Usapang Bayan, February 16, 2026 The Art and Practice of Wit and Humor

Usapang Bayan, February 16, 2026

The Lighter Side of Life 

  The Art and Practice of Wit and Humor

Ms Melly C Tenorio, host, and Dr Abe V Rotor, guest

Start and intersperse your speech with appropriate wit and humor. First, break the ice, keep the attention of your audience to the end, motivate them and impart a lasting lesson.  

Break the ice.  Examples  ”It’s a good thing love is blind; otherwise it would see too much.” Advice to doctors: “When treating cases of amnesia, collect the fee in advance.”

Researched and Organized by Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature - School on Blog 

 A study in Norway found that people with a strong sense of humor outlived those who don’t laugh as much. Laughter relaxes the whole body.  A good and hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscle relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.  Laughter boosts the immune system.  Laughter decreases stress hormone and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease, 

  Laughter -

· Boosts immunity

· Lowers stress hormones

· Decreases pain

· Relaxes your muscles

· Adds joy and zest to life

· Eases anxiety and tension

· Relieves stress

· Improves mood

· Strengthens resilience

· Prevents heart disease

 Laughter stops distressing emotions.  You can’t feel anxious, angry, or sad when you are laughing.  Laughter draws you closer to others, which can have a profound effect on all aspects of your mental and emotional health.

  

1. Types of Humor

1. Anecdote (funny short story you have personal knowledge of.) Lincoln is a master anecdote teller.

2. Antonymism (contrasting words or phrases) “The girl with a future avoids a man with a past.” 

“A woman begins by resisting a man’s advances and ends by blocking his retreat.” – Oscar Wilde

3. Banter (among close friends) “Here he comes, hide his shorts you stole from him.” Of course this is not true. "Here comes the biggest carabao in the Philippines." the late Senator Aquino to then Senator Erap Estrada the sponsor of the Carabao Bill 

4. Biogram (witticism about a famous person)

“Adam was the happiest man in the world because he had no mother-in-law.”

”Venus is a woman whose statue shows us the danger of biting our finger nails.”

5. Blendword (coinage of new words): “smog for smoke and fog.” “scurry for scatter and hurry.” “eat and run.”

The happy genius, Albert Einsten

6. Blunder (wit, a person who makes mistakes, makes look foolish)

“Dr Cruz returned from the US yesterday and will take up his cuties (duties) at the hospital.”

“Is it kistomary to cus the bride?” over eager newly wed to the officiating minister.

7. Bonehead (headline boner) “Population of RP broken down by sex and age.” “Girl disappears in bathing suit.” “Three men held in cigarette case.”

8. Boner (slip, short and pointed mistakes with amusing effect.) “The future of to give is to take.” The king wore a robe trimmed with vermin.”

9. Bull (absurd contradiction) “May you live all the days of your life.” – Jonathan Swift.  “The happiest man on earth is one who has never been born.” “Miriam Santiago was the best Philippine president we never had.”  Eulogy for (of) the late senator.

10. Burlesque (satire) Story of the Frog and a Princess. The princess related the story to her mother. … the next morning when the princess awoke, she noticed alongside her a handsome Prince.  And would you believe it? To this day her mother doesn’t believe a word of this story.

11. Caricature (exaggeration in ludicrous distortion)  “He is so tall he has to stand on a chair to brush his teeth.”

12. Catch Tale (funny story, with a catch at the end.  “She laid still white form beside those that had gone before.  No groan, no sob forced its way from her heart.  Then suddenly she let forth a cry that pierced the stillness of the place, making the air vibrate with a thousand echoes.  It seemed to come from her very soul.  Twice the cry repeated, then all was quiet again.  She would lay another egg tomorrow.”

13. Confucian Sayings (Ironic, yet with aphorisms; witticism ) Confucius says “Ostrich that keep head in sand too long during hot part of day burned in the end.” “Easy for girl to live on love if he rich.” “Man who make love to girl on hillside, not on level.”

14. Conundrum (riddle, word puzzle quite impossible to solve) “Why does a cow wear a bell? Its horns don’t work.”  “What is worse than seeing a worm in an apple? Seeing only half of the worm.”

15. Cumulative humor (chain-story pattern) From an old English classic: “For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.  For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.  For want of a horse, the rider was lost.  For want of a rider the battle was lost.  For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost  And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”

16. Double Blunder (mistake and another in an attempt to correct the first) A man in a party turns to another and asks, “Who is that awful-looking lady in the corner?’ “Why she is my wife.” Says the second man.  “Oh, I don’t mean her,” the quick evasion.  “I mean the lady next to her.” “That,” cries the man indignantly, “is my daughter.”

17.Epigram (prose witticism, satire, evils and follies of mankind)”The world should make peace first and then make it last.”  “Always do your best, but not your best friend.” “We don’t get ulcers from what we eat, but what is eating us.” “When you are right, no one remembers, when you are wrong no one forgets.” 

18. Exagerism (overstatement, features, focuses on defects, peculiarities) “She is so industrious, when she has nothing to do she sits and knits her brows.” Story of a very strong typhoon by three humbugs: First, “.. so strong the wind blows you down the street.”  Second: “In our place it’s so strong, when a carabao smiles it surely loses its hide.” Third: “Both your typhoons are nothing; in my place the flashlight can keep its light straight through the wind.”  “A tree once grew rapidly that it actually pulled itself up by its roots. (early 1800 jokes called Yankeeism, Jonathonism)

19. Extended proverb (twisted proverb) “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Becomes an onion s day keeps everyone away.” “There’s no fool like an old fool – because he had more experience. “He who hesitates is probably torn between vice and versa.”   

20. Fool’s Query (foolish question) Guide explaining to tourists: “And these rock formations were piled up by the glaciers,” he said.  “but where are glaciers?” asked an elderly woman.  “They’ve gone back Madam, to get some more rocks.” Was the reply.

21. Freudian slip (humorous accidental statement) After a party a couple attended, the wife said warmly with a handshake, “It was so nice for us to come.” (Freud discovered accidental slips are subsurface thought processes that remove neurotic symptom.

22. Gag (clever remark funny trick) “Did you get up with a grouch today?” “No, she got up before me.”

23. Mixed words (after Goldwynism, moviemaker) “Answer me a question.” (from Lost Horizon).  Hapasible (hampass is to blow) “Shinong lashing?”  Drunk

24. Hecklerism (heckling, noisy drunk interrupting emcee) “Hey, you are a day late!” “Why don’t you tell that to the marines!”

25. Irony (expressing opposite of what is really meant)  When Lincoln was once  told that a northerner politician had expressed a strong dislike for him, he stroked his chin in perplexity. “That’s odd,” he said. “I cant understand why he dislikes me.  I never did.”

Response of a lottery winner to a friend who asked, “Are you excited?” “Me excited? I’m as calm as a man with his pants on fire.”

There was a young man who left town, went to a big city and made quite a name for himself.  After five years absence he arrived at a train station in his old home town.  Despite his expectations there was no one at the platform he knew.  Discouraged he sought out the station master, his friend since childhood.  To him at least he would be welcome, and he was about to extend a hearty greeting, when the other spoke first.  “Hello George,” he said. “Going away?”

26. Malapropism (French mal-a-propos, inappropriate, out of place) “Please, ladies, feel in the family way.” (feel at home) “I approve the permanent appointment of all prostitute teachers.”  (substitute teachers) 

27. Marshallism (satiric, twist-witticism, attributed to US V Thomas Marshall) What is country needs a man who can be right and President at the same time.” “What our country needs is more of good citizens and less of law.”

28. Mistaken Identity (comic confusion of one person or thing with another) portrays ignorant person or simpleton. “Hi, George, Happy birthday.” “ I’m Johnny, he is George,” pointing at the celebrant. 

29. Nonsensism ((mock logic, fallacies without reason, epigram, wisecrack) “She has money more than she can afford.”  “My father and mother are cousins – that’s why I look so much alike.”

30. Parody (satire, wordplay) “Don’t worry if your job is small.  And your rewards are few,  Remember that the mighty oak was once a nut like you.”

31. Personifier (celebrity’s most typical trait, related to caricaturism and biogram) , “Samson was so strong, he could lift himself by his hair three feet off the ground.”

32. Practical Joke (joke put to action). Gadget prank, rough. Discomforting. “Here’s your fruit juice. Toast.” It turn out to be liquor, and the poor fellow coughs.  Laughter. 

33. Recovery (blunder and wit combined)An employee was found asleep by his foreman.  “Good heavens!” he cried upon being awakened. “Can a man close his eyes for a few minutes of prayer?”

34. The Relapse (opposite of Recovery) A man bought a railroad ticket, picked up the change, and walked off. After a few minutes he returned and said to the agent. “You gave me the wrong change” “Sorry, sir” replied the mam behind the window. “You should have called my attention to it at the time.” “Okay.” Acquiesced the passenger, “You gave me fiver dollars too much.” To Dr Kinsey, the sexiologist, a lady asked at the end of his lecture in the Q & A period, “Tell me Dr Kinsey, what is really the vital difference between a man and a woman?” “Madam, I can not conceive.”

--------------------------

Reference: All about Humor

The art of Using Humor in Public Speaking

By Anthony L Audrieth

Part 2 - Soften the worst blows of life with humor.

"Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it." - Bill Cosby

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Light moments, Amadeo, Cavite, author with his students at the University of Santo Tomas  Graduate School. AVR 

1. A judge in sentencing a criminal recently said, "I am giving you the maximum punishment - I am letting you go free to worry about taxes, inflation, and everything else, just like the rest of us."

2. In prehistoric times, cavemen had a custom of beating the ground with clubs and uttering spine-chilling cries. Anthropologists call this a form of primitive self-expression. When modern men go through the same ritual, they call it golf.

3. Not so long three lunatics escaped from a large asylum. Search officers combed the surrounding countryside for twenty-four hours, and they finally brought in five.

4. When the Creator gave out brains, I thought he said trains - and I missed mine! When He gave out good looks, I thought he said books - and I didn't want any! And when He said noses, I thought he said roses - and I ordered a big red one.

5. A young woman boarded a crowded bus. A tired little man got up and gave her his seat. There was a moment of silence. "I beg your pardon?" said the tired man. "I didn't say anything," replied the young woman. "I'm sorry," said the man. "I thought you said 'Thank you.'"

6. A grade-school student was having trouble with punctuation. "Never mind, sonny," said the visiting school board president, consolingly. "It's foolish to bother about commas; they don't amount too much, anyway." "Elizabeth Ann," said the teacher, "please write this sentence on the board: "The president of the board says the teacher is misinformed." "Now," she continued, "put a comma after the board and another after teacher."

7. An American engineer returned recently from a mission to the Soviet Union. The Russians, he reported, were fascinated by the Americans' use of the expression OK. " But what is this Okie-Dokie? one Russian asked him. Before he could answer, another Russian interrupted with, "Don't be a dope. It's the feminine of OK.

8. It often happens that I wake at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope. (Pope John Paul XXIII)

9. Here's a story about smart kids. "I wonder why people say Amen and not Awomen?" Bobby questioned. His little friend replied, "Because they sing hymns and not hers, silly."

10. Here's a story for the political candidate for the coming election. Voter: "Why, I wouldn't vote for you if you were Saint Peter himself." Candidate: 'if I were Saint Peter, you couldn't vote for me - you wouldn't be in my district."

11. Motorist: "Your honor, I was not drunk.  I was only drinking." 
      Judge: "Well, in that case I an not going to send you to jail for one month - only for 30 days." 

12. A fellow in a lunatic asylum sat fishing over a flower bed.  A visiting doctor, wishing to be friendly asked.
"How many have you caught?"
Answered the not-so-dumb fisherman, "You are the ninth."

13. The many faces of Peace

Peace is often mispronounced and a butt of jokes: fish, feast, piss, fish be with you, phase 1- phase 2, piece of paper, may you rest in peace (good sleep). – (Fr. Jerry Orbos, June 11, 2006) PHOTO Happy children, AVR

14. Count
What comes after five? Six, po. 7? Eight, po. Who taught you how to count? My father, po.  What comes next after ten? Jack, po. (Fr. Jerry Orbos, June 11, 2006)

15. Neighbors
"Good morning, madam. I'm the piano-tuner."
"But I didn't send for a piano-tuner."
"I know, It was a committee of your neighbors that called up." 

16. Man - Men
Men can be divided into three classes:

1. The handsome
2. The intellectual
3. The great majority

17. Three things to give to marriage:

1. Industry
2. Inspiration
3. In

18. Kiss
"Best way to quiet a hysterical girl ," said the psychologist, "is to give her a kiss."
"But how do you get them hysterical?"

19. Language 
"So you have just returned from Paris.  Did you have any trouble with your French?"
"No, but the French did."

20. Just to show you
A wife was frying eggs for her husband’s breakfast. Suddenly her husband burst into the kitchen, “Careful…
CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my GOD! You’re cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my GOD! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They’re going to STICK! Careful… CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUK! You NEVER listen to me when you’re cooking! Never! Don’t forget to salt them. Use the salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!”

The wife stared at him. “What the hell is wrong with you? You think I don’t know how to fry eggs?”

The husband calmly replied, “I wanted to show you how it feels like to have you sitting next to me when I’m driving.

Acknowledgment: Jokes, Quotes and One-Liners for Public Speakers by Prochnow H V and HV Prochnow Jr; Speaker's Encyclopedia of Humor by Jacob Braude, Prentice-Hall

Part 1 - The Lighter Side of Human Nature

on Marriage and Married Life 

according to some great men

"Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards." —Benjamin Franklin

                        Researched and Complied by Dr Abe V Rotor

1. "My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met." - Alec Baldwin

2. “Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can’t sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can’t sleep with the window open.”—George Bernard Shaw

3. "A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong."- Barack Obama

4. "I don't worry about terrorism. I was married for two years." - Rudy Giuliani

5. “Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes” - Jim Carrey

6. “Always get married in the morning. That way if it doesn’t work out, you haven’t wasted the whole day.”—Mickey Rooney

7. "By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher." - Socrates

8. "Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays." - George W. Bush

9. "There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It's called marriage." - Michael Jordan

10. "I've had bad luck with all my wives. The first one left me and the second one didn’t.” The third gave me more children!" - Donald Trump

11. “Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.”—Benjamin Franklin

12. "After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin; they just can't face each other, but still they stay together." - Al Gore

13. “Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can’t sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can’t sleep with the window open.”—George Bernard Shaw

14. "My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met." - Alec Baldwin

15.  “The most important four words for a successful marriage: ‘I’ll do the dishes.’”—Anonymous

16. "I had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me." - Bill Clinton

17.  “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now change your Facebook status.”—Anonymous ~

18. “Marriage is the bond between a person who never remembers anniversaries and another who never forgets them.”—Ogden Nash

19. "My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me." —Winston Churchill

20. “Some mornings I wake up grouchy. Other mornings I just let him sleep.”—Unknown. Marriage humor of great men and women. ~

Acknowledgement with gratitude and apologies to all concerned, and sources. - avr

NATIONAL ART MONTH February 2026: Ecological Art Evolution in Our Times in 30 Articles. ("Art takes nature as its model" — Aristotle)

In Celebration of National Art Month February 2026*

 Ecological Art Evolution in Our Times

"Art takes nature as its model" — Aristole.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Convergence in Nature, mural painting by AVRotor

1. Home, Sweet Home with Nature
2. A Little Corner of Eden
3. A Search for Meaning in Nature
4. Rocks for Study, Art and Hobby
5. Bioethics and Environment
6. Metamorphosis Expressed through Paintings

7. Art to Craft

8. "Please, come, and I'll give Thee rest."

9. Armageddon in the Making 

10. Ecological Paradigm of Moral Life

11. Art and Greek Mythology Today

12. Eco-therapy and Postmodern Living

13. Miniature Dioramas of Nature

14. Adventure with Nature 

15. Logotherapy* with Nature

16. Ecology: Reflection of the Good Life
17. Four-Seasons-in-One
18. Twenty Art Scenes of Our Changing Environment
19. Cryptobiology: The Study of Nature Spirits
20. Love the Children through Art

21. Requiem to a Heritage Acacia Tree

22. Save Nature through Children's Art Workshop 

23. Art Evolution: "Aim at Function, Beauty and Posterity." 

24. Neo-Symbolism Art Movement in Our Times

25. Nature is Alive on Wall Murals 

26. Neo-Impressionism in Our Times - A School of Fish Meets Dawn 

27. Early Sunset at Paraiso ni Juan

28. Children's Poster Making Contest (National Bible Month, January 2026)

29. "A thing of beauty is a boy forever." 

30. Pangarap Art World: Twenty (20) Drawing and Painting Exercises

ANNEX - A Place of Gems and Flowers (San Vicente Ilocos Sur - Heritage Zone of the North

* National Arts Month (NAM) February 2026 celebrates Filipino creativity under the theme “Ani ng Sining: Katotohanan at Giting” (Harvest of the Arts: Truth and Courage), highlighting art as a tool for truth, valor, and community. Spearheaded by the NCCA, the month features nationwide performances, workshops, and exhibitions honoring diverse artistic expressions. AI Overview Internet

                 1. Home, Sweet Home with Nature

The best home is one where we live in a friendly relationship with Nature. Why don't you share with us your version of Home, Sweet Home?

                  Idyllic rural life, mural painting by AV Rotor, circa 1976.  

Courtesy of San Vicente (Ilocos Sur) Municipal Hall

In the movie, The King and I, Anna, an English teacher, sang, Home Sweet Home. It was a popular song in her time when Europeans left their home in the later part of the 18th century in search of a new one on the other side of the globe, the New World, which was to become the United States of America. Others found the Orient. Teacher Anna served as tutor to the children of the King of Siam (Thailand)

To many Filipinos, the song stirs the heart as well. Thousands leave their native land, their homes and families in search for opportunities as Overseas Filipino Workers, and emigrants.

To the returnees or balikbayan, home is a retirement in the place of their birth, most of them on the countryside where they spent their happy childhood that tempered their homing instinct.

Many city dwellers are seeking liberation from the “concrete jungle.” Home is more than walls, high rise apartments, canned entertainment, neon lights and fast lanes.

And all over the world, there is a general trend to get closer to the concept of “at home” by going natural – the way people dress, the food they eat, the medicine they take, and the many articles they use everyday.

Brick house on the farm, painting by the author 

  More and more homes do not allow smoking, other vices notwithstanding, following the footsteps of school campuses, government offices and commercial centers. People are going back to cooking at home, shunning away from artificial food like coffeeless coffee (decaf), sugarless sugar (Aspartame et al), fatless fat (Olestra). And the so-called “Frankenfood” made from genetically modified organisms (GMO).

Like many schools and establishments, a home that advocates going natural, has started banning carbonated drinks, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) or Vetsin, “magic sugar,” and even multivitamins in capsules, being mostly artificial.

The simplicity of homes today goes with the trend of “simple living,” relying less and less on cosmetics and fancy designs. People prefer leather, paper and cotton over synthetics, fresh food rather than processed, baon over fast food. Homestead over condominium. The original bungalow home is back. It is simple and practical designed in such as way that one step leads into the House, and the other to the Garden.

We can imagine with awe and appreciation the homes of people whose lifestyle is friendly to the environment, homes that provide a healthy ambiance to the residents, the neighborhood, and ultimately the whole community. This is a new movement that is gaining worldwide attention – home revolution.

I found a musical piece arranged for the violin and piano in an old wooden chest (baol) containing the personal belongings of my mother who died during WWII. I was told by my father that it was her favorite piano piece. I can only surmise the reason. Many homes were destroyed and families separated during the war. Dad managed to rebuild our old home and farm. This is the place where my sister, brother and I spent our childhood and adolescence. It is the same home we found retirement after a long absence.

Home, Sweet Home, is our family’s favorite musical composition today. My daughter Anna would accompany me on the piano as I play the violin, and my son Marlo on the flute. There are occasions we play together in local programs, carrying the message that there is no place like home. We also play related compositions like The Last Rose of Summer, Life Let’s Cherish, and Home on the Range. My wife Cecille and our youngest, Leo Carlo, assist in drawing and painting workshops for children every summer with Nature mainly as the theme.

Here are the original lyrics of the musical piece.

Home Sweet Home

By John Howard Payne

Music by Henry Rowley Bishop (1786-1855)

(Arranged for the violin and piano by Henry Farmer)

‘Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home;

A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,

Which seek through the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere.

Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;

O, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!

The birds singingly gaily, that came to my call –

Give me them – and the peace of mind, dearer than all.

Home, Home sweet, sweet Home.

There’s no place like Home! 

       There’s no place like Home!   

 2. A Little Corner of Eden 

    

  Dedicated to the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) Foundation *

 " A Little Corner of Eden  resembles a tropical rainforest." - avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

A Little Corner of Eden in acrylic, painted by Dr Abe V. Rotor (30" x 40") for the (Philippine College of Physicians) PCP Foundation Inc, founder and guardian of Dr. Arturo B. Rotor Memorial Awards for Literature.

"Nature represents the idea of the entire universe in a state of perfection. Nature is one; it unites heaven and earth, connecting human beings with the stars and bringing them all together into a single family. Nature is beautiful; it is ordered. A divine law determines its arrangement - the subordination of the means to the end, and the parts to the whole. 

"I chose the tropical rainforest scenery since it is the richest of all ecosystems in the world. The Philippines, being one of the countries endowed with this natural wealth is indeed an ecological haven. For this reason, I believe that, the tropical rainforest closely resembles the description of the biblical paradise. It is not only a living bank of diversity; it is the most important sanctuary of living matters on earth." - AV Rotor, The Living with Nature Handbook

 

"Birds sing not only for their own kind,

     but to the world that shares their joy,

in melodies notes may not capture,

     but the heart and spirit they buoy." -avr

"No one tires with the rhythm of nature – the tides, waves, flowing rivulets, gusts of wind, bird songs, the fiddling of crickets, and the shrill of cicada. In the recesses of a happy mind, one could hear the earth waking up in spring, laughing in summer, yawning in autumn and snoring in winter – and waking up again the next year, and so on, ad infinitum." - AV Rotor, Listen to the Music of Nature!

“To see a world in a grain of sand,

     And heaven in a wild flower;

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

     And Eternity in an hour.”

                        - William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

"This verse captures the essence of the title, The Forest - Living World in Microcosm. It condenses the universe into its elemental symbols from which we take a full view of the world we live in. It reduces the complexities and vastness of both non- living and the living world into a microcosm that is complete in itself- a plantilla of creation all contained in the hand and experienced within a lifetime." - AV Rotor, Living World in Microcosm

 

Cryptobiology and Augury

"Call cryptobiology a pseudoscience, but it is gaining acceptance and support from scholars and people in general, with the discovery of strange creatures like the Coelacanth and Kraken. The ancient Roman religion interpreted omens from the observed behavior of birds. A white dove means “peace”. A black dove means “war”. It could also pertain to matters of the heart, relationships, luck, misfortune, death, Remember the emissary bird in the biblical Noah's Ark?  With the breakthrough in cybercommunication, it is evident that soon we will be communicating with Nature more directly, over and above fantasy and imagination, which leads us to the idea of conscientization, in the pursuit of values, truth and the ideal in protecting Nature from the hands of man himself." - AV Rotor, Cryptobiology and Conscientization

 

 

A pair of lovely parrots perched up high,

higher than the flight of butterfly;

aimlessly below many a passerby

just let the world go with a sigh.

 

It is estimated that more than half the species of plants, animals and protists live in the tropical rainforests. Imagine a single tree as natural abode of ferns, orchids, insects, fungi, lichens, transient organisms - birds, monkeys, frogs, reptiles, insects and a multitude more that escape detection by our senses. 

  

Orchids, Family Orchidaceae, is one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with about 28,000 species, and with more constantly discovered. Orchids make up 6 to 11 percent of all species of seed plants, and are the most advanced in the Plant Kingdom, occupying the top position in the phylogeny and evolution of plants. 

Orchids:

white, delicate, immaculate, pure;

red, flaming, romantic, demure;

Orchids:

flowing, silky, translucent, queenly;

fiery, ascendant, stout, kingly.

Orchids:

endearing, fancy, coy, culpable;

ephemeral, magical, lovable.

* Verse and drawing in pastel by Anna Christina, author's daughter, an enthusiast in the arts, assisted in conducting summer art workshops for children during her student days. Cattleya, Dendrobium and Vanda are native orchids in the Philippines. These are representative images of Vanda and its variants, including Vanda merrillii var. rotorii, named after Dr Arturo B Rotor in his honor as an orchid hobbyist.

Forest: Man's First home, Genesis' Final View

Richest in flora and fauna of all biomes,

     Big and small, in a common union,

Arranged in niches, divided by storeys,

     In competition and cooperation.

Heritage trees rise through the canopy,

     Living towers of the forest;

Divine columns of Nature's Parthenon,

     Cradle of harmony and rest.

Stories about the forest, queer but true,

     Seat of evolution, of biodiversity,

Ultimate of adventure, science laboratory,

     Man's first home, Genesis' final view.

Quite often, images of nature enrapture us. These are reminiscences of childhood, a re-creation of a favorite spot we may have visited or seen, or products of the imagination greatly influenced by society we live in.

But the painting reflects a deep-seated biological longing to be part of nature. Putting it in the biblical sense, it is a natural searching for the lost paradise. The scenery represents a refuge from city living, a respite, and an escape from the daily grind.

But the scenery does not only tell us of what we are missing.  Rather, it reminds us of  what we are going to miss, perhaps forever, if we do not heed nature's signal towards a fast declining ecosystem.  If we do not change our way of life from too much dependence on consumerism, to one more closely linked to conservation of nature, we may end up building memories and future archives of a lost world. " - AV Rotor

          A Little Corner of Eden

If I were to return after the Fall

To where my forebears once lived;

If I were to trace back their footsteps

To their world of make believe.

What would I tell to my dear Creator

Whose open arms have waited so long

For man to return, to repent for his Sin -

And I, having also failed all along?

I would tell Him there is also a place,

A little green corner of grass and trees,

Of bees and flowers, rainbow and butterflies,

Where birds come and sing with the breeze.

An emerald river gently flowing,

Meandering between hills and on the plain,

Palms and trees bowing at its levees,

Its waters soothing the day's pain.

I would tell Him of this place also forgotten,

Abandoned by a bandwagon,

By those who nurture the Utopian dream,

Now orphaned and virtually alone.

Is forgetfulness also Your tool of creation

Where man shall be gone from here on?

Paradise is redeemed and once more born?

No wonder Nature triumphs when left alone.~

 "Today, rather than defending himself against nature, 

man realized, he needed to defend nature against himself."

 - AV Rotor, Light from the Old Arch

 

* Article and painting are lovingly dedicated to the PCP Foundation, founder and guardian of the Dr Arturo B Rotor Memorial Awards for Literature. Philippine College of Physicians Foundation is the social service arm of Philippine College of Physicians. Founded in 2008, PCP Foundation values social service and envisions a healthier Filipino nation through partnerships to co-create health-centric innovative solutions. 0917 654 8710 secretariat@pcpfoundation.com

3. A Search for Meaning in Nature 

“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” 

–Vincent van Gogh

 

  

Art lives forever, indeed.

Cracked, broken, abandoned;

be it a vase, urn, pot or jar.

Don't discard it, artists forbid!

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” –Frank Lloyd Wright

“Nature is loved by what is best in us.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Relics of a tree is as sacred as that

of any living thing the Creator made. 

“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.” –Alice Walker

 

You can lift nature in painting,

go find her in her real setting.

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength 

that will endure as long as life lasts." –Rachel Carson

 

White doves hovering sans fear, 

their message falling on deaf ear.

“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.” –Langston Hughes

 

Specimens and art are compatible

in the laboratory and on the wall.

“Sunsets are proof that endings can often be beautiful, too.” –Beau Taplin

How we have disturbed Nature to the core -

 DNA's integrity no more - man's gravest sin. 

"I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want." –Andy Warhol

I painted this on a clear day on August 6, 2025

 - Hiroshima atomic bombing. eighty years after.

"There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter." –Rachel Carson

  

Apparition - enshrined faith in a simple artwork.

"The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe,

to match your nature with Nature." –Joseph Campbell

Art is everywhere if we perceive it with our eighth sense 

of awe and wonder, valuing and remembering.

"The earth has its music for all who will listen." - Reginald Holmes

After comfort, we throw away the leftover;

 treasure it as a souvenir to remember.

“I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.” –Anne Frank

                                          

 

Everywhere there's work of the great Creator

who made the rocks, and the Earth as a whole.

“We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.” –Albert Einstein

   

From fossil to limestone to marble - to art;

all along images of the great Maker appear..

