Saturday, March 27, 2010

PIGMENTS OF MARIA PANLILIO'S IMAGINATION

"Safe and Secure"
Georja and Isabelle

(Oil, ca. 2003, 20x24, by Maria Panlilio)


"Hiking In The Woods At Sunset"
(Oil, ca. 2006, 12x18 by Maria Panlilio)






"I Want To Walk With You On The Mountain"
(Oil, ca. 2006,24x30 by Maria Panlilio)



PIGMENTS OF MARIA PANLILIO'S IMAGINATION
(A published feature artifcle by Angelo Niles)


Art of Maria is a gallery of extraordinary drawings, prolific masterpieces and ceramic ware. With hundreds of portraits, scenic renderings, and handmade vases in her repertoire, Panlilio’s talents shine in an array of mediums: pencil, pastel, watercolor, acrylic, oil, and marker art. When she paints, a pristine garden unfolds – yielding the majestic rise of Pele, the coral shores of Hawaii, or a molten sunset sprawled over Mount Shasta’s snowy rim. One can nearly step into the breezy palm-lined beaches, forested mountainscapes, sparkling brooks and orchards of her Nature Gallery.

“I’ve always loved the outdoors sinc
e I was a little girl,” she says with wanderlust in her brown, almond-shaped eyes. Raised under the splendorous rise of Mount Pinatubo, in the shadows of a U.S. military base, she comes from a close-knit family. Hence, her earliest art pieces were often of relatives and the rustic wilds of the Philippines.

An array of exotic locales rises from her earthy, fecund textures. Among Panlilio’s soulful sketches and paintings are wintry mountainscapes, quiet vistas, and floral vignettes from her many travels. Cast in vibrant Renoir-like settings, her exquisite Serenity Series features original oils and acrylic paintings, framed and signed for authenticity, and matted prints produced in high-quality, colorful finish. Panlilio’s zestful love for nature as a living, breathing jewel is reminiscent of Georgia O’Keeffe. The strokes of her brush are almost sensual.

By far, though, it is Panlilio’s pencil portraits that enrapture the onlooker. With a few graceful strokes, she captures the soul of her subjects. “I love the simplicity and elegance of charcoal pencil drawings,” she says, displaying an angelic portrait of a young Filipina bride. “To me, they captivate in a way that is hard to describe because it i
s inexplicably magical. It pleases me when my patrons choose this medium for their portraits, and hopefully they also feel that certain pleasure that pencil drawings render.”

An almost haunting beauty flows from her 2004 pencil portrait Mother and Child. In delicate shading, boldly wrought strokes, and a keen eye for subtle mood, Panlilio immortalizes the faces of Geojia and Isabelle, both from the artist’s abundant clan of relatives. Something intrinsically wholesome seeps from such images. Her fluid style evok
es such classics as Frida Kahlo and Nigel. As if the very Mona Lisa, her self-portrait: The Artist, exudes charm, grace and mystery.

Panlilio exhibits a Family Portrait Gallery that displays her watercolor painting My Parents’ Wedding. Surprisingly, this superbly detailed homage was captured from a torn, warped and soiled wedding photo of her parents – the only one she owned. This, and a companion tribute to her mother Feliciana, painted in mixed media, brings Panlilio (in her words) an immense gratitude for the God-given ability to immortalize a special moment in the life of an incredible person.


Such passionate roots
sprang from a humble childhood in Angeles City. Despite growing up in a family of eight siblings, plus two cousins raised by her parents for many years, she honed her craft with few luxuries beyond a pencil set. By age eight, she began writing and illustrating her own comic books. At 14, her graphic short story saw its debut in a comic book in the Philippines. And at 18, a TV series was inspired by one of her stories. When she was 23, her first romance novel was published in the United States. “It was one of those pocket books that you can literally read while luxuriating in the bathtub,” she says with a shy smile. “I think it contained only fifteen thousand words, and the writing style was not all that impressive. It was a good story, but lacking the element of craft. I think I am a much better writer now,” she continues almost apologetically.

After a life in the corporate world where she worked for a Fortune 100 firm, administering a multi-million dollar pension portfolio and managing the retirement bene
fits of Aaron Spelling Productions, Inc., Panlilio began her quest for her place in the world of art and literature. When exploring the virtual galleries at www.artofmaria.com, you will but enter a primordial forest with Pinatubo On My Mind, or stroll along the foamy black sands as you hike down the craters of Haleakala Volcano, with visions like Hawaii On My Mind.

