Sometimes, when a lower middle-class woman has set some money aside, she proceeds ro purchase an unwary man of her choice.

It is easy to tell whether it is the woman who pays for everything, Her first priority is traveling with the man and having their photos taken, and she is very demonstrative toward the man in public even if it is embarrassing to the man.

May 1, 2025

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Joseph the Worker.

Wrong: I feel amazed.

Right: I am amazed.

Amazement is not an emotion. It is a MENTAL STATE.

Wrong: I feel  indifferent.

Right: I am indiferent.

Indifference is not an emotion. It is an ATTITUDE.

Right: I feel nothing.

Correct, bearing in mind that apathy is essentially a PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITION bordering on neurosis.

Especially if you are a writer, know your emotions, their terms, their descriptions, and their references. Do not mix apples with oranges. Otherwise your readers will be walking around with your ignorance in their pockets.

Never abuse anyone's generosity.

When bipolars do damage to others, they really do so first and foremost to themselves.

A water fountain you can turn on from time to time inside your house is an auspicious item.

Warm is better than chilly at bedtime.

An old servant is trying to come back and steal from you.

Not everyone who is sweet and friendly is trustworthy.

Anything beyond repair belongs to the dust bin.

Be earlier than your invited guests.

Do not press the shutter until you feel you have a good shot.

 Always keep your good stuff under lock and key.

Live for others, but live for yourself as well.

Year-end holidays are best enjoyed whenever they are planned and prepared for a year in advance.

Conflicting instructions always make people break rules.

Write and paint because they are easy, not because they are difficult. Otherwise enjoy life and do easy things instead.

His mousy, spinsterish mien makes him a poor candidate for negoitating with world leaders.

"The old boys" band together and uphold their traditionalist values.

It is unwise to let others dictate what is good and what is bad for you.

The artists made their political biases clear, and now they neither have sponsors nor audiences.

Now watch out for fhying insects in droves.

Now that the old director's heyday is over, he fears the onset of poverty and the mockery of his peers.

They can no longe beg for money from a dead producer.

Many men deny what does not conform to their idea of reality.

Never allow your religion to prevent you from being yourself.

Your body will tell you when to rest and when to rise.

Feel free to hex people who make you wait unnecessarily. That includes doctors and City Hall officials.

Romantic love will always distract you from your true mission.

Now that The Crowning of Mary is done, all of the paintings in the Reading Room of the Glorious Mysteries on the second floor of the library of Maryhill School of Theology are complete.

The paintings are:

--Adoration of the Magi

--The Glorious Mysteries: The Resurrection

--The Glorious Mysteries: Ascension

--The Glorious Mysteries: Descent of the Holy Spirit

--The Glorious Mysteries: Mary Is Assumed Into Heaven

--The Glorious Mysteries: The Crowning of Mary

--Saint Sebastian

--The Pauline Letters

--Peter Is Called to Ministry and Martyrdom

I will soon schedule a guided tour of the paintings in this reading room and the albeit still incomplete paintings in the lobby and four other reading rooms (three on the ground floor and another on the second floor of the library).

Will probably serve pizza and soda, but I cannot include the public in this initial tour, because the group will be quite rowdy and irreverent with lots of laughing and hooting. It will be comprised of my models, neighbors, friends, Spirit Questors, and Joy Luck Club members, many of whom are not art lovers and will be coming mainly for the pizza and soda.

_THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES: THE CROWNING OF MARY_

THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES: THE CROWNING OF MARY

Oil on cradled canvas

March 19 - April 28, 2025

For Maryhill School of Theology

For this painting I used the most number of reference photos, because of the inclusion of 12 crowns from 12 different appellations of the Blessed Virgin, some of which are canonical crowns. 

Inner circle, Left to Right: Crowns of Our Lady of Penafrancia, Our Lady of Remedies, Our Lady of Fatima, the Immaculate Conception, and Our Lady of La naval. 