"If you wish to know the divine, feel the wind on your face and the warm

sun on your hand.” –Buddha

Cradle the small, the weak, the helpless,

the secret of evolution's success.  

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” –Henri Matisse

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." –John Muir

4. Biology and Humanities

- Unity and Harmony in Diversity

"It is that range of biodiversity that we must care for - the whole thing - rather than just one or two stars." David Attenborough

Dr Abe V Rotor

Coral Reef Forest in acrylic by the author 2024

Coral reefs are often called "the rain forests of the "oceans" because they are among the richest marine ecosystems in species, productivity, biomass, and distribution.

How unknowingly blind we are to know that on the fringes of land and sea lies a forest
similar in many ways with the ones we know on land - the tropical rainforest, the so-called jungle of Africa, and the coniferous temperate forest called taiga.

And sadly do we know too, that the coral reef, the foundation of the richest marine ecosystem both in vastness and biodiversity, is also dying due to deforestation in like manner our forests are destroyed by exploitation and pollution.

...

 Coelenterates in acrylic by the author 2024

Coelenterates are aquatic invertebrate animals of a phylum that includes jellyfishes, corals, 

and sea anemones, in association with fish, seaweeds and other marine organisms. 

On the intertidal zone where low and high tides take place at interval everyday lies a world unique to most of us because of its unfamiliarity, and often, its invisible features to the naked eyes, and many of its inhabitants are heretofore unknown to us, more so to our young children.

As I painted this piece I imagined myself with snorkel swimming among seaweeds, corals, hydra, jellyfish, sea cucumber,  anemone, seahorse, and the like, which appear in camouflage and mimicry.  It is as if I were in a fairyland - a scenario I painted in abstract style as it appears in this painting.       

Antibiosis in acrylic by the author  2022

Antibiosis is a biological interaction between two or more organisms where one is negatively affected. It inhibits the growth or activity of other organisms in the system with the production of antimicrobial, fungistatic compounds and enzymes.

When I was painting this microscopic scene, I imagined Alexander Fleming, the serendipitous discoverer of the miracle life-saving antibiotic fungus, Penicililum notatum. Truly, in life something happens or is found by chance or luck. Now, how can you interpret this in art?

This is where impressionism and abstract art come in.  It leaves to the viewers things in their own interpretation - even those that do not exist in reality.  Can you decipher the disease-causing  bacterium  being devoured by the Penicillium? Imagine in this painting the presence of other microscopic organisms belonging to the realms of Mycophyta and Protista.

Deadwood mushrooms specimen against a mural of nature by the author 2020

A  colony of mushrooms growing like shelves around a dead branch in association with other saprophytes. Saprophytes are nature's scavengers as they feed on dead or decaying matter, thus keeping the environment orderly and clean.

 

It is adventure on the field, under the trees, along river banks, and other natural features of the landscape where we communicate with the Creator.  In this particular case, with organisms in the final stage of their lives, some in advance state whereby their organic compounds are reverted into inorganic forms.

Here compounds are broken into elements.  It's Nature at work with little or no intervention of man at all.  True to the nature of a cycle, its beginning and end, are closely linked, setting the conditions of subsequent cycles. Bacteria, protists, mycophyta (fungi) are Nature's agents of this phenomenon, earning their status as beneficial organisms.  

 Arboreal Niche in acrylic by the author 2022

A niche defines the role and position a species plays in its environment. It describes 

how a species responds to and alters the distribution of resources and competitors. 

Trees talk, sing, whisper, groan, sigh, and the like, which are unique in their own ways.  But if you love nature you are truly a part of their world.  Birds build nests and sing  lullaby.  Crickets play violin, frogs are Caruso; prop roots gongs, passing breeze love notes, fireflies eyes in the night

These make life beautiful, happy, meaningful.  Pick up a brush and paint. Arrange some notes into a melody and play it with the flute.   Follow the rhyme and rhythm of the river reaching out to the sea.  

Forest Litter in acrylic by the author 2023

Forest litter comprises of the accumulated layers of organic debris on the forest floor that consists of dead plant material, such as leaves, twigs, bark, flowers, and fruits. It is rich in organic matter and minerals. 

How do you define waste? In pre-industrial era, waste is mainly the by-product of Nature, meaning, materials left behind by a main product.  Rice hull or Ipa for example is a by-product of milling, in the same way peelings are leftover in the kitchen.

In nature dead leaves are residues of photosynthesis, so with hay and stovers.. Under the trees waste pile up  layer after layer into a litter of leaves, branches, earthworm castings, wildlife droppings.  These become compost, and compost is fertilizer the trees use again as they grow, produce fruits, wood, oil, resin and other materials 

This is an interesting subject of art in situ, thus on-the-spot painting would be the best approach to capture this scenery.  The artist in us may expand through imagination the process over and above science and technology.  The artist reaches out into the mystery of Creation.  Here art becomes an expression of reverence and thanksgiving, a prayer in itself.  

Mycelia in acrylic by the author 2022

Mycelium (pl, mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Its normal form is that of branched, slender, entangled, anastomosing, hyaline threads. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrates.

What you can't see is hard to believe, they say. Yet we believe in many invisible things.

The lens unveils the world of the minutiae, living and non-living, and their mysterious connections, often the subject of magic and superstition. Wonder how thunder and lightning produce mushrooms as old folk would tell us.

Scientists trace the mushroom as the visible stage of a mass of microscopic mycelia, the vegetative stage of the organism. Artists bring forth on canvas and screen their  versions of this microscopic world, real and imaginary.  They connect reality and fantasy, unless they are instructed to adhere to scientific facts. Otherwise art is an expression of freedom, a kind of theory out of the artist's interpretation.    

                                               Juvenile Volvox in acrylic by the author, 2000

Volvox species can be monoecious or dioecious. Male colonies release numerous sperm packets, while in female colonies single cells enlarge to become oogametes, or eggs.

Multicolored Volvox? In nature Volvox is monochromatic, green, sparkling in bright light, its spiked cover making it appear alien by our standards of a living organism. Thus, Volvox is a good subject of art and microphotography.  And to the fertile mind, a seventh wonder of the world in microcosm.  

I like the oneness and unity of a Volvox colony, a biological design for survival in number and sharing of space and resources, a evolutionary tool of cooperation, though  ultimately ending up in rigid competition, illustrating Darwin's "survival of the fittest" in a colony. Would you like to peep into the microscope and paint the Volvox in fantasia? ~  

           4.    Rocks for Study, Art and Hobby

"Geologists have a saying - rocks remember. - Neil Armstrong

 

Left: Mt Pinatubo's pyroclastic rock mounted for the museum.

The rock formed while still very hot, forming a porous texture. 

Right: Floral arrangement of stones gathered from Bacnotan, 

La Union beach.

 

Left: Petrified or fossilized wood. Carbon dating process traces

the origin, age, and habitat of the specimen. Resin, exudate of 

Pine tree undergoing metamorphism into amber

 

Left: Rock collection of a student attracted by the diversity of the specimens. 

Right: This is not a fossil, but broken glazed jar often used to store sacred 

objects and remains, like an urn in earlier times.

Brain coral in its early stage of fossilization. Operculum of a large seashell undergoing erosion by the elements.  Note the counterclockwise spiral, a unique find.

  

Left: Limestone undergoing metamorphism into marble which 

may take a very long time under favorable conditions. Right:

Shades of opal and glitter often make this petrified wood look

valuable when cut and polished, and made into fancy jewelry.

 

Left: Aggregate rocks in various compositions and structures.

Right: Unidentified layered rock, indicating geologic history.

  

A nearly perfect round stone shaped naturally by running stream 

used as cannon ball in the days of Panday Pira (c. 1488–1576) 

a Filipino blacksmith and maker of an early type of cannon. 

 

Fossilized bone fragment of a large animal in the Cretaceous era.

*The Cretaceous is defined as the period between 145.5 and 65.5 million years ago, the last 

period of the Mesozoic Era, following the Jurassic and ending with the extinction of the dinosaurs

 

Probable tusk of an elephant (?) reportedly found in Cagayan Valley,

a subject of study on animal migration and land bridges in ancient past.

 

Left: A collection of rock samples at author's home.

Right: Early stone age tools, crude and unpolished,

but they served the purpose of primitive hunting.

 

Rock undergoing weathering; coral remains with imbedded shells

undergoing fossilization

 

 

Relief paintings using rocks, clay, wood, and various decors for background.

"The purpose of modern museums is to collect, preserve, interpret, 

and display objects of artistic, cultural, or  scientific significance 

for the study and education of  the public." ~

5. Bioethics and Environment

Ethics is the foundation of aesthetics; it is something very difficult to explain that makes beautiful more beautiful, rising to the highest level of philosophy where man finds hope, inspiration, and peace. It is a beacon. While ethics sets the direction of moral life, aesthetics is its beautiful goal.

                                                              

 Concept of Nature as the whole universe, painting by the author 

1. Man has emboldened the causative agents of human diseases – both old and new - into epidemic and pandemic proportions, which include HIV-AIDS, SARS, Ebola, Avian flu (caused by a new virus H5N1, a hybrid of the human flu virus and the bird flu virus), obesity (caused by Ad36 virus) - and the most recent MERS-CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus), now tagged as Novel 2019 Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19)

2. Through biological specialization or mutation – natural and man-induced – causative agents have crossed natural barriers of transmission across species, such as bird to man (bird flu), civet cat to man (SARS), and primate to man (HIV-AIDS, and Ebola), wild animals like bat to man (COVID-19). Man has built bridges between the non-living to the living as well. We have paved the way for the Prion, an infectious protein, the causative agent of Mad Cow Disease or BSE (Bovine Spongiosform Encephalopathy) to cross from cattle to man and cause a similar disease affecting humans, the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD). Viruses have acquired new ability to infect and spread not only among humans but also in animals and plants. Viral diseases of plants have been responsible for the decrease in agricultural production in many parts of the world.

The aesthetics of Nature, source of legends, songs and festivities, painting by the author

 

3. In the midst of enjoying the good life in a postmodern world more and more people are victims of accidents, heart attacks and strokes, anxiety and depression – and various forms of psychosomatic disorder - that often lead to ruined lives and suicides. Cancer, diabetes, and the deleterious consequences of vices (tobacco and alcohol), are on the rise among other modern diseases. Surprisingly, the number of years a person is healthy in proportion to his life span is not significantly longer than that of his predecessors, and that a person’s life span has not significantly increased at all. It is the average longevity of a population that has increased, not the individual’s. The fact is that modern medicine has increased survival of infants and young people, most of them are now in their past fifties, thus gross longevity appears to have increased, up to 78 years in some countries. On the contrary, more and more young people are getting sick and dying.

4. Modern society and science and technology no longer fit into the Darwinian theory of natural selection. There is a growing burden placed on the shoulders of the able and fit in our society who, without choice, is responsible in taking care of the growing number of dependents – many are the infirmed and the aged.

All these lead us to re-examine our values. It challenges us to look deeper into a paradigm of salvation through our concern for the environment. The prolificacy of the human species sans war and pestilence, plus growing affluence of our society has led to a population explosion which had doubled in less than fifty years. We are now more than 7.5 billion. Under this paradigm, there is no master and subject. All must join hands to prevent the exploitation of the earth’s finite resources. Today’s economists must also be good housekeepers of Nature, so with those in the other professions. While man’s aim is directed at the Good Life, he has unwittingly reduced the very foundation of that good life – the productivity and beauty of Mother Earth.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are few frontiers of production left today. We have virtually pushed back the sea and leveled off the mountain. Prime lands have all been taken, swamps have been drained, and even deserts are being reclaimed. But as we continue to explore the marginal edges of these frontiers the more we are confronted with high cost of production that is levied on the consumer, and more importantly, the danger of destroying the fragile environment. AVR

-----------------------------------------------------------Nature as socio-economic base in agrarian society, painting by the author

Ecological paradigm endorses an ecocentric approach where all forms of life and non-life are important to human life. Spirituality points out to a unitive force: the sacredness of everything. God’s divinity flows in everything. There is integration in the universe. And we are part of that integration, exceedingly small as we are, notwithstanding. Under ecological paradigm of salvation, the one responsible in the destruction of the environment leading to loss of lives and properties should be held accountable for it to God, nature and fellowmen.

The environment and the economy need not be viewed as opposites. It is possible to have a healthy environment and a healthy economy at the same time. More and more businesses have begun adopting this concept as a business philosophy. People behind business organizations are becoming more aware of the ethical decisions they face, and their responsibility for their consequences.

Industrialization and urbanization are akin to each other. Industrial growth spurred the building of cities all over the world. Today there are as many people living in cities as those living the rural places. A mega-city like Tokyo has a population of 15 million people. We are 10 million in Metro Manila. Cities are fragile environments. Cities are more prone to epidemics such as the bubonic plague that killed one-third of the population of Europe in the 13th century. Now we are confronted with HIV-AID, SARs, Meningo cochcimia, Avian flu, and now the dreaded CORID-15 which is gripping the world today as the worst human pandemic disease in recent history. AVR

There are organizations that have set some rules of governance of the environment, among them, GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), CERES (Coalition of Environmental Responsible Economies), and UNEP (United Nations Environmental Program). In line with these a multi- national corporation came up with the following thrusts:

 Nature defiled by genetic engineering, painting by the author

• Restore and preserve the environment

• Reduce waste and pollution

• Education of the public on environmental conservation

• Work with government for sound and responsible environmental program

• Assess impact of business on the environment and communities.

This approach is gaining respect and more and more businesses are looking at this model with great interest and favor.

The Question of Governance

One of the resource speakers of the 2010 International Congress on Bioethics,
Dr. Tai cited three themes in order that man can live in harmony with nature. Man is part of the ecosystem, Man is steward of the earth, and Man is finite. Dr. Tai cited models with which man can change his views about the environment and change his style of living. We have also models in the business world, in the church, and in the government, in fact all sectors of society. There are models everywhere in this or that part of the world, whether developed or underdeveloped. There are as many models in less developed countries as in highly industrialized countries. It could be that the less developed are closer to tradition, and still have strong ethnic roots, like the old civilizations mentioned in the paper – the native cultures of America and Africa.

But the world has never been one. It has become more diverse in views and interests though in many respects share the same aspirations towards progress and development. And this is the problem. Man is always in a race. In that race awaits at the end not a prize mankind is proud of and honorable. It is tragedy, which Garett Hardin calls, the tragedy of the commons. It is a greedy competition for a finite resource, each his own, until it is gone. The forests are disappearing today, the lake are dying, the fields are getting marginal, the pastures are overgrazed, the air is loaded with destructive gases, the sea  is over fished. All these point out to the syndrome - tragedy of the commons. And because time is of the essence, many believe that the world needs a new revolution now? Is revolution the only way to solve global problems of the environment today?

Definitely, while we need to reform to save our environment, any means that is contrary to peace and unity, is definitely unacceptable. And we would not adhere to the rule of force or violence just to be able to succeed. It is said, that revolution starts in a small corner. It starts in this congress.

Ethics is the foundation of aesthetics; it is something very difficult to explain that makes beautiful more beautiful, rising to the highest level of philosophy where man find hope, inspiration, and peace. It is a beacon. While ethics sets the direction, aesthetics is its beautiful goal.

In closing I would like to thank Dr. Tai, for his scholarly and incisive paper from which I was not only able to prepare myself as a member of the panel of reactors, but found an opportunity to review and expand my current research works in ecology as well. 

Lastly, I would like to recite this short prayer I made for this International Congress on Bioethics, and dedicate it through the little child who visited the two workshops in the village and exclaimed. “But there are no neighbors! But there are no trees, birds, fields and mountains!”

Ecology Prayer

                                                           By Dr Abe V Rotor

When my days are over,

Let me lie down to sleep

on sweet breeze and earth,

in the shade of trees

I planted in my youth;

since I had not done enough,

make, make my kind live

to carry on the torch,

while my dusts fall

to where new life begins –

even only an atom I shall be,

let me be with you,

dear Mother Earth.

--------------------------------------------

There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings…Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change …Mysterious maladies swept the flocks of chickens, the cattle and chicken sickened and died …There was a strange stillness… The Few birds seen anywhere were moribund, they trembled violently and could not fly. It is a spring without voices.

- Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

6. Metamorphosis Expressed through Paintings 

“Nothing ever really goes away - it just changes into something else. Something beautiful.” - Sarah Ockler, Twenty Boy Summer

Pre-metamorphosis in acrylic by the author, circa 1998

It's a biological phenomenon in a variety of ways,

caterpillar into butterfly, dragonfly from naiad,

frog from tadpole - life cycles before our eyes;

to humans, a transformation outside and inside,

body and soul as one, the essence of rationality,

magnificent is Creation's grand design and guide. 

Post-metamorphosis in acrylic by the author, circa 1998

Biodiversity means much more in the living world,

     in a game of competition and cooperation,

in the phylogeny of organisms in five sub-kingdoms;  

     metamorphosis, Nature's tool of evolution.

 * Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some insects, fish, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, cnidarians, echinoderms, and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is often accompanied by a change of nutrition source or behavior. Animals can be divided into species that undergo complete metamorphosis (holometabola), incomplete metamorphosis (hemi-metabola), or no metamorphosis at all (ametabola). Wikipedia

       7. Art to Craft

Art and craft are creative activities that involve making 

something with one's hands and imagination.

Calabash Lantern

Miracle Fruit (Crescentia cujete), Family Bignoniaceae 

Calabash globes: lantern, savings bank, crystal ball.  Crafted by the author 2025

Dichotomous is art today,

   in schools and movements,

   aesthetics and utility, 

   indigenous and foreign,

   fantasy and reality,

   conventional and abstract.

Art and craft, if I may say.

 

 

Calabash shell is the hard rind of  Miracle Fruit (Crescentia cujete), Family Bignoniaceae. Although botanically distinct, the Calabash fruit has common features and uses with Bottle Gourd, Lagenaria siceraria, Family Cucurbitaceae, an annual climbing plant known as  upo in Pilipino and tabungaw in Ilocano.

As old as in biblical times, or earlier, 

crafts made from this fruit were sacred,

grains vessel, jug for wine and water, 

link of man's faith with his Creator.  

 

The biblical meaning of the calabash encompasses its symbolism as a vessel, metaphorical representation of growth and flexibility, expression of abundance and blessings, and its significance in rituals and offerings. (The Biblical Significance of the Calabash: Unveiling Its Spiritual Symbolism, (Home and Nature, Internet)

Two Faces of our Planet Earth Chandelier

The Pristine Face of our Planet Earth in acrylic

on wood scrap by the author 2020

Imagine this scene before the Fall,

   nature in unity and harmony;

Or is it an aftermath of man's exile,

   redeeming the Lost Eden's beauty?

 The Defiled Face of our Planet Earth in acrylic

on wood scrap by the author 2020

Light in the air, swaying with the wind;

     heavy in the air dull, still;

Pristine, natural in the absence of man, 

     defiled, dead, can't humans feel?

Nature's Trophy 

"The object of art is to give life a shape.” - Aristotle

Driftwood, foothold of  shells, against a mural background, 

crafted by AV Rotor 2024

Hail! But Nature's trophy is not victory,

not grandstanding and glory.

For Nature's distress call is a sad story,

to stop man's greed and folly.

 

 

Driftwood, foothold of  shells in two views, AVR

  

Closeup of shells attached to the driftwood; 

glass replica of pearls in oysters AVR 

Pearl! How beautiful a pearl could be! 

but its kind today in the laboratory

holds no longer the secret of the sea. 

Driftwood into Flower Vase

Main face of the driftwood vase

I am a remnant of a felled tree in a forest long ago,

     drifting down the river to the sea;

braving the elements and patient with time, too;

     free but knowing not my destiny. 

For how long I drifted far and wide I do not know,

     my world was aimless and carefree

among creatures I met, that would come and go. 

     but to whom can I tell this long story?

Until the tides took me one day into another view,

     to where trees stood happy once like me,

where people brought back old memories anew;

     but I am now but a waste of the sea. 

Until a curious lass took me for something new,

     something for the arts, not for money;

but some kind of beauty in my ugliness to show

     Nature's hidden artistic quality. ~

Views of the driftwood vase in perspective variations. 

"The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of.” - Leonardo da Vinci. ~

8. "Please, come, and I'll give Thee rest."

Wall mural and pond, at home QC, by AVRotor 2010

The walls I painted hills and valleys and forests,

towering to the roof I painted blue, clouds rising,

birds flying in flock to meet the rising sun, as fresh

as the morning air, chirping sweet songs, circling;

And below a dozen pako fish wake in the golden

reflection of morning, eager for food and company;

I wonder if ever they feel the confines of a den,

for I have faithfully copied Rousseau's scenery.

Dream no more I said to myself, of Paradise Regained -

It is here, in the very core of being next to the heart

and soul, this Phrygian landscape with touch of vane,

the essence of contrition and amendment for my part.

For nothing is unforgivable, that Sin inherited by us

from our ancestors - we're doomed, deprived of heaven

on earth. No! the gifts the Creator have been passed

onward, and here I created a piece of that lost Eden.

Here I see God across the wall, and above my head,

His harmonious creation over land, across the sea,

I am part of the cycle of life everyday, even in bed,

as seasons come and go, here I feel always free.

When lakes and rivers dry, and the sky no longer blue;

as cities grow, land fills with waste, air no longer fresh;

I pick my brush, say a prayer in color, shade and hue,

Inviting my Creator, "Please come, and I'll give Thee rest." ~

9. Armageddon* in the Making

Is a Third World War inevitable? 

Stockpile of nuclear weapons can annihilate present human

 population three times over. 

 

              1. Blast, 2. Breakdown  

 

3. Chaos, 4. Doom (Paintings by AV Rotor)

A third world war was averted during the 45-year Cold War. As hindsight, an arms race revealed from both sides USA and USSR and their respective allies built a  stockpile of nuclear weapons potentially capable of annihilating mankind three times, and irreversibly destroying the earth’s biological and ecological balance.

Armageddon an acrylic painting

by AV Rotor

1. A third and final world war is inevitable, it is now long overdue reckoning the first and the second at a generation’s interval. I am a witness to the second at its closing in mid 19th century, and grew up in its ruins in lives and properties, and in the relative peace that followed thereafter; 

 

 2. For 45 years until 1989 that peace thrived in fear and uncertainty under the proverbial Damascus Sword. The world was polarized into two warring ideologies – democracy and socialism – with countries, with few exceptions, drawn to either the side of America or that of Russia, then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR.

3. A third world war was averted. As hindsight, an arms race revealed from both sides a  stockpile of nuclear weapons potentially capable of annihilating mankind three times, and irreversibly destroying the earth’s biological and ecological balance, with radiation and other poisons that can persist for hundreds, if not thousands of years.  

Fiery scene, painting of an 8-year old. Children's Art Workshop, 2017

4. Year 1989 marked historical events of global significance: the dissolution of USSR to its core which is Russia, liberating its members as independent nations, and the reunification of East Germany and West Germany in a celebrated tearing down of the Berlin Wall that separated them for half a century. This marked the end of the Cold War.

5. The new era favored the transition of People’s Republic of China to open its doors to the free world following Mao Zedong’s death. Earlier the two Vietnams were reunited following the defeat of US-backed South Vietnam. South Africa, like India twenty years earlier, gained independence from Britain with Nelson Mandela at the helm.

6. But what really tore down the boundaries of nations zealously guarded by politics and economics have been the breakthroughs in science and technology, particularly in communication and transportation, disseminating information through multimedia and bringing people together. This ushered the beginning of “globalization.”

7. Man has conquered space in cyber communication, and space travel. The whole world is “wired” and crisscrossed by space lanes, shrinking the world into a village, so to speak. Liberalization brought socialism and other restrictive ideologies to their knees.  Unopposed, capitalism rose and dominated the economy of nations and the world.

8. The world became one huge economy under capitalism with trade barriers lifted, trade zones expanded, cartels and monopolies emboldened, regional unions created and expanded (EU, APEC, ASEAN), industrialization and agriculture tremendously grew to meet demands of population explosion, affluence and growth of urban centers.

9. Forests were logged, farmlands and pastures exploited, lakes shrunk (e.g. Aral Sea), waterways polluted, air loaded with carbon and gases (CO2, Sulphur, methane) returning to earth as acid rain - and heat. The Ozone layer is thinned out by CFC compounds.  Desertification, erosion, siltation add to the wanton destruction of the environment.

Stonewall of the Heart, by AV Rotor

10. A shift from fossil fuel has long been overdue.  For more than a century the internal combustion engine has remained virtually unchanged.  A shift to nuclear energy has chilling reminder of Hiroshima and Nagasaki  atomic bombing in WWII, and nuclear plant incidents (Chernobyl in Ukraine, Fukushima in Japan), North Korea’s and Iran’s threat as new nuclear powers, notwithstanding.

----- 

* Greek Armageddon, Harmagedōn, is the prophesied location of a final battle between good and evil at the end of time. It's described in the Book of Revelation as a gathering of armies for a great conflict. It is a term often used to refer to the end of the world or a final, decisive conflict. 

10. Ecological Paradigm of Moral Life

Finding God in Cyberspace - remote and radical paradigm of

salvation in our postmodern time. 

Forest fire induced by man's greed and folly in the pursuit 

of the so-called Good Life. Painting by the author

 

Ecological paradigm endorses an eco-centric approach where all forms of life and non-life are important to human life. Spirituality points out to a unitive force: the sacredness of everything. God’s divinity flows in everything. There is integration in the universe. And we are part of that integration, exceedingly small as we are, notwithstanding. 

The kind of person we truly are is reflected by our relationship with Mother Earth, how we comply under her treaties. Clearly, biocide is the greatest sin man commits in this period. Long live, Ceres! And Albert Schweitzer and King Solomon must be smiling up there. So with St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology. “Reverence for life,” is the key to this paradigm. 

11. Art and Greek Mythology Today

Blue Fish AV Rotor 2025

Blue* in the deep sea 

makes the fish free,

invisible to their enemy

and to their prey.

* Blue light is known as high-energy visible (HEV) light because it has the shortest wavelengths - and therefore the highest energy - of all visible light. Thus making the ocean and the sky appear blue.

Legendary Cave by AV Rotor 2025

It reminds us of the Minotaur*

slayed by a young hero; 

 wonder if there's a Theseus today,

to make the story true.

*Minotaur - a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity 

with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man

Quo vadis, art?    

Author (left) poses with his relatives from Baguio City in their recent visit at the Living with Nature Center, in San Vicente Ilocos Sur, their hometown.  (Conrad, Zabeth and Kian Rotor).  The back-to-back paintings depict scenarios on the relevance of art in our fast changing world today in two themes: ecology (protection of our natural environment), and mythology (in search of "heroes" in our midst). ~

12.  Eco-therapy and Postmodern Living

  

  Home Art Gallery 

 In our postmodern living we are moving away from the natural world which guaranteed our success in evolution as a species. Then, rationality brought us out of the biblical Paradise in search of Utopia. We have been travelers searching for this ultimate destination.

Imagine the world of the "lost" - professionals and students, ordinary people notwithstanding. It is a world where

• Thoughts refuse to close down, even only for respite.
• Energy drains the whole being, even before starting to work.
• Sleep never comes on time and is never enough.
•  Relationships are strained, if not alienated.
•  Family bond is breaking up.
• Self worth and respect are falling to a point of depression, or suicide.

 Relaxation is a discipline, a regimen, to

·         switch off your thoughts to release stress before it builds up.

·         conserve energy, budget it well

·         sleep well to obtain full rest.

·         mend relationships, build friendship

·         bond closely with your family.

·         discover your potentials to enhance self worth and respect.

                      13. Miniature Dioramas of Nature 

 These mini-dioramas were projects of students and became part of the former St Paul School Museum. SPUQC.

This lesson is dedicated to the students who made them, and to many visitors who appreciated the value of these masterpieces. 

Hands-on, these dioramas took shape,

     Bruised and cut and stained,

Sweat and tears, imagery and faith,

     That Nature's image is made.

On-site, these scenes now in glass cases,

     Are faithful to science and art;

They reveal the earth's beautiful faces,

     But with the spark of life apart.~

The idea of miniaturized dioramas depicting ecological scenes was pioneered by students taking up ecology subject at St. Paul University QC. Their works - two dozen mini-dioramas depicting major ecosystems - were displayed for 15 years at the school museum, then the centerpiece of natural history.

A diorama is a “view window” reproduced from an actual or imagined event or scene made by artists who have a background of painting, architecture and sculpture combined, and of course, history. In this particular case, the diorama artists must have a working knowledge of ecology and biology.

