Usapang Bayan (radio program) 2 to 3 pm April 11, 2025
Happy Earth Day April 22, 2025
Walk with Nature
"In every walk with nature one receives far more
than he seeks." –John Muir
- 34 Natural Wonders of the World
- Pan Philippine Highway
- Pan American Highway
- A Walk With Nature
- Discover Nature and Discover Yourself
- Armchair Travelogue in Painting and Drawing Exercises
Dr Abe V Rotor
A compilation of some of the most iconic and awe-inspiring natural features often cited.
- Great Barrier Reef (Australia): The world's largest coral reef system.
- Grand Canyon (USA): A massive canyon carved by the Colorado River.
- Mount Everest (Nepal/China): The world's highest mountain.
- Victoria Falls (Zambia/Zimbabwe): A massive waterfall on the Zambezi River.
- Parícutin Volcano (Mexico): A relatively young volcano that erupted from a cornfield.
- Hạ Long Bay (Vietnam): A stunning bay with limestone karsts and islands.
- Galápagos Islands (Ecuador): Famous for their unique and diverse wildlife.
- Iguazu Falls (Argentina/Brazil): A series of waterfalls on the Paraná River.
- Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia): The world's largest salt flat.
- Amazon Rainforest (South America): The world's largest rainforest.
- Cliffs of Moher (Ireland): Dramatic cliffs on the west coast of Ireland.
- Komodo Island (Indonesia): Home to the Komodo dragon.
- Jeju Island (South Korea): A volcanic island with diverse landscapes.
- Aurora Borealis (Arctic and Antarctic): The Northern and Southern Lights.
- Blue Lagoon (Iceland): A geothermal spa with mineral-rich waters.
- Milford Sound (New Zealand): A stunning fiord with dramatic cliffs and waterfalls.
- Kilimanjaro (Tanzania): Africa's highest mountain.
- Vesuvius (Italy): A famous volcano near Naples.
- Dead Sea (Jordan, Israel, Palestine): The lowest point on Earth.
- Table Mountain (South Africa): A prominent mountain overlooking Cape Town.
- Gobustan mud volcanoes (Azerbaijan): A unique landscape with mud volcanoes.
- Matterhorn/Cervino (Switzerland/Italy): A famous pyramid-shaped mountain.
- Bay of Fundy (Canada): Known for its extreme tides.
- Masurian Lake District (Poland): A region of lakes and forests.
- Uluru (Australia): A massive rock formation in the Outback.
- El Yunque (Puerto Rico): A rainforest national park.
- Sunderbans (Bangladesh): A large mangrove forest.
- Bu Tinah (United Arab Emirates): A desert oasis.
- Jeita Grotto (Lebanon): A cave system with stalactites and stalagmites.
- Angel Falls (Venezuela): The world's highest waterfall.
- PP Underground River (Philippines): A cave system with a river.
- Yushan (Taiwan): A mountain in the Central Mountain Range.
- Maldives: An archipelago of coral islands.
- Black Forest (Germany): A large forest region.
Pan Philippine Highway
- Ilocos Norte:Paoay Church: A historic church in Paoay, Ilocos Norte.
- Patapat Viaduct: A scenic viaduct in Ilocos Norte.
- Bacarra and Pasuquin: Towns in Ilocos Norte with unique features like a headless church belfry and salt-making villages.
- Burgos: A town with a Spanish-era lighthouse, rocky cliffs, and a wind farm.
- Bangui and Pagudpud: Coastal areas with wind farms.
- Luzon:Mayon Volcano: A famous volcano in Albay, Bicol.
- San Juanico Bridge: A bridge connecting Leyte and Samar.
- Bulusan Volcano Natural Park: A natural park in Sorsogon.
- Mindanao:Zamboanga City: The terminus of the Pan-Philippine Highway in Mindanao.
- Other Notable Attractions:Caramoan Peninsula National Park
- Mount Isogro
The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches approximately 30,000 kilometers from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America.
