wishing for a dreamless sleep

I am a vivid dreamer and about 99% of my dreams I remember. The minute I wake up, my mind adjusts back to reality as the dream scenes comes to me in backwards. It used to be a habit, a practice that I mastered until one day and onwards, the remembering comes out naturally.

The hardest part of dreaming is feeling every bit of you is AWAKE. You feel the water rushing in your body, you feel the little waves on your feet, you feel your body explode - in slow motion - literally, your knees ache of running, you feel the weight of your body when you fly, you smell damp morning soil on your bare feet, you feel the clothes your on, you can see veins when you hold hands.

I don't mind dreaming really because it's mostly kind of amusing. But the latest morning dream I had is tormenting me. The most vivid yet, the most tragic, and the most cried out after-effect I've experienced. It was soul-draining.

With that I would like to call out to Morpheus to leave me for a while. At least let me have a good dreamless sleep tonight.

i wait for you

Today, I saw him at MinD Arts Festival in a glass box, silently keeping it's awesomeness yet. I can only dream of holding him sooner. I have been sleepless, endlessly imagining what I could possibly do to make him unique and definitely "my creation". I thought of crazy wardrobes, sketching here and there, constant research. But then all I can do is wait. I hope when he comes I'd be as ready as ever.

The Immortal

These jellies are immortal. They are able to escape death by reverting back to their "baby" stage. And it has been reported that they are silently invading the oceans. Pretty amazing huh. In a matter of years, I bet scientists would tap their secret code and kind of inject it on humans. Now that would be creepy.

fashionably dreaming in wonderland

I don't care if the story or plot or characters are predictable. I simply enjoyed it in yummy 3D nonetheless.

Besides being so delighted with all the wonders of the Underland and the madness of the creatures, I am most stunned with the on-the-spot haute couture that Alice wore. She changed outfits 5 times! Her fragile pale structure made it more appealing - not that I prefer skinny and pale - I just think she's the right character for it.

I empathize for the grown up Alice beause I dream in full color every night like a delusional maniac too. Having said that, yes, I remember every bit of details of each dream. Except that I can't see my dream people in real life - thank God! I talk to them, make them understand they're not real and that they are just in my dream which of course made them more confused and once it even made the "Dream Queen" so upset that she ordered unimaginable chaos because I wasn't suppose to tell them that truth. I had been their enemy for weeks! But as Alice says "It's only a dream. Nothing can hurt me."

I can also dare things when dreaming, make bolder acts even if it means death. I mostly do heroic stunts because I know that nothing can hurt me because it's my dream and I can control it and I can always choose to wake up. I used to have a dream journal but... Maybe I should start one again.

Creative Mission

I wonder what my Creative Mission is. What can I do creatively to make this world a better place? Sounds like a line from a song but that's been the question that's singing in my head every night before I go to bed. *Gosh it even rhymes.

I need to somehow connect the dots (projects, collaborations, etc.) and create a pattern of self-conciousness that would lead to a more meaningful end-product. Flashback to graduating from college I always knew I wanted to be part of a big advertising agency and make super ads that could move people and well, generally sell. But then, advertising seemed more like a show rather than the truth these days. Or maybe I haven't been into that side of the fence anymore.

My greater mission should be more than just being a good mother to my boys and a good wife to my one and only. I must do more so that when I die, I turn back into a faerie who smiles with pride from heaven.

old for the new!

My first post for Twenty Ten. I love saying twenty-ten! It sounds promising. It feels right.

It was the craziest end-of-the-year adventure for our family. We've shifted to a new place - (bigger play, sleep, munching spaces for the boys) so that means we had a lot of packing and unpacking to do. Organizing: scissors, crayons, laundry basket, shoe racks... the list goes on! And since our new home is fully furnished, we had a hard time disposing or giving away our bed, couch, dining set even up to now. Anyone want an extra bed??

The outfit doesn't really say anything "new". But this is what I wore on new year's day - I just had to record it. This is my comfy facing-the-new-year getup - ready for the big mess, for my boys bedtime gitikanay, for welcoming twentyten simply. It's a style I'm going to wear throughout 2010: old for the new. 2009 had moments of big expectations yet accepting my worth in the end.

Details of my favorite old navy canvas shorts paired with 99 pesos top and a Bershka jacket.

STYLE GUIDE: build a portfolYOU!

Portfolyou sounds really funny, I know! But it's true, your portfolio is branding YOU online. So it's important that you get the message out there: Who you are and what you do best.
I am in the middle of remodeling my portfolio website again. If I get it all done, it's my 10th design since 2004. I am easily displeased, not because I have done it bad. It's just being the typical me squeezing in a healthy creative exercise, recreating a fresher and straight-to-the-dot navigation, even if I just uploaded a "new" look last month. Or maybe I'm just really *yawn* with my current website.

I made a short guideline in building your portfolyou websites:

✔ Showcase. Only those that are worthy. Do not put anything half-baked. Yes, even if that means showing only three print ads. Show them what you are made of!

✔ Easy driving. No one likes a complicated navigation. It may be fun the first time, but when you feel that it's beginning to annoy you, scrape it all up and start from scratch. Take it easy. Remember: the simpler, the cooler.

✔ Blah blah blah. Keep your "who i am" page short. Short but precise. Precise but friendly. Your online voice should be well coordinated with you offline.