One who may have visited any of the following museums has a better understanding as to what a diorama is in terms of structure, content and medium: National Museum in Manila, Ayala Museum at Greenbelt in Makati, and National Food Authority Grain Industry Museum in Cabanatuan. But the dioramas in these museums are large and spacious. It gives him the feeling that he is right on spot where the event is taking place or where the scene is located. This is enhanced with the right ambiance of lighting, musical background, narration or dialogue and the like.

The mini-dioramas at the former SPUQ museum are much simpler and smaller. They are works of amateurs but nonetheless exude the quality works of artists cum ecologists. Here are seven mini-dioramas depicting the Tropical Rainforest, the Ocean, Pacific Lagoon, Coral Reef, Alpine Biome, Savannah and the Desert,

1. Tropical Rainforest

The earth once wore a broad green belt on her midriff – the rainforest – that covered much of her above and below the equator. Today this cover has been reduced - and is still shrinking at a fast rate. The nakedness of the earth can be felt everywhere. 

One place where we can witness this is right here in the Philippines where only 10 percent of our original forest remains. 

Even the great Amazon Basin is threatened. As man moves into new areas, puts up dwellings, plants crops, becomes affluent, increases in number, the more the tropical rainforest shrinks. Our thinking that the forest as a source of natural resources is finite is wrong. 

Like any ecosystem, a forest once destroyed cannot be replaced. It can not regenerate because by then the soil has eroded, and the climate around has changed. It is everyone’s duty to protect the tropical rainforest, the bastion of thousands of species of organisms. In fact it is the richest of all the biomes on earth.

2. The Ocean

Scientists today believe that eighty percent of the world’s species of organisms are found in the sea. One can imagine the vastness of the oceans – nearly 4 kilometers deep on the average and 12 km at its deepest - the Marianas Trench and the Philippine Deep - and covering 78 percent of the surface of the earth. 

Artists and scientists re-create scenarios of Jules Verne’s, “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” such as this diorama, imagining man’s futuristic exploration in the deep led by Captain Nemo, the idealistic but ruthless scientist. Such scenarios are no longer fantasy today – they are scenes captured by the camera and other modern tools of research. 

And the subject is not one of exploration alone, but conservation, for the sea, limitless as it may seem, is facing the same threats of pollution and other abuses man on land, in water, and air. The sea is man’s last frontier. Let us give it a chance.

3. Pacific Lagoon

The vastness of the Pacific Ocean is disturbed now and then by the presence of islands – big and small, singly or in groups - that appear like emerald and pearl strewn on the dark blue water, presenting a most beautiful scenery that attracts people to experience true communion with nature. 

Originally these islands were the tips of volcanoes, at first fierce and unsettled, but later became tame to the elements that fashioned them through time into lagoons, and other land forms of varied geographic features. As seen in this diorama, this island typical of Boracay is rich in vegetation, coconut trees grow far into the water and on the white sand that cover the shores. 

The coral reef teems with many kinds of marine life, from rare shellfish to aquarium fishes. In fact the whole island is a sanctuary of wildlife. It is a natural gene bank, a natural museum of biological diversity.

4. Coral Reef

Second to the Tropical Rainforest in richness in species diversity is the coral reef, often dubbed as a forest under the sea. Corals are simple animals of the Phylum Coelenterata, now Ctenophora, that live in symbiosis with algae. Algae being photosynthetic produce food and oxygen that corals need, and in return receive free board and lodging, and carbon dioxide. 

Within this zone grow many kinds of seaweeds, some reaching lengths of several feet long as in the case of kelp (Laminaria), and Sargassum, the most common tropical seaweed. As a sanctuary it cradles the early life stages of marine life until they have grown to be able to survive the dangers and rigors of the open sea. Coral reefs are formed layer upon layer through long years of deposition of calcareous skeletons of Coelenterates which is then cemented with sand, silt, clay and gravel to form into rock. 

Limestone is a huge deposit resulting from this process Scientists believe that without coral reefs islands would disappear and continents shrink. Above all we would not have the fishes and other marine organisms we know today.

5. Alpine Biome

Isolated from the lower slopes and adjoining valley, this ecological area has earned a distinction of having plants and animals different from those in the surrounding area. 

Because of the unique climate characterized by an intense but short summer and extreme cold the rest of the year, the organisms in this biome have acquired through evolution certain characteristics that made them fit to live in such an environment. 

Alpine vegetation is dramatic owing to its ephemeral nature. Here annual plants bloom with a precise calendar, attracting hordes of butterflies and other organisms. The trees are gnarled as they stand against the howling wind, mosses and liverworts carpet the ground, streams are always alive, and migrating animals have their fill before the cold sets in. We do not have this biome in the Philippines, but atop Mt. Apo in Davao and Mt. Pulog in Benguet, the country’s highest mountains, lies a unique ecosystem – a combination of grassland and alpine. 

This could be yet another biome heretofore unrecorded in the textbook.

6. Savannah

Home of game animals in Africa, the Savannah has the highest number of herbivores of all biomes. It had always been the “grand prix” of hunters until three decades ago when strict laws were passed prohibiting poaching and destruction of natural habitats. 

The diorama depicts the shrub-grass landscape, a stream runs into a waterhole where, during summer, attracts animals from the lowly turtle to the ferocious lion which stakes on preys like zebra and gazelle. Beyond lies Mt. Kimanjaro, Hemingway’s favorite locale of his novel of the same title (Snows of Kilimanjaro). It is said that the beginning of the Nile River, the longest river in the world, starts with the melting of snow atop Kilimanjaro, right at the heart of the Savannah.

7. The Desert

Scenes of the Sahara flash in our mind the moment the word “desert” is brought  about to both young and old, in fantasy or reality. Here lies a wasteland, so vast that it dwarfs the imagination. 

Deserts are found at the very core of continents like Australia and North America, or extend to high altitude (Atacama Desert) or way up north (Siberian Desert) where temperature plunges below zero Celsius.

 In the desert rain seldom comes and when it does, the desert suddenly blooms into multi-faceted patterns and colors of short-growing plants. Sooner the desert is peacefully dry and eerie once again, except the persistent cacti and their boarders (birds, insects and reptiles), shrubs and bushes that break the monotony of sand and sand dunes. But somewhere the “desert is hiding a well,” so sang the lost pilot and the Little Prince in Antoine de St. Exupery’s novelette, “The Little Prince.” I am referring to the oasis, waterhole in the desert. It is here where travelers mark their route, animals congregate, nations put claims on political borders.

Ecologically this is the nerve center of life, spiritually the bastion of hope, a new beginning, and source of eternal joy particularly to those who have seen and suffered in the desert. The desert is not a  desert after all.~

Other biomes:

Tundra - type of biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. It is the coldest of all the biomes.
Taiga - The Russian word for forest and is the largest biome in the world. It stretches over Eurasia and North America
Temperate Deciduous Forest - dominated by temperate broad-leaf trees that lose their leaves each year. The four seasons are distinct. The trees lose their leaves in colorful display characteristic in autumn; they lay bare often in snow in winter, resume growth in spring, and are most luxuriant in summer which is also the time of flowering and seed formation.
Grassland - characterized as lands dominated by grasses rather than large shrubs or trees. The largest grasslands are the prairies of North America, and pampas in South America
Chaparral - a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula.
Lake - Examples: Sea of Gallilee, Aral Sea, Laguna Bay, Victoria
River - Mekong, Danube, Rhine, Nile, Mississippi, Yangzhe River, Brahmaputra,

--------------------------------

These mini-dioramas were made by students as school projects and were displayed at the then St Paul University QC museum for 15 long years that I was professor and museum curator. The museum has been transformed since I left in 2010 into  another purpose.  

Biomes are defined as the world's major communities, classified according to the predominant vegetation and characterized by adaptations of organisms to that particular environment. The importance of biomes cannot be overestimated. Biomes have changed and moved many times during the history of life on Earth. More recently, human activities have drastically altered these communities. Thus, conservation and preservation of biomes should be a major concern to all.

14. Adventure with Nature 

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Adventure with Nature in acrylic (20"x28") by AV Rotor 2025

Adventure with Nature, in search for meaning, joy-innocence-courage rolled in one, experience treasured in a lifetime, imprimatur of youth in old age, wisdom distilled from knowledge in the field;  

Adventure with Nature, in search of man's ancestral past, virtues-values-reverence ensconced as one in the person, his family and community, primordial to unity and harmony of society and humanity;   

Adventure with Nature, in search of what lies up high, atop a mountain, beyond the boundaries of horizon, as imagined views and images on the throne of the great Creator as He would watch over His creation;

Adventure with Nature, in search of a home in the four corners of the  Earth and beyond, yearning to conquer time and space, suffering and death, ironically man has yet to conquer his own passion and weakness;  

Adventure with Nature, in search of the lost biblical Eden, with deep faith of regaining its beauty and glory, through man's role as guardian and sentinel in keeping Nature's beauty and bounty; 

Adventure with Nature, in search of freedom from the tender trap of technology, capitalism, sectarianism, fast lane and affluent living, depriving man the true meaning of the Good Life;

Adventure with Nature, in search of genuine World Peace sans fear of Armageddon, genuine happiness shared in Matthew 25, Psalm of Life, Rizal's vision, Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. 

Nature shares her bounty in many ways:

     He who works or he who prays,

Who patiently waits or gleefully plays;

     He's worthy of the same grace

                   - AV Rotor, Living with Nature in Our Times UST 2007 ~

15. Logotherapy* with Nature

“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” ― Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Artwork and wall mural by Dr Abe V Rotor

Tower of Doom Trophy against a wall mural Waterfalls Forever 

by AV Rotor 2025.  Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

When you feel imprisoned aiming at affluence; your neighbors, friends, and people you may not even know, having set a standard of the Joneses, you too, wish to attain, yet know you cannot;

When you fall short of your expectation in life, your dreams are but effervescences, overtaken by shortcomings and circumstances beyond your control, age and poor health notwithstanding;

When you believe in the Good Life measured by wealth and power, popularity and social standing, yet feel empty inside, seeking for more, for something akin to that of Caesar's dream;   

When you triumph over others, friends or enemies, masters or subordinates, in war and peace, and you call this victory, awarding yourself a trophy - and a crown of fig leaf;

When you have stayed too long, you can't remember, in a concentration camp far, far away from Flanders' Field, Shangri-la, or any place of freedom, peace and joy - much less of compassion; 

When you have forsaken those you love and care, your family and community, in lieu of the promises of a bigger world of adventure, at the end finding yourself abandoned, and too, forsaken; 

When you have fallen into the tender traps of capitalism, modernism, sectarianism and the like, and finding yourself at the receiving end an outcast, feeling alone in this wide, wide world; 

* Logotherapy is an existential therapy developed by Viktor Frankl that focuses on finding meaning in life as the primary human motivation.

Tower of Doom Trophy against a wall mural A Li'l Corner of Eden 

by AV Rotor 2025.  Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Go out and find Nature, in her simple yet beautiful ways, expressed at sunrise, sunset, in the many faces of clouds, rainbow's arch like cathedral, the countless scenes of awe and wonder;

Go out and follow Nature from the mountains and hills, the watershed feeding the streams, rivers and lakes, making the fields and pastures, green, the grains golden at harvest time, kites flying in the blue sky; 

Go and follow Nature down the vast ocean, visit the home of your ancestors in caves, forests, valleys, site of Genesis - the origin of all things, with Homo sapiens as God's masterpiece. Rejoice in thanksgiving! ~

16.  Ecology: Reflection of the Good Life

There are people who live happy and full lives while others do not. This leads us to look into the role of human faculties. When we talk of human faculties we refer to holistic intelligence. It is beyond IQ. It dwarfs the common concept of rationality. In fact, it defies definitions that scientists thought of plotting into various fields.
All of us are endowed with a wide range of intelligence which is divided into eight realms, namely:

• Interpersonal (social intelligence)
• Intrapersonal (meditational, spirituality)
• Kinesthetic (athletics, dance, body language)
• Languages or linguistic
• Logic (dialectics, mathematics)
• Music (Auditory art)
• Spatial intelligence (drawing and painting, sculpture, architecture, photography)
• Naturalism (green thumb, relationship with the Natural World)

These realms reside in both left and right hemispheres of our brain, with the left doing more of the reasoning and the right of creativity. How we live a happy and fulfilled life largely rests on how balance we use our brain, making use of these eight God-given faculties. It is also with this premise that we find peace with ourselves and with our environment and ultimately with God. Thus it is not only how much we are endowed with this gift, but more importantly, it is how we make use of it fully and in the right way.

Why don’t you make your own assessment? Rate yourself in each realm. Analyze your top three. Are you not proud of them? Look at the other realms. You may not have tapped them well. Do you realize that there is a big room of improvement, and that there are latecomers in this world?
Lastly, let me emphasize another component of peace, that of sharing. I can not find a shorter way to explain it more clearly than to present this excerpt from “How to Live With Life,” published by Reader’s Digest. To wit:

“Every human being on this earth faces a constant problem: how to make the most of life. There is no simple solution; the art of living is the most difficult of all the arts. But fortunately for all of us, experience can be shared. Insights can be learned. Wisdom can be taught. Experiences, insights and wisdom of men and women – from teachers to clergymen, housewives to scientists, ordinary citizens to statesmen - who have lived deeply, thought profoundly and cared enormously about sharing with others what they learned have found some fragment of truth that cushions the harsh impact of reality or brightens the marvelous tapestry of living. From them we find some answers to the most fundamental of all questions: how to live with life.”

Final Reflections
Let us

• Reflect on re-creating Nature with the image of the lost Eden
• Reflect on bringing the dead tree back to life.
• Reflect that everything in this world is interconnected. Reflect on the lost lamb, the prodigal son.
• Reflect on the new concept of heroes, hope of a tired Planet Earth
• Reflect that our lives can not be ruled by the faceless side of
• science and technology
• Reflect on long life but one lived with noble cause
• Reflect on that sailboat riding on the wave and wind towards a destination.
• 
  Reflect on the multiple intelligence which God endowed singularly to man and how we make use of it in gratitude to the Giver.
• And if we think we are too little in this wide, wide world to make any difference, let this verse permeate in our thoughts and heart.

Cumulus

Rise up from the sea and come as rain,

wake the ponds, make the rivers flow,
fill the lakes, make the fields green;
the trees a curtain to hide the sun
a moment of your ephemeral beauty
of changing faces and a myriad figures;
delight many a child to draw,
to dream and grow;
and if one day the water of the sea is not enough,
drink, drink deep
from my little cup.

Rocky cliff against cumulus cloud, in acrylic by the author 2020

17. Four-Seasons-in-One

"... the seasons come and go, never growing old;

each with rhyme, rhythm, and the meter of living,

renewing hope, keeping faith, humbling the bold."

Four-Seasons-in-One, acrylic, AVR 2012

I love the seasons, I want them all at the same time:

spring, summer, autumn, winter - rolled into one;

for I can't wait each coming, or the trouble to find;

one sitting before the canvas and everything's done.

So in my life, seasons crowd in, knowing not which one

comes in the morning or evening, at work or play;

I lost track of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and the bond

of creation that brings all together to pray.

The artist in me called, there's order in every thing -

the seasons come and go, never growing old;

each with rhyme, rhythm, and the meter of living,

renewing hope, keeping faith, humbling the bold.~

17b. The Third Eye

Dr Abe V Rotor

Lesson: Do you have a third eye? If so, can you tell the future? 

Read and analyze the poem.

Morning Flight, Wall Mural AVR 2000 St Paul University QC

Fantasy or reality - how can we tell

One from the other without a third eye?

Ah, but epics live on through the ages,

As classics live through their spell,

And Gulliver as told by the sages.

The third eye tells of a coming storm,

No less than the vagaries of the mind;

But what the future holds remains locked

In God's will until the time has come,

Beyond fantasy or reality or luck. ~

 

18. Twenty Art Scenes of Our Changing Environment

“If the environment is happy, people will laugh and your grief will go away.”― Srinivas Mishra

Our changing environment refers to the ongoing changes happening to the planet, primarily due to human activities like burning fossil fuels and deforestation. These changes include global warming, rising sea levels, and altered ecosystems. Climate change is a significant aspect of these changes, with impacts including more extreme weather, melting ice, and rising sea levels. AI Overview Internet

Flow Gently Sweet Afton, local counterpart

“An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment.” —David Attenborough

Ecosystems endangered - coral reef and forest

“The earth is always changing...readjusting to our existence. Each era is full of unique challenges”― Val Uchendu

 

Two colonies - marine and terrestrial

“The Earth is what we all have in common.”—Wendell Berry

 

Birds in the trees; fish in the deep

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” —Albert Einstein

 

Boys in the woods adventure; family of fish

“To leave the world better than you found it, sometimes you have to pick up other people’s trash.” —Bill Nye

  

Oil spill in two stages

 

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of each.” — Henry David Thoreau

 

Aftermath of oil spill on marine ecosystem.

“Together we can preserve the forest, securing this immense treasure for the future of all these children.”— Chico Mendes

  

Evolution of life in two stages

And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and my soul.” —John Muir

“The ultimate test of a man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” — Gaylord Nelson

 

The Day After  dreadful scenarios 

“Look after the land and the land will look after you, destroy the land and it will destroy you.” —Aboriginal Proverb

“We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.”— Barack Obama

New species emerging from genetic engineering

“Earth rejoices our words, breathing and peaceful steps. Let every breath, every word and every step make the mother earth proud of us.”― Amit Ray

 

Where have all the fire trees - and the children -  gone?

"There can be no purpose more enspiriting than to begin the age of restoration, reweaving the wondrous diversity of life that still surrounds us." — E.O. Wilson ~

 19. Cryptobiology: The Study of Nature Spirits

Annex - A Collection of Images of Cryptid Trees

Dr Abe V Rotor

Deep inside, we still have a longing to be reconnected with the nature that shaped our imagination, our language, our song and dance, our sense of the divine. And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. And taste the beauty of the wild. still!  Internet  

Coed, Angie Tobias 18, displays cryptid driftwoods from a collection of Nature Spirit remains at the Living with Nature Center in San Vicente Ilocos Sur.  These items resemble unique features of creatures and objects, a subject of pseudoscience called cryptobiology. 

Cryptobiology is a field of study at the border of science and superstition., thus scientists call it pseudoscience.  It is however, older than science itself owing to its indigenous and popular nature.  With today's growing awareness in protecting nature from rampant destructive practices, this new field is gaining support from scholars and people in general.  

There are two fields of cryptobiology, one concerning animals (cyptozoology) and the other, plants (cryptobotany). The former took off with the discovery of strange creatures like the Coelacanth fish thought to have become extinct millions of years ago.  On the other hand, the search of legendary and fiction characters like Loch Ness, Bigfoot, and the Abominable Snowman, continues to draw attention. 

Philippine Eagle Driftwood in two views, personal collection of the author

on display at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Search for the Incredible 

Media with the advancement of science and  technology have embellished  findings and reports about a "third world of creatures". The platypus is among nature's most unlikely animals. In fact, the first scientists to examine a specimen believed they were the victims of a hoax.  If the Red Wood (Sequoia) was not discovered, no one would believe in its enormous size compared with high rise buildings. How many creatures completely unfamiliar to most of us live in a drop of pond water?  In terms of biological diversity, 90 percent of living things remain unknown and unidentified, more so if we include the prototype and extinct organisms since life appeared three billion years ago. 

Driftwood representing a Philippine eagle, hawk (lawin), and a dragon in biblical times and in fairy books. Displayed as a table top figurines, subject of curiosity and subsequent exchange of stories among young and old alike.   

 

This figure of an aquatic creature apparently swimming, was discovered in an estuary. Old folks claim the creature once lived where sea and river meet, a unique habitat of many strange creatures, animals and plants as well.  Mural background adds to the queer ambiance of the figure. 

Horned duck with wings half-spread ready for takeoff, gives a fantasy image of a strange creature, which kids relate with cartoon characters and unique specimens like the Pterodactyl, an extinct genus of pterosaurs.

 

 

Top photos: Half-serpent, half-avian with distinct eyes, beak and crown (palong Tag); yelping puppy in a greeting pose.  Lower photos: Long legged reptile emerging from a broken jar seems to be telling story fit for a horror movie. 

    Augury is the practice from ancient Roman religion of interpreting omens from the observed behavior of birds. A white dove means “peace”. A black dove means “war”.  It could also pertain to matters of the heart, relationships, luck, misfortune, death, Remember the emissary bird in the biblical Noah's Ark? Have you seen a black dove in our real world?

  

Out of this world creatures haunt the forest, playing the role of guardian against poachers and loggers.  Nature spirits are friendly to environmentalists and are believed to be protecting Nature's resources against abuse.  

Cryptobiology is traced to our ancestors, and carried on through history, treasured in  primitive societies, religious organizations, and time honored beliefs and tradition conveyed in documents and folktales.   

Cryptobiology, Keeper of Values and Tradition

One time I asked a man of his true name.  He said when he was a boy he was sickly.  To overcome his condition, his nickname was changed with one stroke of a bolo (Taga' sa punong kahoy.)  To this day Mang Kapok (kapok is cotton tree, Ceiba pentandra), now a senior, is heathy and strong, thanks to the spirit of the place and the village herbolario.  

Beginning of Crypto communication

With the breakthrough in cybercommunication, it is evident that soon we will be communicating with Nature more directly than before, more than mere fantasy and imagination, over and above, inferential and psychological.  

Cryptobiology and Conscientization

Conscientizatrion  conveys the idea of developing, strengthening, and changing consciousness. Consciousness leads us to think further than knowledge in the pursuit of values, truth and the ideal.  Here is a piece I wrote for a university lecture on Nature and Literature. ~

20. Love the Children through Art 

“They always say time changes things, but you actually 

have to change them yourself.” Andy Warhol 

Author demonstrates basic art under the trees. 

Away from the cellphone and mall,

for a time precious however small.

“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” 

- Edward Hopper

  

Wall mural brings nature to children in imagery.

Reach out for something a dream,

a pot of gold, morning sun beam.

“To create one’s own world takes courage.” Georgia O’Keeffe

  

A work of art is beautiful and never wrong.

Proudly they stand with their art, 

a treasure their lives now a part. 

“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.” 

- Auguste Rodin

    

   

Outdoor art workshop under the trees. Living with Nature arboretum.

A school: its roof, 

the sky and treetops, 

its walls the horizon,

its floor bare earth;

it is Nature's zone.  

Shh... these children feel free,

freedom in creativity

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Pablo Picasso 

  

Art guides children to a healthy socio-cultural life.

Time out, art is not in a hurry,

pause with nature and company.

“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” Francis Bacon 

 

Author as guardian and tutor

Art has many expressions,

     in different sessions;

shy and cautious at first,

    'til released like a burst.

“I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart.” Vincent van Gogh ~

21. Requiem to a Heritage Acacia Tree

"If you have never loved a tree, life's true magic has ceased to breathe."  - Angie Weiland-Crosby

Author points at an on-the-spot painting he made in 1976 of a standing heritage acacia tree. Adjacent to it is a outdoor furniture shop. San Vicente is famous for wood furniture industry. The painting graces the lobby of the San Vicente Municipal Hall in Ilocos Sur.

"A great acacia, with its slender trunk

 And overpoise of multitudinous leaves.

 (In which a hundred fields might spill their dew

 And intense verdure, yet find room enough)

 Stood reconciling all the place with green." 

          - Elizabeth Barrett Browning Internet

Author, with coeds from the University of Northern Philippines, pose

with the relics of the heritage acacia he painted in 1976 as seen above.

     "Life is like a tree. Every Leaf is a dream, it may be big or small. When the leaves fall, dreams disappear but when the trees have new leaves, life has new wonderful things." - Pinterest

    

Closeup of the mounted artwork.  It serves as a memorabilia, 

more than a biological specimen and work of art.           

"In Egyptian and early Judeo-Christian traditions, the acacia is linked to life after death and the soul's immortality. It symbolizes spiritual rebirth and the eternal nature of the human spirit." - Oak & Hyde Internet 

        22. Save Nature through Children's Art Workshop

"Lolo," knocking on the gate, they called,

"Why it's gloomy, typhoon's coming," I said;

And the wind had started blowing cold; 

Children are children, bless them, oh Lord.

And I, a parent, a teacher grown very old,

Rose from my armchair to meet the three;

"Can we draw?" chorused they cheerfully  

What shall they draw when the sky's heavy?

Living with Nature garden with Rizal's shrine as background.  

The shrine depicts his life in exile at Dapitan as artist, scientist, 

doctor, teacher and farmer, among other roles.

 

Author and tutor Dr Rotor poses with budding artists, all students of San Vicente Integrated School. at the Living with Nature Center 

"Go to Mother Nature when tired, lonely and uncertain,

when all human comfort fails, when abandoned." - avr

Integrated Children's Summer Workshop conducted by the author 

at the San Vicente Botanical Garden , San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.

Take time out from TV, computer, malling;

     life's so dull, busy yet empty;

The left brain's overworked, the right idle,

     growing up is a sad story.

Take time out in summer away from school,

     put down your books and depart;

give imagination a chance over knowledge

     through creativity in the art.

Take time out to be close to Mother Nature,

     draw and paint under the trees,

recreate the world you wish it should be,

     let your worries go with the breeze.

Take time out to be your real self, discover

     beyond the world of reality,

with myriad colors and the paintbrush,

     the boundless realm of fantasy. ~ 

Author's Note: From the neighborhood these three children came to learn drawing in the course of weather disturbances caused by a series of typhoons lately. School classes were suspended, but thanks to the brief calm moments the children found respite in drawing. They brought home their works, in order to share their acquired skill and optimism to their family and community.                              

                        

23. Art Evolution: "Aim at Function, Beauty and Posterity." 

UNP Education Students visit the Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

 

 "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." - Confucius 

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

 

Samples of home-made projects - original and simple.  

Author's art work 2025.

School projects students must submit,

easiest to buy than make their own;

unfair to those who labor to make one,

but a teacher knows which is genuine.

 

" Art, craft, teaching aid, laboratory specimen rolled-in-one."

Multi-facet projects challenge creativity;

aim at function, beauty and posterity.

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” — Helen Keller

 

Reviving the piggy bank tradition in art.  Guests put in the first coins.

Art promotes values,

secures one as he grows old;

 to the  lavish and bold.

there's no excuse.

“Learning is experience. Everything else is just information.” — Albert Einstein ~

        

24. Neo-Symbolism Art Movement in Our Times

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Wounded Peace

Wounded Peace in acrylic by the author 2020

Peace they bring these white doves in the sky;

passing over Flanders's Field of long ago,

when suddenly fired upon from down below;

it's history repeating the battle cry. - avr

 

2. The Eye in the Coral Reef

The Eye in the Coral Reef, Acrylic Painting by the author 2015

The eye! The eye!
among the corals watching.
conscience of the sea,
over Homo sapiens fishing.

It never winks, it's alive,
guarding against man's folly,
whose eye, not of man,
disgraced guardian of the sea. ~

3. Two Faces of our Planet Earth

 

The Pristine and defiled faces of our Planet Earth in acrylic on wood 

scraps by the author 2020

Light in the air, swaying with the wind;

Heavy in the air dull, still;

Pristine, natural in the absence of man, 

Defiled, dead, can't humans feel?

4. Living Columns of Parthenon

Green Parthenon, in acrylic on wood by the author

 

Living columns, Parthenon of the forest,

     your fate in the hands of man,

what time did to a temple of the gods -

     ruins of beauty now gone. 

 

5. Primeval Universe

Primordium Universe in acrylic (38" x 26"), AVR 2011

I wonder at infinity in its very beginning,
of a primeval universe devoid of stars;
I wonder at the prima causa of time and space,
of energy and matter becoming living mass.

I wonder at the blueprint of a Supreme Design,
if found the Big Bang and the Black Hole;
I wonder if there was a kinder universe before,
where Heaven and Earth were one and whole. ~

6. White doves at dawn

Silent Spring of Carson warns us of destruction,

from runaway technology and affluent living;

white doves coming down to herald at dawn

peace isn't lost, but waiting for us to redeem.

7. Maze

 

Maze in acrylic by the author 2025

Symbol of many an interpretation

in life and living, home, at work;

but where has the painter gone? 

what really is his own intention? 

8. Thorns Hanging

 

Hard rind of Miracle fruit embedded with cherry thorns,

artwork of the author.

Why thorns on a ball or globe,

plaything - or is it our world?

Like hanging Damocles' sword,

over man, both young and old.

9. Tree of Knowledge

 

Tree of Knowledge after the Fall in acrylic, AVR 

All alone after the Fall, abandoned;

regained somewhere, we believe;

in our world, cyberspace, searching

for this Tree of Adam and Eve.

