A Green World of Nature in Pastel

                          A Green World of Nature in Pastel  

Pastel Drawings of Sor Veny V Rotor, ofs

“Away, away, from men and towns,

To the wild wood and the downs, —

To the silent wilderness,

Where the soul need not repress its music.”

—Percy Bysshe Shelley

A basketful of oranges

"Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand."

 - Saint Mother Teresa

Flow gently under the bridge

“Love is the bridge that joins all the worlds together.” – Frederick Lenz

Green turtles 

"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." - John Lubbock ~

5 Shrines in the Garden, Living with Nature Center

5 Shrines in the Garden

Living with Nature Center

San Vicente Ilocos Sur 

 Heritage Zone of the North (RA 11645)

Dr Abe V Rotor

1 - Rizal in Exile Shrine at the Living with Nature Center

 

 

The restored icon is now enshrined at the San Vicente Botanical Garden

 (Living with Nature Center) San Vicente, Ilocos Sur. 

 

Bust of Philippine national hero Dr Jose P Rizal gets a thorough cleaning from the author. The icon is a masterpiece of the late Francisco "Boy" Peralta, a local sculptor of San Vicente. 

Rizal was exiled to the remote town of Dapitan in Mindanao. Throughout his 4-year exile, Rizal practiced ophthalmology and general medicine at no charge to the townspeople. He became a farmer and proved that farming is a good profession. He demonstrated it on an abandoned farm he bought in Talisay, a barrio near Dapitan. This farm had an area of sixteen hectares and was rather rocky. 

Not only as a doctor and farmer he pursued scientific studies, continued his artistic and literary works, widened his knowledge of languages and established a school for boys.  

2 - A broken icon found refuge in a garden

One sunset a broken bust glows alive

     Under the trees in my garden;

Smashed on the chin and across the face, 

     This figure is sadly spoken.

If heroes were immortals by their deeds,

     Mount Olympus won’t be forgotten;

Legends live in the hands of the artist,

     Even those who’ve sought in vain.

Concrete bust probably that of General Emilio Aguinaldo, president of the First Republic of the Philippines, who fought the Americans after nearly four centuries of Spanish colonization of the islands, but lost. The country became Commonwealth of the Philippines for 50 years under the US. The bust was discovered and acquired by the author in a lumberyard in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur in 2018.  The sculptor  remains unknown to this day. 

 

Restored bust image of General Emilio Aguinaldo 
 
Emilio Aguinaldo Shrine Emilio Aguinaldo fought for a free and independent Philippines, first against Spain and then against the United States. When the Philippines declared itself an independent republic in 1898 and Aguinaldo became its president, a significant milestone was reached in the struggle against colonial rule in Asia.

3 - Apo Baket - Keeper of Time-Honored Tradition and Values 

"She sits calmly in a garden,

full of thoughts and memories, 

while our troubled world grinds; 

would you like to hear her stories?"

                     - AV Rotor

 

Views and details of the concrete icon with local artist Bhoy Adora at work 2021.

The icon, symbol of the old folk generation, keeper of time-honored tradition and values, was made by the late Francisco Boy Peralta in the seventies, and restored recently by Bhoy Adora.  Both sculptors are natives of San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.  The icon can be viewed at the San Vicente Botanical garden.

 

Apo Baket' Shrine

Holder of time-honored tradition and values passed on

from generation to generation.

4 - The Unknown Nanny in the Garden

A Tribute to Ignacia Repulleza (1900-1984) et al

   

Concrete icon of The Unknown Nanny, counterpart of The Unknown Soldier in honor of the unknown hero in the battlefield. For all we know, the role of the nanny carries a great responsibility of taking care of children, particularly those orphaned or abandoned for whatever circumstances, for which nannies are regarded guardians to these unfortunate children. 

This icon stands in the San Vicente Botanical Garden, a tribute to Basang Asiang (Ignacia Repulleza), nanny of the author, then an infant when his mother died at the outbreak of the Second World War.  Basang Asiang also served as nanny to two siblings of the author, and stayed as member of the household until she died at the age of 84. 

The word Basang (Ilk) is a respectable title befitting a new kind of hero or martyr in our troubled society today.  The icon is an interpretation by the late Francisco "Boy" Peralta a local sculptor of San Vicente Ilocos Sur. His other works are the bust of our national hero, Jose Rizal, life-size Apo Baket (an old woman regarded as keeper of time-honored tradition), and The Apparition of the Blessed  Mother before the child Bernadette at Lourdes.  The three masterpieces of the local artist grace the garden, a tourist attraction and landmark of the historical town.  

5 - Apparition of Mary before Bernadette at Lourdes

  

Our Lady appeared to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, 18 times from February through July, 1858. During the apparitions she told Bernadette to dig a hole which later in the day produced a stream of water, bringing about thousands of spiritual and physical cures even to this day. Replica of the grotto dedicated to the 1917 Marian Apparition that took place in Fatima, Portugal, in loving memory of the author's sister, Sr Venie V Rotor, ofs. ~

Dusk or Dawn?

