A typhoon ravaged Manila, my city.  I am Manila-born and bred.  This whole event made my heart cry in panic.  I have spent so much time away from home.  I left when I was 15, and came back for every summer break, some Christmas breaks, and worked as a magazine girl between college and grad school.  I was an architecture intern for what was intended to be a brief Wintersession break that turned into a grad school leave.  My last visit was to document this building for my grad school thesis years ago.  Between then and now, I don't know what I was thinking not going home.  I guess I wanted to be as grown up as I can be before even taking a vacation because I know so well in my heart that the next time I go back will be for good.  If not, I'll have to fake my own kidnapping to seal the deal.  All these intentions were fine, until last Saturday.  I was tuned into a certain news channel from home at 5 a.m. because I had to be somehwere by 7 am.  Horrors!!!  I can't explain the destruction My Manila experienced.  It looked apocalyptic on TV... Seriously, like a bad sci-fi movie: cars floated, animals trying to climb up windows, fearing for their lives, everyone's grandma's furniture breathing its last breath and the image that will forever stay with me: children riding an "island" made of debris and water plants, literally washed away by the tide created by the strong current, courtesy of the tormenting rains.  So, the lesson of this is: go back home.  Stop trying to grow up.  Enough!  You've done enough growing up. You've had enough experience away.  Embrace the retracing process.  Make peace with the transition.  It's time to give back. 

I am donating 30% of all sales from my etsy shop to relief for the people of Manila.  I have a day job and am so slow with new things for the shop, but down the road, there will be a section just for this, where 100% of sales from that section will be for donation purposes.  Wish I wasn't so slow, but the relief efforts for this terrible calamity will be for a very long time, so every little bit counts. 

Image Credit: Me.  Charcoal, Cancas, Acrylics, Photocopy of a Filipino Courting Chair, punched out vintage book on St. Augustine, red thread, carved beeswax, gold dust.

I am proud of Momo!!  He has been sneaking into the studio lately, as I am spending

more time in there.  It's as if he's saying, "What are you doing?  What's more

important than playing with me?"

He has been doing well wih his diet plan.  Sadly, the doctor admonished me

for his weight the last time we went to the vet.  Good as Momo is, he nevertheless tries:

But I won't have it.  He ends up looking like this all the time:

Good boy, Momo!!!

September is a busy gifting month for me.  This kokeshi is for my sister, Maria.  I bought the

form from Muluc.  I then hand-painted, lacquered, and decopaged the piece with decorative paper

and vintage book pages.  Here's a close up of her face:

Here's the top view:

Finally, here she is with my kokeshi gang in the office:

Here's a piece for my mom's 55th!  Oil pastels, acrylics,decorative papers, lacquered on canvas

stuffed with polyfil.  Here she is in progress:

Busy, busy in the studio!!  Paintings and dolls have taken over, from inspiration, to my brain, to the studio!  I've drawn up a schedule of all the artistic endeavors that I'd like to try through the end of the year:

I am on board with these, full force!