10. Silent Bells

  

Silent Bells in acrylic AVR

The bells, their mission done,

adorn with flowering vines,

 where have the faithful gone? ~

25. Nature is Alive on Wall Murals

Mural Paintings by Dr Abe V Rotor

"Nature inside the house."

Bring nature home to the living room,

in make-believe unspoiled landscape;

do away with those fixtures and decors -

for good health and happiness' sake. 

"Fashion" before a waterfall

Natural - a cry today to be happy and free,

away from the burgeoning life in the city; 

it's a school without walls, a true story,

take the backseat affluence, luxury.

Picnic at the sala, author's residence

In their mind, it's outdoor with nature,

with amenities through art, they are;

away from the cellphone, from the mall, 

as they while away time, worry and chore.  

Sidewalk wall mural, author's residence, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

A dead wall resurrects across the street,

a waterfall whispers, douses the heat, 

slows down pulse, heart, and busy feet;

wonder why we are always on the beat.

World War II hanging mural, St Paul University QC, then a novitiate

History in its darkest hour, a work of art,

     captured from memorabilia long gone,

keeps afresh across memory lane and time,

     in the cycle of life, likened to the sun.

Author-artist plays the violin before a wall mural.

Mural of nature and life by the sea as one,

     creates music with the wind and sun;

oido (by-the-ear), natural, spontaneous,

     expressed by the artist's own opus!  

 

Baby Waterfall - Spring from the Wall

Refresh your tired hands with spring water,

     relax after a whole day of teaching;

don't reach or even go beyond your limit; 

     Mother Nature is just around waiting. 

Guests all in a row before a waterfall mural

Teachers and students often come for field study,

while away time from school, even only for a day.

 

 

Dead-end Wall Alive, old church wall, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Never say, "I've reached dead end."

     It's not the end of life about;

why not get some paint and brush,

     and clear your way out? 

 

EA Apartelle* wall mural, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Apartelle is a Philippine term referring to a type of accommodation 

that combines the features of an apartment and a hotel.

Where the busy street settles down on a wall mural,
    of an apartment-hotel hallway, away from the city; 
take a deep breath of freedom from stress and tension, 
    commune with make-believe nature, short it may be. 

 

 

 

 

Boundary wall mural 50 meters long, 7 bays.  Lubong, San Vicente, 

Ilocos Sur

Once site of garbage and shanties for years,

beside a historic ruins of añil* vats preserved;

I took the reign as owner-and-artist as one,

to rebuild the site back anew with cheers.

* Añil is the Spanish word for indigo, a natural blue dye, prepared by fermentation of a  plant, Indigofera suffruticosa. Añil was one of the products exported to Europe via Acapulco, Mexico, carried by Spanish Galleon ships from 16th to 18th century (300 years), the longest trading route between the two continents. 

Catching butterflies

Imaginary butterflies - white, blue and red

attract these kids, more than flowers do;

a game of the right and left brain compared;  

imagination reigns, letting reason go.

Siesta 

Relaxation slows down our busy world;

it's indeed a most precious word. 

 

A country lass, Kate, hugs a tree on the wall at the author's

residence in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur. Wall mural by AVR

"Come to the woods," this mural seems to say,

     and find rest in its living shroud,

 bastion of love, freedom and harmony,

     away from the maddening crowd.

. "A hug is two hearts wrapped in arms." – Unknown.

* Hugging a tree involves wrapping your arms around its trunk, often to connect with nature and experience its calming presence. This practice can have various benefits, including reducing stress, boosting the immune system, and releasing emotional blockages. It's also a form of mindfulness, encouraging introspection and a sense of belonging. - AI Overview Internet

26.  Neo-Impressionism in Our Times

 10 Paintings & Verses

by Dr Abe V Rotor

1. TOO SOON THE BUD OPENS
Painting in acrylic (12" x 17")

You come in springtime and autumn,
too eager a bud ahead of your time;
what promise of life awaits tomorrow
from where you've broken through?

Whichever path you take from now,
you'll miss the adventure of youth
in summer, and stillness of winter,
Oh, how could you live to the full?

"For having lost but once your prime,
you'll always tarry," so says a poet;
"It's now or never," so sings a bard,
and I, I've neither a poem nor a song.


2. A HEART ON THE WALL
Painting in acrylic (16.5" x 18")

Oh, heart on the wall
   do you still feel?
Do you still throb -
   the throb of love?
Ivy, ivy on the wall,
   don't hide
a living heart.

3. GRASS
Painting in acrylic (18" x 21")


Sway with the breeze,
   dance with the wind;
Greet the sun with dewdrops
   clinging;
In summer turn golden,
   and bow,
And die sweetly to feed
   the world.

4. A LOVELY PAIR IN A BOWER
Painting in acrylic (11.5" X 16")


Let the world go by in their bower,
lovers blind to the busy world,
away from the maddening crowd;
fleeting moment is forever,
to this pair in their lair.

Wonder in our midst who we are,
blind to each other, but the world,
strange this crowd we are in;
where's this lovely pair,
where's their bower?


5. SYMBIOSIS
Pisces and Echinoderms
Painting in acrylic (8" X 10")

Distant in phylogeny, yet live they together
in one community we call ecology,
ever since the beginning of our living world,
millions of years ago before man was born
to rule, to reign supreme over all creation;
wonder what Homo sapiens means
to true peace and harmony
beyond his rationality.

6. SEA URCHIN
Painting in acrylic ( 11" x 13.5")


You're all made of spikes,
I can't see the real you;
in your invincible armor
in any view.

Wonder how many of us
live like the urchin
in silent, unknown ways
and never seen.

7. SECRET OF THE HEART
Painting in Acrylic (13.5" x 13.5")


Hidden, the heart throbs
in deep silence;
two nails embedded,
unseen in pretence
of living, loving, caring,
the highest art,
filling the five chambers
of the heart.

8. INNOCENCE IN NATURE
Painting in acrylic (17.5" x 21.75")


Abstract over realism can you paint innocence,
move over classics, you are too pure
to be true, and impressionism too assuming,
with apologies to Monet's azure sky.

Oh! abstract indeed is a child's innocence,
buds in early spring, grains ripening;
heart of a true friend, pledge of real love,
growing in the passing of time.

Colors are mere symbols, wanting to behold,
the magnificence of mind and heart,
triumph of the human spirit over our frailty,
the most challenging of all art.~

9. ART OF THE CATERPILLAR
Painting in acrylic (11” x 14”)

Caterpillar, when you are gone
two things come to mind:
the butterfly you have become,
and the damage you have done
and left behind.

Art, art, whatever way defined,
the subject on the wall,
or dripping on the floor,
art, art you aren't hard to find
after all. ~

10. FISH SWARMING

Painting in acrylic (9” x 17”)

I’ve seen jellyfish swarming,
Plankton in coral reefs glowing;
a myriad fireflies mingling
with the stars, linking us all
to a Supreme Being. ~    

26b. A School of Fish Meets Dawn 

Painting and Verses by Dr Abe V Rotor

"For an Impressionist to paint from nature is not to paint the subject, but to realize sensations."- Paul Cezanne

"It took some time before the public learned that to appreciate an Impressionist painting one has to step back a few yards, and enjoy the miracle of seeing these puzzling patches suddenly fall into one place and come to life before our eyes." - Ernst Gombrich

Evolution of art from Lascaux **

to avant-garde  of today,

across cultures and continents,

ages, epochs, if I may say. 

Charcoal, acrylic to electronics,

and through the lens seen;

ephemeral like seasons passings,

lost to AI and machine.

And I, in my sunset years yearn

 for the schools of old anew;

like my fish stirring to the dawn;

 for art is a passing review. 

Camouflaged in red

for offence and defence;

 survival of the fittest

tells the fate of the rest.

 

"Impressionism means taking inspiration directly from nature, trusting your senses rather than what you think you know."- Michael McClure

Dali, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso -

trailblazers in the art world;

opened a horizon wide and wild,

however distorted and crude.

 

Micro-plastic-smoke-fog - plasmog,

acid rain and pollution blur my vision;

I grope for a new art, and school,

reborn from some old impression.

 

Neo-impressionism in our times,

its roots from a brief experience

persist on our busy lane and time; 

with some respect and reverence. 

"It isn't an easy job to paint oneself - at any rate if it is to be different from a photograph. And you see - this, in my opinion, is the advantage that impressionism possesses over all the other things; it is not banal, and one seeks after a deeper resemblance than the photograph.
Vincent Van Gogh
--------------------

 

* Neo-Impressionism (approx. 1886–1906) was a French avant-garde art movement led by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac that rejected the spontaneous, empirical approach of Impressionism. It utilized scientific, systematic methods—specifically Divisionism (separated, contrasting colors) and Pointillism (tiny dots)—to achieve maximum luminosity and vibrant, structured, and often socially-engaged compositions. AI Overview

** Lascaux is a world-renowned Paleolithic cave complex in southwestern France (Dordogne) containing17,000–20,000-year-old, exceptionally preserved prehistoric paintings and engravings, known as the "Sistine Chapel of Prehistory,"

27. Early Sunset at Paraiso ni Juan 

Dr Abe V Rotor

 "I found a new meaning of life to share,

as a guardian children will never forget." - avr

Early Sunset at Paraiso ni Juan, on-the-spot painting in acrylic by the author, 1992

That was 35 years ago by the sea,

I was then 50 - half a century old,

retired and spent, forlorn and lonely,

the sunset of life in its firm hold.

With paint and brush I faced the world,

with a canvas, white and empty;

with the sun peeping, spying on me;

of what to paint of my life's story.

Blue - but the sky was turning gray,

and the sea was losing its peace,

silvery clouds had tinge of bronze,

the wind no longer a gentle breeze.

I sought for comfort like in a trough,

amidst nature's magnificent view,

with a sense of peace and surrender,

but is life worthy with this duo?

Life begins at 40 or 50, they say,

compliments of action anew;

half-way finished, half-way to go,

I took a leap to enshrine the view. 

 

          

Painting was exhibited with other works of the author at the National Library MM,

 from May 28 to June 6, 1992. V-shape perspective of human life, vis-a-vis levels of happiness by age. Graph from 50 Truths about Life at 50, Christi Andrus Coach. 

Acknowledgement with gratitude.

Reflection gets deeper and farther with age,

looking back, and looking into the future,

if I have more years to live, page by page,

I'd write an epilogue for more adventure.

At the crossroad of life, where prudence reigns,

only then I saw the golden glow of sunset,

and found a new meaning of life to share,

as a guardian children will never forget.

Not fate at all this proverbial valley of life,

as we continue with our lifetime journey;

a singular gift indeed our Creator bestows

on us - happiness through life's beauty. ~

Author's Note:  Practice and present in school or community gathering as poetry reading with musical background of Beyond the Sunset (instrumental version).  Vary the presentation to enhance the theme and significance according to your needs and setting. Record (video and audio) for review, and for other occasions.   

28. Children's Poster Making Contest

National Bible Month, January 2026*

Theme: "God's Word Brings Life to Our Hearts

and to Our Homes."

Dr Abe V Rotor

Workshop Facilitator

Eighteen (18) children-participants from three local schools - SVIS, SSNHS, EMES - proudly and joyfully display their works before their accompanying teachers, parents, church leaders, and guests, at the end of a whole day workshop (January 26, 2026) in celebration of Bible month, conducted at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.

 

Worries of the day, to the back seat,

away from the left, to the right brain;

in creativity we lovingly seek

love and devotion that truly reign.

 

“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” — John 1:4

Through the trees, rays descend,

in a tapestry of shadow and light;

guide the young artists at work,

to capture art beyond their sight.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” 

— Proverbs 3:5

 

True freedom in the mind and spirit,

the apex of art supreme;

lead the children on this path of life, 

to realize their dream.

“Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.” — Proverbs 12:25

 

Famous art arises from one's imagination,

Take it from Michelangelo's painting

of Heaven and Earth in harmonious union,

ultimate of humanity's yearning. 

“Let all that you do be done in love.” — 1 Corinthians 16:14

 

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” — Romans 12:12

 

Art is theory, you can't be wrong;

neither compare it with another,

nor leave it freely to the throng;

only the artist knows and no other.

“The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” — Psalm 9:9

How serious can you get, if I may ask?

  Shh... creativity is both play and task

Do to others as you would have them do to you.” — Luke 6:31

 

Classroom, laboratory, hall - three-in-one;

in-situ, hands-on, less borders;

 learning today is without walls and boards,

 the world's wired on all corners.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” — Colossians 3:2

 

 

  

 

 

Selected works from a total of 18 posters made individually by students in the elementary and high school at San Vicente Integrated School (SVIS), San Sebastian National High School (SSNHS San Vicente, Ilocos Sur), and Ermita-Mindoro Elementary School (EMES) January 26, 2026 at the Living with Nature Center.

Selected works may be granted a trophy or medal;

equally, the bona fide artists deserve the pedestal 

 

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.” — Psalm 136:1

“Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.” — Psalm 25:4

Love, compassion, care , devotion -life

words are not enough but action;

not even prayer, lengthy that it may;

live life, and live it well, every day.

"These teachings are not empty words: they are your very life.  

Obey them and you will live long in that land across the Jordan 

that you are about to occupy." - Deuteronomy 32:47

Teachers, parents, church leaders, all,

guardians of children true to their call,

beyond their homes and their school,

art unites all - mind, body and soul.

"I give you a new commandment: Love one another 

as I have loved you, so you also should one another."- John 13:34

----------------------------

* National Bible Week - January 19-25, 226; National Bible Sunday - January 25, 20026

National Bible Day - January 26, 2026. Sponsored by the Philippine Bible Society, United Bible Societies, with partners: CNN, FEBC, LIGHT.  Website Bible.org.ph. A yearly activity conducted by The Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia, and the Diocese of San Vicente, Ilocos Sur. Acknowledgement with gratitude in particular to San Vicente Integrated School (SVIS), San Sebastian National High School (SSNHS), Ermita-Mindoro Elementary School (EMES). and to all who contributed to the success of the event.: 

special 

28B. Children's Art Workshop in the Garden 2023

(A reprint from this Blog for workshop reference)

Children’s Interpretation of the theme through drawing: 

 “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

Dr Abe V Rotor

Workshop Instructor

 

Twenty school children from San Vicente Integrated School and

San Sebastian Integrated School joined in the contest 2023.

First Prize Winner

Harmee Irish Reynante

Our postmodern world, rich in progress,

yet wanting of happiness and meaning;

Unless brotherhood and unity reign

Shall we find peace and true Being.

2nd Place

Jhamier Jake Rebula

A highway with neither beginning nor end,

runs through fast, and only once,

a family in praise of creation and its gift

of life though brief like a trance.

3rd Place

Angel Rigunay

No one goes to Heaven alone,

the essence of brotherhood,

the final destiny of the good,

as the Redeemer has shone.

* In celebration of the NATIONAL BIBLE MONTH CELEBRATION

and Bible Week (Jan 23-29, 2023), a project of 

Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia & San Vicente Ferrer Parish,

San Vicente Ilocos Sur

29. "A thing of beauty is a boy forever."*

Wall Mural by Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

“Happy times come and go, but the best childhood memories stay forever.” — Anonymous

"How I wish the day longer, and summer

on the seashore and hills forevermore;

 and keep childhood in a land of fantasy,

 where life is carefree and truly happy." 

 - avr

 “Childhood memories are the sweetest memories of the past.” — Anonymous

 "My childhood friends - my brother and the sea,

a world complete, there'll never be like any;

 eternal it seems, though ephemeral as dawn,

  as I walk this way but once, but never alone."

- avr

“When we are old and failing, it is the memories of childhood which can be summoned most clearly.” — Dan Simmons

 "I catch the clouds in the wind blowing

  on my face and hair, cool and soothing.

  I wonder where have all the birds gone,

  from the blue sky before the day is done."

                        - avr

“Sometimes I wish I could go back to my childhood and capture all those happy memories.” — Anonymous

  

"In my sunset years, I have missed the sea,

    save the beautiful, sweet scenes of memory;

  every passing breeze carries an old melody,

    there by the sea - a happy boy that was me."

- avr

 "Every happy memory created in childhood is a treasure of time.” — Anonymous

---------------------------

*A thing of beauty is a boy forever is a joyful modification of A thing of beauty is a joy for ever. by John Keats, English poet (1795-1821).

  30. Pangarap Art World: Twenty (20) Drawing and Painting Exercises 

Dr. Abe V. Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Pangarap Art World: A Travelogue through Drawing and Painting, is a sequel of workshop manuals designed to teach basic drawing and painting techniques to children of school age and young adults.

Country Scene in acrylic by the Author

 Volume I, “Handbook for Drawing and Painting” has been in use since summer of 1990. Its emphasis is to tap the latent talent of children, while Volume II, “Art and Values: Cultivating Creativity, Skills, Values and Personality through Art”, as the title implies, is values oriented. It was introduced in 1998 for the second Nestle Philippines summer art workshop and the fourth workshop for the National Food Authority.

The approach in this third volume is unique. The participants go through an imagined itinerary that takes them to different places and introduces them to experiences which they are likely to encounter in life. Hence the title, A Travelogue through Drawing and Painting. There are twenty exercises to be accomplished as class work or home assignment, fifteen (15) are designed for individual work, while five (5) are for group work..

This manual provides the needs of a summer workshop which is conducted for at least ten sessions, with three hours per session. Ideally one exercise is done in the classroom, and one is given as home assignment. An on-the-spot session can also make use of a number of exercises from this manual, such as Flying Kites, Inside a Gym, and Market Day. Each exercise will be graded and at the end of the workshop, the participants will be rated and ranked accordingly. The top three graduates shall be awarded gold, silver and bonze medals, respectively.

Computation of grades is based on the Likert Scale, where 1 is very poor, 2 poor, 3 fair, 4 good, and 5 very good. The general criteria are composition, interpretation, expression, artistic quality and impact. The details of these shall be discussed by the instructor at the onset of each exercise.

Like the other two manuals, the author offers this volume a respite from cartoons, advertisements, entertainment characters, programs filled with
violence and sex, computer games, and the like, which many children are overexposed via media and computers. It is his aim to help create a more wholesome culture where certain values of a growing child and adolescent are developed and nurtured. Art through this means becomes principally a vehicle for development, notwithstanding the gains in skill acquired.

For each exercise, the instructor shall explain the requirements and procedure with the use of visuals and through demonstration. If there is need for group interaction he shall also serve as facilitator-moderator. He shall choose the appropriate music background for each exercise to enhance the ambiance of the workshop.

With brush and colors one can go places and create scenarios as vivid as what a pen can do. It reminds us of the masterpieces of Jules Verne which he wrote many, many years ago, notably “Around the World in Eighty Days”. More than fiction we embark on a trip for life, real and inevitable. The pleasures await us, so with difficulties and hardships. The journey takes us closer to Nature and appreciate her beauty , it leads us to meet people and learn how to be a part of society. Here we plan our lives, make things for ourselves, enjoy success, face failure, and at the end we return to reality once again. Our journey takes us back to our loved ones, and with an Angelus prayer on our lips we draw a deep breathe of gratitude.

Thus one can glimpse from the outline of our itinerary that Part 1 introduces us to the natural world, while Part 2 integrates us into society. The last part provides a window through which a growing child and an adolescent see the other side of their present world, the real world in which they will spend the rest of their lives.

All aboard!

Exercises
1. Views from an Airplane
2. Sunflower Field
3. Riceland
4. Rainforest
5. Hut by a Pond on a Mountain
6. Waterfalls
7. Inside a Cave
8. Fairy Garden .
9. Lighthouse at the Edge of the Sea
10. Sailing
11. Camping
12. Flying Kites
13. Inside a Gym
14. Market Day
15. Shanties and Buildings
16. Building a House
17. Making an Aquarium
18. Typhoon
19. Building a Bridge
20. Angelus

Exercise 1- Views from an Airplane
Leaving our world down below and seeing it as a miniature. How small it is! Rather, how small we are!

As the airplane we are riding on soars to the sky we lose our sense of familiarity of the places below us. Then our world which we left behind appears as a miniature. And we are detached from it.

What really is the feeling of one flying on an airplane? Nervous and afraid? Excited and happy? Most probably it is a mixed feeling. Now let us imagine ourselves cruising in the sky one thousand feet up. We get a clear view below. The most prominent are the landscapes. See those mountains, rivers and lakes, the seashore. See the infrastructures – roads, bridges, towers, parks, and the like. Next, buildings, schools, the church, houses, etc. Imagine yourself to be above your hometown or barangay..

This is an individual work. Use Pastel colors and Oslo paper. You have thirty minutes to finish your drawing. Let us play “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and “Up, Up and Away”.

Exercise 2 - Sunflower Field
Lessons in radial symmetry, uniformity, and unity; farm life and scenery.

The sunflower has a central disc, surrounded by a ring of bright yellow petals which resemble the rays of the sun. But the most unique characteristic of the sunflower is that it faces the sun as it moves from sunrise to sunset. Because of its “obedience” to the sun, botanists gave the plant a genus name, Helianthes, after the Greek sun god, Helios.

Sunflowers painting by Vincent van Gogh

Draw a field of sunflowers. Central Luzon State University in Munoz, Nueva Ecija, is the pioneer in sunflower farming. Imagine yourself to be at the center of sunflower farm. It is a bright day. Walk through the field among the plants as tall as you. Examine their long and straight stem and large leaves. Touch the large flowers, smell their sweet and fresh scent. Observe the bees and butterflies visiting one flower after another. Make the flowers prominent in your drawing. Remember they are uniform in size, height and color, and they are all facing the sun. Make the sky blue with some cloud to break the monotony.

You are given thirty minutes to complete your work. Use pastel colors on Oslo or drawing paper. Fill up the entire paper as if it were the whole field and sky. You may draw butterflies and bees. And you may draw yourself as you imagine yourself in a sunflower field. Here are suggested musical compositions for music background. “Humoreque”, “Minuet in G”, “Serenata”, “Traumerei”, “On the meadow”, “Spring Song”, “Ang Maya”.

Exercise 3 - Riceland
Lessons on the Central Plains, birthplace of agriculture and seat of early human settlement, rice granary of the country, where typical farm life is observed.

Rice, rice everywhere with few trees, no mountains, except Mt. Arayat. The wind sweeps over the plains and make waves and soothing sound. Suddenly a flock of herons and maya birds rise into the air. Herds of cattle lazily graze. Their calves are playful and oftentimes get lost. You hear both parents and calves calling one another. There are carabaos which like best areas where there is water and mud to wallow in..

Because we are in the Philippines we do not have zebras, lions, tigers and leopards. These animals live in Africa and on the vast plains of North America. We are going to draw a Philippine scene instead. We have our Central Plains where we grow rice. Here the farmer plants when the rains come and harvests towards the end of the monsoon. His hut in the middle of his field is made of nipa and bamboo. It is small. Beside it are haystacks that look like giant mushrooms. Children help on the farm, they mature and learn to live with life earlier than city kids.

Draw a typical ricefield scene in Central Luzon. It is like Fernando Amorsolo’s sceneries of rural life where there are people planting or harvesting rice. A carabao pulls a plow or cart, a nipa hut is surrounded by vegetables, haystacks or mandala dwarf the huts and people around. It is indeed a typical scene that gives an excellent background for our native songs and dances like Tinikling. Ang Kabukiran song fits well as a background music for this exercise. Let us play Nicanor Abelardo’s Compositions. Filipino composers like Padilla de Leon, Verlarde, Canseco, and Umali excel in this field.

Exercise 4 - Rainforest
A lesson on different kinds of plants and animals living together in a forest, the richest ecosystem in the world, their organization, adaptation and relationships.

Tropical Rainforest in acrylic by the author

As we enter a tropical rainforest, the trees become taller and denser, grasses disappear, and shrubs and vine plants called lianas take over their place. In the center of the rainforest are massive trees several meters high. Their trunks are huge, it takes several persons to wrap a tree with their arms stretched. Sunlight is blocked, except rays seeping through the green roof. We imagine we are inside the forest of Mt. Makiling in Laguna.

We walk through the forest by first clearing our way with a bolo. Be careful, the ground is slippery. In the rainforest, rain falls everyday, in fact anytime, from drizzle to downpour. That is why it is called rainforest. Be careful with wild animals and thorny plants. Do not disturb them, just observe them. Look for reptiles like lizards and snakes, amphibian like frogs and toads, fish swimming in a stream, birds singing up in the trees, insects of all kinds, animals like deer and monkeys.

Draw a cross section of a forest showing the different creatures. Show their interrelationships. For example a snake eats frogs, frogs eat insects, insects feed on plants. Observe the trees are of three levels. We appear very small standing on the ground floor of a seven-storey natural building that is the forest. Joey Ayala’s compositions on nature fit best as background music in this exercise. Why don’t we try some songs of Pilita Corales and Kuh Ledesma which are appropriate for this topic? “Sierra Madre”, for example.

Exercise 5 - A Hut by the Pond on a Mountain
Lessons of peace, tranquility, and of unspoiled landscape; feeling of being on top of the world.

The title alone tells a story. It is picturesque. Here one imagines himself to be in a simple hut made of wood and stone and grass which shelters a woodsman or a hunter on Mt. Pulag in Benguet which is the second highest mountain in the Philippines after Mt. Apo.

There are no houses, buildings; no road, except a trail. The trees are gnarled and stunted. They are covered with ferns, epiphytes and mosses which make them look haunted. Feel the great comfort the hut gives you after a long day hike, and how soothing is the cool and clear water of a pond nearby. There are water lilies growing on the pond. Their flowers are red, orange, white and yellow. Sometimes a breeze come along, followed by drizzle, then everything is quiet. Enjoy stillness. It is a rare experience to one who has been living in the city.

Draw first the mountain top where a pond and a hut are found. There is an faint trail which is the only way. The trees are dwarf and sturdy. They are bearded with mosses. Mist will soon clear as the sun penetrates through the trees, and makes a prism on the mist and dewdrops. Selections from the sound track of “Sound of Music” provide an ideal musical background.

Exercise 6 - Waterfall
This exercise makes us reflect at where a river abruptly ends. The energy and scenery of a waterfalls stir our imagination and make us think about life. (Painting by the author)

Here we follow the river. It meanders, then at a certain point it stops. But it does not actually end here. As water seeks its own level the river drops into a waterfalls and continues its journey toward the sea. We think of Pagsanjan Falls in Laguna or Maria Cristina Falls in Mindanao.

As we stand witness to this natural phenomenon, we are awed by its strength, it roars as it falls, sending spray and mist that make a prism or small rainbow. It pounds the rocks, plunges to a deep bottom before it becomes placid as if it has been tamed, then resumes to flow, seeking a new course toward its destiny.

Look around. Trees abound everywhere and make a perfect curtain and prop of a great drama. The background music is a deafening sound. And it is just appropriate. Be part of the drama. Be still and capture the scene. You have thirty minutes to do it on Oslo and pastel colors. Let us play heavy music from Beethoven, and Ryan Cayabyab. Toward the end of the exercise let us have a Rachmaninov or a Listz composition.

Exercise 7 - Inside a Cave
Looking back at the past, the home of our primitive ancestors, window of early civilization, and study of a Nature’s architectural work.

Have you ever been inside a cave? Jules Verne wrote a fancinating novel, “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. Look for the book or tape, or find somebody who had read it. It is a story of three daring men who traveled down a dormant volcano and explored a huge cavern, a world in itself inhabited by strange creatures of the past.

This exercise leads us to a cave in Callao, Cagayan, or Tabon in Palawan. On the face of a cliff are openings. We enter the biggest one. It is dark and scary. We hear bats, dripping water, and the wind making its ways through the cave. We see tiny lights like hundreds of distant stars. These are crystalline calcium deposits, phosphorescent materials, and glow worms. They cling on the stalactites which are giant teethlike structures hanging from the roof of the cave. The stalagmites are their counterpart rising from the cave floor. When both meet, they form pillars of many shapes and sizes. See that beam of light coming through the roof? It is a window to the sky.

Now draw the view from here and show the main entrance which frame the stalactites and stalagmites, and the seeping beam of light coming from the opening at the sky roof. You have thirty minutes to do it. Play a tape of Johann Sebastian Bach as background music. Robert Schumann’s symphony fits as well.

Exercise 8 - Fairy Garden
Introduction to fantasy, richness of imagination, and familiarity of make-believe stories.

This exercise relies principally on fantasy. We are in fairyland. What kind of garden is this? It is a garden made by our imagination and dreams. It is a garden in the world of Jonathan Swift’s second book, “Gulliver in Brodningnad”, where Gulliver was a dwarf in a land of giants where everything is big.

