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 since 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 is 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 evokes 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 benefits 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.

###

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

CARMELITO SANTOS Artist/Poet (A Biographical Sketch)

(Photos of the artist and his paintings will be posted later.)

There is a point in an artist's life when he feels stifled, experiencing a certain dulling of the imagination, and he feels the need to reshape the intrinsic creative vision that once filled his life with excitement. For so long he has been a craftsman who worked with technical precision, with emphasis on form, conveying his fidelity to realism as inspired by the masters, catering to the delicate taste of the general masses.

Suddenly he is tired of producing pastiche works and longs for a sense of independence, to create freer compositions with a startling robust style - intense and evoking, shattering of form and balance that dissolves his objects into abstract forms.

Carmelito ("Lito") Santos was not an exception to this inner conflict and he sought to restructure his creative vision. He has triumphantly reinvented himself as an artist, and he feels a sense of freedom and joyous release. Today, he paints with a new style of self-expression that is distinctively his own. Once again, he feels his spiritual energy flowing into an emotional expression of life as he creates works that are radical, reckless, and in his words, "schizophrenic."

Painted in unrestrained bold strokes and vibrant tones, Santos' canvases explode with stunning luminosity, vibrant tones and shades that project his immense vitality and freedom of artistic expression. Some people may find his style too harsh and not in harmony with his gentle personality, but such is the risk he recognized in his creative transformation.

Lito Santos's latest works of art feed his homesickness for the Motherland, his longing for the past. "They are a depiction of my remembrances," he laments, "my solace, a big part of my life emotionally." Christmas heightens a certain loneliness in him, which he reveals in the following soulful poems he penned.

Christmas Carols Make Me Cry

they hurt away from a tropical
golden harvest scent,
away from a permeating odor
of burnt sheets of banana leaves
(lining earthen bake wares),
of shredded coconut
and soaking powdered rice,
of charcoal embers
and coconut husk and betel nut
chewing ancient women, stall owners.
(they crowd the church's apron
with gas lamps and candles and electric bulbs,
and smoke and stench of
acrid smell and sweet dispositions.)

they hurt. yes, christmas carols hurt
away from hearts longed for and missed.
too, they hurt away from tolling bells at deep
dawn, away from some sleepy
crowd of loved and familiar faces
at an after midnight mass.

they hurt to subdued tears and muffled sighs
and choking breathless cries.
yes, christmas carols hurt away from true loves
now in nostalgia,
i hear the clatter of feet on asphalt,
homeward by lantern glow and star light,
after the bells ring the termination
of a day's sacred calling.

yes, now I see lanterns on windows
lighting the way back.
yet now, away from their glare and brilliance,
they burn my eyes wet. they hurt.

christmas carols make me cry.

Christmas Memories Through Lanterns
And Clotheslines

Clothes and tapestries
on clotheslines,
but colors
on that one december
rain on lanterns
lit, .i remember
the odious
muelle on that one day
forever.

old christmas
reflects
on my tears now, now in years
and replace.

memories
are there
to reach for,
to hold on to, to cry for.

i'm older now.
thoughts
fleet in turns
to erode river bank
and the adobe shoring
at each bend.

feelings
are frail.
they break
so easily
to show,
to flow
awkwardly
into tears.

Santos has exhibited and sold his artworks in some of the prestigious Cherry Creek galleries in Denver and in various other art galleries in Colorado. He has had several one-man shows at The Gallery in the City of Aurora's main library, and the Fox Theatre. He was also the featured artist of the Asian Film Festival, which was co-sponsored by the Aurora Asian Pacific Community Partnership. Through the years he has actively represented the Philippines, albeit unofficially, through his art and poetry, his dances and songs at several cultural and artistic activities, which include the Asian Pacific Festivals and the Martin Marietta Pacific Islander celebrations. In May of this year, he was the only Filipino artist to participate in the "ARTIST ASIA" - an annual art show sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank in downtown, Denver.

