XCVIII. Give Art on Christmas Day 2009

I'm pleased to report that despite the present troubles of the world in general, the selection of the artwork for our family Christmas card for this year was relatively smooth and straightforward, even compared to the generally problem-free artwork selection processes of the past six years.

I had been familiar with the impressive body of work of this year's chosen artist via his Multiply website, and thought that his modern realistic style would appeal not only to those to whom we were to send our Christmas cards, but more importantly, to my bruisingly critical family members as well. It did not hurt to note while going through our virtual checklist that the artist was quite young - just twenty-two years old - and was from Bulacan as well.

Sometime in the second quarter of this year, I had written the artist, telling him of the possibility that we might commission an artwork from him for our Christmas card, and inviting him to suggest a subject via a series of studies. In due course, he had sent me this initial treatment.

I thought that it was very characterful, but perhaps a tad too melancholy for what should be a most joyous time of the year.

Further studies followed. With the addition of one more character, the scene looked not only happier but more complete.

The next decision point was whether to go portrait (tall and narrow) or landscape (short and wide). Because all our previous Christmas card artworks were formatted so, we quickly chose landscape.

It might sound inconsequential to others, but there was also the all-important matter of choosing between large capiz panels in the windows

and small ones

My family members were unanimous in preferring the smaller, more delicate-looking capiz panels.

And with that, all necessary decisions had seemingly been taken, and the artist could then get to work on producing the actual artwork.

By mid-August, he had emailed me to let me know that the painting had been completed, even attaching snapshots of it.

In due course, we took delivery of the actual artwork, and by October 1^st, had arranged for it to be photographed.

Of the dozen-odds shots taken by the professional photographer, our printer had narrowed down the choices to two, which would then serve as reference shots, especially since the intensity of the reds and browns of the original artwork could, and needed to, be tweaked in the actual Christmas card printing process.

There was then the small matter of the artist’s biographical note for the back of the card, which we finalized in short order.

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Marc Salamat: SA DUYAN NI INA AT SA MUSIKA NI AMA

(In Mother’s Cradle and To Father’s Music)

Oil on canvas, 18" x 24", 2009

Born in San Pablo, Hagonoy, Bulacan on 30 January 1987, Marc S. Salamat graduated from the Bulacan State University (BSU) in 2009 with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, major in Advertising. In 2004, Marc joined the Hagonoy Art Group, and in 2007 the Likha Art Group in BSU and the Lakan Sining ng Bulacan.

In 2008 Marc was Runner-Up in the 8th ArtPetron "Alay sa Pistang Pilipino" National Students Painting Competition, First Place in the On-the-Spot Painting Competition in BSU, Second Place in the DC-SUC III / CIRPS 11^th Regional Skills Olympics On-The-Spot Painting Competition, Finalist in the 41^st Shell National Students Art Competition, and Third Place in the 2009-2010 PLDT-DPC Telephone Directory Cover 23^rd Visual Art National Competition. In August 2009, he was given the Hyleader Achievement Lingkod Sining Award by the Hagonoy Young Leaders Program (HYLEAP) for his unique talent in the field of art.

Marc’s other artworks may be viewed on his website: http://marctist.multiply.com/

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Lest someone steal his identity, we didn’t forget the artist’s photo:

Such that the back of the card looked like this:

And the inside of the card was not too different from that of previous years.

And finally, here we have a scan of the finished cover artwork – which probably does not fairly reproduce the actual Christmas card, much less the actual oil painting.

But nonetheless, my family and I are confident that the card recipients – and you our dear reader – share the sentiments that we, and the artist, set out to convey through it:

Merry Christmas and a

Happy New Year!

Maligayang Pasko at

Manigong Bagong Taon!

From the Veron-Dulay-Cloma Family

of the Philippines

Originally published on 23 December 2009.  All text and photos copyright ©2009 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

Original comment: 

          puyat1981 wrote on Dec 25, '09
          this is so susyal, Leo. Very nice!