Paintings: Of Fish and Corals in 3 Schools of Art

Dr Abe V Rotor

These paintings grace a dining place in a resort at Nasugbu, Batangas, where my family spent a weekend. To me they represent three schools of  art: realism (clown fish), romanticism (corals and echinoderms), and impressionism (school of fish), with  a touch of surrealism. 
 

 Formal and organized (scripted), characteristic of still life painting.

  In Nature corals and echinoderms form colonies with many marine 

organisms to form an ecosystem - which make th scene a perfect subject of on-the-spot painting.

They are good materials for study because of their basic and conventional styles, which I recommend for beginners as models. However, there is no substitute to having the specimens - real specimens -  as models.  We call this as still life painting where you place your collection on a table and rearrange according to you plan and taste. 

But if you are given the chance and time, go farther than still life.  Go for on-the-spot painting.  Here you don't only paint, you meditate.  You are part of nature.  Nature is at the tip of your brush.  The colors of the rainbow come down on your canvas.  

Now, this is one field of art which has to be developed especially to young artists - naturalism. Many naturalist-painters made their marks like Corot, Rousseau, Monet, and our very own Amorsolo.  

In our time, in our age of postmodernism, art trends depict life on the fast lane, taking things fast from food to ride, in short we are living a hurried life. As a consequence tension builds up. Restlessness follows and leads to aimlessness.  You can imagine an artist who lives this life expresses his art.  

Take time out. Spend a weekend on-the-spot painting with Nature.  You will discover the artist in you with Nature as your mentor. After all you are a part of Nature. And your painting is the friendliest expression of gratitude. It's a masterpiece.   
  

 Playful clown fish, a symbiont of the sea anemone.  

Mataan (Ilk) means big eyed fish, exaggerated to draw attention. 

Focus shifts to the eyes, inevitably drawing some uneasy feeling.   

Acknowledgement: I am grateful to the artists who made the paintings. Congratulations.