My Experimental Artworks

My Experimental Artworks

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living With Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

"Paintings are but research and experiment. I never do a painting as a work of art. All of them are researches. I search constantly and there is a logical sequence in all this research." - Pablo Picasso

School children come to me for art's sake.

"Lolo, what projects can we make?"

It's the idea that stirs their imagination

into many ways of art expression. - avr

 Art with Shells

Shells collection into work of art against a marine scene mural.  

Arrange and mount on a base,  

now a table decor, a receptacle 

of things you love and praise;

truly it's an art-to-craft version,  

for aesthetics and function.  - avr

Marine specimens into artwork   

Paint a sea floor background as base.

Spread out shells and corals freely.

Let your guests touch them and study,

with guidance, and care just in case. - avr        

          

Relief Paintings

 

Birds in the trees

It's painting and sculpture combined,

     with three-dimensional effect;

let thick paint harden on wood palette;

     it's a unique school project. - avr

Pangea, the proto-continent

Like jigsaw puzzle land masses do fit,

through continental drift, scientists say;

Pangea, once the proto-continent split

into seven continents we know today. - avr

                              Imprint Painting on Ceramic  

"E tu Brute?" 

Assassination of Julius Caesar on the "Ides of March". 

Art digs into history, stirs imagination;

the dying Caesar begging his friend;

a final stab, scene in symbolic action,

brings the story to a sad end. - avr

                                       

Fungus Painting 

Fungal mycelia* etching appears like integral part of a wall mural.

Wonder, what is unwanted and destructive,

in art may be beautiful and attractive. - avr 

* Main body of a fungus, consisting of a network of thread-like filaments called hyphae.

Transformation in Life: "Chicks emerge from under a brooding hen."

Transformation in Life

 "Chicks emerge from under a brooding hen." 

Dr Abe V Rotor

     Sweet sound breaks the calm morning air,

  peaceful and happy in a country fair.

 the newly hatched chicks meet the world,

a mystery of life many times told.

Chicks emerge from under a brooding hen at home. 

Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur. 

Unedited photos by the author. 

"The hen symbolizes motherhood - love and care for her brood with perseverance until her chicks become independent." - avr  

Logotherapy with Nature

 Logotherapy* with Nature

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

Artwork and wall mural by Dr Abe V Rotor

Tower of Doom Trophy against a wall mural Waterfalls Forever 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cathedral Acacia Tree

Cathedral Acacia Tree

Acacia (Samanea saman)  

Dr Abe V Rotor

A well managed park with a Heritage Acacia Tree as centerpiece.

Pride of San Ildefonso municipality, Ilocos Sur.  It sets an example of a living conference hall, a massive natural multipurpose outdoor center.  AVR 2023 

Outdoor conference hall, classroom, playground

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

        Acacia Tree - a Miniature Ecosystem 

Closeup of the crown of an acacia tree revealing rich biodiversity and homeostasis (dynamic balance), painting in acrylic by AV Rotor 2025

"Lying under an acacia tree with the sound of the dawn around me, I realized more clearly the facts that man should never overlook: that the construction of an airplane, for instance, is simple when compared [with] a bird; that airplanes depend on an advanced civilization, and that were civilization is most advanced, few birds exist. I realized that if I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes." - Charles Lindbergh

Symbiosis of Drynaria Fern and Acacia Tree

 Tagudin, Ilocos Sur. Photo by the author.

Acacia and Carbon Sequestration

Carbon sequestration is the capture and long-term removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. According to a research conducted at the School of Forestry of the Bogor Agricultural Institute, Indonesia, a mature acacia tree with a crown diameter measuring 15 meters (49 ft) absorbed 28.5 metric tons (28.0 long tons; 31.4 short tons) of CO2 annually.

“When one plants a tree they plant themselves. Every root is an anchor, over which one rests with grateful interests, and becomes sufficiently calm to feel the joy of living.” 
— John Muir

Martines birds, long thought to be extinct locally, find shelter and home 

with the Drynaria, and the host acacia tree. Photo by the author.

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

        

Author, with coeds from the University of Northern Philippines, display mounted relics of heritage acacia he painted in 1976. (See photo of painting above). The mounted artwork serves as science specimen and wall decor. Below, closeup of the acacia pod and seeds.  Coed, Angie Tobias of University of Abra holds an acacia seedling ready for transplanting in the field.                                 

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”— William Shakespeare
  

 

Closeup view of the deciduous nature of acacia, that is, it loses its leaves once or twice a year to give way to the growth of new and fresh crown.  In effect, the litter of leaves adds fertility of the soil and serves as mulch to conserve soil moisture and prevent soil erosion.