Imagine yourself a dwarf among mushrooms, mosses, grass, and insects. But here everyone is friendly, you imagine you can even ride on an ant like in “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!”, if you have seen the movie.

Here harmony of nature and creatures is at its best. There are no cars, buildings, highways and skyways. The amenities in life are very simple. Nature is left alone in her pure state.

Use Oslo paper and pastel colors. Draw a part or section of that garden in your imagination. Do not draw the whole panoramic view. Include the things that make that garden in your imagination, one that belongs to fantasy land. “The Last Rose of Summer’” by Flotow fits well in this exercise. How about Schubert compositions? Ballet music like, “The Dying Swan”? Let us try these for background music.

Exercise 9 - Lighthouse at the Edge of the Sea

Lessons in the wild, where Nature can be at times angry and cruel to those who do not take heed of her warning.

Here we are at the end of the land, and the beginning of the vast ocean. We stand on the coral reef and stones where we are safe from the angry waves. Above our head is a tall structure, strong, painted white, and on top of it is a strong light which guides seafarers at night, keeping away from dangerous rocks and shoals. This is an old lighthouse in Calatagan, Batangas.

Draw the waves breaking on the rock at the foot of the lighthouse. Give life to the sky. Put some moving clouds, some sunset colors. This is a sign of bad weather. There are sailboats leaning with the wind, their sails distended. They burst in different colors and designs, breaking the gloom. Other boats lay in anchor, their sails lowered, while others have been carried to higher ground. The shore is deserted now, except a few fishermen securing their paraphernalia in their anchored boats. Let us play Antonin Dvorak Jean Sibelius and other Scandinavian compositions. They have a special touch that creates the ambiance for this topic.

Exercise 10 - Sailing
Pure joy of adventure at sea, freedom riding on the wind and waves, a test of courage and endurance

Have you ever gone to sea? Have you ever ridden a sailboat or banca? I am sure all of us have.  For those who may have forgotten it, or were very young at that time, here is a way to relive the experience. Let us have a rowing song as background., “Like Volga Boat Song”, or music about rivers and sea, like “Over the Waves”, “On the Blue Danube”.

Let us go sailing in Manila Bay. Sailing is both pleasure and competition. Get your boat, and organize yourselves into a crew. Be sure you are ready when the race starts. Other sailboats are also preparing for the race. You can not afford to be left behind. The wind is building now. Is your sail set? Do you have enough provisions? Water, food, first aid kit, fuel, tools, map, flashlight, and others things. Review your checklist.

Group yourselves into 5. Assume that you are in your boat moving with other boats. This is the perspective of your composite drawing. Draw on illustration board using pastel or acrylic colors. You have the whole session to finish it. Ready, set, go!

Exercise 11 - Camping
A test of survival, a life without parents and home, gathering around a bonfire, and counting stars.

Let us go camping like boy scouts and girl scouts. Let us go to a summer camp. Check the things you bring. Do not bring a lot of things, only those which are essential will do. You do not want to carry a heavy load, do you? Besides camping has its rules. Read more about camping. Let us play “Moon River”, “You Light up my Life”, Tosselli’s “Serenade”, and Antonio Molina’s “Hating Gabi”.

After this we play “Nature Sounds” which are recorded sounds of frogs, birds, waterfalls, and insect. To fully appreciate these sounds we will observe complete silence while we all work.

Like “Market Day” and “Flying Kites” (Exercises 10 and 12), this is a group exercise. Group yourselves into 5. Set your camp,on Tagaytay Ridge overlooking Taal Volcano. From this imagine view there are tents are of many colors and designs. There are big and small ones, round and triangular in shape. There are tents set under trees, tents in the open, along a trail, even on hillside. There is a central area where a large bonfire has been set. Around it are people singing, dancing, telling stories, others appear cooking something on the embers. Why don’t you join them?

But first, finish your drawing. Use pastel colors or acrylic on one-half illustration board. You have the whole session to do it.

Exercise 12 - Flying Kites
Reviving an old art and outdoor sport; taking part in a friendly and festive competition.

 

 It is summer time. It is also kite flying season. When was the last time you flew a kite, or saw a kite festival?

Flying Kites mural by AVR

Well, this is your chance. Let us see if you know how a kite flies. First of all, a kite must be light and balance, and with a string and fair wind, it rises and stays up in the sky. Notice that the wind keeps the kite up as if suspended in the sky. This where the art of aerodynamics comes in.  You learn more about it in books and tapes about kite flying.

Here we go. This is a composite exercise. Just like in Market Day (Exercise 10) you will group yourselves into 5 up to 7 members. Plan out your work. Kites come in many shapes, figures, designs and colors. No two kites are the same. Be sure your kites fly against the wind, and only in one direction. Do not let them get entangled. Your setting is a park where there are people watching and cheering. Kite flying is both a festival and a competition. There are prizes at stake. The setting is in San Fernando Pampanga. Here beautiful Christmas lanterns are also made. Saranggola ni Pepe gives an excellent musical background. Let us play Frederick Chopin and imagine the light notes from his composition blending perfectly with the flying kites.

Use pastel or acrylic on illustration board. You have the whole session to complete your work.  
Exercise 13 - Inside a Gym
A lesson on sportsmanship, physical fitness, will to win, humility in winning and dignity of losing.

It is sports season. Intramural! We are in a sports center. Join the parade of athletes, go with the beat of lively music, cheer with the big crowd. The gymnasium has covered courts, swimming pools, and arena. Competition is in basketball and other ball games, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, fencing, martial arts like aikido and taekwando, darts, and many more. We are in Rizal Coliseum.

This is composite drawing. Group yourselves into five to seven members. Each one imagines himself a player in his favorite sport. Draw at least three kinds of sports. Complete your work by including the crowd, other athletes, and the festive atmosphere. Play some marches. Get a tape of the Philippine Brass Band.

Plan out you work as a group. Present your finished work in class.



Market Day, by Fernando Amorsolo

Exercise 14 - Market Day
A place where people meet people, the pulse of our socio-economic life, where all walks all of life converge.

Everyday is market day in Divisoria, Baclaran, Pasay, Balintawak, and many public markets and talipapa in the city. In the province, Market Day comes maybe once a week, and when it is on a Sunday, the market comes alive after the mass.

Here we are going to meet people, we meet the common tao. We are among them. We are going to draw a complex scene. Here are the things we are going to put in our drawing. Let us play a lively tune, “Gavotte” and Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”. Because Amadeus Mozart music is light, let us have one or two of his compositions toward the end of the exercise.

1. A noisy crowd, people, people everywhere.
2. People selling and people buying.
3. Stalls and stores, carinderia, vendors and hawkers.
4. Wares, commodities, goods, services
5. Tricycles, jeepneys, trucks, carts
6. Festive moods, decors, colors, antics.

This is a group work. Each group has 5 to 7 members. Use one-half illustration board. Before you start, each group must convene its members and plan out what to do. Then it is all yours. You are give the whole session.

Exercise 15 - Shanties and Buildings
Lesson on contrast – between beautiful, high rise buildings and ugly shanties; between affluent and poor, modern and undeveloped communities.

It is ironic to see high rise buildings as a backdrop of shanties in Pasig and Makati, our country’s business capital.

It means there are very rich and very poor people living together in one place. It reminds us of Charles Dickens’s “Oliver Twist” and the Bastille before the French revolution. These are stories about inequality, and where there is inequality, many social problems arise, such as unemployment, disease and epidemic, drug abuse and problems on peace and order. Play the tapes, “Les Miserables” and “Noli Me Tangere, the Musical”. We can use these also in other exercises, like Typhoon and Angelus.

Here we stand viewing the dwellings of the so-called “poorest among the poor” which line up the sidewalks and esteros. They are found under the bridges, on vacant lots, and even on parks and shorelines. What a perfect contrast they make against the skyscrapers! This view is what you are going to draw. In each sector, include the inhabitants in their own lifestyle.

Exercise 16 - Building a House
A step-by-step follow-me exercise in building a house, making it into a home and ultimately a part of a community

This is quite an easy exercise. But it needs analysis and imagination.
Your score here will greatly rely on the interpretation of the theme. That is why you have to pay attention as we go through the step-by-step process. Do not go ahead, and do not lag behind either. Draw spontaneously as we go along. Our musical background is “Home Sweet Home” a classical composition you must have heard in “The King and I”. Let us also try the music of Leopoldo Silos, Buencamino, Abelardo and Mike Velarde Jr. in this exercise.

Let us start.
1. First put up the posts
2. Put on the roof.
3. There is a floor, maybe two, if you like.
4. The walls have windows.
5. Stairs meet the door
6. Extension for additional room, kitchen, etc. as you wish.
7. Think of the amenities for functional and comfortable living.
8. You are free now to complete your house
9. Make it into a home.
10. Make it as part of a community

The proof if you really made it good is, “Do you wish to live with your family in the house that you made?” Let us see. Exchange papers with your classmates who will correct and score your paper. What is your score?

Exercise 17 - Building an Aquarium
An exercise on doing things ourselves, following basic rules in maintaining life and keeping environmental balance.

An aquarium is “ a pond in glass”. We can build one in our backyard or in our house. It may be large or small depending on the kinds of fish we want to raise as pets.

Why this exercise? We want to try our hands not only in making things, but to play a role as guardian of living things. Can we make a stable and balanced aquarium? Are we then good guardians? Is so, can we say to our Creator we are good keepers of Earth?

Each one will make his aquarium, using pastel colors on Oslo paper. Be guides by these components or parts of an aquarium.
1. Clear water.
2. Sand bottom with rocks
3. Light
4. Aquatic plant
5. Fish, one up to three kinds (Your pet)
6. Snails and scavenger fish
7. Air pump to supplement oxygen and filter the water

Describe in class the aquarium that you made. Let’s play “Life Let’s Cherish”, “Fur Elise”, and Peter Tchaikovsky’s songs and waltzes as background.

Exercise 18 - Typhoon!
Preparedness, learning to deal with disaster, lending a hand.

PAGASA Bulletin: Signal No. 3 And it is going to be a direct hit.

List down the things to do. Imagine you are in one community. Choose your members, five to seven per group. Prepare for the coming super typhoon.

When you are through with your list, pause for some time and let the typhoon pass. Do not go out during a typhoon. Stay at home or in your safe quarter. If it is direct hit, the winds will reverse after a brief calm. The second part is as strong as the first. Think of Typhoon Yoling or Typhoon Iliang which had more than 100 kilometers per hour wind at the center. (Music background from Gustav Mahler, George Bisset, the Spanish composer and violinist, Sarasate, and Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” and “Fireworks”).

The typhoon has passed. What happened to the community. Did your preparation help you face the force majeure? Draw the scenario of the typhoon’s aftermath. Imagine yourself a boy scout or a girl scout, or simply and good citizen.

Exercise 19 - Building Bridges
Reaching out, connecting places and people, building friendship and love

After the typhoon many roads and bridges were destroyed. Our houses may have been destroyed, too.

There is a different kind of destruction that you and I must prevent to happen in our lives by all means destruction of relationships. Our teachers tell us that a broken house is easier to repair than a broken home. Aristotle always reminded the young Alexander the Great, “ It is easier to make war than to make peace.” Relationships endure as long as the bridges connecting them are kept strong and intact. And once they get destroyed, do not lose time in rebuilding them.

Let us reflect on the illustration below. There are bridges washed away by the typhoon and flood. You are going to rebuild them. Analyze and imagine that these bridges are not only physical structures. These are bridges to reach out a person in need, to share our talents, to say sorry, to comfort, to congratulate, to console, to amend, to say what is right, to befriend, to stand for a cause, and many other virtues. With these, - perhaps even by our very intentions alone - we are also building a bridge with God.

With a solemn music as a background (“Meditation” from “The Thais” by Massenet), complete the outline on the attached page and be guided by the aforementioned scenario. Take your time. This is an exercise in meditation. Show and explain your work in class.

Exercise 20 - Angelus
Time for reflection and retreat, retirement for the day, time with the family, thanksgiving

This is the end of our travelogue. We come home from our journey at last. It is Angelus. It is a time to put down everything and to thank God for the day – for our journey.

It is time with the family, with our parents, brothers and sisters. It is time to say the Angelus Prayer. Let us pause for a moment and meditate. Isn’t it wonderful to be alive? This is God’s greatest gift to us.

With a background music from “Messiah” by Georges Friderick Handel, “On Wings of Song” by Felix Mendelssohn and Toccata and Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach, compose the scenario of a family at Angelus Let us have also our own Nicanor Abelardo’s “Ave Maria”. This is a highly individual exercise. Work in complete silence. You have all the time in this session.

Workshop References by Dr. A.V. Rotor
· Light in the Woods (Photographs and Poems), 90 pp Megabooks, 1995
· Nymphaea: Beauty in the Morning, 90 pp., Giraffe Books, 1996
· Light of Dawn, 80 pp, Progressive Printing, 1997
· 4 . Handbook for Drawing and Painting (Revised 1997), Vol. 1 photocopy
· Art and Values 20 exercises, 1998, photocopy.
· Experiential Approach to the Study of Humanities, 6 pp Philippine Echoes
· Teaching Art and Values in Children, 6 pp. Philippine Echoes
· Ebb of Life: Essays and Poems (Photocopy)
· Reflections on Dewdrops (Manuscript) with Megabooks
· Violin and Nature, one-hour cassette tape of popular and semi-classical
compositions accompanied by sounds of Nature, 1997.
Light from the Old Arch, 2000 UST
Living with Nature Handbook 2003 UST
Humanities Today: An Experiential Approach

ANNEX - A Place of Gems and Flowers

San Vicente Ilocos Sur - Heritage Zone of the North 

(A reprint from this Blog for workshop reference)

Dr Abe V Rotor

"Full many a gem of purest ray serene,

The deep unfathomed caves the ocean bear;

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste their sweetness in the desert air."

Thomas Gray, Elegy on the Country Churchyard

It took Thomas Gray several times of editing  to perfect, so to speak, this passage from his most celebrated work, for the reason I believe, that it touches a very sensitive nerve of human society, that the unsung are actually the pillars of institutions - the unknown soldier, the unheard bard, the unknown sculptor of a Venus de Milo's version, the artisan of edifices only by their structure are known, the musician who by ear composed a local Verdi or Othello - these and many others have made epics living and legends true characters - by unknown people, the "sleeping gems and the flowers in the desert".

But the passage speaks well of truth, and if it does not gain much credence to people like in Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, it is because truth is a Diogenes with a lamp at noon time. But indeed there are gems pure and shining but they are in the obscure places, there are flowers sweeter than a Givenchy, and more beautiful than any Vanda or Cattleya, but whose scent and beauty are too far out of reach by the senses. 

San Vicente Ferrer 17th century church, unique Baroque architecture, lately declared a shrine.  Pilgrims and devotees pay homage, particularly every Tuesday. It has become a tourists' destination.

For San Vicente is in the deep or in a vast desert of anonymity, even with today's Earth Google and satellite GPS, and if one would merely rely of these gadgets, he would be taken to different places around the world. 

Perhaps it is there that a piece of San Vicente is found, maybe a doctor or a nurse in London hospital, a professor in an American University, an engineer in the middle east, a teacher in Papua New Guinea, a missionary on the island of Jamaica, a governess in Hongkong. 

And when one finally succeeds in his search, he finds a small town classified at the lower rung of the economic ladder in Adam Smith economics. He is unimpressed. There is no fanfare. The old callejon is still the main road. The pre-war elementary school is well preserved. He enters the old church so massive it makes a minuscule of all buildings and houses. He walks toward the altar. A message written on the altar cloth reads in Ilocano: Ur-urayenka Anakko. I am waiting for you my child. But the translation is inadequate to capture the vernacular quaintness of the message.

Unless he asks a bona fide balikbayan. But it is not easy to compress history, to build instant bridges of memory. But it is the homing instinct that reverses the direction of the feet and the march of time. It brings back the life of the dead, relives experiences on the stage, transforms the past to present, dusting off the archives.

It is homing instinct, more than the native Alaskan salmon's determination, or the homing dove's accuracy, that takes every native of the place to go back home - to live the golden years of his life, to die and be buried there. And when a balikbayan is asked, "Where have all the children gone? " he takes a deep breath and releases it with a sigh of joy we call nostalgia. Then silence reigns. And time moves backward. Everything seems beautiful.

Because the gems, even in the deep unfathomed ocean, do shine; flowers bloom - and in all places - in a desert. Then he asks, Where have all the children gone?

And the balikbayan with teary eyes has a simple answer, "They have gone to all corners of the earth. "Memories about people may be short-lived; of events, for a lifetime perhaps; but for a cause - some ideas bigger than themselves, may last for a long time. Or until that particular idea has arrived in its own sweet time.

What is music, for example? Here Maestro Anselmo Pelayre is a pillar in the conservatory of Ilocano music. He wrote for the high mass, zarzuela, orchestra. His own compositions are still played in Ilocano communities and homes here and abroad. Maestro Selmo's commitment to music is its inseparability with culture, tradition and history, the lyrics as conveyors of the vivid, the detail; and music the soul, the spirit. It was, and will forever be, a fight for a cause in the midst of intercultural homogenization, even after the Great Maestro is gone, when music has evolved into abstract forms bordering music and non-music.

Re-enactment of the Passion of Christ by the town folks on Good Friday, brainchild of the late Boy Francisco a local sculptor who brought Lenten to the street, so to speak.

In the same way Ilokano, the language, and Ilokano, the culture, are one. Gain in one is gain in the other; lose the language and lose the culture. And gaining both enhances heritage to permeate into the head, heart and soul of the Ilocano, and therefore the Ilocano heritage lives in the person - wherever he goes, he does, he meets, and more so, in raising his own family. 

Dr Nicholas L Rosal in his dissertation Understanding an exotic Language - Ilokano, attests that "language reveals structures and expressions that can tell social characteristics of a people... concepts and feelings conveyed are as human in one language as in another." His book revived the formal structure of the language and projected it to international consciousness, It has become an important reference for writers of Bannawag, the foremost magazine of Ilocanos the world over. 

At the grassroots, several writers like Fredelito Lazo and Placido Real Jr, have likewise gained fame through the vernacular Bannawag, Samtoy, Ammianan, and through TV and radio broadcast reaping recognition not just for the quality of their work but for the cause in preserving the art of literature and communication - the "fine art of living" threatened by postmodernism.

But what projected San Vicente into the national and international scenes are products of artisans, among the makers of the finest furniture, Spanish fans meticulously carved from lanute wood, which are at par with the world's best; bigger-than-life religious icons, paintings bearing qualities of Renaissance art, salt (asin) whiter and more refine than sugar, basi table wine meeting the standards of European standards for Port and Sherry. 

The best cigarette tobacco is raised here, so with vegetables. San Vicente shares with its border neighbor Sta Catalina the vegetable bowl of the Ilocos region.  Here semi-temperate crops are grown from cauliflower to shallot and yam. If self-reliance and sufficiency is the main gauge of economic status, then the town is a first class municipality, and in fact can stand by itself from the political structure as a satellite to a metro city, Vigan, the former capital of the province. 

But the biggest contribution of San Vicente, though not specific in terms of economics, law, science, education, sports, arts, and the like, is greater than the sum of all these - true service of its citizens.  Like goodness itself, it is synergistic, building on the philosophy that goodness builds on goodness, be it in the field, shop, court house, classroom, hospital, street, office, or humble dwelling, whether here or in some parts of the world. As a wise old man from the place proudly said, "Tell me a place in the world and San Vicente is there.  Tell me of a career and San Vicente is there, In any event - one of celebration, or compassion, or reverence - count on a Vincentian."       

Which speak of the philosophy of Saint Vincent Ferrer, one of the greatest scholars and teachers of the church, the inspiration of every Vincentian. ~

--------------------------------------------------
About Saint Vincent Ferrer

He was born in Valencia in Spain, in 1350, and at the age of eighteen professed in the Order of St. Dominic. After a brilliant course of study he became master of sacred theology. 

For three years he read only the Scriptures, and knew the whole Bible by heart. He converted the Jews of Valencia, and their synagogue became a church. Grief at the great schism then afflicting the Church reduced him to the point of death; but Our Lord Himself in glory bade him go forth to convert sinners, "for My judgment is nigh." This miraculous apostolate lasted twenty-one years. He preached throughout Europe, in the towns and villages of Spain, Switzerland, France, Italy, England, Ireland, Scotland. 

Everywhere tens of thousands of sinners were reformed; Jews, infidels, and heretics were converted. Stupendous miracles enforced his words. Twice each day the " miracle bell "summoned the sick, the blind, the lame to be cured. Sinners the most obdurate became Saints; speaking only his native Spanish, he was understood in all tongues. Processions of ten thousand penitents followed him in perfect order. Convents, orphanages, hospitals, arose in his path.

Amidst all, his humility remained profound, his prayer constant. He always prepared for preaching by prayer. Once, however, when a person of high rank was to be present at his sermon he neglected prayer for study. The nobleman was not particularly struck by the discourse which had been thus carefully worked up; but coming again to hear the Saint, unknown to the latter, the second sermon made a deep impression on his soul. When St. Vincent heard of the difference, he remarked that in the first sermon it was Vincent who had preached, but in the second, Jesus Christ. 

He fell ill at Vannes in Brittany, and received the crown of everlasting glory in 1419.

Arial View of San Vicente Poblacion The old church is seen at the middle facing left. Photo taken by the author on a helicopter, circa 1976

References: Home, Sweet Home with Nature, AVR;  Ti Pakasaritaan San Vicente, Lorenzo L Mata, 2005; Internet (Life of Saint Vincent Ferrer). 

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

--------------------

*National Heritage Month is celebrated annually in May in the Philippines. By virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 439, it aims to promote the appreciation and celebration of Filipino heritage and history throughout the country. During this month, people focus on Philippine culture and its rich history. 

CONTINUATION (Articles below in progress)

                                                        Painting in acrylic, AVR  

Bouquet - how extreme:

how happy, how sad,

how deceitful, how holy,

how tame, how mad!

Bouquet - how fresh,

picked for vase or lei;

how withered when gone

across the bay.

Bouquet - how fragrant

across the hall;

how lavish in summer,

how dearth in fall.

Bouquet - how missed

the bee, the butterfly

in the garden, the rainbow

an arch of sigh.~

 

           Colorful fish among seaweeds, acrylic painting on glass by the author

Wildlife in acrylic painting by AV RotorIn less than a human lifetime, dozens of wildlife species have rebounded from the brink of extinction - and are establishing their territory on the countryside and in suburbs. Thanks to growing consciousness in wildlife protection and ecological conservation worldwide, despite massive and wanton destruction of wildlife habitats, and unabated pollution in air, water and land that threaten these and other species.

Painting of a lawin on a basketball backboard by the author

On a clear day we may see the lawin hovering over our subdivision, alone or with a partner in dalliance, simply gliding and circling up in the sky, in a spectacular kind of show that this bird now categorized as threatened is still around. Its home is the La Mesa watershed, just across our subdivision. 

Idyllic life on the farm, painting in acrylic by AV Rotor

” 

Women Liberation from conventional role in the home and family, to do what men can in practically all fields of endeavor.. The breed of Tandang Sora and Joan of Arc’s local version, Gabriela Silang, comes to the picture in this period. Recently at one time five world leaders were women sitting side by side with men plotting the course of world affairs.

"Life is a journey but once in time and space."

Painting and Poem by Dr Abe V Rotor

Scenery of a happy life in acrylic on canvas (58” x 34”) by AV Rotor 2019

Life’s in the seasons passing and returning;

How familiar when we are young, how we miss

When old we grow, leave the place for another.

Oh, how we love the seasons like passing breeze.

Life’s in the sea, unfathomed and mysterious;

How familiar the changing tides and beaches,

The waves rolling incessantly with our dreams.

Oh, how we love the sea the life it teaches.

Life’s in the rocks rising from the ocean deep;

How familiar their shapes, their majestic height,

Deep within the secret of life’s origin.

Oh, how we love the mountains in pure delight.

Life’s in the endless sky, deep blue or in gloom,

How familiar faces and figures in shroud,

The sun’s chariot takes us to Mount Olympus;

Oh, how we love the sky, praise we sing aloud.

Life’s a journey but once in time and space;

How familiar our goal likened to a mirth

In a scene imagined, redeemed from the Fall.

Oh, how we love to re-create life on earth. ~

An Evening Guest - A Giant House Spider! 

Dr Abe V Rotor 

In my room one peaceful evening came a spider*.

Welcome, gladly I said, as it paused for a moment

on drawings on the wall my grand children** made,

its legs tapping a message for whatever it meant.

Ah, you are an artist too, I guessed, as it moved 

along and across swiftly I thought it would fall,

Instead it embraced a make-believe companion;

I looked into this creature a mirror on the wall.

* Giant house spider (Aratigena africa) is also known as Wolsey spider (Tegenaria parietina), sometimes referred to as Cardinal spider, named after Cardinal Wolsey during the time of  Henry VIII of England. Giant house spiders have been recently  classified under genus Aratigena. 

** Pastel drawings by the author's grandchildren at their ancestral home in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, circa 2016.  Mackie, now 14, drew this geometric figure of a spider.   

 "The poetry of the earth is never gone."

- John Keats

Nature mural on a wall by Dr Abe V Rotor

  

  

 

Details of mural for analysis and critiquing. 

"When nature shall then be gone,

like Paradise lost after the Fall,

a make-believe mural on a wall rises,

beautiful in the setting sun." - avr

Art Evolution

Golden Castle Ruin 

Dr Abe V Rotor

"All that is gold does not glitter." 

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Golden Castle Ruin, art work by the author, made of driftwood treated with latex emulsion, waterproof plastic glue, cured, and sprayed in layers with  gold paint. This art work may serve as a corner or top table figurine, or mounted with a painting background appropriate to its theme as shown in this photo. (18"x13") AV Rotor 2026

   "Gold, the most obsessed possession, my friend,

     if not lost, simply turns into a ruin at the end." - avr

* Golden Castle Ruins can refer to several places, most prominently the Eternal Golden Castle (Anping Fort) in Tainan, Taiwan, a historic fort with park-like grounds, and the Golden Castle tower ruins in Golden, County Tipperary, Ireland, a medieval structure by the River Suir.  Acknowledgement with gratitude: Excerpt AI Overview, Internet, Living with Nature book series by AVRotor

Wooden Trash Bin Art

   "Little thrash, if any, makes austere living a joy. "- avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

Project of a group of students from Ilocos Sur National High School. The project is a pair of movable wooden trash bins.  These bins may be converted into potted plant holders, instead of just "waste receptacles," thus create an ambiance of natural beauty in the surroundings.  Appropriately the bins have been installed ISHS library by the students themselves in coordination with their teachers and library staff. 

The finished project is a pair of wooden bins originally designed for such purpose, not until a consensus was reached, with the suggestion of the author, to emphasize aesthetics as functional beauty vis-a-vis conventional use. 

Some basic rules of beauty in a place -

remind us of our home in every aspect;

like wishing to be treated by another  

with courtesy, discipline. and respect.

Cleanliness is next to godliness, Dad said,

a strict reminder, and not just a ploy, 

to keep trash out, or not to waste at all;

little, if at all, makes austere living a joy. 

Eight faces (sides) of the project as shown individually, scenarios of nature in a contiguous unity as may be desired.  The bins may be arranged in pairs, side by side, tangential, or separated at a viewing distance. Varied combinations of the scenarios break monotony in many choices, virtually bringing Nature into the place, so to speak.  

                                 Nativity in the Forest

"... for lack of a manger for the spirit of modern man,

    to find here a Child and protect the green altar." - avr 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Nativity Scene, Christmas 2012. Forest mural by the author, 2010

Creatures in the forest welcome a holy guest: 

     the wild and tough wake up to a stirring,

the feathered and furred, the mimicked and camouflaged,

     follow a beam of light in a clearing. 

It is an altar hemmed by a cathedral of giant trees,

     curtained by the living art of the vine;

and marked by emergent towers, the home of the eagle

     that proclaims the birth of a child divine.

Woodsmen there who live in communities ever since, 

     join their children sing the songs of the trees,

fiddling crickets and hooting owls and playful primates,

     the wind tamed into the whisper of the breeze.

Here the sun is sieved into moving shadows and art,

     the rains nourish life from ground to the sky,

epiphytes of liana and orchid in grandiose bloom,

     shower the newly born, birds singing up high.

How benevolent the wild, how humble the creatures,

     how simple the scene created by nature;

here beauty is simple, unspoiled by civilization,

     it offers comfort and refuge and nurture. 