  Dusk or Dawn?

Dr Abe V Rotor

Dusk or Dawn? in acrylic on wood (8.5"x 14") AVR 2019

Darkness conquers light,

or the other way around;

dusk or dawn delight

    makes the world go round
in colors dull and bright
sans bound and sound. ~ 

But there's no neighbor!

But there's no neighbor!

Dr Abe V Rotor

What is missing in this painting?

"Let's draw a house. Each his own."

The children drew and drew: 

posts, walls, stair window, door;

cheek on palm, eyelids moving; 

garden, swimming pool, patio;

twirling a pencil, added: 

trees, mountain, cloud, sun. 

"Here!" They showed their own houses.

"There's something missing."

Back to the drawing board, pondered:

birds in the sky and in trees singing.

"Here," they showed again their houses.

"There's still something missing.

Would you like to live in your houses?"

Silence. 

Fingers moved, lips tightened:

more lines, shades, colors, now with flowers.

"Here," they showed once more their houses.

"But there's still one thing missing."

Silence.

A little girl in a corner drew and drew:

a house nearby, people around.

She showed her house.

The children chorused: Neighbor! ~

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

Sail Boats Forever

                                                   Sail Boats Forever 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Sailboats in acrylic, AVR c. 2004

What a crude game, you may say, 

Of my ancestors’ sailboats catching 

The breeze, docking the gusts, 

Edging the rocks, sans compass 

Or sextant, map and telescope.

What prize is at stake? Not a trophy. 

Yet the instinct craves for a prize 

Like in The Old Man and the Sea; 

A prize he found, mindless of people. 

Who saw nothing of his adventure.

Let the sailboats play in the wind

And water, let alone an old boat 

At rest, sitting on rock like an old man,

Standing guard over the young, who too, 

Shall someday play the same old game. ~

Hide-and-seek game

 Hide-and-seek game

                         Dr Abe V Rotor 

                                  

Oscar, a four-year old aquarium pet at home. QC 

Everyday it is our casual game, 

with Oscar, my pet and friend;

until one day I saw the reeds

cold as iron bars, and I, a fiend.~

We Live in a Time of Hope and Change - A Response

We Live in a Time of Hope and Change
- A Response*

Dr Abercio V Rotor

We realize and accept the big challenge that these awards expect us to carry on as we prepare to face the closing of this century, which marks the grandest milestone of our history, and, on the other hand, anticipates the promise of the next millennium. 

Conversion of St Paul on Damascus Road, painting by the author at the former SPUQC Museum (8ft x 8ft)

 Experience tells us of the dichotomy of the future as we walk the road the road of change characterized by danger and opportunity, uncertainty and optimism.  However, we tend to believe that the future is bright, and often the prophet in us sees it as a superhighway, sans the predicaments of Nostradamus, the man who saw tomorrow.

 At our feet lies a shrunken planet which we exaggeratedly call a Global Village.  Definitely our sense of dimension and time is wrong.  It is as if we are interpreting literally William Blake’s philosophical masterpiece, Auguries of Innocence, to wit:

        “To see a world in a grain of sand

      And a heaven a wild flower.

  Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

      And eternity in an hour.”

Breakthroughs in technology, pyramidal corporate structures, make a genie of a capitalistic society to which the world lies subservient. Paradoxically, through the present Information Revolution, the tentacles of such order have unwittingly clamped down reason in the Homo sapiens now being shaped into a singular mass where richness in diversity begins to dissolve and become polarized in the belief that modernization will lead us to the Good Life.

Is this the reason why The Hunchback of Notre Dame lost its socio-political theme in a recent Disney comedy musicale?  Was it because of money, because the New Order lacks conscience, because tradition is passé?  Whatever happened to Markham’s philosophy on Millet’s struggle, in Juan Luna’s Spolarium?

My fellow awardee and I believe that the Good Life that our fast changing world promises us is more than power.  Still, we must rely on man’s most powerful tool that is well tested in the long process of evolution and in the quest for advancement, and that is the power of the human mind, its imagination and its reason. 

While there is need to explore the world around us , there is equally a need to reflect into ourselves and onto God.

If truth is to be found in inventions and formulas, we must not forget that the foundation of truth is in the Great Book.

A clear mind about the issues of the world will merely lie obscure without a stout heart that accompanies it, and which is willing to deal with its imperfections.

Peace, that inner peace in every righteous person, in order to exist truly, must be an instrument of reconciliation to settle conflicts and erase tensions, and to teach us to live harmoniously with our fellowmen. Only then can true understanding beget justice, compassion.  This is a true gain of mankind, but like any other genuine gain, it cannot be attained without pain.  This is reality’s finest moment, a common dream come true.  That is why we are measured by our fidelity to our dream, however distant that dream is and impossible as it may seem.