The Pan-American Highway stretches 19,000 miles, and by car, it would take several months to well over a year to cover the entire distance. The fastest trip on the highway by car was done by Tim Cahill and Gary Sowerby in just over twenty-three days! A Mexican cyclist managed the journey via human power in just 117 days.
Here are 10 reasons you should consider
Road Tripping the Pan-Am Internet
1) It’s the longest road in the world, why wouldn’t you?
2) You’ll get to explore at least 14 different countries (more depending on your route.)
3) With the cost of gasoline and cheap food it is cheaper than living in the USA, Canada, Western Europe or Australia so you will be saving money.
4) Unlike other long overland trips, most of the region speaks a single language so you will have a great opportunity to learn a foreign language and engage with a new culture.
5) The vast majority of the trip is away from tourist locations that you typically visit on a vacation, so you are guaranteed to see real culture.
6) You get to see a significant amount of geographical change on one road trip. Glaciers, Tropical Beaches, Polar Bears to Monkeys, you’ll see it all.
4) Unlike other long overland trips, most of the region speaks a single language so you will have a great opportunity to learn a foreign language and engage with a new culture.
5) The vast majority of the trip is away from tourist locations that you typically visit on a vacation, so you are guaranteed to see real culture.
6) You get to see a significant amount of geographical change on one road trip. Glaciers, Tropical Beaches, Polar Bears to Monkeys, you’ll see it all.
7) You can traverse the longest mountain range in the world, The Andes Mountains.
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8) It will force you to step out of your comfort zone which results in personal growth and ultimately you will become a better version of yourself.
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8) It will force you to step out of your comfort zone which results in personal growth and ultimately you will become a better version of yourself.
9) You will learn a lot about how life is lived outside of the bubble that you grew up in.
10) You’ll have bragging rights for the rest of your life.
Pan-American Highway Dangers
The Darien gap is a 100-mile stretch of jungle and swampland that separates Panama and Colombia and is not traversed by the Pan American Highway. Travelers must either fly or take a boat across this section. Crossing the Darien gap can be dangerous due to the risk of banditry, drug trafficking, and other criminal activity.
- Crossing the Darien gap
- Breaking your car and not being able to get the parts you need
- Running out of cash in a remote location
- Getting lost in a high crime-rate neighborhood
- Getting stuck off-roading
- Traffic accidents
- Road conditions
- Weather
- Bandits and thieves
- Political instability
- Health risks
- Language barriers
- Cultural differences
- Natural disasters
Part 1 - A Walk with Nature - Leisure and Therapy
When was the last time you took a nature's trail? Camping in the wood? Walking down the beach? Nature invites you to relax, to find peace of mind - and to be healed.
Walking among pine tree saplings. Tagaytay 2008
Walking is leisure and therapy when you combine and harmonize your body, mind and spirit with nature. It is an exercise that restores gait and adds strength, and it brings inner peace. The mind becomes sharper; sensitivity is honed. And just like what the Greeks believed to be the fountain of youth, it could be the missing key to “a healthy mind in a healthy body.”
They say that to keep yourself healthy and active you must exercise regularly. It is one way to keep yourself fit with their environment. But more than physical fitness, the psyche must be given equal treatment. They must be exercised altogether. And the catalyst is Nature.
This is particularly true to one approaching middle age or old age. It is important to slow down, harmonizing the body and mind. Slow down in the same way jogging comes to the pace of easy walking. Make exercise not as a task but leisure.
To achieve this, first you must condition yourself to
• have peace of mind,
• be positive,
• be keen with nature’s presence and rhythm, and
• remember, it’s your day.
While the body responds to the physical world such as the condition of the road, and presence of people and objects, the mind is keen with the beauty of the surroundings and creates images that only the person concerned personally experiences. Here environment and imagery become one.
Listen to the Songs of Birds
They say that to keep yourself healthy and active you must exercise regularly. It is one way to keep yourself fit with their environment. But more than physical fitness, the psyche must be given equal treatment. They must be exercised altogether. And the catalyst is Nature.
