Ugnayan Art Exhibit: May 7, 2018
Artistic Impressions of Mindanao Life

This artwork I made is for the upcoming art exhibit focusing on Mindanao culture. The name is "Artistic Impressions of Mindanao Life".

For this exhibit I chose to represent the beauty of ethnic culture here in Mindanao with waling waling or the Vander Sanderiana named after the orchidologist who discovered it. Mindanao is the third and last island of the Philippines if you view a map of our country. There are many ethnic tribes present.

Waling waling is endemic to Mindanao island and my subject here, she is wearing an ethnic beaded attire representing the Mandaya tribe. Most tribesmen of this group reside in Mati City.

The references I used for this piece are varied the model is different from the reference on the clothing and so on.

The artwork

This image is taken just as I finished it today in the afternoon. I took a picture with flash. It's still very dark, I'll surely post an update tomorrow.

_{Art by Hive account@jacinta.sevilla}
Title: untitled
Medium: Oil pastels
Size: 15" x 28"
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Surface: felt paper
Expected size when framed - frame and matting, 18" x 36"

_{Photo by Jun Cayas}
This is the expected size of the canvas or artwork. I made something a bit smaller but with a bigger frame and border/matting, it will be just right.

To Davaoeños, Mindanaoans

We are welcoming you to participate in the activities and watch the exhibit this May 7-10, 2018 at Abreeza mall Davao, 2nd floor.

I felt excited when I was invited to the exhibit. It's a big responsibility but any challenge is worth it.
Madayaw dabaw!

My References

Here are the photos I used as references, I just mixed them. And hoped for the best.

Why change the clothes? For one, ethnic attire is more deep rooted to the culture vs. filipiñanas which were introduced later on after the Spaniards came to the country.
Next, the Mandaya tribe is local to Mindanao (Mati City) which expresses the location and the theme more specifically.
Lastly, beaded attires are more colorful and the patterns are more detailed thus more attractive to viewers.

I wanted to express our culture in a beautiful way. We should be proud of it!

What do the orchids symbolize? The orchids symbolize Mindanao and the culture. Since it is endemic to the island, it is our symbol here.
Also, it looks very feminine and graceful. Just simple and attractive.

The Design

What are the important principles of design I applied to my artwork?
(1) emphasis and subordination
Theres a dark blue background so theres the dark part, the flowers and the woman is emphasized cause they're the only bright parts to it.

(2) Color theory - warm vs cool colors The background is cool, all of the drawing is warm colored. Like, red orange yellow pink red violet. There are slight touches of yellow green and blue but minimal. That also makes the subject pop up.

(3) Flow or rhythm
I'm not so sure with this but, I arranged the flowers in a wavy and diagonal flow from one corner to the other. It makes your eyes look from up to down across the page.

(4) Emotion: calm, serious and peaceful
I'll let you do your interpretation on this, but these are what I feel when I was composing this.

PROCESS PHOTOS

This is my second time to draw using oil pastels on felt paper.

Plan the size of the surface of your art, what medium etc.

Next I draw flowers using white, it helps make your colors brighter if you put a layer of white first.
One tip my friend said as well was

Put a layer of midtone then add the shades and highlights after.
This tip helps a lot too!

Drawing the face I used yellow ochre. This makes the face too yellow but I layer it with flesh tone, white, pink, green and red.

This is it! Blend your strokes well.

Blend rough texture with your finger
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Light and effective

Now she's got that flawless look!

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By the way, always ask friends, in my case I have many artsy friends who gave me critique. I also asked my model how she wanted it because it's her so this art is also connected.

I asked about poses, flowers and leaves, some questions if I'm going to put a background or no. They help a lot.

I also asked my friend for pictures so I can use them for my drawing.
Screenshot_20180412-024502~2.png
Really appreciate her cooperation and support, same to all my other friends!

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So I work my way down the bottom details. Very tricky but I managed to finish.
I added some flowers as well.

2018-04-12 11.39.40 1.jpg
Looking upclose, theyre still very messy but it doesn't matter. Oil pastels are messy!

2018-04-12 11.49.31 1~2.jpg

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Finally adding some green leaves, and some black and blue for shadow.
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And finally finished!

Oil pastels are very vibrant, they are faster to create and easier than painting.
You just have to be careful because like other mediums, the more layers, the more difficult it is to color and mix.

Frames

The next step is to have it framed, as of now I am looking for a reasonable priced frame for this.

Maybe next week I'll get a home for this artwork!

THANK YOU FOR READING ♥️

I made this in around 10 days, it's faster than I EXPECTED. I had one month to do this but I finished in a weeks time or so.

Our Culture
I wanted people to see our native dresses and flowers and say "wow" we are a beautiful nation.
Often times Filipinos are so modern, so westernized that they look at indigenous culture and marginalize them.
When we are tourists to other countries, we are so fast to want to wear a hanbok, kimono and what not but never were we excited to wear our own Beads and Filipiñanas.