              

Unconventional the forest seems the bastion of faith 

    for those seeking life's meaning here and far,

for lack of a manger for the spirit of modern man,

    to find here a Child and protect the green altar. ~

          12 Attributes of Nature's Classroom 

"Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books." -  John Lubbock.

 Abe V Rotor, PhD

Nature's Classroom in acrylic (20"x28") by the author, with RJ Ramos 

Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, October 30, 2025

Nature's classroom - free of walls and borders, sans timepiece and calendar, where land, sky and water meet and blend, over the horizon, far as the eye can see; 

Nature's classroom -  where trees are living pillars of a temple, firm and strong, against time and space, force majeure, seasoned throughout history, to ad infinitum;

Nature's classroom - seat of knowledge and wisdom, evolving into movements and schools, integral and holistic, devotional and humanitarian, with solid foundation; 

Nature's classroom -  where early scholars founded an intelligible world - Socrates'  philosophy, Plato's academy, Aristotle's natural history, Confucius' filial piety;

Nature's classroom - alma mater of naturalists Thoreau, Attenborough, Goodall, Cousteau, Quisumbing, Irwin, Darwin et al, forerunners of today's Natural Science;

Nature's classroom - seat of adventure of boys Huck and Tom in Mark Twain novels, of Tarzan, Robinson Crusoe, Heidi, of nature movies, Secret Garden, Sound of Music, etc;

Nature's classroom - concert hall of birds and insects, singers Nora. Lea, Regine; setting of Beethoven's and Abelardo's music; Amorsolo's and Luna's paintings,

Nature's classroom - where teaching resources are varied and universal, in situ and hands-on, experiential, compatible with methods of research, education and extension; 

Nature's classroom - outdoor link to cyber communication that wires the four corners of the globe into a network, reaching out homes, establishments and communities; 

Nature's classroom - a corner of lost Eden on the backyard and landscape, recreating the biblical scene, in functional beauty, through man's regard as guardian of creation; 

Nature's classroom - domicile of mankind, brief and minuscule to the vast universe, in Blake's humility, "the world a grain of sand, heaven a wild flower, eternity an hour.."

Nature's classroom - arena where man aims at the finest level of being a Homo sapiens (thinker), Homo faber (maker) Homo ludens (player), and Homo spiritus (spiritual), rolled in one. ~

  

Details of painting

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. - Albert Einstein

 

Left photo, author (with cap), poses with Ronleych Joshua Ramos (center) and his dad. 

Right photo, author wife, Mrs Cecille Rotor joins the group.

  “Children more than ever, need opportunities to be in their bodies in the world – jumping rope, bicycling, stream hopping and fort building. It’s this engagement between limbs of the body and bones of the earth where true balance and centeredness emerge.” ~ David Sobel

        In honor of the participants to the 

Dr Arturo B Rotor Memorial Awards for Literature 

Nature, Peace, Faith

Three Great Doctors*

Nature-doctor, guardian of the environment’s pristine beauty 

and bounty; Peace-doctor, emissary of unity and harmony; 

Faith-doctor, keeper of body-mind-spirit integrity.

 Dr Abe V Rotor

Nature, Peace, Faith - Three Great Doctors in acrylic by AVRotor, 2024

Nature, Peace, Faith

Three Great Doctors

Health of people, the greatest wealth of society, hangs on nature’s beauty and bounty, of man living in peace and harmony, with deep faith in the Almighty and humanity;   

Nature, Peace, Faith – they build a formidable triad, staked to the ground, firm and proud, for eons of time through ease and odd, in the benevolent hands of God; 

This is the world once called Paradise in bible story, where Nature, Peace, Faith, long reigned in glory, and man anointed in his own rationality, serving as steward as a sacred duty;   

A gift divine and singular over all creation, taking over creation itself with his own notion, in search of the Good Life through exploitation, pitting man against man, nation against nation. 

And now man is asking God for more, as condition to obedience, defying the dictates of his conscience, at a crossroad in our Postmodern times.   Whom can we depend on, where is man in his finest hour?          

                                     I asked God for more

                                          

 I asked God for food, clothing and shelter

     and He showered me

these necessities I cannot live without -

     they are the Earth's bounty;

I settled down on fertile hills and valleys

     and multiplied freely.

 

I asked God for power to boost my strength,

     and He gave me energy;

I leveled the mountains, dammed the rivers

     and conquered the sea;

raped the forests, prairies, lakes and estuaries,

     a world I wanted to be.

 

I asked God if I can be God, too, all knowing

     with my technology;

broke the sacred code of life and of matter,

     changed the Great Story;

annihilated life unfit in my own design,

     and set my own destiny.

 

I asked God if He is but a creation of the mind,

     and rose from my knee;

probed space, rounding up the universe,

     aiming at immortality,

bolder than ever, searching for another home,

     and wanting to be free. 

      

Many a self-proclaimed soul rose to the throne, fame they sought in the “grandeur that was Rome,” and the “glory that was Greece” syndrome, In unending quest but found    at the end emptiness like foam.

Breakthroughs in science and technology the genius of man on the untrodden road to be happy and free; beauty he builds, and himself destroys beauty at rainbow’s end on a bended knee.   

Nature-doctor, guardian of the environment’s pristine beauty and bounty; Peace-doctor,  emissary of unity and harmony; Faith-doctor, sans fantasy, keeper of body-mind-spirit integrity; 

And man the disciple of Hippocrates, takes the helm of a great journey, with Matthew’s 25 compassion, carries on a sacred duty, with the dictum, “health of one is health of the world" in joy and piety;  

 

In Frankl's search for meaning, Schweitzer's mission, the "Lady with a Lamp" passion;

dedication of our own hero even in exile - these and other models, elevate the medical profession to a vocation. 

                    Four Attributes of Man

                   Reflection and Meditation

 

It is I, Homo sapiens, the thinking man 

who changed the concept of creation,

Nature to serve man, 

master and guardian. 

 

It is I, Homo faber, the maker,

wilderness to tame, resources to harness,

untouched these are,

they go to waste.  

 

It is I, Homo ludens, the playing man,

forest to hunt, mountain to climb,

work and leisure to me

keep my sanity.

It is I, Homo spiritus, the praying man,

mysteries I submit, mistakes I atone,

I, too, have a heart that bleeds,

the essence of being human. ~

      

                Detail of painting, Nature, Peace, Faith

Painting & poem by the author dedicated to the Dr Arturo B Rotor 

Memorial Awards for Literature Foundation, and the Philippine 

College of Physicians, during the 3rd awarding ceremonies,

October 17, 2024 at UNILAB Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila.                                         

                                        

                                          "We must have something to cling to.
                                              Some things must not change.”

                                                          – Dr Arturo B Rotor
Arturo Belleza Rotor (June 7, 1907 – April 9, 1988) was a Filipino medical doctor, civil servant, musician, and writer. Rotor was born in the Philippines and attended the University of the Philippines. He graduated simultaneously from the Conservatory of Music and the College of Medicine. He trained further at John Hopkins University's medical school, publishing a paper on a rare form of hyperbilirubinaemia (jaundice) now known as "Rotor syndrome".

     During World War II, Rotor served as executive secretary of the Philippine Commonwealth government-in-exile under Manuel L. Quezon, the Philippine president in exile. In the immediate post-World War II period, he was appointed secretary of the Department of Health and Welfare. Later, Rotor was director of the University of the Philippines' Postgraduate School of Medicine and was a practicing physician until the early 1980s.

     Rotor was an internationally respected writer of fiction and non-fiction in English. He is widely considered among the best Filipino short story writers of the twentieth century. He was a charter member of the Philippine Book Guild; the guild's initial publication (1937) was Rotor's The Wound and the Scar, despite Rotor's protests that someone else's work should have been selected. In 1966, the Philippine government recognized his literary accomplishments by awarding him the Republic Cultural Heritage Award. Rotor's best-known literary works are The Wound and the Scar (1937), Confidentially, Doctor (1965), Selected Stories from the Wound and the Scar (1973), The Men Who Play God (1983), and the short stories "Dahong Palay" (1928) and "Zita" (1930). 

     He was an orchid fancier and breeder, a long-time member of the Philippine Orchid Society, and is the namesake of a Vanda orchid species (Vanda merillii var. rotorii).  Rotor shared an interest in orchids with his younger brother, Gavino B. Rotor, Jr. Gavino took this interest even further, receiving his Ph.D. from Cornell University on orchid biology and becoming an authority on orchid propagation. The orchid genus Rotorara is named after Gavino. Rotor was a highly accomplished musician and published music critic.

     Rotor died in 1988 due to cancer, and was survived by his wife Emma Unson, who taught college mathematics and physics. They had no children.

Reference: Arturo Belleza Rotor (Internet)

-------------------------

* Article and painting are lovingly dedicated to the PCP Foundation, founder and guardian of the Dr Arturo B Rotor Memorial Awards for Literature. Philippine College of Physicians Foundation is the social service arm of Philippine College of Physicians. Founded in 2008, PCP Foundation values social service and envisions a healthier Filipino nation through partnerships to co-create health-centric innovative solutions. 0917 654 8710 secretariat@pcpfoundation.com

    A Landscape of Life

"A landscape that is viewed with the power of the mind, heart and spirit, be it real or abstract - yet it gives meaning to reverence to our Creator."- avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

              Biosphere in acrylic by Dr. AV Rotor, (2’x5’) 12-8-14 

A landscape that gains back clarity and focus, though slowly, from strained vision of light and shadow, fast moving cars and blinking screens;

A landscape that gets frayed nerves back to function in reflexes governed by the conscious and unconscious mind in peace and harmony;

A landscape that restores freshness and purity of the primary colors, and expresses the full colors of the rainbow with the hand, paint and canvas;

A landscape that makes forests lush green, distant mountains blue, trees in autumn in hues of yellow to red, and the sky azure as the deep sea;

A landscape that brings back consciousness to watch migrating birds in the sky, fish in the stream, and a drop of pond water teeming with life;

A landscape that sets the biological clock attune with the passing of seasons, and to understand the mystery of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring;

A landscape that is courageous to face force majeure and patient enough to bear the brunt as the landscape gains back its health and beauty;

A landscape that witnesses the transformation of a swamp into grassland and woodland in an orderly fashion that spawns biological diversity;

A landscape that establishes niches and bridges of past and present, tradition and modern, living and the non-living, in Rousseau’s scenery;

A landscape that soothes noise into joyous sound, bleating and thunder as part of a Beethoven’s composition, chirping a language of praise;

A landscape that releases us from confinement in Plato’s Allegory to face the realities of the world, which is the essence of education;

A landscape that is viewed with the power of the mind, heart and spirit, be it real or abstract - yet it gives meaning to reverence to our Creator;

A landscape that lifts the curtain and opens a horizon on which each one of us passes but once, an experience more than destiny and eternity. ~ 

"The Wall" 

Wall Mural and Poem by Dr Abe V Rotor

"The only way to break down walls is to build bridges." - Unknown

"The Wall" in acrylic by the author at his residence in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 2025

The wall - low enough to see the other side;

     high enough to hide what is inside;

Intramuros, Hadrian, and the Great Wall,

     seemingly formidable 'til their fall.

The wall - prison inside, freedom outside;

     power and wealth it cannot hide;

the Bastille, Jericho, the once Berlin Wall,

     history tells of their common fall.

The wall - symbol of man's dream and pride;

     defying the rise and fall of tide,

immortality, time, and destiny of the soul.

     far beyond the wall lies his goal.

The wall - nature's defence at times tried,

     proudly stands on the guardian's side;

for the safety of all creatures, big and small.

     in unity and harmony as a whole.

The wall - man's test of his duty to abide,

     now and always, far and wide;

of nature's ways and not his own control;

     for there's no need of wall after all.

The wall - living fort of trees on the hillside,

     tall grasses on the meadow hide,

like coral reefs and levees on the shoal,

     niches to the living, home for all.

The wall - rainbow in the sky we once cried

     with joy, the greatest gift to a child,

lives forever in our mind, heart and soul,

     paves our way to our final Goal. ~  

  “Men build too many walls and not enough bridges.”- Isaac Newton

Hanging wall, detail

"The wall - nature's defence at times tried,

     proudly stands on the guardian's side..."

"Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see 

who cares enough to break them down." - Socrates

 

Details of wall mural

"The wall - living fort of trees on the hillside,

          tall grasses on the meadow hide..."

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters 

compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

                   A Hut by a Pond on Mt Pulag

Dr Abe V Rotor

Hut by a Pond. On-the-spot painting on Mt Pulag, Benguet by AVR (1985) inspired by Henry David Thoreau, 18th century American philosopher who left town and lived alone in a forest clearing for more than a year. Here he wrote Walden Pond, a treatise between man and his society.

This is an art lesson of freedom, peace and tranquility, and of unspoiled landscape; feeling of being on top of the world.

The title alone tells a story. It is picturesque. Here one imagines himself to be in a simple hut made of grass, wood and stone which shelters a woodsman and hunter on Mt. Pulag in Benguet, the second highest mountain in the Philippines after Mt. Apo.

There are no other buildings; no road, except a trail. The trees on the mountain side are small, gnarled and stunted by wind, nonetheless they make a green carpet on the whole mountain. Nearby trees display the season of autumn. Plants grow around the pond, but there are few large and floating ones, unlike in the lowlands. Instead, the water is rich in algae and small aquatic vegetation.

Stones cushions the shores of the pond, larger ones riprap the edge of the water. Fish abound - big and small - splashing and rippling. As gentle wind blows, waves gently lap on the shore in hushing sound.

The ambiance is therapeutic. Feel the cold wind that sends the ripening leaves to the ground. The ground is littered with fresh golden to red leaves. Feel the great comfort the hut gives you after a long day hike, and how soothing is the cool and clear water.

When everything is still the water reflects the sky. Sometimes a breeze comes along, followed by drizzle, then everything is quiet. Enjoy stillness. It is a rare experience to one who has been living in the city, to one who has been busy in school or office.

Draw first the mountain top, then the pond and hut. Fog plays hide-and-seek with the sun. Now and then it casts light and shadow in different patterns on the landscape, and makes a prism on the water, and a rainbow in the sky. Each view is momentary, the whole mountainscape is ever changing, colors are kaleidoscopic, now and then the world stands still.

Take time; this is independence and freedom, meditation and reflection.

Selections from the sound track of The Sound of Music provide an ideal musical background. Try indigenous music of the Cordilleras. Follow the instructions earlier presented in the other two exercises. Enjoy your travelogue on Mt. Pulag.

 The Lost White Dove*

The Lost White Dove in acrylic (12"x16") by AV Rotor 2025

"Emissary of peace and love,
lost and lonely this little dove."

*A call for peace in war-torn Israel-Gaza-Iran, and Russia-Ukraine - 

a call to other war zones as well. ~

Wounded Pigeon - Wounded Peace 

Pigeon felled by air gun found refuge in the author's backyard. 

It soon recovered from its wounds and became a pet of the family.

Pigeons and doves are one, having a common genetic origin,* and seeing them around reminds us of peace, the universal yet elusive message to mankind which they carry throughout the world.

The dove of Noah that monitored the receding flood water in the bible, and today's doves and pigeons on people's parks, both lift  the human spirit out of its low ebb of hope and happiness.  

Cooing, their characteristic calling and singing, breaks silence and fills the emptiness of the landscape and treetops - and on listening to this peculiar sound, makes us feel we are not alone. 

 

They build their nests on trees, grassy fields, old homes, and any conceivable place where they can find food, security, comfort, company and peace, which they themselves carry and share.

They fill the sky to the delight of everyone,  alight on some places to mingle with people in their leisure, perch on mandala or haystacks, glean on newly harvested fields and on the roadside. 

They make good pets, and we train them to become part of our games and sports, thanks to their domestic traits, agility and homing instinct - from racing to carrying our messages. 

They make perfect specimens in the laboratory, from Charles Darwin's study of evolution to BF Skinner's experiment on conditioned learning, numerous researches notwithstanding.

 

Wounded Peace painting in acrylic showing details, by AVRotor 2020

*Pigeons and doves belong to the same family of birds (Columbidae), which consists of more than 300 species of birds.

Mythical Forest 

“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror 

reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.”

― Chris Maser, Forest Primeval: The Natural History of an Ancient Forest

Painting and Verse by Dr Abe V Rotor 

Mythical Forest in acrylic by the author, 2022

She saw only the trees, not the forest;

    spots of red, not the loving pair,

flowers, orchids, fluttering butterflies,

    and the peeping sunset but a glare.

Thus we see ourselves more than others,

    Narcisian* syndrome we've fallen,

leaving but Echo reverberating and dying;

    the forest, the lake all forsaken.

*In Greek mythology proud Narcissus fell into the lake and died 

leaving Echo whose love for him was unrequited.

Art Evolution

Baobab Syndrome: Death of a Planet

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Art work by the author from caked emulsion paint and tree seedling skeleton, mounted on open frame for laboratory study, and as a wall decor, too.

 

* The phrase "Baobab Syndrome: Death of a Planet" appears to be a metaphorical reference to the classic novel The Little Prince, where unchecked baobab growth threatens to destroy a small planet. It also alludes to the real-world, climate change-related deaths of ancient African baobab trees that are currently occurring at an alarming rate. Acknowledgement with gratitude: Internet photos and Excerpt AI Overview

Enigma of the Coral Reef

No ecosystem in the world is more vast, open

and free than the coral reef.

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature School on Blog

                Enigma of the Coral Reef in acrylic paintings by Dr Abe V Rotor

Don a snorkel and a new world unfolds - the coral reef.

It is a forest under the sea, the counterpart of the forest we know on land. There are also equivalent trees like the giant Sargassum that grows several feet long; shrubs like the branching Gracillaria; cacti like the broad Padina; annuals like spongy Codium. Together with sea grasses, these seaweeds form multi-storey greenery at varying depths the same way forests have the features of mountains, hills, caverns and cliffs.

The animals that live here are more varied and colorful than those on land, mimicking the prism of sunlight in water with all the splendor of the rainbow. There are fishes that are distinctly bright colored, and at night exude phosphorescence like neon lights. They borrow the shape of their surroundings, the corals and seaweeds, for both protection and aggression - all these are adaptations for survival.

On the coral reef food chains have more links, so to speak, and food webs more intricate, as both residents and transient organisms interact. No ecosystem in the world is more vast, open and free than the coral reef. It is also the most lavish. Even beauty itself. Living things and all their ornaments are irresistible to be awed and respected, holding an enigma that expands our imagination to fantasy that lures us to the sea and to love to fish and comb the reefs all day. To write poetry - and to paint. ~

 

Enigma of the Coral Reef, details in acrylic by the author

Art Evolution in the Garden

 Dr Abe V Rotor

"Freedom with nature rests on oneness with creation." - avr

Cactus bonsai, dwarf Agave and overhanging striated Oregano grouped in a recycled PET container make a miniature garden. The setup gets occasional watering and sunlight exposure on weekly maintenance. Mural background lends a three-dimensional effect to heighten a make-believe nature scene in the receiving area, porch or hallway, as may be preferred. Artwork and mural by the author.

"Man-Heaven-and-Earth," in this order,

  a rule in garden and floral arrangement;

  man is first, though humbly in-between;

  because beauty lies in his own judgment.  

    

Hanging chime plays with the breeze at the doorway of the Center.  Nature painting as background adds quaintness, and enhances the ambiance of the place.  A wooden head of a deer with real anthers has a strong and urgent message of wildlife conservation.

  

"Art is never finished, only abandoned." — Leonardo da Vinci

Natural curtain adds coolness and aesthetic beauty, besides increasing Oxygen level around and through the window. Ornamental plants also serve as buffer against noise, radiation and dust, and repellant against pest as well.

A green house sans walls

    of concrete like prison;

freedom with nature rests

    on oneness with creation 

"Art isn't a result; it's a journey. The challenge of our time is to find a journey 

worthy of your heart and your soul." - Seth Godin

                                       Tree of Thorns and Beads

On display at the Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Artwork made of wild thorny cherry and rosary beads 

against a mural background. (5 ft tall)  AV Rotor 2025. 

One afternoon I saw a leafless cherry tree

     standing all alone is my home garden;

It's autumn, I said, yet monsoon wasn't over;

     I imagined a scene of the lost Eden.

Days passed and my tree remained leafless; 

     its menacing thorns looked like its crown;

I imagined how a proud tree looks in its prime,

     and a bright red rose in the morning sun. 

In the sunset years of life, the cherry and rose,

     carry on their lesson in sweet memory,

their thorns adorned with gems and medals,

     as symbol of man's piety and glory.   

             "A rose's rarest essence lives in the thorn."- Rumi -

* In life, thorns symbolize hardships, challenges, pain, and suffering, contrasting with the beauty of roses (joy/success), teaching resilience, humility, and growth, often representing necessary obstacles that strengthen faith, provide course correction, or test our character, as seen in biblical and philosophical contexts. They signify that struggles make positive moments more meaningful and can be catalysts for spiritual or personal development. AI Overview

Find a Peaceful Respite with Nature 

Dr Abe V Rotor

"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order". Rachel Carson

Respite with Nature in acrylic (24" x 48") by AV Rotor 2015

When city living becomes prosaic and dull in the midst of so-called progress measured by affluence; when the good life doesn't bring genuine freedom and happiness - have a respite with Nature;

When you have reached the peak of your career, but you're not in good health and cheerful disposition in life; when in the midst of company you feel all alone and a stranger;  have a respite with Nature;

When you are overtaken by grief and loneliness, stranded on the low ebb of life, rise up and continue on living, and when you shall have coped up with the pace of change, slow down, look back and  have a respite with Nature;

When responsibility and accountability demand your decision and action, and the consequences are the potential hallmark of your career and person, take it as a precious challenge, but first, have a respite with Nature;

When your prayers are getting fewer, so with the answers you expected, or prayers you cry out in times of distress; when hopelessness dims your faith not only towards your Creator but your fellowmen - have a respite with Nature;

When warned of the consequences of environmental degradation, like global warming and pollution, you look up to global policies and programs,  then ask what an individual like yourself can do - have a respite with Nature;

When you don't see fireflies anymore, when neon lights subdue the stars, sunset comes early and fades away unnoticed; when you don't hear birds that accompany spring, see kites in the summer sky - have a respite with Nature;

When you can hardly differentiate natural from cosmetic beauty, function from aesthetics, work from play, ethics from morals, rich from wealthy, humor from wit, important from urgent, it's time for a retreat with Nature;

When you can find love and care in the wilderness, unity in the diversity of creation, music and poetry by a living stream, science in a dewdrop, miracle in a blade of grass - rejoice and thank Nature;

When you aim to "catch the biggest fish" in your lifetime, you are blest and ageless like in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea ; and having caught one but receiving no trophy, found the biggest fish of all - Peace of Mind with Nature. 

"The earth has music for those who listen." - William Shakespeare

 

 

Details of Painting: Fishing as a pastime; a cottage in the forest.

A pair of parrots; and a pair of hornbills (kalaw)

 "Nature doth thus kindly heal every wound". Henry David Thoreau

Barbed-Wire Figurine Speaks

"It speaks of loss of forests, valleys, grasslands,

in their prime in the hands of early humans."- avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Figurine (14" tall) made of barbed wire and tree relics of World War II, 

artwork by the author 2025

It speaks not of war among brothers as enemies,

but war between man and nature in our midst.

It speaks not of trophies and medals of victory,

but nature's defeat by man's greed and folly.

It speaks not of an arch commemorating honor,

but a crumbling one, of a long forgotten valor.

It speaks of loss of forests, valleys, grasslands,

in their prime in the hands of early humans.

It speaks not of rivers flowing onto the field;

but of yield not enough to meet people's need.

It speaks of Nature as silent as Carson's spring,

at a season the birds would arrive and sing.

It speaks of high-tech, not in simple language,

a program people can understand and gauge.

 

Pearly Shell Savings Bank

On display at the Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Dr Abe V Rotor

“The habit of saving is itself an education; it fosters every virtue, teaches self-denial, cultivates the sense of order, trains to forethought, and so broadens the mind.” – T.T. Munger

Version of the "piggy bank" (9" height x 9"diameter) made of Green Mussels (tahong) shells, glass marbles. corals and stones, mounted on whole coconut shell. This indigenous piece of art is an expression of evolving art in our postmodern era.  It is a unique school and community project, home decor of recycled materials, and more importantly, it brings to mind the importance of frugality, austerity and "saving for the rainy day" addressed to both the old and young.  

Tradition in the midst of postmodernism;

like earning and saving once inseparable,

now lost in the tender trap of capitalism;

happiness and wealth are incompatible.

Save the values of old before it's too late;

The Ant and the Grasshopper, remember?

Give a touch of art, like resin into amber,

help mold the young for heaven's sake.

Assignment: Why don't you design and make your own version of a "piggy bank"?  Be creative and original.  Make one as a gift to a family member, a friend, or simply a child, and "spread the good word"?      

“Saving must become a priority, not just a thought. Pay yourself first.” – Dave Ramsey

“He who buys what he does not need steals from himself.” – Swedish Proverb

    Evolving Art Series 

"Capture Ephemeral Nature in Paintings"

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." —Albert Einstein

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Remnants of termites mounted on apocalyptic background painted 

in acrylic by the author.  On display at Living with Nature Center,

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

High rise in ruins cower

to time, pest and weather,

their grandeur gone forever.

Will man ever remember?

Cave entrance reminiscent of Tabon Cave in Palawan, 

relief painting in acrylic by AV Rotor. 

Stalactite on the guard, 

stained by a fiery past;

home of man long before

he became an outcast.

Profile of a human face on our Milky Way galaxy, 

acrylic painting by AV Rotor.  

Images of human abound,

in living colors and sound;

 serendipity or providence,

captured as evidence.  

Treetop convergence in acrylic by AV Rotor

 Living with Nature Center

Trees make a community of their own,

they talk, sing, embrace one another;

designed by nature after they're sown,

living in unity together.

Microalgal colony in a pond in acrylic by AV Rotor

  Living with Nature Center

It's a world of the minutiae,

thru the microscope we see,

 but a shade of its entirety, 

much less its diversity.

Tree skeleton clinging on a rock cliff, by AV Rotor

 Living with Nature Center

It's counterpart of the sacred Cross;

let's save Mother Nature at all cost.

 

The Last Deer, wood carving against a dying waterfall 

mural by AV Rotor, Living with Nature Center

"Two symbols on the wall,

neither the fairest of all."

Edge of land and sea, detail of a wall mural by AV Rotor.

Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

"It's a reflection of a scenery,

      opposite of a sweet memory." ~

Reference 

Philippine Literature Today
Copyright 2015 by C & E Publishing, Inc 237 pp
Abercio V Rotor and Kristine Molina-Doria

Before the World Goes Silent

By Santiago*

"This is our finest hour, and we are God-sent,

To act now before the world goes silent." - Santiago 

The young artist poses with his painting depicting the

theme, Before the World Goes Silent, 2025

Times were beautiful once, if I’m not mistaken,

     But due to our folly, abuse has taken.

The forests were green as the tides were blue,

     But all soon faded, as the sky lost its hue.

Aren’t we to be blamed for this great damage?     

     If not, do we have to fix such carnage?

The old has its past, yet aims to bear new fruit,

     Even a broken arrow seeks the truth.

We stand tall and high like we can control all -

     But can we survive a storm’s sprawl?

Won’t devastation strike and consume us all,

     Especially if death starts to call?

Who lurk in the shadows may miss the climes,

     But would they ever speak in these times?

If only on paper that our thoughts are enough,

     And not twist the mind with hate and bluff.

We will be struggling still, if we don’t recall

     The beast whose head hangs on the wall,

As the poor can’t walk, so they start to crawl;

     Mighty empires will tumble and fall.

Grim and violent is our world, we can’t deny it,

     But we need to live decently with and for it;

This is our finest hour, and we are God-sent,

     To act now before the world goes silent. ~

                  * Mateo Lawrence M Rotor, 13; St Paul College of Ilocos Sur

My Experimental Artworks

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living With Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

"Paintings are but research and experiment. I never do a painting as a work of art. All of them are researches. I search constantly and there is a logical sequence in all this research." - Pablo Picasso

School children come to me for art's sake.

"Lolo, what projects can we make?"

It's the idea that stirs their imagination

into many ways of art expression. - avr

 Art with Shells

Shells collection into work of art against a marine scene mural.  

Arrange and mount on a base,  

now a table decor, a receptacle 

of things you love and praise;

truly it's an art-to-craft version,  

for aesthetics and function.  - avr

Marine specimens into artwork   

Paint a sea floor background as base.

Spread out shells and corals freely.