This versatile artist has not limited his creative prowess to painting landscapes and portraits in all mediums. He is also a sculptor, creating figures from wood, clay and plaster. In one collaborative effort, he has designed the stained glass window backing the statue of Our Lady of Antipolo at the Queen of Peace Church. Blessed with the gift of the words, Santos also writes poetry.

In the words of one fan: "I can see, I can taste, I can smell the things and places that you are talking about." For most of his later paintings, Santos has written a corresponding poem to go with each work. "Poetry expresses my own personal emotions," he says, "and my passion for my subject matter. I believe that each one of my paintings illicit a different set of emotions from my viewers. My poetry personalizes it for me. In my paintings, my style is reckless in many ways, a style I enjoy very much. It provides me with the freedom and abandon that I need. It sustains my rebellious soul. In my art and in my heart, fences are non-existent. My heart is my only master. I answer to no one. In spite of the potential harm to the commercial value of my paintings, I can't prostitute myself to the dictates of forces other than my heart. I am of the belief that art should not be "technicalized". Engineers, architects and scientist are technicians. I am an emotionalist."

Born in Bacolor, Pampanga, Philippines, Santos lives in Aurora with his wife, the former Andrea Navarro of Biliran Island, Leyte, whom he affectionately refers to as his "first and only love." They have five children ranging in age from 22 to 39 - all accomplished professionals in their respective fields. Emilio, the eldest, is a math teacher who was named Colorado Coach of the Year three years ago when his girls' volleyball team took the State Championship. "They are my masterpieces," he says, "collectively entitled, "E-A-R-T-H" taken from the first letter of each first name: Emilio, Ann, Roche, Theresa and Hallel. "When Andrea and I got married, we planned on spelling out "Earth angels" with eleven kids. The move to America rendered that plan impractical."

Last year, he established his own company called EARTH CA after his children's names. He intends to sell his art and inspirational greeting cards. The cards are based on his paintings, writings and photography. He dreams of eventually publishing a book of his paintings and writings.

Santos has been active in the community since moving to Colorado in 1975. With his wife, he has taught, performed, choreographed and produced cultural shows to meet the community needs of Aurora and other communities. Currently, he is the president of The Bayanihan Society of Queen of Peace, a prayer group predicated on the Filipino spirit of caring and sharing. "I believe in giving back to my community," he says, "for I am very thankful to my God and my two countries."

© Copyright 2008 writeartista (UN: mariapanlilio at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

ESTEBAN LUMANLAN -- THE FILIPINO ARTIST

The Chronicle Of Esteban
Portrait Of A Nationalistic Artist

By Maria Concepcion Panlilio

Esteban has painted many portraits of prominent people in the Philippines throughout his illustrious art career spanning over forty prolific years. But since he immigrated to America, this nationalistic artist, whose heart remains devoted to his native land, has lost his inspiration to paint.

The man who once executed in oils thirty huge commissioned portrait paintings of Philippine Bishops in less than three months, now struggles to paint. His heart is no longer in his art, for twelve thousand miles from his birthplace, he does not see nor hear the sights and sounds that he loves about the Philippines--the very things that put the art in his heart.

Esteban longs to embrace the spectacular vision of Mount Arayat looming over his hometown Angeles City--the way he used to do while he painted under the canopy of a protective tree. He misses waking up to the sound of the crowing cocks at the break of dawn--the alarm clock of Filipino farmers planting or harvesting rice from sunup to dusk. On the canvas of his imagination he watches ordinary country folks doing their simple chores: women bartering at the public market, men on carabao backs; the silhouetted backdrop of fishermen against a bleeding sunset; and children playing sipa on the street. Ahh . . . just the simple things that can heal the aching heart.

"I sat for a long time expecting Msgr. Pedro P. Santos to speak from the painting," so begins a 1961 letter from Rev. Robert A. Rice, S.J. Ateneo de Naga, Naga City, to Esteban. "It is such a living creation," he continues. "When Msgr. Santos unveiled the painting, the expression on his face is one that I wish could be recorded for you. I can assure you that it brought to His Excellency great joy and happiness."