Yes, periodicity – when we came and where we are, through an incidence of time and space – is not devoid of a purpose, a purpose that is part of a grand design of the great Creator, the purpose of life itself, the greatest gift of man from God.  And as a gift it must grow, grow into a mountain it must, before it is shared.

In sharing that dream, we indulge in vision, hope and prayer which bring us closer to God.  We are not only the dominant organism on earth, we are the likeness of our Creator.  If there is one that likeness must fit best, it is the Paulinian.  Our vision of her is “a perfect woman, nobly planned,” and bright with something of an angel light that shines, but she, too, takes pride in reaching out to the less fortunate.  She sits on a swivel chair, walks on the unbeaten path.  She shines in competition, to illuminate the vision that the youth is human life’s instrument of perfection.  

These awards are a perfect symbol of the immortal relationship between the old and the young.  They help bring generations together for common visions and

The old may have earned the natural right to preach to the young, but the young see more clearly the errors of the past and are more willing to rectify them. 

As we walk on the road of change to the year 2000 and beyond, and, perchance find ourselves at a crossroad where we hesitate to proceed, let us look back, and there we will find a lamp shining through the portals of our institution – a light that once upon a dark night on a lonely road to Damascus, a stranger found his way to the hearts of men and into the kingdom of Christ. ~

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

Response, Golden Jubilee Awardee 1999
St. Paul University QC

Where has the fisherboy gone?

                                  Where has the fisherboy gone? 

Dr Abe V Rotor

By the stream under a tree (wall mural detail) in acrylic by the author

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. ~

The Redwoods - World's Tallest Trees

In observance of the International DAY OF THE FOREST (March 21)

and EARTH Day (April 22)

Redwoods - World's Tallest Trees

Researched by Dr Abe V Rotor

Three species of trees are referred to as redwoods.  The most common  are the California's redwood, the giant sequoia trees, and on the other side of the globe, China's dawn redwood or known as “water-fir” or “water pine”.  

Redwoods are remnants of vast ancient coniferous forests during the time of the dinosaurs (Mesozoic era) millions of years ago. They survived the asteroid impact which annihilated the giant reptiles and other organisms on earth, the ice ages, the third and last believed to have occurred some 10,000 years ago when man was in its final phase of evolution. Redwoods are therefore, considered living fossils, a number of them are more than 3000 years old. 

 

 

"The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe." - John Steinbeck

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

— Shakespeare (Troilus and Cressida)

 

  

"There is not a fragment in all nature, for every relative fragment of one thing is a full harmonious unit in itself." - John Muir,  A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf

 

 

"It's always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls." 

— John Muir

 Wilderness World of John Muir*

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves." — Our National Parks

"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike." — The Yosemite

"The battle for conservation must go on endlessly. It is part of the universal warfare between right and wrong." — Son of the Wilderness

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world."

— My First Summer in the Sierra

"Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." — Son of the Wilderness

John Muir, a renowned naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club, is celebrated for his profound wisdom and eloquent reflections on nature. His words have inspired generations to appreciate and protect the natural world. Here is a collection of some of his most memorable quotes, offering a glimpse into his philosophy and love for the wilderness.   Acknowledgement with Gratitude, from Internet 

The Last Sentinel

The Last Sentinel

"Once upon a time there was a Paradise

abandoned by man in search for glory."

Dr Abe V Rotor

Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), stands virtually alone on Tagaytay Ridge. 

Photo taken by the author on March 24, 2013 

I braved the wind and storm, drought and rain,

     vandals and lovers carving their pledge, 

the beetle and caterpillar, all that has to gain

     from me standing on this ridge at its edge.

I was as proud as a king, tallest among my kin,

     home of countless tenants and refugees;

by height and place I was keen at touching the sky,

     though so little I felt on Babel's knees.

The view around was lush and green, verdant 

     in the sun as mist and fog would unfold;

a woodland was my world, I was once a part,

     until humans came to replace the old.

My neighbors are gone, I lost track of my lineage, 

     I've no one to talk to, though humans can 

in queer sound far from the gentleness of breeze

     all day long and after the sun is down. 

I lost sight overlooking the famed volcano, 

     its lake within a lake shining in the sun;

my vantage is blocked by roofs and walls and smog,

     an orphan I became by progress of man. 

I no longer hear plaintive and joyful songs,

     recitation of verses under my wing; 

weary travelers no longer stop to take a nap,

     nor birds nest in my branches and sing.

I live in fear for the woodsman, the engineer,

     but I've lived with fear enough to understand

the world of man: fear akin to his existence

     hidden in want - guideless, boundless in band. 

Man's era shall reign over nature, but for how long?

     I can only tell from my ancestors' story:

once upon a time there was a Paradise 

     abandoned by man in search for glory. ~