Outer circle, Left to Right: Crowns of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, Our Lady of the Pillar, Our Lady of Guidance,

Several motifs are carried over from The Glorious Mysteries: The Resurrection: the motif of angels and the motif of sunrise, and, from _The Glorious Mysteries: Mary Is Assumed Into Heaven_, the Philippine Carnival Queen gown. After all, if the saints could be garbed in the raiment of the royal Renaissance Italians, I don't see why I can't do the same to them in tropical finery within the context of my own country. Maryhill School of Theology calls it enculturation. 

Aubrey sat for this painting, as she did for Descent of the Holy Spirit and  Mary Is Assumed Into Heaven. Leah sat for the two angels.

I no longer use pencils/graphite for construction lines. Instead, I use a brush and paint dilute, which is easier to wipe off. All of the lines are painted freehand.

As with all other of my paintings, I followed a three-stage process:

1) Construction lines using photographic references, during which I completely enjoy the methods of groping

2) Layering and color blocking, ensuring that the entire canvas is covered with paint and thus eliminating the need for underpainting. At this point no matter how crude my images still are, everything is good as long as I know exactly how to refine them. 

3) Glazing on completely-dry layers. In this particular work, here is how 30 glazes on 15 opaque and semi-opaque layers looks like. The glazing process is always the longest of all.

Can you see the hidden messages in this painting?

The auditory stimulus I used while working on this painting is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrGuyw1V8s. Do listen to it while viewing the work, but the lyrics have nothing to do with the subject matter of the painting.

Photo by Neil de Leon

Construction lines took me two days to compose.

Layering and color hlocking. Seven layers were applied befpre this photo was taken. Afterward, the background was filled in with a mixture of alizarin and titanium white.

This is how 30 glazes on 15 opaque and semi-opaque layers looks like.

Worked an hour on 30th glaze.

This painting is finished, March 19 - April 28, 2025, and awaits vernissage.

Now facing a lazy Monday afternoon.

Have fun, ensuring that it will not be the cause of your death. Almost everyone forgets that.

Many men hold fast to their religion because it is their only comfort in death and in journeys into the unknown.

A great disappointment due to internal politics and racial discrimination.

Rest adequately before meals. Never plunge into lunch or dive into dinner.

Be happy to pay karma in this lifetime. It frees up your future.

Slept well last night, and today, Easter Sunday, does feel like a brand-new day.

Now they with an F need to take especial care.

No news is good news.

An ice cube melting in your mouth really helps.

Great service on Good Friday!

We ordered an LPG tank and it arrived five minutes later.

A group of cheerful spirits will come into your bedroom tonight and greet you hello just as you are drifting off to sleep.

What happens next is up to you.

Shared from Elias:

Another month of unbearable heat and then the rains will come traipsing in.

Permanently avoid everyone--friends and non-friends--who expect you to give them paintings for free--or who haggle with you over the prices of your paintings. 

They have no authentic appreciation of art, and rhey will never have it.

Aubrey flew in from Bangkok.

A pair of diving flippers arrived for Angelique.

Our electrician installed our compound address and spotlight on our gate, Will turn the light on as soon as it gets dark.

Happy Birthday to Princess, the cafe baby, who turns three years old today.

Her third eye is open.

Friday, April 11, 2025

Pampanga-food lunch on a whim at Abe Restaurant Gateway 2 Araneta Center

Jerwin creates a miniature figure of me with the assistance of AI. Its accessories include my twisted wand from Australia, two paint brushes, and a quill pen.

His prototypes:

Chito in Occidental Mindoro, Aubrey in Bangkok.

Neil attending a cousin's wedding, Jerome on day off.

Bought two more bottles taba ng talangka and had Jerome's kinilaw na bangus for dinner.

My younger son Chito sailed in from Occidental Minoro to attend

a wedding as a sponsor in Navotas. He joined us for lunch at home Sunday April 6, our family mahjong day, and Monday, April 7.

Today, April 9, he and his companions made the rounds of Gateway and Greenhills. I treated them to sandwiches and red iced tea at M.'s cafe. He is sailing back to Mindoro with his companions this evening.