The Archbishop of Caceres was so impressed with the stunning life-like character of his canvas cloth version that he immediately commissioned Esteban to paint the portraits of the past thirty Bishops of Naga. The young painter was greatly challenged, not by the magnanimity of the commission, but by the extremely poor quality of the photographic source of the first Bishops to guide him in executing the paintings. "They were faded and very obscure," Esteban remembers. "Imagine, these are men who lived during the Spanish times--as early as the late 1500's." But Esteban's incredible optical perception and sheer genius and confidence in rendering true-to-life facsimile of his subjects in oils prevailed. In an unbelievable fashion, he delivered to Msgr. Santos the impressive portrait paintings of the thirty bishops in just a little over two months. The paintings now hang on the walls of the Archbishop's palace.

Inevitably, his reputation as a great portrait artist spread like wild fire in the art community. What followed was a succession of art commissions for prominent figures of families throughout the country, which included: Maj. Gen. Thomas Moorman of the U.S. Thirteenth Air Force, Congresswoman Juanita L. Nepomuceno, and the portrait of Pope John XXIII, which was hand-carried by Bishop Emilio Chinese to the Vatican and presented to the Pope.
Another gift in 1961, an oil painting of President John F. Kennedy, was sent to Washington. In a letter to Esteban, Evelyn Lincoln, personal secretary to President John F. Kennedy, states in part: "The very fine portrait that you did of the President has been received and he asked me to send you this note of thanks."
In 1963, the JAYCEES of Angeles City nominated Esteban for the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of the Philippines for his contributions in the field of Art.

Esteban's early successes in the Philippines include the ownership of an art gallery in Balibago for ten years before winning a bid to establish an art gallery inside the U.S. Clark Air Force Base (the largest U.S. Air Force Base in Asia destroyed by Mount Pinatubo's eruption in 1991 that led to its permanent closure) For fifteen years, he maintained a monopoly of the highly successful gallery at Clark. Thereafter, he started a trucking business with a misguided thought that it would allow him to paint more. Subsequently, he and his wife, Millet, moved to the United States in 1995. Sadly, leaving the Philippines was like leaving his muse behind, and his art began to suffer.

Esteban was born on September 11, 1939, in San Fernando, Pampanga, but lived most of his life in Angeles City. Born with the gift of the creative imagination and talent, his first brush with the artistic fame began when high school students at the Holy Angel Academy (now Holy Angel University) commissioned him for a portrait painting of the private school's founder, owner and president, Don Juan Nepomuceno (the first of Esteban's several paintings of the Nepomuceno family). The late Don Juan Nepomuceno--a name that is synonymous to philanthropy, politics, religion, power and influence, was stunned by the breathing quality of Esteban's portrait painting of him that he took the young genius under his wings.
"He came to visit me at home almost everyday for two to three years," Esteban said. "Most of the time, we just talked--not necessarily about art. For some reason, he felt comfortable talking to me. Imagine the spectacle whenever my neighbors saw Don Juan's limo parked outside our modest house. He also frequently invited me to his social gatherings and introduced me to his family and friends."

We all know that an artist's genius with the brush is not enough to achieve success in the art world. The Philippines is endowed with many gifted artists whose works can rival those of the masters', but they can only dream of acquiring such a famed benefactor to provide the needed exposure. If it had not been for the Ayala family in the Philippines, where would the late Fernando Amorsolo's (Philippines' National Artist) place in the art world be? Perhaps in the same well-deserved and rightful spot, or perhaps not. But one thing's sure: having a benefactor is a gift (just like the God-given talent) of which every artist can only fantasize.

After graduating from High School in 1958, Esteban considered taking Architecture or Fine Arts, but changed his mind. Instead, he invested in oil paints and brushes and started painting professionally. Another rich philanthropist offered to send Esteban abroad on a scholarship, which he declined because of his ailing mother, and the discouragement from Don Nepomuceno. "He told me that my talent was a gift from God and if I tried to learn and be influenced by other artists' methods, I might lose my own unique style."

* * *
Esteban Lumanlan and friends (Maria Panlilio and Lito Santos)