This is particularly true to one approaching middle age or old age. It is important to slow down, harmonizing the body and mind. Slow down in the same way jogging comes to the pace of easy walking. Make exercise not as a task but leisure.
To achieve this, first you must condition yourself to
• have peace of mind,
• be positive,
• be keen with nature’s presence and rhythm, and
• remember, it’s your day.
While the body responds to the physical world such as the condition of the road, and presence of people and objects, the mind is keen with the beauty of the surroundings and creates images that only the person concerned personally experiences. Here environment and imagery become one.
Listen to the Songs of Birds
One morning on the grounds of the University of Santo Tomas I heard a Philippine black-headed shrike or tarat or panal (Lanius schach nasutus). Its crispy calls signal the arrival of the Siberian High. It tells of harvest time and kite flying. The chilly air is exhilarating to breathe. Listening to its rhythmic calls, I soon found out that its kin had arrived at the same tree, and soon I became an audience of their concert. I stopped walking to hear and watch them until they moved to another tree.
At one time I saw another bird – pandangera (Rhipidura javanica nigrotorquis), named after its tail that constantly moved and opened like a fan. I searched for it in a nearby fire tree about to shed its leaves, and while it sang and danced, sent showers of yellowing leaves to the ground. Happier and more musical than that of the tarat, it also came with the annual migration of birds as the Northern Hemisphere approached winter.
What an unusual experience to find these rare creatures in the heart of a crowded metropolis – indeed a sanctuary in a concrete jungle. To me there is nothing sweeter than recollecting of farm life, giving zest to urban living.
Take time to appreciate the creatures of the air - the epitome of freedom. Watch them soar and ride on the wind. Play hide-and-seek with them among the trees. Listen intently to their songs. Pick up a tune, imitate and put them into notes. Observe their kinship. Search their nests. Birds are among the most beautiful creatures, especially the males. Study their plumage. Marvel at how nature engineered them for flight and arboreal life. Reflect on this, “If I have wings, will I find freedom and peace?”
Understand the Ways of Nature
At one time I saw another bird – pandangera (Rhipidura javanica nigrotorquis), named after its tail that constantly moved and opened like a fan. I searched for it in a nearby fire tree about to shed its leaves, and while it sang and danced, sent showers of yellowing leaves to the ground. Happier and more musical than that of the tarat, it also came with the annual migration of birds as the Northern Hemisphere approached winter.
What an unusual experience to find these rare creatures in the heart of a crowded metropolis – indeed a sanctuary in a concrete jungle. To me there is nothing sweeter than recollecting of farm life, giving zest to urban living.
Take time to appreciate the creatures of the air - the epitome of freedom. Watch them soar and ride on the wind. Play hide-and-seek with them among the trees. Listen intently to their songs. Pick up a tune, imitate and put them into notes. Observe their kinship. Search their nests. Birds are among the most beautiful creatures, especially the males. Study their plumage. Marvel at how nature engineered them for flight and arboreal life. Reflect on this, “If I have wings, will I find freedom and peace?”
Understand the Ways of Nature
While strolling along the water edge of the man-made lake at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center, I stopped to rest beside a mudflat where water had earlier receded. Seeds had begun germinating while minute snails combed its the slimy surface, leaving trails glistening in early sunshine. Holes suggested there were creatures living underneath it. And yet the mudflat looked like a wasteland – a paradox, because there was much water around.
Not far away was another mudflat, much older than the first because plants have colonized it and were vigorously competing for sun and space. I saw grasshoppers trapped in spider web, a house lizard stalking for its prey, beneath it was a toad, eyes half open. It was a mini forest of sort.
Taking the same route in the weeks that followed, the bare mudflat turned into greenery, while the older mudflat become part of the lakeshore which was to become part of its bank. I pondered on the gradual transformation of the mudflats every time I took the same route.
The ways of nature are mysterious. Learn to adapt to its laws and order continuously and without end. While you will never fully understand them, you will find them useful to living in many ways, enriching it with so many blessings.
