My Paintings - A Memorabilia

My Paintings - A Memorabilia

"Paintings are silent memories captured with color, 

holding moments in time forever." *

Dr Abe V Rotor

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary" - Pablo Picasso

"A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art." – Paul Cézanne

 "I found I could say things with color and shapes 

that I couldn't say any other way."-Georgia O'Keeffe 

"Color! What a deep and mysterious language. 

It is the language of dreams."– Paul Gauguin

 "I dream of painting and then I paint my dream."

 - Vincent van Gogh

 

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." 

– Pablo Picasso

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints 

his own nature into his pictures."– Henry Ward Beecher

"The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands."

– Leonardo da Vinci ~

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               * Quotations from the Internet, with acknowledgement and gratitude. - avr 

Memorabilia of paintings on display at the Living with Nature Center, 

ancestral home of the author at San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

World Photography Day August 19, 2026: Theme: "My Favorite Photos" Photography with Nature

 World Photography Day August 19, 2026 

Theme: "My Favorite Photos"

Photography with Nature

Dr Abe V Rotor

Part 1 - Creative Photography - New Field of Humanities
Part 2 - My Best Photographs Series: Animals - Tame and Wild
Part 3 - My Best Photographs Series: The Art of Leisure with Nature

Part 4 - Nature in Photography and Poetry in 16 Scenes
Part 5 - My Best Photographs Series: Bring the Sea Home and Let the Children Play

Author's daughter and spouse enjoy a rare moment feeding by hand 

love birds in an aviary in Bangkok, Thailand, circa 2005

Part 1 - Creative Photography - New Field of Humanities

Photography has been relegated to the machine. This is not true. In fact it has created a new field in humanities - Creative Photography, which is aligned to visual arts and Performing arts.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Gulliver the giant, Gulliver the pygmy in Jonathan Swift's novels,

two friends acting, each in either role;

for in life, you are at one time a giant, at another you are a dwarf,

and seeing others the same, wise or fool.

Years apart through three generations make no difference;

looking back when the old were once children;

and children wishing for the future within their grasp;

in between the beauty of life is a moving train.

Image of Mother and Child - Holy Book's symbol of piety;

Holy Trinity too, with a Father God - the greatest mystery;

Prodigal Son and father - the mother Rembrandt sought.

And Joseph? Brave soldiers who died in wars they fought?

Community stage play of a subject and theme by local talents;

move over cinema, mall, computer and television;

we have had enough of robots and cyberspace pseudo heroes;

life's real, we've each a role with common vision.

Trophies, the greatest is invisible -

you reward yourself unknown,

the one no other else can own. ,

Don't cut the trees, don't!

Make a stairway across;

Save the clouds that fill the fount,

We have had enough, the Cross. ~

Part 2 -  My Best Photographs Series  

Animals - Tame and Wild 

Applied humanities in creative photography and poetry.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Marsupials at Brisbane Museum

Marsupials - animals with pouches,

second womb for their premature babies,

 only in Australia and New Zealand found -

it's one among evolution's mysteries

White hawk preys on rodents

Predation - key to survival of the fittest,

so said Charles Darwin in his theory;

only the strong with claws and wings,

in reality and in bedtime story. 

Kangaroo in Brisbane Museum

Kangaroo -  Australia's signature animal, 

Know him more in the wild, at least, in the zoo.

Friendly parrot, Brisbane Zoo

It seeks either company or food,

a test if you're kind and good. 

At home in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Camouflage or mimicry?

I, the artist of this mural,

amazed and happy.

St Paul University, QC

By a glass pane one morning

I found this  loving couple.

Indeed it's a great wonder: 

crepuscular - somewhere

between nocturnal or diurnal. 

 

Cat on her lap

Sun bathing this duo I found 

in the garden early one morning 

when others are in the rush hour,

in silence and prayer.  

Brooding hen in a broken jar

Whatever use this jar has, 

all ruined, save its crown,

yet a mother hen found it

a haven for her young.  

Preying mantis

Executioner - that's his brand,

this terror with built-in sword,

all gentle or feigning dead

to survive in this cruel world. 

Long horned grasshoppers feeding on the flower 

of balibago, Tagaytay

 You share the beauty of your host -

and beauty itself the cost. ~

Halloween Moth

 You can't hide behind mask;

it is no longer Halloween;
with thin lips and sleepy eyes,

          I know where you've been. ~  

     

Part 3 - My Best Photographs Series
The Art of Leisure with Nature

Dr Abe V Rotor

Catching the sunbeam on a mural painted by the author, Lagro QC

It's a dream world to this child;

to us, in art and fantasy.

Would she ever catch her dream? 

Guide her to the true story.

Playing with the waterfall on a mural, Living with Nature Center

She used to play with the falls

in situ in her younger days. 

