snake beads

The older women of the Sagada region in Northern Philippines often wear beautiful beads and jewelries during ceremonies. There are a few that wear the snake skeleton around the head also. I remember my grandmother wearing one.  This is a painting of a woman in Kilong, my ancestral village near Sagada. Watercolor, 8"x10" (Original SOLD).

Head dresses

Towards the end of summer in Stockton, a three day pow wow is held at the University of the Pacific campus. I always look forward to this event because the gathering reminds me a lot of my tribal roots. Even though I trace my tribal roots to the mountain tribes of the Philippines, I am always amazed at the similarities in dances, feather head dresses, and even the patterns used in the clothes. I see this similarity also in the Nepalese, the Andean folks, and several other mountain people from other parts of the globe. During these pow wows, it is easy for me to forget where I am. I become a spectator but also a participant just by being there. Interestingly, I always get asked if I had danced already.

This is a painting of a Southern Traditional dancer typified by the buckskin pants and the porcupine hair head dress. I couldn't come up with a good title for this painting without sounding generic so i am just titling it "Pacifica", watercolor 12"x16".

manioc

Manioc, or cassava, was ubiquitous in Gabon.  It is the equivalent of rice in Asia or bread in America.  "Mama with baton de manioc", watercolor.

the lesser known cowboy

I grew up thinking all cowboys of the American West were white.  This is understandable since dominant cultures usually dictate history.  It turns out there was quite a large percentage of blacks, Mexicans, and Native American cowboys.  This is a portrait of the lesser known cowboy.  I tried combining the three groups in this portrait. "The American cowboy", gouache 12"x16".

Blues

I was walking in downtown Long Beach one evening when I heard blues coming from a bar.  I stopped, listened, hesitated, then started walking away until a young woman whom I recognized from the conference I was attending, asked me to join her group. I did a few sketches of the blues band in the dingy bar. I ended up staying until midnight.  This is a painting from that bar.  "Long Beach blues", gouache 9"x12".

Childhood tunes

One of the earliest musical memories of my childhood in the Philippines were of women humming or singing a song with the word "Salidum-ay" as a refrain. I never really understood the meaning of the song and even to this day, I am still to get an exact translation of the song. Perhaps, some songs are better enjoyed for its melody and less for its lyrics. This is a painting of a sitting Kankana-ey woman humming "Salidum-ay", watercolor 7"x11".

A young audience

There is a small Fang village in Gabon called Mintoum where I spent a lot of my time starting aquaculture ponds. Each morning I arrived at a farmer's house, I was served black coffee in a tin cup and freshly made french bread and each morning, a boy watched me by the window. Sometimes, it was several children but usually, it is the same boy. I was a novelty to the village; I was the odd-looking American. It was their morning cartoon, their entertainment I suppose. This is a painting of one of my viewers. "Boy from Mintoum", watercolor 8"x11"