Getting close

On the home stretch now. In a touch more than two months we will be leaving Manila. A year and half of dedication to her job by Sophie and the same time of painting/walking/dreaming(with a touch of web development) and goofing off  for me.

Sophie is in full swing of her last production of  the Appeals to donors with her successor in place and with the help of her top flight local team.

§§§

Parties

For our farewell we have planned two events:

Farewell party

Ka Freddie - Oil on canvas - 51 x 61 cm - 2013

• A farewell party for all ICRC staff - Manila Service Center and Manila Delegation - that Sophie is throwing right at the end of her posting, at the bar/club known as Ka Freddie's bar in Quezon City. This will happily coincide with the presence of her Geneva boss who will be coming to sanctify the transition (and will not be averse to the party).  The bar is run by local glory - singer/songwriter Freddie Aguilar  - in Quezon City the largest municipality in Metro-Manila. Freddie himself will play for us with his band and a fun time will be had by all. 

Silent Auction of paintings

• Earlier, at the beginning of November, at our apartment (condominium), we will, in addition,  be organizing a silent auction of the paintings I have  painted since we have been in Manila around 18-20 paintings. The event will be accompanied by a substantial buffet and drink.  In a silent auction, for those who are not familiar with the format, a minimum price is set for items and anyone can make one bid per item which is sealed until all bids have been collected. The highest bid takes the item (the bid itself is not announced, only the name of the person with the highest bid).

For an overview of the paintings offered(there should be one or two more by the time of the auction) click on the image below.

§§§

New Paintings Web Site

On the painting front I have been compelled to design a new web site as a result of the the fading away of my previous web hosting provider.

I do have a past in the IT world but I am not a big web developer. I do know a little web tech and am familiar with some programming languages, but it doesn't flow off the end of my fingers without effort. This meant that I had to find a solution that would offer me some assistance in building my site while keeping a good level of control on functionality and appearance.

I took out a good number of weeks from painting to research and finally chose and implement a solution.

It turned out that I still had to learn, quite a bit more than I hoped,  but it was fun in the end though it took quite a lot of my time and occasionally frazzled my nerves.

So here it is in all its glory. It is fairly much along the same lines as my previous site with a few more bells and whistles like a section illustrating the painting process, a functional message form, some Google map inserts and so on. A large part is dedicated to listing my paintings , of course.

§§§

When we leave Manila at the beginning of December, we will take a month to go to Thailand and Vietnam before returning to Geneva early January 2014. We look forward to being back in Carouge and getting back together with people though shooting back into the height of a Geneva winter after 18 months in the tropics may come with a certain shock (thermal).

Long time...

... no post.


It has been a considerable time since our last post for various reasons: Other things took our attention not to mention general laziness.

This post is someting of of a filler, it has little if any chronological narrative but nevertheless does bring some illustration of our experience.

§§§

Sitting suspended in the air something like 80 metres above ground, protected from the more dangerous effects of gravity only by the balcony floor, I (Pete) spend quite a bit of time in contemplation or generally wasting time online with my tablet. 

In my vista, looking back at me, I see countless high-rise buildings. Some seem to gaze benevolently at me while others have more austere countenances. Some are quite indifferent to my existence.

These visions and others sometime capture my attention enough to stimulate me to paint.

Here, then, is a selection of some of the paintings I have created in the past months. All are in oils on canvas. The dimensions are sometimes in inches and sometimes in centimetres.

§§§

---

[Please click on the images if you wish to see a larger version]

Makati Evening - 24 x 30 in.

Makati Evening

Makati, sometimes somewhat ungracious in the day time, takes on some of its charm at night time.

This painting is the view almost straight out the front of our balcony. The higher buildings are mostly lining Ayala avenue and are commercial high-rises. Some of the nearer ones are residential. We have view straight down Rufino street which crosses Ayala avenue as illustrated here by the the stream of head and rear lights of the cars mired in the regular rush hours. The greenish light on the right is from flood lights one of the numerous high-rise building sites one sees in Makati. Work goes on seven days a week and into the evenings.

§§§

 

---

Makati Sunset - 18 x 24 in.

Makati Sunset

Sometimes, while sitting on the balcony we are graced with a flaming sunset. This one prompted me to lean out (quite safely)  from the balcony  to take a photograph looking right along our street — H.V. Dela Costa st.— towards the the sunset. You can still see Rufino street trickling up the left side of the painting. The second high-rise from the right with the triangular summit is one of the more imaginative you find in Makati.

§§§

---

Makati - Before the Storm - 24 x 18 in.

 

Before the Storm

Looking out of the back room this time towards the Makati City Hall (on the left) with the gated village of Bel-Air 2 in the foreground. A storm is brewing over Quezon City in the north. The light is a mix of dark blue/purple storm clouds and sickly yellow from the sun.

§§§

---

Jupiter Street - 20 x 24 in.

 

Jupiter Street

 

Just over the busy road in the direction of the painting above (North), still in Makati but just outside the Makati Central Business District (CBD) proper, lies Jupiter street with Its restaurants and bars and Karaoke salons. One already notices that the maintenance and cleaning is slightly below the standard of the CBR. It is more haphazard and populated by multi-coloured neon signs. Here one may occasionally meet tricycles, human or engine powered, which are apparently banned in the CBR.

§§§

---

Alona Sunset - 60 x 50 cm

Alona Beach

And finally, as a counterpoint, a scene distant from Manila on the Island of Bicol just off Bohol Island to the south. We stayed there over a long weekend in a modest hotel on the beach and visited surrounding islands and went snorkelling and lazed on the beach. Again a sunset but what a difference in the backdrop!