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BALINTONG

Pandolin | A Painting of a Fauna
Acrylic Painting on Canvas
36"x24"

PANDOLIN

Pandolin is one of the most illegally trafficked animal. Because of it's beautiful scales and nature, the poachers can easily make money out of them. Nowadays, Pandolins are listed in the endangered species.

In the Philippines, we call it "Balintong" which literally means somersault. Philippine Pandolin also known as Palawan Pandolin is endemic in the said area of our country.

"Its habitat includes primary and secondary forests, as well as surrounding grasslands. This species is moderately common within its limited range, but is at risk due to heavy hunting because of its valued scales and meat." source

MATERIALS:

Paintbrushes | Pointed and Flat
36"x24" Box-type canvas
Acrylic Paint | I used Mont Marte Satin Acrylic paint, Golden Orche, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Raw Sienna and Titanium White
Plaster of Paris
Pallete Knife
Pencil
Water
Clear Lacquer

	My mixing pallete.

It's been one of my longest commission which actually took me almost two years to contemplate and finish.

THE PROCESS:

Drafting of Objects. This is where the pieces and things inside the painting were layout from the sketch inside my mind to the canvas.

As you can see, I have there an eye and a pandolin on a tree trunk. :) At this point I was so excited to paint details on it.

Background . Using shades of brown acrylic paint, I and my beau randomly paint on the canvas. I usually paint the background first before the subject and then later on work with it if there's any changes on the layout I have in mind. Some areas of the canvas were filled in with plaster of paris and acrylic mixture to add more texture.

I wanted to incorporate Baybayin scripts in my paintings more. One art teacher and critic told me that her students tend to stay more on my painting because they were trying to decode the script I painted on my Luzon Wart Frog piece. And it made me happy. Because for me, the longer the people look into paintings, the more they can see the details on it, and the more they appreciate an art piece.

Painting the eyes. After I finished the background, I started to paint the eyes. This is also my favorite part because eyes are my former subjects on my artworks and this is the easiest and the first subject to create of any painter and artists I know. I used burnt sienna and white acrylic paint for this part.

After painting the eye, I proceeded to adding more Baybayin scripts. These are some of the phrases I painted : "Kumusta Ka, Kaibigan?, "Hiraya at Panaginip", "Saan patungo ang iyong mga pangarap?", "Balintong" which translates directly to "How are you my friend?", "Imagination and dreams", "Where do dreams go?" and "Pandolin" respectively.

Painting the Pandolin. The video below shows how I created the underpaint for the Pandolin. It's a little bit tricky for me because of the details of the scales. I was so excited to paint this part.

This video is when I put details on its scales. It was really enjoyable and at this point is where I really fell in loved with the painting. I can say that I really love this one.

Painting the details I decided to just leave the tree and it's branches color white. For me, it gives the painting a sense of mysticism and elaborates the Pandolin more. Instead of adding colors to it, I added more texture using acrylic paint.

Final detailing. It is the point of the duration where I realized that painting is like writing a novel. You got your drafts, your outline of the story, the plot, characters. And then you come to the point where you erase something because it does not fit to the story line and put another, more appropriate scene and make your own story better. It happened when I added a script on the top-right part of the painting and it turned out okay but not really okay for me, so I decided to paint it with white paint to cover my scripts. It happened many times in that painting. I painted a lot of ornaments that I thought could beautify my work but ends up messing around my subject. I had to make myself firm that this must look the way I wanted it and not the way my excited -self wants it to be. Sometimes we make a sudded decision in life which makes us regret but we could all make it better if we understand the process of decision making and making things right.

Finishing Touches. I cleaned the painting by filling the dull parts with darker shades of color and adding abstract paint onto it. After that, when the painting is all set and dry, I sprayed it with clear lacquer to lock the colors and protect it from dust.