This was something that has been eating up my brains since the second quarter. I liked the inspirations I read and saw in the magazines. The challenge though lies on the output. But I remain confident that I can do it BETTER than them without relying too much on pre-made templates and embellishments, and be able to market it well, if I give it time.

Work starts today. And then during the holiday break.

How does one create a grass head? Very simple. Get a used pantyhose, cotton string, sawdust, grass seeds, rubber band and a water dish. To give it a face, buy felt paper for eyes, nose and lips. Remember to soak the grasshead into the water. After it floats, put it on the water dish and let it stay there. Don’t forget to give it a haircut every once in a while.

A friend has always been telling me to go for it. Like make these crazy ideas happen instead of sitting on it like I did for the past year. Ideas, no matter how great, if remain unfilled, are nothing but a waste of brain energy. Right.

I might hire a professional website builder for this, for the same old reason that I don’t have much time. I have already checked on various templates and have spotted one that looks better – clean, fun and easy to manage from my end. It doesn’t really matter if it’s going to be another Joomla. I just need something I could start working on. I have to begin at something and let everything roll from there.

We provide face paint art training and competitive fees to talented artists. Please email a short bio of yourself and a scanned copy of any artwork you have to elyenita@hotmail.com.

Then I saw this nice pair rain boots worn by a Makati office chick one stormy day. And I was looking at my wet wrinkled pale toes in those Brazillian pair and pity overcame me. So I took a mental note of that colorful rain boots, and yes, get a pair by all means. It’s something you can wear during this perennially bad weather and could match every outfit, even your mom’s plus size lingerie.

I learned they call these rain boots “pluey” which means “rain”. Boots is a typical Western fashion with functional purposes – protects your toes, and your whole body as well, from cold. You wear boots there because you don’t want to get those icy blisters on your feet and the cold weather suck up all your body heat. Now you know what goes inside my head every time I see someone in boots along Edsa.

I am not really familiar with different art forms. Often times I hold a biased view against art forms that do not conform to the standard. Cubism, a Picasso-inspired art form, is something I didn’t understand until I saw how Manansala used the style – like mirrors reflecting overlapping images. He used the post-war cityscape of Manila as his subjects – from vendors of Quiapo, jeepneys to women in the slums. His works were a visual feast of colors and style, combining an Amorsolo-like artistry to Picasso’s cubism.

So so inspiring.

I was 18 that time, a newbie and probably one of the four or five female illustrators who broke into the male-dominated world of comics illustration. There I was introduced to Redondo’s works. The artist was so admired and emulated by most people I had worked with. We found ourselves students of his realistic art style and learned so much about the tremendous attention he paid to detail. Such high regard bordered on the fact that his was simply a case of raw talent completely devoid of software manipulations that have defined so much of this generation’s artistry, like a person’s fascination to carb blockers. He was one of the best pencil-and-ink guys.

Thank God for the Internet. Otherwise, I would not have known Redondo to be an Ilocano born in 1928, a would-have-been architect (but the call of comics illustration was so hard to resist so he eventually left Mapua) and the man behind the illustration of Mars Ravelo’s series “Darna” in the 50′s.

Palos, Diwani, Gagamba and Tagisan ng Agimat were some of the works he made in collaboration with his brother, Virgilio. Some of his works were also published various local comics. In 1953, an American film outfit, MGM Pictures, commissioned him to do a comic book preview of the movie “Quo Vadis”.

In the 70′s, a friend helped him establish contacts with the editors of Marvel and DC Comics. Later on that decade, Redondo started doing work for the following titles: House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Rima, The Unexpected, Conan the Barbarian, and Weird War Tales. He also took over Swamp Thing from Berni Wrightson. A Dutch organization hired him to do illustrations of the Bible. In 1977, he was commissioned by Far Eastern Broadcasting Company (FEBC), a Christian radio station, to do a painting for them. In 1979, he received the Inkpot award bestowed annually by Comic-Con International.

Nestor Redondo (1928-1995) and and his agent/friend Ed Noonchester at the 1982 San Diego Comic Con (today called Comic-Con International). Photo courtesy of Alan Light.

Most of Redondo’s works later on in his life were for various Christian comics, having been a born-again Christian in the early 80′s. Redondo passed away in December 1995, just a month before he was to deliver his lecture in the 1st International Christian Comics Training Conference in Tagaytay in January 1996.

Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) is no longer just a maximum security prison but has turned its facilities into a dance studio famous for “The Dancing Inmates”. After their “Thriller” performance in 2007 that brought them to Time Magazine’s most popular viral video list, the accused bad boys returned to You Tube in orange jumpsuits and black shirts performing Michael Jackson’s “This Is It”.

Michael Jackson’s long-time choreographer Travis Payne and dancers Daniel Celebre and Dres Reid came to visit and joined them in another You Tube phenomenon. You should watch them. The guys were having fun in their stay, not to mention the entire exercise was keeping them fit without relying much on joint supplements. Makes the entire detention period worthwhile.

If you ever wonder how this group of 1500 inmates was formed, provincial security advisor Byron Garcia derived the inspiration from The Shawshank Redemption wherein Mozart’s Figaro played all over the prison.

It has been awhile since the last portrait. The last one was David Cook’s sometime December 2008. My art materials were lost to the flood, including artworks as well. The only thing that survived was Prang and a couple of brushes.

I tried a different medium for a change. Faber-Castell color pencils somehow managed to create vibrant colors, although it was a bit taxing for my part. But the good thing about it was it gave me some sort of control I don’t usually achieve in watercolors.

Now my victims: Edward and Bella. Not bad for starts although they do look like someone who have been taking Fastin. My photo material for this was quite bad. I will look for nice sources on the web.

Sesame Street, as you all know it, is celebrating 40 years in the business of entertaining and educating kids. Like most of people who were born in the 70′s, I grew up watching every episode on our black and white TV set. Now, decades later, Big Bird and company have just conquered Google.

Those nice graphics you see on Google page everyday are now available in nice Google shirts. And it’s free. But on one condition that you buy any of Sesame Street’s 40th Anniversary products. They ship to almost everywhere in the world so just prepare additional $20 to $30 to pay for the courier. They accept Visa, Mastercad and Discovery. No Paypal. (I have to wait for three days to transfer my funds to the bank. I just hope the bank is done with their online backup after those nasty breakdowns wrought by October typhoons. I want the shirt!!!)