As though sculpted in Polynesian beauty herself, she ponders a series of illustrations done while exploring Hawaii’s cliffs and springs. About her inspiration for her Serenity Series, Panlilio explains, “Thoughts of Hawaii conjure up images of azure water, towering palm trees curved skyward, tracing their graceful lines against the bleeding sunset sky, a moon over Waikiki, or a rainbow arching over downtown Honolulu.

The lush greens and countless waterfalls spill right onto the canvas in her original oil paintings. Peace, Serenity and Solitude. One of Panlilio’s favorite works is City of Refuge (20x24 oil), a remote place in Hawaii where she whiled away the hours, reading, writing and painting. In another collection, she shows off her Rembrandt style impressionist scenes, using Vis-a-Vis marker art in ways that amazed even the President and CEO of the manufacturer of the famed projection markers. Wielding her mastery of contrast, light and shadow, she produced brilliant floral landscapes. The rustic images seem to breathe from her very soul:: A countryside cabin hedged by tall windblown grass and wildflowers. Or a meandering trail matted with orchids, willows, and a misty lilac peak in her oil painting I Want To Stand With You On The Mountain.

Gazing out at the snowy wonderland outside her California studio, some force beckons her restless spirit. Having hiked the peaks of Shasta, Adams, St. Helens, and Rainier, she aspires to conquer all the summits in the Pacific Rim. “Climb them, paint them, preserve their mystery on canvas,” she says.

With such a hectic lifestyle, Panilio still finds time to skydive, go climbing, hike and take scenic drives along the Pacific Coast. Each summit recurs like an old friend in her vivid alpine motifs. Among all others, Mt. Rainer remains her Holy Grail. During one of her most daring efforts to reach the peak in 1997, Panlilio was snowbound for two weeks. Dreadful weather and avalanches had claimed the lives of two hikers; caused power outages, mud slides; and inspired Panlilio’s literary journal Sleepless in Seattle With Cabin Fever. When at last sunlight broke the dismal spell, it cast Rainier in glorious golden rays. “My chest swelled with excitement," she says, as if tasting freedom from captivity for the first time in years, "I set off to join the brave and the adventurers, not to mention the foolish—and headed for the mountain.”

When she’s not at the easel, Panlilio strives to bring awareness to the plight of the indigenous tribes of the Philippines. Her selfless activism has taken her to the jungles to live alongside the gentle Aeta tribes, long displaced since the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo. While among them, she campaigned for better living conditions, raised funds, and gathered research for a book about the Aeta, whom her father traded goods with when she was a young girl. Her essays have frequented many periodicals, alongside touching profiles of Asian immigrants living in the United States. In her ongoing cause she has broached such topics as The Cancer of Slavery in the Souls of Human Civilization, homeless heroes, war and love.

Panlilio continues to take refuge in the melody of her artwork. With Monet flamboyance in her brushstrokes, each scene holds a cherished memory of her life and those of her growing clientele. While Art of Maria vaunts a gallery of contemporary gems, she has been commissioned to produce many of America’s historic landmarks since 1992. An impressive watercolor of the Taft Museum in Cincinnati showcases her classical, yet modern forte.

A delicate fire kindles on the edge of a pristine grove, startling pink fuchsia, or a molten skyscape bursting over her canvas. Such lifelike beauty is bountiful in Panlilio’s masterful art. Whether buying her landscapes, painted vases, pencil portraits, her exquisite originals or the limited edition prints, one gains a unique gift of imagination.

Like a rose unfolding to yield its fragrant promise, Maria Concepcion Panlilio brings a fresh face to Asian Pacific art.

As if imbued by Taal Volcano’s smoldering reverie, Panlilio’s eyes smile with fiery wanders. Every so often she strolls back to a long ago misty peak, still daydreaming under a tree in Cavite. “One day,” she playfully admits, “I’ll soar into an azure sky, only to leap from a perfectly good plane and skydive into the mouth of a live cauldron.”

Oh, sweet lava hot dreams.

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© Copyright 2007 writeartista (UN: mariapanlilio at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.



1 comment:

  1. AWESOME!!
    SOME PEOPLE JUST GOT IT ALL: BEAUTY, TALENT, BRAINS, HEART, ETC.

    ReplyDelete