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Oh, Here's one that I didn't burn... I know that most people will think it is a pretty corny painting but, who gives a damn?! I enjoyed doing it, and I like it! And, I have to admit, it was done mostly in Rembrandts... So why am I getting hot under the collar about Rembrandts? Because I have completely run out of my Schmingke SOFT pastels, I can't afford to order any more over the internet, at the moment - and I couldn't have done this... without them! ...Reason being that the above painting uses a lot of acrylic modeling paste, mixed with sand, in order to get the textures for the grass and the rocks. If you try to use anything other than a really soft pastel for this, when you try to cover up the sanded modeling paste, most of the pastel ends up as dust on the floor. And, if you are not careful, you can wear your fingers down to the bone!!

Rembrandts are a soft pastel? I don't think so!!!!! Depending on the color, they range from hard to rock hard. You can keep them! And where did this all come about from? I've just wasted a PHP250.00 sheet of 300gsm watercolor paper and God only knows how much fixative and poxy Rembrandts - on a painting that I have just burned. Sorry... I should have taken a picture first, in order to show you how bad it was? In all fairness to the makers of Rembrandt Pastels, I can't blame them for my failure. But, to be honest, I DON'T enjoy painting with them. They are too Damned HARD! They are, however, about the least hard of all the pastels that you can buy in the Philippines - which is the only reason that I use the things! But Soft, they Ain't! Post Scipt Edit - dated November 18, 2007: Having just re-read the above entry, I think it was actually a little unfair! I have say this, because I have, in fact, been using Rembrandts, (usually in conjunction with Schmingke and Unison pastels,) ever since I wrote that - over a year ago!!!!!!! OK. The Rembrandts are certainly NOT as soft as Schmingke. However, now that I have developed my technique a little, I find that quite useful in certain circumstances - like, for instance, when I specifically don't want to apply too much color. I also use them as blending sticks. (I never did get on with those rolled-paper stick things - whatever they call them?) One other area that I use Rembrandt a lot, is in the initial stages of a pastel on heavy watercolor painting. These are usually landscapes. Because the paper is invariably white or off-white, I tend to block in large swathes of background color with my Rembrandts - then turn these into very rough watercolor washes by going over them with a large "mop" type watercolor brush with plenty of clean water. That way, I create my own multi-color tinted paper before I start the painting. So, whilst what I wrote in the original post above was what I found to be true at the time of writing, I have now revised my opinion of Rembrandt pastels. I DO find them very useful and I sincerely apologize to the makers of Rembrandt pastels for my previous, hasty, and not very accurate comments!

There are just too many sick bastards in this world today. Anyway, I am really glad that the UK has one of the finest police forces in the world. I'd just like to say a megga thanks to the UK security forces - especially the police - for doing a great job, as usual!

You've got to be exceedingly brave to be a free-thinking, no punches barred journalist in the Philippines. I can't remember the exact figures but more than 100 journalists have been murdered in this country since Marcos' martial law days. Anyway, one great great columnist that you can read in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, every Monday to Thursday, is Conrado de Quiros. One brave man. His columns never cease to amaze me with their wisdom and insight into Philippine politics and the daily life of ordinary Filipinos. I buy the Philippine Daily Inquirer just to read his columns. So who's your favorite journalist or tv commenator? Post a reply to this topic and let us know about him / her.

Welcome to the artfreaks.com forums! ok... I guess the needs and problems of Filipino artists will be the same the world over. If they are "struggling artists," the hardest thing is to make enough money to live on. If they are successful, it might be hard to break away from their "genre" paintings and come up with something new? I think that Filipino artists are well supported by the NCCA http://www.ncca.gov.ph/ , the CCP http://www.culturalcenter.gov.ph/ , newspapers like the Philippine Star http://www.philstar.com and the Philippine Daily Inquirer http://www.inq7.net - and many of the private galleries in the Philippines. I would imagine that it is impossible to say exactly how many artists there are in the Philippines. If you include all the amateurs and students, I would hazard a guess at about half a million?? Whatever the true figure is, I am sure that it is increasing! Most artists who paint for a living are able tro get by on the earnings from the sale of their artworks - but many have to get out on the streets - selling to tourists and passers-by. In Ermita, Manila, locally produced art is sold roughly 50 / 50 to tourists and locals. I would immagine that in galleries outside the Ermita / Malate tourist belt, the greater proportion of the sales would be to middle class and wealthy locals. With the export market, a lot of Philippine art goes to expatriate Filipinos (OFWs who have settled abroad) - although there are big markets for Philippine art amongst the local populations in places like Hong Kong and Singapore, Germany and the USA Hope this helps!

Great stuff! Keep 'em coming! Hey, Eduardo! You must know some other poets or literary gurus?? Try to get them to post something here... even as a guest. At the moment, the only people posting anything much here are you and Lonvig. Chai and myself also chip-in the odd contribution but it will take more than 4 contributors to keep these forums alive. I am patient but not infinitely so... If we don't start to see some action on these damn forums before too many more years go by, I might just press the delete button on my web hosting control panel. By the way, my next literary contribution will be a small missive on my recent, short but very enjoyable, trip to Mindanao. This will appear on my Blog. I'm still working on the descriptions to the accompanying photos, which have already been posted at: Home > User galleries > smb > Bicol, the Visayas and Mindanao Chiao!!