Today, by reminiscence,

in thanksgiving and praise. ~

Posing before a wall mural of nature, Lagro QC

"I 'm part of Nature." she proclaims,

in a city where she lives.

Seldom had she the time and chance

to take what Nature freely gives.

 

Santa Paradise, floor-to-wall mural by the author

Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

A make-believe scene of the sea

in its ebb at its rugged shore,

a place to be happy and free

for two friends in their leisure.

Parakeets in courtship, Living with Nature Center 

Don't disturb the couple, don't;

if you were in their place

as people onto you, won't;

instead, give them solace.

Head of a deer reconstructed, LWNC

Angry and scared for both,

as a deer hangs on the wall;

it's a sad message in thought,

a reminder of the Fall.

Owl in captivity, La Union Botanical Garden

Owl - longingly sad and lo!

 Freedom is just a step or two

and be with its kind again.

Oh, what can we do, brethren!

Black cat by a waterfall mural, Living with Nature Center

Complete the scene, break the spell,

that bad luck and emptiness 

are but creation of the mind.

You're a sentinel of goodness.

 

B&W ducks on parade, Living with Nature Center

Quack, quack, quack, one-two three,

keep pace with their company. 

Ducks of the same feathers

flock together, is true story. ~

Part 4 - Nature in Photography and Poetry in 16 Scenes

Dr Abe V Rotor

"On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it." 

- Jules Renard

It's indeed Pavlov's conditioned learning,

they come at the time of feeding,

and we, delighted of their friendliness,

shared our being kind and loving.

Author delights on the mythical Pierian Spring, UST  Manila

In each leaf a fountain

stored from cloud and dew;

I won't thirst on my travel

even days without rain.

"My wish is to stay always like this, living quietly in a corner 

of nature." –Claude Monet

Beauty begets beauty,

but only for a time;

sooner of later fades,

with its scent divine.

"Nature is not a place to visit, it is home." –Gary Snyder

There's always a monkey on my back,

asleep or awake,

I lead the evolutionary track

for all creatures' sake.

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

–John Muir

What tells you this owl this hour of day?

" I can't join you at night," the owl seems to say,

"with my hunting adventures around the bay,

and you on the computer night and day."

"What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?" –E.M. Forster

I won't pity you my friend

having reached your end,

if worth a museum piece,

to disturb man's peace.

"Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine 

are hard to beat." –Laura Ingalls Wilder

You are made of jelly, third state of matter:

colloid pulsing in the computer.

But I would rather make you a prism

in search of an unknown realm.

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet 

and the winds long to play with your hair." - Khalil Gibran

Let him be among the sand pipers and crustaceans;

to grow up unlike us away from sea and sun;

I wonder how we survived not having as much fun,

in modern caves, concrete jungle, always on the run.

Whiling away before a wooden frame;

sungka played wild and tame,

turns friend to fiend; to loot and burn;

all's fair in this ethnic game.

Tame, though its gene is wild;

sans its own kind in the wild,

human its master and king,

and every guest its friend -

but in a little while, one by one

until the species is gone, and lo!

the hero in the last hour,

would he himself follow.

“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.” – Karl Lagerfeld

Extinct beasts come alive in our midst,

challenging faith and tradition;

seeing is believing yet how nil these are

to the realm of understanding,

a God before and now, near and far,

makes man's awe and thanksgiving.

Desert ship, the camel tame and dumb,

why of all places you have come?

is it a new wasteland that you found

from forest and pasture land?

Nothing beats the native chicken's taste,

and for the convalescing patient;

the karurayan all in immaculate white,

to the herbolario, an angel sent.

“The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, 

even when the people in it do.”– Andy Warhol

Who can tell a beast from a baby?

all babies though are in a bind;

and like our own it needs TLC,

orphaned from its own kind.

A baby elephant with sultry eyes

feeling the touch of a lovely lass;

for a mother's love is also weaned,

as childhood soon will pass.

Stars of the sea were once

stars in heaven that fell

to bring joy in the deep blue

which was thought as hell. ~

“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life 

by holding it still.” – Dorothea Lange

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Lesson on  Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan.sa Himpapawid (School on Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 KHz AM 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Part 5 - My Best Photographs Series 

Bring the Sea Home and Let the Children Play

Dr Abe V Rotor 

 Floor-Wall-Ceiling Mural Complex,

by the author in his family residence

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

The sea all day and into the night,

sings and tells a beautiful story,

to a child in endless awe and wonder,

to treasure it in sweet memory.  

“The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place.” – Rachel Carson

Laugh with the sea, roar and hiss,

but be still in its silence;

when calm rules the world at peace,

in respect and reverence.    

“In still moments by the sea life seems large-drawn and simple.

 It is there we can see into ourselves.” – Rolf Edberg

 

 

“Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought 

of which the sea would not be part.” – Hermann Broch ~