Easterly Wind

In the onset of ber,..months, the season in the Philippines started to shift. From the hot windless afternoon, it would slowly change to calm mornings, but after mid day the wind from the east would slowly arrive blowing its way towards the south.

The deep blue colors of the ocean would now be splattered with sea waves. The situation will be heightened until 4 o'clock. We call this ocean temperament as "amihan" or easterly wind.

This natural phenomenon stayed till  the months of December or sometimes till February. In between this months typhoons are expected.

 During the fair weather, amihan wind heightened the festive atmosphere of Christmas.  It causes the leaves of the trees to constantly sway while the cold mist of the morning greets us and accompany us till the evenings.This is the pleasant time for bonfires  on the beach or in plains, for star gazing, while the Christmas songs were played in the air.

boat decoration

I was commissioned to decorate the boats hull, the designs reflect the island's living creatures, here's the images of the preparations..

preliminary sketches

sketch on the other panel

colors and under paintings..

halfway through the process

The finished two pieces works on panels to be installed on the passenger boat's facade (sorry, not familiar with boat architecture terms!). Done in enamel on panels, it will be installed when its dried..

this will be installed on the right side..

previous work

good day, everyone..
I saw a whale shark again yesterday while aboard  a pump boat going for swimming with my friends.
You could tell easily if there's one ,-there's this flock of seabirds, going around in this area of water.
The creature feeds on krills- a tiny organism that look like shrimps,when its around its color is reddish brown.There are also other fishes like jack fish, scud and small tuna, all are participating in the feast.
So I jump into the water and found this 80 foot long gentle creature

Unfortunately I don't have an underwater camera, but same excitement are expressed in this acrylic painting I did 3 years ago:

the link below is my painting posted in an art website fineartamerica.com
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/whale-shark-morning-jonathan-benitez.html

whale shark morning, acrylic on canvas, 34x26 inches

whale shark dawn, 36x24 inches, acrylic on canvas

previous acrylics

these works were done in the year 1999-2003..

portrait, 34x26 inches, sand and acrylic on canvas 1999

Dodong, 34x26 inches,  acrylic on canvas 1999

coral reef,  36x48 inches, paper collage and acrylic on canvas 2003

still life , 21x18 inches, acrylic on canvas 2012

instead of the typical flowers or immobile objects, my still life are ordinary thrown away everyday objects found floating or awashed in the beach..

fisherman's wife, 34x40inches, acrylic on canvas 2009

my portraits were not poignant, but ordinary persons I see everyday.Sun burned skin from daily toils are my kind of beauty, beauty from everyday struggle, to cope living in the sea.

fishclouds, 30x30 inches,  acrylic on board 2012

fisherman's wife, 36x48 inches, acrylic on canvas 2012

new acrylic

Just finished this piece.I don't have a title for this yet. It has the same similarity with my digital work-"underwater portrait series" done last year 2011.

34x26 acrylic on canvas 2012

Faith

sway with the wind

After seven years of staying in an island resort  as resident artist, it still really hard to find an inspiration.I thought staying in an island could silent my screaming voice to look and search for subjects to become my focal point, but still I am drowned by familiar sights, that i see everyday..

I should have created a blog a long time ago but, everyday life here is distracting, even though there's an internet connection. Life itself is always manifesting in everything..even nature,..there is always start and end to everything.The cycle in its redundancy, become a common place, albeit monotonous.
The wind tonight is cold and stale, did chance empathize with me? or its a mockery that we all living things should be contented to sway with the wind?

My painting above I created in 2007 speaks well of my present condition..