Be wary. Peanut allergy develops when least expected.

Fundamentalists are seldom truly sophisticated.

After attending a wedding as sponsors in Navotas, my younger son Chio and companions are sailing back to Occidental Mindoro by ferryn boat tonight.

Aubrey flies to Thailand tomorrow for a brief vacation. Her trip was booked and confirmed long before the big earthquake happened.

Gradpa is happy to stay home as usual.

My colleagues, especially those with estranged family members, could never understand this, that the greatest award I have ever received in life is a happy and loving family.

It is something that one must work sincerely, consistently, and hard for.

And, once you have it, you realize that the award was given to you, in particular, by God Himself.

John reported for work today. He is now encoding a second volume of my plays, Kapag Pahamak Si Kapatid_(Volume 8 of my Collected Works), comprised of  Ang Panginoon sa Driod, Isang Pangyayari sa Planas Site, and Ang Mga Berdugo.

This one's a dark volume, actually.

Fire, earth, and air have spoken.

Water speaks next.

The director, not considering his age and his physical limitations, is now allowing stress to bring him to the grave.

Some people are angels.

My "classmate" Bernadette is one of them.

I am positive about it.

In order to create clean and precise construction lines, you have to know how to draw. 

Therefore, you need to learn how to draw before you learn how to paint.

Left, Chito and Ivy's wedding portrait. 

Center, March 2025 portrait with my granddaughters Angelique and Aubrey, by Great Image SM Cubao Araneta Center. 

Right, with my granddaughters Angelique and Aubrey circa 2015, some ten years ago, when they were still in school, by Hedwig de Leon.

Photo by Neil de Leon

Tea from Angelique's work-related trip to Batanes, goodies and Lappish stone pendants from George's work-related trip to Berlin and Stockholm, Sweden

From the Internet: "'Lappish stone' or 'Lappish blood'[ refers to the mineral eudialyte, a type of mineral often found in Lapland, and is used in jewelry and other crafts by the Sámi people."

Photo by Neil de Leon

Like Chad's, Jerome's third eye is open. Less than a month ago I dreamt that I was going down the staircase late at night and was surprised to see that all of the ground-floor lights were on. When I entetred the living area I saw the white, boy-mannequin dancing with Prtincess, the cafe baby.

I told Jerome of this dream, after which he disclosed that the white, boy-mannequin had been disturbing his sleep several times.

We are both glad that our neighbor Glenn is now the new owner of the white, boy-mannequin. for he claimed it on a recent, Bilbo Baggins afternoon.

Jerome continues to be visited by transients at night, though.

Ten years after I retired in 2015, everyone thinks I still care about so many things I used to care about.

Today is the Qing Ming Festival, also known as the Brightness Festival and the Sweeping of Tombs.

It is a day to honor, show respct to, and revere one's ancestors.

They should start replacing the 20-peso bills with new ones. They've become as floppy as dead lettuce.

One of our favorite restaurants is moving out soon from the old Shopwise/Fiesta Carnival building to Gateway 2. The old building, which is massive and an entire block long, will soon be demolished and give way to a new, high-rise, commercial building.

I was only in seventh grade when that building was launched. It housed the Japanese mall Matsuzakya, among other establishments.

Will surely be missing it, since it was part of my boyhood in Cubao.

Bank day with Marvin, Neil, and LM. Paid our electric bills, bought some hardware for a huge armoire, and had lunch out.

Photo by Neil de Leon

John completed the master file of Indakan Ng Mga Puso (Oktubre, Nobyembre, and Disyembre), Volume 15 of my Collected Works,  today, and we forwarded it to the prospective publisher.

This is my second, major trilogy of full-length plays. It corresponds to the later episodes of the adventures of Don Pedro, Don Diego, and Don Juan in Armenya, where they meet Donya Leonora and Donya Juana. 

 John reported for work today and brought me an unexpected, rainbow cake.

Yum! Love the strawberry and purple yam layers!