Some years ago I wrote a verse and I quote:
Not far away was another mudflat, much older than the first because plants have colonized it and were vigorously competing for sun and space. I saw grasshoppers trapped in spider web, a house lizard stalking for its prey, beneath it was a toad, eyes half open. It was a mini forest of sort.
Taking the same route in the weeks that followed, the bare mudflat turned into greenery, while the older mudflat become part of the lakeshore which was to become part of its bank. I pondered on the gradual transformation of the mudflats every time I took the same route.
The ways of nature are mysterious. Learn to adapt to its laws and order continuously and without end. While you will never fully understand them, you will find them useful to living in many ways, enriching it with so many blessings.
Some years ago I wrote a verse and I quote:
“You are alone at your lowest ebb.At low tide the sea reveals her shoreThat bathes under the sun to its edge.Go to the sea and learn its chore.”
- A.V. Rotor, Nymphaea: Beauty in the Morning
Learn the realities of life as may be gleamed from the mudflats – or from the seashore in this poem. You realize that renewal is a fact and is happening everywhere. There is renaissance everyday. The cycle of nature is dynamic aimed at rebirth and stability - so with your life.
The mudflat became part of the shoreline and soon enough, became strong to protect the lake from erosion and siltation. How do we compare this with life? Similarly the foundation of life undergoes an orderly process, seasoned with time, and aimed at a goal. Stop now and then, and reflect on the dynamic evolution of the landscape and life itself.
A Short List for Sharing
How do we share our experiences with others?
Take these practical clues. Take notes and seize the moment. A scribble here, a scribble there will certainly refresh thoughts and memories. They enshrine feelings and capture imagery. Here is a list I made from my observations on the UST campus and while strolling at the Parks and Wildlife Center.
1. I discovered germinating seeds along the sidewalk and under the trees, pale green in the early sun rays, shy and delicate but daring to meet the world. Get close to them and observe the beginning of life.
2. It is the olfactory sense that works this time: the white, clustered flowers of dita (Alstonia scholaris) are most fragrant at dawn and dusk. They are inconspicuous during the day. Stop and smell their fragrance.
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As the mind keeps us up in our work, so does it makes walking with nature an enjoyable experience.
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3. Nymphaea water lilies come in white, yellow, red and purple, and are most beautiful if they come out spontaneously in the same pond. The flowers open slowly with sunrise. Sit down by the pond and observe them. Bees hover and alight on the open flowers, taking time to gather pollen, and kissing the dew and nectar.
4. The fire tree (Delonix regia) casts a dainty veil in the sky. What a contrast with the fire it breathes in summer! Shy, the veil is the finest of all foliage, filtering the morning sunlight into long fine rays converging in the misty air below. Such are the contrasting characters of this tree – one associated with fire and blood, the other of calmness and humility.
5. The traveller’s palm (Ravenola madagancariensis) is supposed to guide a lost traveler, providing him direction and precious water. But the fan-like arrangement of its leaves are in disarray, apparently because it has lost its sense of direction in the crowded garden. How many of us have also lost direction in our lives in crowded cities?
6. A giant African snail (Achatina fulica) leaves a slimy trace during the night, and remains docile during the day. Introduced by the Japanese soldiers during WW II, it has become an orphan and a pest, an enemy of gardeners. What a way to live!
7. A house lizard darts on flies and gnats. Either it is a late or early feeder. For the house lizard is nocturnal and sleeps during the day. But early morning finds them still on their prowl. Creatures have different biological clocks.
8. Balete (Ficus benjamina) – I find it a villain, strangling its host tree with massive prop roots. The parasite uses its host as prop and trellis until it has gained enough body to stand by itself like any tree. Man can be as cruel as the balete. Don’t get within the strangler’s hold of the balete.
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Being a biped is an advantage of man over all other creatures, for at this level we are most keen to what is happening around.
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9. The Philodendron is kinder, it is a soft vine, it snakes up into the branches to catch the sun, its roots clinging on its host, but not harming it. As summer arrives, it retreats, leaving but some stems from which new buds grow the next season.
