The Anthem Philatelist

 At a younger age while he was still in Surigao , Marlowe has always wanted to become an artist. Deep in his heart he believed the value of his artistry as it manifested even when he was still five years of age. His early fascination with art has motivated him to draw trucks, ships and even bikes.  He recalled that he was one of those many children who loved to draw the images of famous Filipino actors and actresses, especially that of Fernando Poe, Jr. In third year high school, he was introduced to the art of paper cuts which added to his creative skills.  To positively nurture his creativity, he enrolled as one of the many students in an Architectural Drafting class where he gained additional knowledge that positively contributed to his aspiration of becoming a painter. Going into college, Marlowe traveled to Cebu to enrol in a course in Fine Arts at the University of San Carlos , but unfortunately, he was late for the enrollment, making him take up Architecture in C...

I t is always a source of joy and pride for artists to exhibit their work globally and to personally interact and showcase their art pieces with people who are interested.  Such an opportunity came to a prominent 46 year old visual artist from Punta Princesa, Cebu City, Marlowe Toledo Villagonzalo . Together with master Cebuano cubist Celso Duazo Pepito , his equally talented wife Fe Madrid Pepito , and notable US based Filipino artists, Luis Caraos , Romeo Cortes Jr . and Bobby T. Yalong, they will present Shared Vision, an art exhibit in New York City USA, from September 17-30, 2022. As a distinguished mid career artist who has been carving a name to become an established artist in Cebu and the Philippines, Marlowe needed a platform to elevate his artistry and present his talent to the world.  "New York is one of the places where dreams can become reality. This is a memorable one for me and marks a milestone in my art journey.  My artwork is my life, it is my expressio...

Impasto is a technique used in painting where paint is laid on thickly to give a painting texture and an almost 3D effect. It can be accomplished with mediums such as acrylic, oil, or gouache . Early in painting, it was thought that the image being captured was more important than the medium it was painted with. Attention was drawn to the subject instead of the paint and canvas itself. The first notable artist to start painting with the Impasto technique was Rembrandt . In one of his self portraits from 1659. Thicker brush strokes are clearly visible across his face to give himself a weathered look. Here are examples of Celso Pepito 's impasto paintings from Amuma ni Mama , an Art Exhibit in SM City Cebu .  The show's works capture the bond of a mother and her child by standing on art making's principles of compositional balance and by showing what can be in working through the ins and out of creative explorations and personal creative distillations. Amuma ni Ma...

I've been road running for the past 3 years. A few days ago however, I ventured into a different running adventure-  trail running.  Earlier on, I always wanted to run in varied off-road terrain, but friends warned me that injuries are higher in these types of run .    A colleague of mine, dislocated his knee and another had bruises in his shins and foot courtesy of the rocky terrain. My witty, humorous, fitness loving travelmate  Dr. Clifford "Ipyok" Aranas almost collapsed due to anaphylaxis after being bitten by a bee. Some even got lost (due to absence of signs) and became severely dehydrated (due to lack of water stations).  So, I told myself: "I'll have to prepare for this event"- the first ROX (Recreational Outdoor Xchange) Trail run in Liloan , Cebu sponsored by Salomon .    After much reading from various books and frequent site visits to Runner's World , I came up with these strategies, which I call the ABCDE strategy, for a successf...