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“To really feel a forest canopy, we must use different senses. And often the most useful one is the sense of imagination.”— Joan Maloof

The La Union Centennial Tree in Bacnotan was proclaimed as one of the 13 Philippine Centennial Trees under the DENR Administrative Order (DAO) No. 98-25 on 03 June 1998. This DAO also proclaims these centennial trees as Protected Trees and mandates a multi-sectoral effort in protecting these trees. Internet

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

Tumbleweed in the Sky

Tumbleweed in the Sky

Artwork by Dr Abe V Rotor

 Tumbleweed and wooden shards, AV Rotor 2025 

Orphaned from the hills and field, 

the woods once your home gone;  

except your seeds with spiny shield

to grow and carry on in the sun.  

Closeup of a local tumbleweed

I found you on a wasteland tumbling,

     alone with the wind whistling;

come with me to my garden and art,

     and here we shall never part. 

*A tumbleweed is the dead, dried, above-ground part of a plant that detaches from its roots and rolls in the wind, dispersing seeds. This rolling plant is a diaspore, a mechanism for seed dispersal that helps the plant colonize new areas. Halaman na gumugulong sa hangin," literally means "plant that rolls in the wind"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: A good subject of research, undergraduate and graduate, on the botany of this grass, Family Poaceae, growing on marginal lands and shorelines, its ecological potential in wasteland reclamation. 

The Living Christmas Tree: Plant a tree this Christmas Season

  The Living Christmas Tree

Plant a tree this Christmas Season

 Dr Abe V Rotor 

The living Christmas Tree gives food, water, shelter, energy, the basic provisions of life.  Above all, it is a great expression of love this Christmas Season.

 Don't cut trees for Christmas, don't!

Plant trees instead and build beautiful memories with the family as the trees grow Christmas after Christmas.  In the process they become living Christmas Trees the year round, and year in and out. For Christmas is not just for one occasion where a tree top is decorated and thrown away after. Millions of trees are sacrificed every Christmas this way. 

Pine treetops for sale

This contributes to loss of vegetation, which in turn results in soil erosion and siltation, flooding and largely to global warming.

Loss of trees decreases oxygen in the air, since trees absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen.  They are the earth's primary lungs.  And they contribute to favorable micro climates in their domain. They catch the rain and store it as groundwater and spring.  They feed the streams and rivers and keep the ponds and lakes full, and the estuaries in good condition.

Just a single tree, we may say, does not mean anything - and it's Christmas. Anyway and it comes once in a year.   With millions, nay billions, celebrating Christmas, collective loss is unimaginable.  

What can we do to have an instant living Christmas tree? You don't have to go far if there is a tree in your backyard on along the sidewalk.  

You can have a potted tree seedling by the window with simple decor.  No lights.  Just some ribbon and colored cutouts.

 
Tree planting to save Mother Earth.

If the tree is large, decorate sparingly with a dozen lights, preferably LED.  Don't forget the traditional parol on its top, lighthouse effect of sort.

• If there's a tree house, the ambiance of Christmas should be focused there.  The tree itself may be sparingly decorated.

• Shrubs and small trees are not exacting to decors.  Just don't over decorate.

• Plant a tree this Christmas can be made as a community campaign.  Decide the place of tree planting: a park, along the highway, on a watershed.  Celebrate Christmas with this occasion. Don't forget to take care of the trees thereafter. 

• Plant trees that are adapted in the area.  Conifers (pines) are temperate; get tropical species (e.g., narra) for the tropics.

Artificial Christmas trees are most convenient to have, but consider the cost and effect to health and environment. Recycled waste materials draws out artistic talent. This is fine, it reduces waste - or at least gives a "second life", beautiful at that of materials otherwise thrown away. Just be careful with the harmful effects of deteriorating second hand and recycled materials.  Don't keep them indoor. 

The most meaningful Christmas is one that addresses our time and effort to solving problems concerning our well-being and the environment. The living Christmas Tree is one that gives food, water, shelter, energy, the basic provisions of life, above all it is a great expression of love to Nature and our fellowmen this Christmas Season. . 

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CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY WITH POINSETTIA

                   Poinsettia pulcherrima cultivars

 

 

 

Acknowledgement: Internet Photos ~

10 Verses to Live By Every Day

 10 Verses to Live By Every Day

Dr Abe V Rotor

Banaoang Pass, Santa, Ilocos Sur, wall mural by the author

1. Walk, don't run, to see better and to know
the countryside, Mother Nature and Thou.~

2. We do not have the time, indeed an alibi
to indolence and loafing, letting time pass by.


Sun on a hazy day

3. As we undervalue ourselves, so do others
undervalue us. Lo, to us all little brothers.

4. Self-doubt at the start is often necessary
to seek perfection of the trade we carry.

5. What is more mean than envy or indolence
but the two themselves riding on insolence.

6. The worst kind of persecution occurs in the mind,
that of the body we can often undermine.

7. How seldom, if at all, do we weigh our neighbors
the way we weigh ourselves with the same favors?

8. Friendship that we share to others multiplies
our compassion and love where happiness lies.


Morning rainbow, Bamban, Tarlac

9. Evil is evil indeed - so with its mirror,
while goodness builds on goodness in store.

10. That others may learn and soon trust you,

show them you're trustworthy, kind and true. ~