10. Old camphor trees are as old as two generations, I saw them for the first time I came to Manila in the sixties. They were already mature trees then. Now they senile and dying. It is the polluted air that is killing them. So with the agoho trees (Casuarina equisitifolia). I don’t find the old ones anymore.
Oasis: Fancy or Myth?
9. The Philodendron is kinder, it is a soft vine, it snakes up into the branches to catch the sun, its roots clinging on its host, but not harming it. As summer arrives, it retreats, leaving but some stems from which new buds grow the next season.
10. Old camphor trees are as old as two generations, I saw them for the first time I came to Manila in the sixties. They were already mature trees then. Now they senile and dying. It is the polluted air that is killing them. So with the agoho trees (Casuarina equisitifolia). I don’t find the old ones anymore.
Oasis: Fancy or Myth?
I used to stroll at the Sunken garden of the University of the Philippines in Diliman. On a couple of occasions I conducted an on-the-spot painting contest for a summer workshop here. Even during summer this one place remains like an oasis in the desert. It is because it is the basin of the surrounding watershed. The ponds are always full. Ducks are friendly to picnickers, cicadas sing in the trees unafraid, and frogs even croak in the day. Some people throw something in the water, a coin perhaps, wishing for something.
I looked at the calm water. It was perfect mirror. I took a piece of paper and wrote my thoughts.
Tell me your throes,Worries and woes;And to the fishesYour wistful wishes.
I laughed at what I wrote and threw a pebble. Ripples erased my thoughts.
Now and then you look for a “oasis” because there is drought around. Here you feel detached, even while others suffer, even if the world is in trouble. While you prefer the lighter side of life, you can’t remain in the comfort zone of the oasis forever. Otherwise you miss the many challenges of life that bring about its true meaning.
Walking is not a means of escape. It is not one when there is trouble at home, or when we want to evade responsibility. It is not recourse either. You simply can’t reason out, “Sorry it’s time for my leisure.” Even if it is in keeping with good health and groom. There must be something bigger that should aim at.
Now and then you look for a “oasis” because there is drought around. Here you feel detached, even while others suffer, even if the world is in trouble. While you prefer the lighter side of life, you can’t remain in the comfort zone of the oasis forever. Otherwise you miss the many challenges of life that bring about its true meaning.
Walking is not a means of escape. It is not one when there is trouble at home, or when we want to evade responsibility. It is not recourse either. You simply can’t reason out, “Sorry it’s time for my leisure.” Even if it is in keeping with good health and groom. There must be something bigger that should aim at.
Teachers on field trip follow nature trail on Mt. Makiling, Laguna
Part 2 - Discover Nature and Discover Yourself
Get out of your confine, find a place in nature, live with her beauty and bounty, her people and community, you may yet find the meaning of life.
Idyllic Farm Life mural by the author, circa 2002
If you've been residing in a high rise building, taller than everything around,
and touching the clouds, and you know your feet is off the ground;
If you've been missing the passing of seasons, the wonders that each brings,
though you keep the holidays and weekends;
If you've been constantly bothered by ailments that medicine can only relieve,
and not cure, and doctors can only advise;
If you've lost contact with your roots through the years of searching for fame,
wedging farther your connection, feeling like an orphan;
If you've succeeded in your career, rising to the top to the awe and admiration
of your colleagues, yet deep inside is a feeling of emptiness;
If you've reached retirement after all the years of work and its responsibilities,
but trapped in a dull, prosaic life of boredom;
If you've lost your loved ones, alone you gather the pieces of happy memories,
nostalgic they are the rest of your life;
If you've been a good and loving guardian to your own children and other children,
and they call you dad or lolo, and feeling being young again;
Get out of your confine, find a place in nature, live with her beauty and bounty, her people and community, you may yet find the meaning of life. ~
20 Drawing and Painting Exercises
Dr. Abe V. Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday
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
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.
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 seceneries 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.
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.
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?
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 Tschaichowsky’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 2012 C and E Publishing Co.
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.
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
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 Tschaichowsky’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 2012 C and E Publishing Co.
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