Let your guests touch them and study,

with guidance, and care just in case. - avr        

          

Relief Paintings

 

Birds in the trees

It's painting and sculpture combined,

     with three-dimensional effect;

let thick paint harden on wood palette;

     it's a unique school project. - avr

Pangea, the proto-continent

Like jigsaw puzzle land masses do fit,

through continental drift, scientists say;

Pangea, once the proto-continent split

into seven continents we know today. - avr

                              Imprint Painting on Ceramic  

"E tu Brute?" 

Assassination of Julius Caesar on the "Ides of March". 

Art digs into history, stirs imagination;

the dying Caesar begging his friend;

a final stab, scene in symbolic action,

brings the story to a sad end. - avr

                                       

Fungus Painting 

Fungal mycelia* etching appears like integral part of a wall mural.

Wonder, what is unwanted and destructive,

in art may be beautiful and attractive. - avr 

* Main body of a fungus, consisting of a network of thread-like filaments called hyphae.

                             The World in his Paint Brush

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Markus 2 author's grandson paints a mural 2015, QC

"Freedom in imagination, young as he is, while grownups yearn for expression outside the confines of art; who is the master then? Yet, the path that he takes is rough and uncertain, sans model and determination he'll miss his aim." - A V Rotor

"Nothing, indeed, is more dangerous to the young artist than any conception of ideal beauty: he is constantly led by it either into weak prettiness or lifeless abstraction: whereas to touch the ideal at all, you must not strip it of vitality." - Oscar Wilde

"It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression." - Henri Matisse

Tumbleweed in the Sky

Artwork by Dr Abe V Rotor

 Tumbleweed and wooden shards, AV Rotor 2025 

Orphaned from the hills and field, 

the woods once your home gone;  

except your seeds with spiny shield

to grow and carry on in the sun.  

Closeup of a local tumbleweed

I found you on a wasteland tumbling,

     alone with the wind whistling;

come with me to my garden and art,

     and here we shall never part. 

*A tumbleweed is the dead, dried, above-ground part of a plant that detaches from its roots and rolls in the wind, dispersing seeds. This rolling plant is a diaspore, a mechanism for seed dispersal that helps the plant colonize new areas. Halaman na gumugulong sa hangin," literally means "plant that rolls in the wind"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: A good subject of research, undergraduate and graduate, on the botany of this grass, Family Poaceae, growing on marginal lands and shorelines, its ecological potential in wasteland reclamation. 

Blue Butterflies Live on in Art and Culture*

“Butterflies are nature’s angels. They remind us what a gift 

it is to be alive.” — Robyn Nola

Dr Abe V Rotor

A pair of Menelaus** blue morpho butterflies (Morpho meneleus) Family

Nymphalidae.  Painted by the author (tutor) and Hannah Laurente 15, 

a coed from Ilocos Sur National High School, November 15, 2025

Lucky to find a blue butterfly around,

fluttering in the garden;

more so when re-created in painting;

it lives on unforgotten.

 

Hannah Laurente 15,  poses with her artwork in acrylic on canvas. Background paintings by the author are: mounted  Papilio swallowtail  butterflies, and still life 

relief floral painting, on display at the Living with Nature, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.

-------------------------

* Their brilliant blue wings are stunning, the color is caused by a diffraction of the light from millions of tiny scales on its wings, which scares away predators. - South Coast Botanic Garden. The morpho butterflies comprise many species of Neotropical butterfly under the genus Morpho. This genus includes more than 29 accepted species and 147 accepted subspecies, found mostly in South America, Mexico, and Central America. Internet

** In Greek mythology, Menelaus was a Greek king of Mycenaean Sparta. According to the Iliad, the Trojan War began as a result of Menelaus's wife, Helen, fleeing to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris. Wikipedia

“I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days — three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.” ― John Keats

"Narcissus Blue Butterfly" 

Photograph by the author c. 2016

at his home garden in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

God-like Narcissus has long been dead, 

yet his butterfly still visits the water;

mythology lives on in art and culture,

and in young hearts for that matter. - avr

The myth of Narcissus is about a strikingly handsome youth who rejects the love of all who pursue him, including the nymph Echo. He is cursed by the gods to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water, a love he can never fulfill, and he eventually wastes away from despair. In most versions, he dies and is transformed into the flower that bears his name, the narcissus (or daffodil). To the author, the blue butterfly (photo) is a living symbol of Narcissus.

“Don’t waste your time chasing butterflies. Mend your garden, and the butterflies will come.” — Mario Quintana

ANNEX

A blue butterfly crossing your path is often seen as a symbol of hope, joy, and transformation. It can be interpreted as a sign of good luck, a wish coming true, or an encouragement to embrace personal growth and new beginnings. Some also see it as a messenger, a sign of being on the right path, or a spiritual reminder of the life cycle and beauty of nature. Common meanings and interpretations. 

o Hope and joy: The blue color is strongly associated with powerful emotions like joy, hope, and peace.

o Transformation: Like all butterflies, a blue one symbolizes a profound metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly, representing rebirth and positive change.

o Good luck and wishes: Seeing a blue butterfly is frequently seen as a good omen, and it's believed by some to bring good luck or help make wishes come true.

o Spiritual guidance: Butterflies are sometimes seen as spiritual messengers, which can be interpreted as a sign from angels or a reminder to stay present and appreciate life's beauty.

o Personal growth: It can be an invitation to expand your awareness, make positive changes in your life, and move forward with a greater sense of purpose. 

A message for your path: The butterfly's journey across your path may signify that you are on the right track or being guided toward your true potential. AI Overview/Internet

“Butterflies can’t see their wings. They can’t see how truly beautiful they are, but everyone else can. People are like that as well.” — Naya Rivera

Forest on a Wall Mural: 

Bring Nature into the City

"Nature is the art of god." — William Blake

Dr Abe V Rotor

A Tropical Rainforest Wall Mural (3.5 ft x 15 ft) in acrylic by Dr Abe V Rotor at his residence in Lagro, Block 61, Lot 55 (corner Kudyapi St and Lam-ang St) 2015. The mural is an integral part (3rd panel) of a larger mural (7 ft x 30 ft). The mural is made up of three sections as shown in the above photos: Emergent trees and their tenants (top);

Exploring a forest stream (middle), food web and energy flow (lowermost)

Among the countless creatures of the tropical rainforest that comprise its rich biodiversity are: a rat, giant among its kind in the lowland, lives in a hollow of a tree; boa constrictor adapted to arboreal life, transient gulls adapted to both sea and forest life; tree iguana that branched out of marine igunas, and those that live in dry conditions; chameleon the master of camouflage and mimicry; sloth, mother and young, clinging on a tree motionless and sleeping most of its life.

My grandson, Marchus Andrei, 6 months old and his nanny - guardians of this rainforest wall mural. ~

  Capture and Enshrine Nature in Murals

Capture sweet memories of nature,

relive, enshrine;

capture time, brief as it may -

it's yours and mine.

                                            Murals and Poem by Dr Abe V Rotor

     Living with Nature Mural, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Wall mural at EA  Apartelle, San Vicente, Ilocos SurI

NFA Farmers' Museum, Cabanatuan NE

Agoho Trees and Pond, SPUQC

                              Author poses with his work, Forest Stream, SPUQC

Capture nature in murals,

as big as screen;

capture creation from imagination

as it has been;

capture sunrise and sunset,

and the moonbeam;

capture the breeze passing over

a lovely stream;

capture the lilies in the pond rising

with the sunbeam;

capture the clouds becoming nimbus

before the rain;

capture the rivulets from the hills

writhing in pain;

capture the creatures talking,

sing and scream;

capture the essence of the gods

into a theme;

capture silence away from where

you have been;

capture the throb of the heart

away from sin;

capture the world in a grain of sand,

pure and crystalline;

capture nature through the arts,

classic and fine;

capture sweet memories of lost nature,

relive, enshrine;

capture time, brief as it may -

it's yours and mine. ~

Floor-to-wall-to-ceiling mural at author's residence

 San Vicente, Ilocos Sur ~

Reference: Don’t Cut the Trees, Don’t

Abercio V Rotor and University of Santo Tomas, Copyright 2010

 "Save Our Birds"

Dr Abe V Rotor

Naturalist and Art Instructor

Amihan is here but where are the birds?*- avr

Participants to a drawing workshop pose with their art works at the Living with Nature garden on November 2, 2025 (All Souls Day).  At the background is an enshrined stone bust of national hero Dr Jose Rizal  depicting his four years exile in Dapitan, a remote place in Mindanao. Besides being a doctor, author, linguist, teacher, Rizal was a lover of nature, a biologist who discovered new species of plants and animals. (Jessel Domingo,  Jhun Ronald L Larca, Ana Rose Peleyre, Lydia Mae Peleyre)

They came, the four of them, after mass.

to say Hello, share the blessings of Undas;

at home, there are drawing materials ready,

and soon they they were very busy.

Let's draw some birds before they're gone,

through art people may understand;

real or symbolic, birds are always beautiful,

emanating from fine art and soul.  

“Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.” 

- Chinese Proverb

 

 

Hornbill or Kalaw, Jay; 

 Lark, Philippine Eagle

"Never give up listening to the sound of birds.” John James Audubon

-------------------------

* In Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, she wrote that if humans continued to use pesticides without limitations, the chemicals would damage the environment. DDT weakened birds' eggshells. If the government didn't set laws to protect the environment, humans would soon experience a "silent spring," without bird noises.~

 Beginners' workshop: 

Let's paint a landscape

“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, 

others transform a yellow spot into the sun.” Pablo Picasso

Dr Abe V Rotor

Art workshop instructor

 Waterfall  in acrylic AV Rotor 2025 

Yes, you can paint.

1. Use simple and local materials and tools.
2. Get from a hardware store brushes and latex paints.
3. Stretch canvas on homemade frame, or use plywood or cardboard.
4. You need only the 3 primary colors: yellow, blue, red.
5. With white you can make all colors, hues and shades you need.
6. Use water as medium - sprinkle or spray sparingly as needed.
7. Have a handy mixing board, and save it for succeeding sessions.
8. Blue and yellow makes green; yellow and red, orange; blue and red, brown.
9. Blue and white, sky blue; red and white, pink; yellow and white, lemon.
10. Secondary to tertiary colors: try green and white, brown and white, etc.
11. Black is made by mixing the 3 primary colors in equal amounts.
12. Work spontaneously and freely with these colors you produced.
13. Paint light colors first, dark colors follow, based on your subject.
14. Relax, rest when needed. Painting is a hobby, leisure, and not work.
15. View your work, now and then, near and far. Paint independently. 

 Cumulus cloud turns nimbus. 

Be creative 

1. On-the-spot painting is best at appropriate place and time.
2. Art is creativity where imagination prevails over conventional attention.
3. For example, clouds are everchanging.  Explore and capture the best scenery. 
4. Art is theory, your work is subjective.  Art is freedom of expression.
5. But be keen of the basic elements of art like perspective and balance.  

 

Rain falls on the watershed, in turn makes the waterfall alive.

Details 

1. Details gradually give flesh and shape to your painting..
2. A landscape you have visited or seen leaves an imprint.  
3. Blend this with the present scene on the spot.
4. Or recall it as impression, and try to reconstruct it.
5. Details may be vivid or basic. Only you can tell your painting is finished. 

Waterfall - link of sky and stream, to sea

Impact and Message

1. Art arouses the senses: a waterfall roars, stream talks as it flows, rocks fall and tumble, breeze whispers, birds sing, etc.
2. Air is fresh, clouds are soft to the touch, water cool and pure.
3. All these make your painting alive. You are conveying a message to your viewers.
4. Make them read your mind, feel your feelings, share your philosophy of life. ~

Complete the scenery:

1. Birds in the sky, migrating, hovering, roosting
2. Signs of rain.  Where does a rainbow fit?
3. Rays of light through the sky reach the ground.
4. Kids fishing, hiking, climbing.  A family picnic.
5. Trees and wildlife, far and closeup views. 

And more. 

What is commonly called ugliness in nature can in art become full of beauty.” - Auguste Rodin

                     A Lovely Pair in a Bower*

"To you, I'll give the world." - Fleetwood Mac

Dr Abe V Rotor

A Lovely Pair in a Bower in acrylic (11.5" X 16") by the author

Author (left) presents painting and a book** he wrote as gifts to Fr Mars Tan, president of Xavier University, on the latter's visit to the author's home 

in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur in 2024. 

A Lovely Pair in a Bower

Let the world go by in their bower,

lovers blind to the busy world,

away from the maddening crowd;

fleeting moment is forever,

to this pair in their lair.

Wonder in our midst who we are,

blind to each other, but the world,

strange this crowd we are in;

where's this lovely pair,

where's their bower?

  * A bower for fish is a nest built by fish 

using their mouths to move sand or other

     materials. Fish build bowers for spawning.

** Living with Nature in Our Home and Community 

by AV Rotor, 2023

 Fr. Mars P. Tan, S.J., University President since July 31, 2020, is a member of the Board. As one of six Jesuit colleges and universities in the Philippines, Xavier Ateneo also forms a consortium with the other two Jesuit universities in Mindanao, namely: Ateneo de Davao University and Ateneo de Zamboanga University. (Internet)

"Above me rises a dead tree."

Dr Abe V Rotor

"We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones." - Stephen King

Lady devotee Angie Tobias turns her attention to Mother Nature in the 

midst of today's massive destruction of the environment symbolized 

by this driftwood artwork made by the author for Lent 2024.

When the sky is gray and red in sorrow,

     the fields bare and dry all around,  

the sun beats hard on ev'ry levee and furrow;

     I wonder where I am and bound.

No shade to find comfort even for a while, 

     save a tree standing on a hill,

where some birds briefly rest and again fly,

     leaving me empty at the scene.   

I look up and wonder, "Is this Golgotha?"

     No sound, no breeze, but eerie

like I were in the heart of the Sahara;

     above me rises a dead tree. ~

Standing skeleton of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla).

Lagro, QC, photo by the author, circa 1994

I have lost you forever,

Now a silhouette in the sky,

Spreading a gospel to remember,

For the mindless passerby.

You have lived half of your life,

Yet fullest at the Throne;

Earning it well with strife,

Where every seed is grown.

The birds now a flock,

The child a man;

You bid them all the luck,

And now they are gone.

In youth you sheltered me,

A thought I can't be free,

I atone for your brevity,

With a thousand and one tree.

           - AV Rotor, Light in the Woods 1994

"The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for your wits to grow sharper." - Eden Phillpotts

The Pond - the World in Microcosm

Dr Abe V Rotor

"Many drops make a bucket, many buckets make a pond, many ponds make a lake, and many lakes make an ocean." - Percy Ross

A. Forest Pond 

 Forest Pond, painting in acrylic by AV Rotor

It is not the Walden Pond of Thoreau;

it is not the mirror pond of Narcissus;

but a pond somewhere in the forest 

in the mind, away from others' views.

A pond in silence and in song all day;

a pond that reflects the stars at night;

and in summer air shimmers the sun,

and from heaven a magnificent sight. ~

                                                       B. Wildlife Park

Chris Ann R Rotor

Wildlife Park, on-the spot painting by Chris Anna R Rotor 11, 

author's daughter, Parks and Wildlife Center, Diliman, QC 1995. 

Lake in monsoon, pond in summer,

Rest house and ark in the middle,

A ring of trees makes a forest cover,

For ducks and fishes a living cradle.

                                               C. Silence of the Pond

Silence of the Pond, AV Rotor, Circa 1989

Here true silence lies, 

not eerie, not deafening, 

for silence is communion 

of self and surrounding. 

Here true silence lies: 

leaves quiver in the breeze, 

ripples gently rise and fade, 

buzz the honey bees. 

Here true silence lies, 

in the rhythm of the sky, 

the rainbow a huge harp, 

music all that sing or cry. 

Here true silence lies: 

the sound of the pond, 

not in its depth or breadth; 

the trees by their bond. 

Here true silence lies, 

beyond the audible, 

in magic waves in the air, 

and the perceptible. 

Here true silence lies, 

giving in is acceptance, 

the root of humility, 

courage in any instance. 

Here true silence lies, 

the heart longs, singing, 

thoughts not to reason 

the confines of living. 

Here true silence lies, 

sweet memories an art 

in the silence of a pond, 

throbbing in the heart. ~

"If you throw the pebble in the pond and the rings start circulating that much wider, you've done things and created things for people that they didn't think they'd ever be able to do." - Mindy Grossman 

* Microcosm is something seen as a small version of a much larger thing. 

 12 Paintings with the Color Red 

Dr Abe V Rotor 

 "Red protects itself. No color is as territorial. It stakes a claim, is on the alert against the spectrum. Painters use red like spice,"- Derek Jarman, British artist and film maker

"Red, oh, the bleeding drops of red..."

Lord Alfred Tennyson's imprimatur;

"O my Luve is like a red, red rose..."

Robert Burns signature.

Tragic and romantic, red the color

of extremes - passionate love, seduction,

violence, danger, anger, adventure.

prize or loss in every action.

Our prehistoric ancestors saw red,

the color of fire and blood,

energy and primal life forces,

symbolism's good and bad.

 

Red Fish and Brood in acrylic AVRotor 2015

"When in doubt, wear red." -  Bill Blass,  A-Z Quotes.

El Niño Autumn in a Forest in acrylic AVRotor 2015

Sun and Red Ball of Fire in a Forest in acrylic, AVRotor 2015

"The red carpet can hide more than just blood stains.”

― Anthony T. Hincks

 Fire Tree in Bloom, Mt Makiling, Laguna, on-the spot painting 

by Anna Rotor, author's daughter, 1992

Uncommon fruit, by the late Sr Veny V Rotor ofs,

author's sister

Macopa, by Sr Veny V Rotor ofs

"Red is the first color of spring. It's the real color of rebirth. Of beginning." 

- A-Z Quotes 

 Red Bird, Postmortem, a surreal painting, AVRotor

"Red is the color of life. It's blood, passion, rage. It's menstrual flow and after birth. Beginnings and violent end." -  Goodreads 

Global Warming, AVRotor, circa 1990

Red Sargassum, AVRotor

“Wear red and just be silent, don’t even whisper by yourself; you will see that you will be heard easily because red always speaks on behalf of you! By wearing red, you give your tongue and voice to red colour!”― Mehmet Murat ildan

Gamet, red seaweed by AVRotor

Red Cabbage, AVRotor

"Red is a strong, happy, optimistic color, and I like having fun with it, you know?"

- Rihanna, Gracious Quotes  

Wildfire aftermath, AVRotor

"There is a shade of red for every woman." - Audrey Hepburn

Development Communication (DevCom)

Cry of the Lawin, Philippine Hawk

Lawin symbolizes the young generations. It brings in the morning sun, it connects us grownups with the young generation.

                                                             Dr Abe V Rotor
Inaugural speech of the author upon assuming the position as first president of LAWIN (Lagro writers and artists) Association Inc, June 20 2016  Barangay Greater Lagro QC

We, in Greater Lagro are blessed with having a rare bird called Philippine hawk or LAWIN in our language.  It is a close relative of the Philippine eagle, which is considered a symbol of our culture. 

Painting of a Philippine Lawin on a backboard by the author 

On a clear day we may see the lawin* hovering over our subdivision, alone or with a partner in dalliance, simply gliding and circling up in the sky, in a spectacular kind of show that this bird now categorized as threatened is still around. Its home is the La Mesa watershed, just across our subdivision. It is in deference to this bird that our association has adopted it as our symbol and acronym - LAWIN. 

We thank our gazette editor Mr Fil Galimba who brought the idea of the organization, and Atty Riz Quiaoit for adopting Lawin as our symbol.

But what really does the lawin symbolize? 

One early morning my granddaughter pointed at the bird in the sky. I explained what I know about the bird.  Lawin symbolizes the young generations.  It brings in the morning sun, it connects us grownups with the young generations. It gives our children a break from iPads and TV.  

One time children in the neighborhood in our place could not play their favorite game basketball. Somebody rebuilt their backboard, and games resumed. There is one difference: the other player on the backboard is a big lawin with outstretched wings seemingly playing with the kids. 

Nearby a garbage dump began to transform into a vegetable and herbal garden.  The children called it Lawin Garden. It is a local version of the Phoenix bird rising from the garbage ashes.

The lawin has a peculiar cry while in flight - clear and loud whistle of two notes. But most often, it is a silent flyer with panoramic and telescopic vision.

It can see like a satellite monitor what is happening over its broad area of vision, yet able to focus on the slightest movement - a prey or an enemy. 

Writers and artists to a great degree are like the lawin. Like the lawin, true writers and artists are a vanishing breed, they are an endangered species victim of instant and unguided social media, and worst assassination of journalists.  The Philippines is compared to worn-torn countries like Gaza and Ukraine for having the highest number of killings in mass media.   

The lawin writers and artists have "eyes for news and the arts," Their aerial perspective is holistic and contiguous. They see the multiplicity and unity of space and time, people and events. And they never veer away from their community which they watch over. 

At the onset of organizing LAWIN, we did some research on our trust and functions, and on the long run - our projected goal. 

Our reference is the our own Gazette. Lawin is DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION. DevCom recognizes the power of communication as a catalyst for social development. It utilizes the tools and principles applicable in the community they serve for the advancement of society.  

In an outline DevCom is

• Information dissemination and education 
• Social Marketing - ideas, knowledge and wisdom
• Purposive communication - it sets targets
• Social mobilization - involvement and militancy 
• Community improvement mainly on felt needs
• Positive change  (social, political, economic, moral, environmental, etc) 
• Participatory development - bottom-up approach    
• Humanities development - applied aesthetics
• Sentinel and vanguard of code of media 
• Pathfinder - pioneering and visionary

Development Communication as the INTEGRATION OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION IN DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, based on a clear understanding of real and down-to-earth situations, with people's participation and shared equitable benefits.
  
What then would be our guiding principle in our program?  It can be summarized as follows, for an anonymous source:

"If it is of high quality, people will respect you;
 If it is relevant, people ill need you;
 If it is measurable, people will trust you;
 If it is innovative, people will follow you."

If you were the lawin up in the sky over Greater Lagro, you are likely to see these -

• the need to train students in our schools in the field of mass media and applied art to run their school paper. 
• the need to take care of the trees, and to plant more tree, to make Lagro an extension of the shrinking wildlife. 
• the need to expand outdoor activities, participate in wholesome games and sports, creative activities. 
• the need to guard Greater Lagro from the incursion of bad elements, vices, violations of human rights, peace and order.
• bringing in honors and prestige to the community through the talents of its citizens, particularly the young.
• unifying relationships of families, strengthening bonding, making the community senior citizen friendly, grandchildren friendly as well.

There are one-thousand-and-one other visions that challenge the organization LAWIN and its members giving meaning to their membership, above all leaving their legacy for the next generations.~ 

Neighborhood projects of LAWIN (Lagro Association of Writers and Artists, Inc)

 

Sports development: Lawin Backboard; Green Revolution: Lawin Garden

About the Philippine Hawk Lawin

by Naomi Millburn 

Philippine hawk-eagles (Nisaetus philippensis) are raptors native only to the Philippines. "Lawin" translates to "hawk" in the Tagalog tongue. Philippine hawk-eagles survive in very low numbers, so their population is considered vulnerable.
 Philippine hawk-eagles (Nisaetus philippensis) are raptors native only to the Philippines.

 Physical Appearance

Philippine hawk lawins are typically about 26 or 27 inches long. The top portions of their plumage are deep brown, and their lower portions are reddish-brown and adorned in black markings. Philippine hawk-eagles have pale throats, yellow limbs, deep gray beaks and dark crests. Their crests are made up of four to five feathers, some of which can reach 2.75 inches long. It takes about four years to develop their mature feathers. Fully grown Philippine hawk-eagles tend to have lithe physiques.

Living Environment

Philippine hawk lawins inhabit numerous islands throughout the Philippines, including Mindoro and Luzon. They haven't been confirmed as migratory, though they might occasionally travel between islands. They are prevalent around outer portions of forests, sometimes even in airy settings. Philippine hawk-eagles spend a lot of time hidden in the top layers of forests. They do a lot of high flying within their habitats.

Population

The number of Philippine hawk lawins in the wild is dropping swiftly. Their total population is thought to be 1,000 and 2,499 specimens, two-thirds of which are adults, according to Bird Life International. Key factors in their decline are the clearing of trees for logging, farm animals, and farming expansion in general. People also sometimes hunt Philippine hawk-eagles. Efforts to conserve this species include captive reproductive programs and protected locations such as Bataan National Park.

Vocalization

The signature call of the Philippine hawk lawin is a clear, loud whistle of two notes. These birds call out over and over again, sometimes in intervals of three seconds.~

Greater Lagro and adjoining Fairview, hug the Northeastern limits La Mesa Dam a 700-hectare water reservoir that supplies water to Metro Manila and suburbs.

                                      Life is like a waterfall  

“Just let go – and fall like a little waterfall.” — Bob Ross

Dr Abe V Rotor

A. Life is a Waterfall

The Waterfall - A Story of Life in acrylic (24" x 33.5"), AV Rotor 2025

tell me not in mournful numbers that life is but a dream

In my golden years, I look back to the east.

Lo! the trees and grass are verdant green,

cumulus clouds rise, twin waterfalls hiss,

meet a stream. it's a most beautiful scene!

                                 B. Waterfall in the Sky

Waterfall in the Sky in acrylic AVRotor 2025

Hydrologic cycle, but what is it

in simple words, in drawing or painting?

"Please show us," chorused the children -

indeed it's a great challenge in teaching. 

From below, and up into the blue sky,

water rises into cloud, cloud into rain,

into waterfall, falling down to earth,

onto fields and rivers like living train.

Indeed imagery is more powerful 

than vocabulary, or the eye could see;

deep in the heart and mind of the young,

a waterfall lives before reaching the sea. ~

C. Waterfalls of my Childhood 

Waterfalls, painted from childhood memory 

(Napo, Sto. Domingo, Ilocos Sur) AVR

Roar in monsoon, whisper in summer,

catch the rain upstream,

   leap over the ledge, glow and shimmer, 

  die as you lose your steam,

yet you live in sweet memory forever.

"Where there's a waterfall, there's a way to adventure!" Journey Era

D

 D. Confluence of Nature in Mural

Confluence of Nature mural in acrylic on canvas, 9ft x 8 ft

Confluence of nature, unity in diversity,

where sky meets land, river flows to sea,

where time and space, matter and energy

are in union and joyful harmony,

omnipotence of no other but Thee.

E. Waterfall of our Dreams

A make-believe re-enactment of sweet memories by a waterfall 

at author's residence, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur. 

That was many, many years ago by a waterfall,

hundreds and hundreds of miles away from home,

when time was patient, adventure waiting beyond,

deafening roar settling down in cloud and foam. 

Quiet and calm the fall but it was just beginning

her trek down the river onto the wide, wide sea;

how we followed her in dreams and lofty thoughts,

taking us far and wide that no eye could see.

Career and family, travel and company we sought,

like the waterfall roaring in search for the sea,

dying all along her way on fields and meadows,

giving life to every nook and the community. 

    

That was many years ago by this fall of our dream,

away from the maddening crowd and Midas' lure;

homing takes us back to where it was once before,

her replica on a wall gleaming full and pure. ~

F. Old Waterfall

Dry Waterfall in acrylic by the author (c.1986)

Drip, drip, drip, like tears,

too far out to meet the sea,

in dirge of a dying waterfall

once proud and full and free.

Drip, drip, drip, like rain,

too little to quench the land,

to make the fields green and alive,

and dewdrops to greet the sun.

Drip, drip, drip, the pipes run dry,

no longer music in the park;

behind white walls and rooftops,

and some forgotten arch. ~

  “I can see my rainbow calling me through the misty  breeze of my waterfall." - Unknown

G. I am a waterfall - a drawing exercise

                                               Waterfall mural, AVR 2009

How do you see yourself as a waterfall?

This exercise leads us to differentiate reality from imagination. Second, how can we combine reality and idealism to express ourselves?

Here is a drawing exercise suitable to both young and old, class or workshop.

As a participant draw a waterfall from your own experience and imagination. You have ten minutes to finish it on a one-fourth bond paper using pencil or pen.

A background music is provided while you work. Nature’s sound: water cascading or flowing accompanied by songs of birds and other creatures, and occasional breeze. The theme of a song is Somewhere Over a Rainbow. Other appropriate pieces are The Blue Danube and Flow Gently Sweet Afton.

If you are ready to start the exercise, at this juncture, please pause.

You will come to know the basis of judging your work after you are through. It takes some twenty minutes to finish.

--------------------------------
NOTE: Do not read these criteria until you have completed your drawing.

