ode to Mount Makiling

Sleep, sleep deep and well,
just snore gently through your fumarole,
bubbling the warmth of the earth, 
and play a friendly role:
Creatures all you carry on your back and top,
birds too tired on their route come to a stop;

a sanctuary to them, and others in transience,
bringing them together in seasonal conference;
up north they return when their winter is over,
and down south others go for their summer;
Many tenants you care by your rules and game;
in Nature, each has a role whether wild or  tame.
your trees catch the clouds coming drifting low, 
and humble the wind to come in gentle blow.

sunrise comes in golden spears among the trees
that unveil the mist and dance with the breeze.
sunset comes early in the trees, it settles quick;  
except for the many eyes, night is dark as ink.

night sounds are eerie -  the language in the wild;
keeping campers stay awake and wide eyed. 

at daybreak comes the roll call, each creature to its chore,
and the forest is alive once more.    

cathedral of trees dwarfed only by the sky and sight
in ever increasing span of height and might.  

in storeys and boundaries, each a niche, a territory,
where each kind live in family and harmony. 

Don't wake up to soon, be that gentle mountain as long
as the children have not grown, and the grownups
coming along to catch the lost years to know you more,
away from the city, from malls and coffee shops.~




Reel Buggy - a child's invention

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Reel Buggy - a child's invention 
Dr Abe V Rotor

If only my Reel Buggy take the road, people would wonder where on earth did it come from?
Because anything that comes from a child is strange to the grownup, and the child a stranger.
Strange this world, every car is a copy of another, and another, millions, perhaps billions, 
The game? Invention.  Invention from another invention, imitating and putting in some change.  
But they are all the same: gas fed, inflated tires, body, bumper, seat - all of the same pattern.

My Reel Buggy has little, if ever, of these.  It is bare to the basics when the wheel was made.
The wheel is not an invention.  It was serendipity that led to its use. Some round stone rolled off.
Then an axle was fitted, then a cart on it. The ox was tamed. Road laid. Communities grew.
Beyond that the wheel became useful in many ways, and took the high road to sophistication.
And stopped at man's yearning for freedom to travel fast, to go to the moon and outer space,

To build machines, machines to build other machines, to robots, to explore and tap everything.
And Eureka! A new order.  A new ecosystem under man's command, the world shrinking fast,
All in the name of globalization, a term we least understand, and the world a roaring wheel. 
Losing the essence of invention on the grassroots, which itself bears the subsidy of invention:
From rubber to ore, to labor, to land supporting industries and cities, all spawned by the wheel.

We love momentum though dizzying - momentum for super economy, affluence, ad infinitum.
Pity the only rational being, his very own inventions taking him fast to his demise and doom;
Nuclear armament, genetic engineering, cyberspace conquest, probing deeper into sea and sky.
And looking back at the Tree of Knowledge our forebears violated, where are we headed for?
I look back sixty years ago on a sketch of my invention, pure and simple, and almost bare.

All I needed were an empty spool, rubber band, stick, a slice of candle - presto! a Reel Buggy!
Its power stored by the torque of rubber, stored inside the reel, released slowly by the wax,
Steered and balanced by a stick, and a smaller one at the other end to release excess torque.
There my buggy would move forward slow and steady, on the playground, smooth or rough. 
 Kids cheered and copied it.  Soon each one had his own Reel Buggy.  And that's the beginning of this story. ~ 



The famous Moon Buggy (left), and a simpler version          

Go live with Nature, you may yet find the meaning of life

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Dr Abe V Rotor

                                                                                                                  Idyllic Farm Life mural by the author, circa 2002 


If you've been in all your life living on the fast lane, trying to beat everyone,
though you know you'll never win this nameless race;

If you've been residing in a high rise building, taller than everything around, 

and touching the clouds, and you know your feet is off the ground;

If you've been missing the passing of seasons, the wonders that each brings,

though you keep the holidays and weekends;

If you've been constantly bothered by ailments that medicine can only relieve,

and not cure, and doctors can only advise;

If you've lost contact with your roots through the years of searching for fame,

wedging farther your connection, feeling like an  a orphan;

If you've succeeded in your career, rising to the top to the awe and admiration 

of your colleagues, yet deep inside is a feeling of emptiness;

If you've reached retirement after all the years of work and its responsibilities, 
but trapped in a dull, prosaic life of boredom;

If you've lost your loved ones, alone you gather the pieces of a happy memories,
nostalgic they are the rest of your life;

If you've been a good and loving guardian to your own children and other children, 
and they call you dad or lolo, and feeling being young again;

Get out of your confine, find a place in nature, live with her beauty and bounty,
her people and community, you may yet find the meaning of life. ~  

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Take a break, it's summer vacation!