Exchange your paper with your seatmate's. The instructor will now guide you in checking the papers with the criteria below. Use a scale of 1 to 10, starting with 1=Very Poor to 5=Average, and to 10=Outstanding. It's now your discretion to grade the paper given you.

1. Height of the waterfall
2. Fullness of its water
3. Lushness of its watershed
4. Abundance of its source, river or lake
5. Force and power of the fall
6. Strength and firmness of the rock face
7. Downstream flow and direction
8. Creatures in their natural habitat
9. No wasteland, no space left out
10. Naturalness and artistic presentation

Add the points obtained from each of the 10 factors. The perfect score is 100. Return paper to the owner.

The second part of the exercise is sharing. What is the significance of this exercise? How does it relate to life?

Relate each criterion with your personal life, your dealings with people, Nature, and the Creator. This takes about half an hour or so.

This exercise leads you to know yourself better - your strength and weakness - and most important - your potentials. ~

Autumn in Paintings, Verses and Songs

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

 A Walk in the Woods in Autumn acrylic by AVR

The Woods in Autumn acrylic by AVR

Autumn Moods

Meditate at sunrise

In kaleidoscope of colors

Weaving through the mist,

With whispers of devotion.

Take a book and flip the pages,

Slowly with intent feelings,

As the early breeze brushes

Your forehead and brawn.

Or walk down the lane

Trodden only by the unseen;

Before the season is over,

Let each one praise Nature.

Autumn Leaves in acrylic by AVR

Autumn Leaves 1

The falling leaves

Drift by my window

The falling leaves

Of red and gold

I see your lips

The summer kisses

The sunburned hands

I used to hold

Since you went away

The days grow long

And soon I'll hear

Old winter's song

But I miss you most of all

My darling

When autumn leaves

Start to fall

Since you went away

The days grow long

And soon I'll hear

Old winter's song

But I miss you most of all

My darling

When autumn leaves

Start to fall.

Autumn Leaves 2

The falling leaves drift by the window

The autumn leaves of red and gold

I see your lips, the summer kisses

The sun-burned hands I used to hold

Since you went away the days grow long

And soon I'll hear old winter's song

But I miss you most of all my darling

When autumn leaves start to fall

C'est une chanson, qui nous ressemble

Toi tu m'aimais et je t'aimais

Nous vivions tous, les deux ensemble

Toi que m'aimais moi qui t'aimais

Mais la vie sépare ceux qui s'aiment

Tout doucement sans faire de bruit

Et la mer efface sur le sable les pas des amants désunis

"Autumn Leaves" is a much-recorded popular song. Originally it was a 1945 French song "Les feuilles mortes" (literally "The Dead Leaves") with music by Hungarian-French composer Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet Jacques Prevert the Hungarian title is "Hulló levelek" (Falling Leaves). Yves Montand (with Irene Joachim) introduced "Les feuilles mortes" in 1946 in the film Les Portes de la Nuit. The American songwriter Johnny Mercer wrote English lyrics in 1947 and Jo Stafford was among the first to perform this version. "Autumn Leaves" became a pop standard and a jazz standard in both languages, both as an instrumental and with a singer. Popularized by world famous singers like Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole.

               I am a Student of Evolving Art  

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." - Confucius

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

It's advanced impressionism,

a little of Van Gogh and Picasso.

But who am I to found a school?

Art as a theory is all I know.

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for." - Georgia O'Keeffe

Relief painting with a palette knife,

to capture a hatching egg;

take the backseat brush, the time is ripe

for freedom in art, I beg.

“Freedom is the soul of art.” “Even science is art, when it flows pure and free - literature is art, when it flows pure and free - mathematics is art, when it flows pure and free. Any act of the mind that flows pure and free, is art, for freedom is the soul of art.”― Abhijit Naskar, Lives to Serve Before I Sleep

Glass painting in three-dimensions,

I gave one side a transparent aura;

on the main pane, the subject matter;

seen combined, it's a diorama.

"The arts are not a frill. The arts are a response to our individuality and our nature, and help to shape our identity. What is there that can transcend deep difference and stubborn divisions? The arts. They have a wonderful universality. Art has the potential to unify. It can speak in many languages without a translator. The arts do not discriminate. The arts lift us up." - Barbara Jordan

Red for lack of other essential colors -

unconventional I was, yet an amateur,

imagining some culinary flavors,

art is both experience and adventure. 

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." - Albert Einstein

No plan, no perspective, wheretofore

goes my art? I wonder.

Yet I kept on and on, to explore  

art in some hidden corner.

"One can compare art education to the solid foundation for a house - once it's built properly, it will hold any shape or form you will place on it." - Igor Babailov

Impressions of wild flowers with wet paint

leave footprints that shall not depart;

I say, Eureka, I found it, I found it! 

A li'l Archimedes I am, in art. 

Sperms seen under the lens,

searching an egg by chance;

in union a new life arises,

passes this way, but once.  

"It's called the incubation period. The incubation period - one of the four phases of creativity - is when you're not consciously thinking of a problem, and you're letting it marinate. So this is why you hear time and again, people saying they had that "Eureka" moment in the bath, like Archimedes, or in the shower, or while going for a walk or in a coffeehouse."— Eric Weiner 

Acknowledgement: Internet Quotes ~

Wildlife Park

Chris Ann R Rotor

Wildlife Park, on-the spot painting (8"x11") by Chris Anna R Rotor 11, 

at the Parks and Wildlife Center, Diliman, QC 1995. 

Lake in monsoon, pond in summer,

Rest house and ark in the middle,

A ring of trees makes a forest cover,

For ducks and fishes a living cradle.

 Green House

Dr Abe V Rotor

"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home" 

- Twyla Tharp

Green House Mural by AVRotor

Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Would you like to live in this green house, 

lined with trees, bathed by the sun;

an abode away from the restless throng,

where man and nature are one?

MEDITATION

Reflection and Relaxation

"When the sun is in its zenith, half the day is gone, half of the work done, half of life's stirrings over, yet the joy of living, its challenges and rewards are whole and forever." avr

Dr Abe V Rotor 

A Paulinian student takes time to meditate over a landscape mural painted by the author for St Paul College of Ilocos Sur, February 26, 2018. 

When things seem to be overwhelming, the road long and rough, the horizon far and dim, and you feel powerless under this situation, give yourself time to meditate;

When the wind stops to blow, the treetops still, birds no longer fly, the fields lay bare after harvest time, summer creeps in, and you feel the false calm of doldrums, meditate;

When the first rain is but a shower, shy and naïve over the parched landscape and the dry riverbed, listen to the distant thunder, watch the gathering cloud, meditate;

When the mountains are blue in the distance, as blue as the azure sky and the sea resting after tempest, the valley deep and green, be part of the scenery, meditate;

When the birds migrate to the south before winter sets in and return in springtime, imagine the magnificence of the view from above, the adventure of travel, meditate;

When the trees proudly stand together to form a living fort, bastion against the vagaries of nature, abode and domicile of creation to which you are a part, meditate;

When the habagat is in its peak with days and days of rain, the fields now a huge lake, joining the rivers and the sea, it's nature's process of dynamic balance, meditate;

When the amihan sets in, cold wind from the north sweeps over the ripening grains, golden in the sun, undulating, lilting with kids flying kites - you're with them, meditate;

When the world seems to be moving too fast, on a chartless path, you feel you are adrift and part of a bandwagon, move out before it's too late, meditate;

When the trees come alive with music at dawn, mists settle into dewdrops, sparkling like diamonds as the sun rises, the curtain opens a new day - awake, meditate; 

When the sun is in its zenith, half the day is gone, half of the work done, half of life's stirrings over, yet the joy of living, its challenges and rewards are whole, meditate;

When the sun sets, dusk the prelude to rest, Angelus prayer itself in silence, peace and harmony set in, be at the center of Home, Family and Creator, meditate. ~

--------------

Poetry reading is an art. In fact, poetry is intended to be read before an audience to fully appreciate it, its theme and message,  its rhyme and rhythm, style and meter cum expression of the reader. For this particular piece, the author suggests as a background music, Meditation, a symphonic intermezzo from the opera Thaïs by French composer Jules Massenet. The piece is written for solo violin and orchestra. The opera premiered at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on March 16, 1894.

                                         Valley of Life

                                         Dr Abe V Rotor

Watershed, a wall mural by the author, St Paul University, QC

If a child asks, “What is a valley?”

Forget what you may have read -

valley of death, valley of sorrow;

valley is the life of the mountain,

more so, that of the river below.

It is a watershed, it is a trough,

where clouds gather and fall as rain,

where trees and beautiful flowers grow,

and life in its glory and diversity,

where Heaven and Earth glow.   avr

Art Evolution 

Experimental Glass Paintings

 "Let me with my art freely live and die." - avr

Dr  Abe V Rotor

Oh art! Take me to another place unfamiliar

     like Gauguin's niche in the Pacific;

where the forests and rivers and seas can talk,

     where I can clearly hear God speak.

Oh art! If to learn another style, another technique,

     Gladly I take the road less trodden by;

Though dim and thorns and rocks may bar my way,

     Let me with my art freely live and die. ~

Specimen 1 - Fan-type, typical of leaf venation, fungal mycelia and patterns of antibiosis in a culture medium.

When two immiscible media - oil and water-based acrylic - are mixed and sandwiched by two glass panes, the two opposing media create unexpected impressions of varied colors, shapes, hues and shades trapped in a network of venation. This method is extremely difficult in exactly executing a planned design or subject.

Surprisingly however, with constant practice and experimentation you can create amazing serendipitous designs and images such as these specimens. The biologist in me seemed to have dominated my new art, spontaneously expressing my thoughts about the subject, including the interpretation of each painting.

Specimen 2 - Colony-type, typical of swarms of plankton organisms,

germinating spores, and decomposition of tissues.

Specimen 3 - Dichotomous-type, typical of branching of

plants, seaweeds, growing buds, and growth habit of

protists and invertebrate organisms.

Specimen 4 - Bilateral symmetry, typical of dividing cells,

growth pattern of seaweeds, mosses and ferns.

Specimen 5 - Multiple dichotomy, typical of cancerous

growth, patterns of decomposition by bacteria and fungi.

This experimental painting technique and the results that it has created and continue to create, support the argument of a professor in Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines who said, "Everyone is entitled to his theory of the arts. No theory is wrong." ~

 Global Warming is Creating a New Art Movement 

"We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it". - US President Barack Obama

Paintings by Dr Abe V Rotor

Onslaught of the Glowing Armyworms 
Armyworms are so-called because of their gregarious, voracious and they suddenly appear and attack. When food is scarce and environmental conditions unfavorable, they become wild and uncontrollable. Such is the tendency of a bandwagon, building up into a mob.

They come in an army strong in spring, 

rising from quiescence with the first rain,

greed and abandon the rule of their game

spoiling all rules, free-for-all, and insane.

But only when cornered the biological

instinct reigns, survival the ultimate aim,

where nature lost its order, its pristine,

by man craving for wealth, power, fame.  

How similar a pattern, could it be the genes

dictating? Creatures behaving like beast,

and man in neither in need nor in plenty, 

fights in army whether in war or peace. ~   

Degeneration of the Roses

Global warming has caused many problems in plants and animals. Hybrids are among the first to succumb, while the native species or varieties are the last. Their survival secret? Natural resistance built through countless generations in the open. As a rule. hybrids can't be left alone - they will revert to man-directed lines which are unstable and uncertain. The failure of science is when its progeny is abandoned or misguided.

"My luv is a red, red rose," in romanticism gone,

"Paper roses," a song of love lost and lament;

and Gertrude Stein, wanting of the right word, 

said, "A rose is a rose is a rose," is truly meant.  

The rose is very sick, not only in social norms,

it is sick with the loss of its indigenous genes,

it is sick with the pollution of its genetic pool,

manipulated to suit the market by all means.

While the whole world grows hotter each day;

Carbon in air traps heat; it too, turns into acid 

falling as toxic rain, dousing the red in the rose.

Where have all the roses gone, their lovely bid? ~ 

                                         Living Prism in the Deep

Painting and Poem by Dr Abe V Rotor

Living Prism in the Deep in acrylic (24” x 43”) 2017

Sunlight splits into colors, the rainbow,

     through droplets hanging in the sky,

the deep among seaweeds where fish play,

     letting time and the world go by.

Oh, how the seasons come and go at ease,

     ephemeral in our lifetime,

yet fullest in awe and wonder and joy,

     in the living prism in our prime.

In the golden years as the sun sets down,

     and into the deep its last rays soon die,
lingers, flickers the light saved by the day

     into beautiful dreams to live by. ~

Cryptobiology

It's beyond this world to comprehend,

where superstition and science meet,

and debate continues without end.

1 - Cryptobiology* in Driftwood Art

Birds - Descendants of the Archaeopteryx. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), nature's art in driftwood -

a lucky find among uprooted and burned madre de caacao trees, 

waste of swidden or kaingin farming in woodlands. 

Into the sky this giant among Aves,

rises with all its strength sublime,

enthroned in wood gone to waste. 

Look, it's our own eagle in its prime!

In the likeness of an eagle or hawk, I mounted these pieces 

of driftwood against a background depicting its natural habitat. 

Darwinian evolution, Part 2, or is it? 

It's beyond this world to comprehend,

where superstition and science meet,

and debate continues without end. 

It resembles the Philippine hawk or lawin flying majestically in the sky.  I found this rare piece of wood cum bark of an old talisay (Terminalia catappa) uprooted by a typhoon on our homelot in San Vicente,  Ilocos Sur, circa 2012 

A legendary bird for children,

singular pride of our nation;

 but we'll be losing this long time friend, 

now at the brink of extinction.

Archeopteryx reconstructed from fossil

2 - Cryptids in our Midst

Dr Abe V Rotor

  

 

Top photos: Half-serpent, half-avian with distinct eyes, beak and crown (palong Tag); yelping puppy in a greeting pose.  Lower photos: Long legged reptile emerging from a broken jar seems to be telling story fit for a horror movie. 

This figure of an aquatic creature apparently swimming, was discovered in an estuary. Old folks claim the creature once lived where sea and river meet, a unique habitat of many strange creatures, animals and plants as well.  Mural background adds to the queer ambiance of the figure. 

Horned duck with wings half-spread ready for takeoff, gives a fantasy image of a strange creature, which kids relate with cartoon characters and unique specimens like the Pterodactyl, an extinct genus of pterosaurs.

    

Augury is the practice from ancient Roman religion of interpreting omens from the observed behavior of birds. A white dove means “peace”. A black dove means “war”.  It could also pertain to matters of the heart, relationships, luck, misfortune, death, Remember the emissary bird in the biblical Noah's Ark? Have you seen a black dove in our real world?

*Cryptobiology is the study of cryptids, creatures around which myths exist but whose current existence has never been verified. Some famous cryptids include bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, and the chupacabra. Cryptids are elusive creatures that dance on the fringes of human perception, whose existence has not been proven by science, but has been reported by many eye-witnesses. Modern science has proved the existence to creatures that existed only in imagination and fantasy.

"For everything there is a season,

and a time for every matter under heaven."

"There is a time to listen to God through His creation."

         an acrylic painting by Dr Abe V Rotor

“For everything there is a season, 

and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.”

This sacred list from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 represents all the seasons and the important changes of our lives. Some are happy times, others sad; some are productive while others seem wasteful; some inspire peace and others bring pain. (Internet)

Vortex - Eye of a Storm

Dr Abe V Rotor

                                    Vortex - Eye of a Storm in acrylic, AV Rotor

Beware of the beautiful with fangs of fire;

like the eye of a storm and a woman's ire ~

THE FISH - Favorite Art Subject

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Do Fish Ever Sleep?

2. Fish of the same fins get together

3. Sargassum Fish - Model of Mimicry and Camouflage

4. The Power of Imagination in Painting the Deep

         5. The Eye in the Coral Reef
         6. Nesting Fish
         7. Mutation Gone Wild Through Genetic Engineering

1. Do Fish Ever Sleep?

Fish, pastel drawing by Angelica Mijares, then 9 years old

Summer Art Workshop for Children, SPUQC, circa 2001

Once I wondered if ever fish sleep,

     Unless by sleep they remain still

In some quiet pool, like the cows and sheep,

     After their fill lie on a grassy hill.

Could either, I ask, bring about man’s ease

     And cease his mind to wonder and wander?

And where is that pool or that hill at peace,

     Save Flanders, or some place ever after?

 

2. Fish of the same fins get together

Fish of the same fins get together, AVR

Fish, in their wide, wide world

danger lurks, more so in the dark. 

Scarcely can they afford 

to be alone. Beware of the shark! 

                     3. Sargassum Fish

Model of Mimicry and Camouflage

\

Sargassum Fish in acrylic by the author, circa 2002

Strange this living world, if you wish;

fish to Sargassum, Sargassum to fish;

if evolution is by fusion

toward unification and peace,

where lies fission,

key to diversification?

There would be more fossils

than the present living,

extinguished before their time,

unfit by Darwinian rule -

unless the past had little left

the proof of the whole.

And here before our eyes: the link

of time past and present,

of fossil and the living,

changing, too nil, too slow;

wondering at Nature's game,

in her own sweet time.~

4. The Power of Imagination in Painting the Deep

 Bottom of the Sea scene by the author  (C 2000)

Imagination is more powerful than reason:

you can't go down and paint the scene;

so I took my brush and closed my eyes,

there in my mind grew a large screen.

Imagination builds our world and space,

the unseen, or just a passing of time,

take the fish in schools or in migration,

these are all beyond the mind.

In the deep, pitch black, and endless,

I brought in the sun and formed a vision

of life I knew so little with those real;

indeed, the power of imagination! ~

Convergence of fishes by the author (c.1995)

Ocean Cave, mural detail by the author (c. 2005) 

 

  Guardian Fish AVR 2000

Fish nursery  painted on jar (burnay). ~

 

 Algal Conglomerate (Volvox sp) c.2010

                           5. The Eye in the Coral Reef

The Eye in the Coral Reef, Acrylic Painting by the author 2015

The eye! The eye!

among the corals watching.

conscience of the sea,

over Homo sapiens fishing.

It never winks, it's alive,

guarding against man's folly,

whose eye, not of man,

disgraced guardian of the sea. ~

6. Nesting Fish 

"Make your nest truly a beautiful home,

never  ask why the task, and for whom."  AVR

   

Nesting Tilapia in acrylic by AVR 2011

Make a nest for your bride, make it true, 

An altar to knot your vows;

Make a nursery and a sanctuary, too

Safe from fangs and jaws. 

Abode for the homeless and those in grief,

A stopover for the weary guest, 

A fort ensconced among rocks and reefs

To hold and withstand any test.

Build a nest, but not of the proud bower bird,

Lavish but only in courtship;

Don't be like the marauding salmon in herd,

Returning only after a long trip.

Make your nest truly a beautiful home,

And none in your brood shall ever want;

Never shall you ask why the task, and for whom;   

In life's drama, this is your part. ~  

7. Mutation Gone Wild Through Genetic Engineering*

 Crustacean mutants

 Turkey fish Siamese twin

Deformed Groupers

                                Evolution through fusion: Sargassum fish 

Who is your father, who is your mother?
your sister, your brother?
You look like no one; 
where did you come from?

Who is your guardian, who is your maker?
your ancestor, your kin?
You look like alien; 
where did you come from?

Who is your friend, who is your neighbor?
your mate, your children?
You are an outcast; 
where did you come from?

Why do you have blood other than your own?
Tissue and cells enlarged?
chromosomes paired, unpaired
DNA snipped, spliced? 

Why do you have to be a giant among the small?
Or Lilliputian to be smart?
shaped like barrel or grass,
armed with less or more?

Why do you have to eat more than you should?
ravage all - big and small
to grow too large heeding not
the fate of the dinosaur?

Why do you have to veer away from your origin?
evade the dictates of nature?
live like vagabond 
sans company, sans home?
What good is science destined to nowhere?
 thriving on trial and error?
and having no control 
of good and evil? 

What good  is science sans conscience clear?
though genius its master
at the border of insanity
for fame and glory? 

What good is science that creates a Frankenstein
monster deprived of love,
home and family, 
rebel against humanity?

What good is science that destroys what it builds?  
like mad destroying the Pieta
for not seeing true beauty
in  simplicity and piety? ~

* Spontaneous thoughts of the author while painting 

these images of an unnatural world.

                            Herbarium in Glass

“A herbarium is better than any illustration; every botanist should have one.” — Carl Linnaeus

Dr Abe V Rotor

Take it from Nature, resin to amber,

through metamorphism -

 unique beautiful rock, akin to jewel,

 radiates the magic of prism. 

Composite specimens encased in glass

It's about evolution and diversity,

work of art and the laboratory;

a whole course of botanical study,

from Darwin to scientists of today.

Lily flower arrangement and venation encased in glass 

I see your venation sans skin;

what an intricate frame!

You are indeed the onion's kin,

in one Family's fame. ~

Artist's Interpretation 

  "In the Beginning"  

Dr Abe V Rotor

In the Beginning in acrylic by AV Rotor 2024

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
and their connection in the human mind, truth and myth.
the start of everything, from any event, philosophy, history,
the mystery of E=mc2, its perpetual, universal reversibility.

Energy-and-matter's interchangeable, in physics and biology,
looking up into the blue sky in search of answer to the theory,
the mystery deepens, eludes the sages - "In the Beginning"-
It's the seat of our faith in what don't know, yet believe in. ~

A Moment of Serenity

Dr Abe V Rotor

A Moment of Serenity in acrylic (14"x18") by Dr. Abe V. Rotor

Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, Oct 26 2023

 

Details: Birds follow the stream of light and flow of a waterfall.

A moment of serenity is all we need,

     brief as it may in peace,

amidst all the throes of life we bid,

     with Mother Nature at ease.

Follow the stream resting in a pond

     before reaching out to sea,

the birds in the sky circling around,

     gaze at them flying free.~

 Green Madonna and Child

"Our Holy Lady and Child, please help us
       save our dying Mother Earth."

Dr Abe V Rotor

Relief painting of Madonna and Child in acrylic AVR 2015 

  

Faceless, shrouded with smog, seated on a volcano,

    this Madonna and Child of my imagination
moved my fingers, and touched my heart and soul.
    Forgive me for my irreverent interpretation.

I am a humble artist seeking meaning of art to life,

    a new consciousness, a re-birth,

to bring prayer to action, our Lady and Holy Child
    in saving our dying Mother Earth.~

Painting: "Childhood is Forever"

“For in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be.” –John Connolly

Early childhood experiences from birth to age eight affect the development of the brain's architecture, which provides the foundation for all future learning, behavior and health. A strong foundation helps children develop the skills they need to become well-functioning adults.  (Dr. Jack Shonkoff, Director Harvard Center on the Developing Child)

Dr Abe V Rotor

Art Instructor 

Childhood is Forever, in acrylic on canvas by Hannah Hediko P Laurente and Harish Hamiko P Laurente, in 3 sessions, under the tutorship of the author at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.  August 2024,

Childhood is... 

• Childhood is a time in our life when everything seems perfect and wonderful. 
• Childhood is a world far away from the real world free from burdens and tensions.
• Childhood is a period to learn and master the essentials of life and living.
• Childhood is the full and harmonious development of personality in a family environment.
• Childhood is living in an atmosphere of happiness, understanding and love.
• Childhood is time to enjoy bedside stories, family anecdotes, and life updates. 
• Childhood is pure bliss, light moments, treasured memories, captured innocence.
• Childhood is wishing to be older, and when in old age wishing to be  younger.

Full view of the painting (20" x 28") with details shown in succeeding images.

                    Man - Child of Years Ago*

This is a beautiful world to the young:

     Faces clouds make, and kites fly high,

In kaleidoscopic colors of the sun. 

     While nests on trees sweetly cry.

If not for the fish and Siberian breeze. 

     The fields sleep, save a songbird;

But the clock doesn't stop in hammock's ease -

     A chime's urging to be heard.

Not enough is summer, transient is the game

     That starts with glee and ends with sigh

As the season ends; but it is not the aim

     Of the sky to make children cry.

Freud and Thoreau - these great minds before saw

     What  makes man, child of years ago,

Wading in a pond or climbing a bough, 

     His kite rising to heaven's glow. 

  

Details: A flock of white doves playfully takes care of their fledglings and chicks in their nests, among kites hanging in the trees.  Right, treetops serve as playground and home of many creatures like gecko lizard and wild bees, as well as foothold of ferns, lianas and orchids.  

"White doves are symbolic of new beginnings, peace, fidelity, 

love, luck and prosperity." (A Dove's Love)

 

 

Promenading is a pastime in a beautiful scenery, a happy moment communing with Nature.  Right, wild fowls, reptiles, amphibians, fish and other living things abound in a pristine and unspoiled environment.  They comprise the natural landscape and ecological system.   A pristine environment is synonymous with “untouched,” a place where human hands have not intruded into the natural progression of life, and not corrupted by civilization.

                                      Loafing

Oh, how we love the fields like farmers do,
But not our classmates in school though;
And Nature more than our teachers know
What the sun and rain in childhood sow.*

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”- Sir John Lubbock 

Fishing is but a hobby, a kind of sport friendly to nature.  Here a fisherboy is not a stranger to the wildlife* indigenous to the place, indeed a manifestation of a friendly and harmonious relationship bound by a primal treaty of man and nature. 

Fisherboy** 

By a stream on a rock ledge many a dream grew with the water flowing, the clouds rising, the breeze whispering in a nearby tree, its shade creating images of art and fantasy.

Hours lazily passed, but how short was a day fishing, from sunrise to noon and back again when the fish would return, the bamboo pole suddenly becoming heavy with a big catch.   

Other boys join the cheer, the louder the bigger the fish was, or fading with a whimper when it got away, and it was always "the big fish that got away," an adage of every fisher folk.

Away from town, away from school, away from home for a while - this freedom in innocence and adventure, the elders would call laziness, stubbornness and aimlessness in growing up.

Boys don't know the difference grownups want them to be, but wait for their own time, when childhood yields to the demands of the world, the world though big is "prison" to grownups. 

They too, were children before - the "man in the boy" comes later when there are no more big fish to catch, the tree has overgrown the rock ledge and other boys are longer around. 

Like birds migrating and returning, season after season in Vivaldi's refrain, and Mozart's lament, life goes on in rhythm, but time couldn't wait, while dreams sought for reality. 

There are many fish in the world, the biggest to catch always a dream - fame, ideas, wealth, sacrifice, honor, popularity - aiming at these to the end, in triumph, surrender or defeat. 

Years later a man in gray hair appeared, he saw a familiar boy fishing, his thoughts seemed far away, his fishing pole bending to his excitement, then snapped - it was the big fish that got away. ~

 

Workshop attendees include parents of children participants, as well as older art enthusiasts who comprise a separate but similar art workshop sessions at the Center conducted regularly by the author upon requests from the community, organizations and schools, such as the University of Northern Philippines.  

 

Growing Up With Art**

Kids' World Apart from "Kids"  

Take a break from computers and the mall,

     confines of the small; 

break the wall of idleness, go for the ball

     fast and make a goal.  

Solve the puzzle, some genius await you

     for all you know;

left to right of the brain and back will show

     a wider view of you.   

Take the road rough, look ahead, move on,

     from the bandwagon;

it's your adventure, and follow the sun,   

     sunrise to sundown. ~   

             * AVRotor, Don't Cut the Trees, Don't UST 2010

         ** avrotor.blogspot.com Living with Nature

Love the Children through Art 

Dr Abe V Rotor

“They always say time changes things, but you actually 

have to change them yourself.” Andy Warhol 

Author demonstrates basic art under the trees. 

Away from the cellphone and mall,

for a time precious however small.

“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” 

- Edward Hopper

  

Wall mural brings nature to children in imagery.

Reach out for something a dream,

a pot of gold, morning sun beam.

“To create one’s own world takes courage.” Georgia O’Keeffe

  

A work of art is beautiful and never wrong.

Proudly they stand with their art, 

a treasure their lives now a part. 

“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.” 

- Auguste Rodin

    

   

Outdoor art workshop under the trees. Living with Nature arboretum.

A school: its roof, 

the sky and treetops, 

its walls the horizon,

its floor bare earth;

it is Nature's zone.  

Shh... these children feel free,

freedom in creativity

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Pablo Picasso 

  

Art guides children to a healthy socio-cultural life.

Time out, art is not in a hurry,

pause with nature and company.

“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” Francis Bacon 

 

Author as guardian and tutor

Art has many expressions,

     in different sessions;

shy and cautious at first,

    'til released like a burst.

“I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart.” Vincent van Gogh ~