Dr Abe V Rotor 
Thunderous waterfall fills the air with mist and rainbow;
Never tiring or monotonous, falling water as white as snow. 
Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte
Creak and laughter blend, bamboo and children are one;
The wind tamed into whistling breeze in the summer sun.  
Taal, Batangas
Religious because we grownups pray, while the children play
with the icons and spirits, seen and unseen, in their innocent way. 
Manaoag, Pangasinan
The secret of youth is to return to childhood, 
holding back the time and never getting old. 
Calatagan, Batangas   
When waves die in joyous laughter and endless fun
Join them, it's lifetime experience in the summer sun.
 Sabado de Gloria (Black Saturday), Sta Maria, Ilocos Sur
Play the sungka, the most murderous and curseful game,
Farce for fun whether old or young, the rules are the same.
 Calatagan, Batangas
What makes an eagle tame and friendly,
is our company since it lost its home tree.
Avilon Zoo, San Mateo Rizal
Papyrus, source of the first paper from which it got its name, 
is almost forgotten. Go and find it before it loses its fame. 
Sunken Garden, UP Diliman QC
Summer is season of many fruits, as golden as the sun;
Hurry or you'll miss the sweetest when summer is gone. 
Iba, Zambales 
Butterflies, butterflies everywhere, 
come a guest as sweet as nectar;  
but sweeter her smile and calmly fair,
as if from heaven came a star.
Tagbilaran, Bohol  
The genius of kids is re-inventing the wheel
to catch the wind when everything is still.
Lagro, QC

Meditation when the sea is creaseless on its shoal, 
the wind still, is the language of the heart and soul.
Calatagan, Batangas 

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Where have all the gypsies gone?

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Where have all the gypsies gone?  
Dr Abe V Rotor 
 Philippine version of a gypsy - an Itinerant peddler of native products. 
                                                                      Photo taken at Lagro Subdivision, QC

Paced the wooden cart with the sound of heavy hoof,
children from their play come to view,
once in a while this strange culture comes alive
from imagination to real anew.

A child wonders how live the gypsy on the road,
sans relations yet friend to all;
like Pied Piper leading a trail of kids cheering,
waking the sleepy Hamlin whole. 

Wonder the Dark Ages lit by the gypsy's tales,  
bards in their song and play;      
live Pushkin's gypsy poems into opera and ballet, 
and Hugo's Esmeralda to this day. 

Traveled on and on the gypsies around the globe, 
touching cultures under the sun,  
but sadly losing their own in the march of time.  
Where have all the gypsies gone? 

Don't be a Victim of Heart Disease, the Number One Killer

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Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (School on Blog)
738 DZRB AM 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday.


I have known people - a number of them relatives, 
co-workers and former classmates - who died of heart disease. 
If you have positive family history, you are a potential candidate to heart attack and its complications. Like Damocles Sword, you know the rules to live a long and happy life. There are ten factors you should be able to manage.

First,  Don't smoke.  Just don't. 

Second, Exercise.  Be active physically.  Get out of your comfort zone. 

Third, Reduce cholesterol level. Take less of meat and more fruits and vegetables.  
Fourth, Never indulge in drinking.  
                                                                                        Healthy heart angiogram (National Geographic)

Fifth, Live on healthy diet. Watch out your glucose level.

Sixth,  Maintain normal blood pressure always. 
  
Seventh, Don't be overweight.  Reduce. 

Eighth, Have regular medical checkup.

Ninth, Set a goal for your career and family.

Tenth, Have a positive outlook in life always. Reach out for life's meaning.  



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