✔ Style smile. Lastly and more importantly, build a portfolio website that takes a smile on style. Have a trademark or a logo or whatever that which makes your home online truly YOU - with your name written all over the place. Oh but don't overdo it. Do not shout and never boast. Just smile with your own style.

street fashion project

I wish I'm brave and quick enough to shoot people so I can serve you the street fashion in Dubai. I see so much going on here but everytime I see some potential, either I'm awestruck that I miss it before I can take out my camera or I'm having second thoughts in actually taking their picture. Argh. Any suggestions?

faerie notes

I realized I haven't been the Style Faerie much these days. I owe you a stylefaerie interview, fresh style guides, fashion hits and bits, some cool news to share... phew! Not to worry, I'll be back on track. For now, the faerie's got to sleep...

love + create,

govinda

GIRLALOO POWER!

We've been featured! My (favourite) Art Appreciation college professor has written an article about our works and how GIRLALOO rocks like Wonder Girls. (Awww, shucks.) I am tremendously honoured and inspired to create more "bimorphic forms" of art.

ARTICLE:

Art's girl power
by Radel Paredes, Cebu Daily News - Life! (November 17, 2009)

THEY are the local art world's equivalent to the Wonder Girls, making digital illustrations that (clap, clap) nobody, nobody can top. Not even the boys in the trade. Girlaloo, the all-girl group of illustrators, hopes to dissolve the digital divide and the gender gap in their first, self-titled exhibit.

Consisting of more than 30 computer-generated or digitally enhanced drawings, the show opened Nov.9 at the lobby of the University of San Carlos College of Architecture and Fine Arts building.

Most members were USC fine arts alumnae, so choosing to launch the exhibit tour in their alma mater is a gesture of homecoming. From USC, the works will be shown in the University of the Philippines Cebu Campus and the Benedicto College.

Targeting the the art school set is deliberate as the group aims not only to promote digital illustration as an "exciting outlet of expression and voice" but also to encourage other girls to consider it as a serious career option.

The artists thus flirt tipping the balance, making even the most macho digital art geek succumb to girl power.

And how diverse are the ways in which this power projects. There's the flotsam of bimorphic forms and cartoon monsters in the doodles of Govinda Trazo and Tambolbee Villarino.

There's also the strange digital and pop version of Art Nouveau in the portraits of women by Richelle Chua and Narki Hormiguera. Kristy Anne Ligones, on the other hand, is not as keen at the irony of simulating organic forms with a computer. Her own depiction of a woman combines the cute and the grotesque.

A mix of Mary Poppins and Yellow Submarine is hinted in the work of Kristine Oplando, while blinking stars and planets add cosmic aura to February Anne Ybanez's drawings of children. Childhood fantasy is revisited by Johanna Velasco-Deutsch, Luisa Gonzaga, and Madeth Villarosa. But rather than imagine a world of happy endings, the girls opted to portray a gloomy fairy tale.

Indeed the artists of Girlaloo have come of age. And despite the common fascination with the kikay, the kinky and the kitschy, they have proven that their works can still solicit serious reflection. Or, that high tech doodle, can be high art, too.

x x x x x x x x x x

"Visual is our way of making a mark in society."

Finally. Something edible for the creative minds of Cebu. The graphic design industry is thirsting for something like this - and now one guy (not sure if I can mention his name. He's a bit shy - rather, low profile, the humble type) made a brave step in letting this all happen. It's going to be a significant event and I can only wish I was there to have a burp of its success.

Visual: A Digital Design Conference

28th of November 2009 | SM Cinema 1, SM City Cebu.

Find out more about the conference through their website.

a masterpiece

My 3yo's first "structured" drawing. Such a shame, at first glance I thought he was just doing random shapes, and thought he accidentally formed eyeglasses or boobies. But it's not. It's not even accidental. What do you think it is?

"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." ~ The Little Prince

I am such a dumb grown up.

do you think i need a hair makeover?

My goodness it looks like a rotten wig! I know it's madly Y-E-S... still I can't have one. *sigh. Oh just so you know it has not gone THAT bad, behind that mess is a very softy touch. :P

STYLE GUIDE: find your own illustration style.

I think it's important to maintain a certain style to your illustration no matter what the trends are out there. It took me more than 10 years to finally find (and accept) my signature style and I am still facing the challenge of truly putting it to the fullest. Here are my thoughts on finding your own style in your illustrations.

✔ Know your strengths and take them higher than your expectations. Super realistic figure drawings? An eye for details? Textured experiments? Focus and get to work.

✔ Speak up! Having a big idea behind your illustration makes better storyteller in you. And when you have a story to tell or a thought to share, you get to imagine how you would share it. Your tone makes it uniquely your own.

✔ Surprise! If you surprise yourself with your process, that's a good start. If you're satisfied with the end result, make room for more surprises next time.

✔ Don't get too inspired. Inspiration becomes deadly when it grows with you that you start to imitate (maybe unconciously) exactly that which got you inspired.

✔ Review review review. Review your work over and over and see if it doesn't "look like somebody's".

✔ Stick to YOUR style. But let them grow in maturity - not in numbers or popularity.

Just old.

I just realized that I am old. Old but not tired. Just old. I don't know if that's alright. It's amazing how time swirls like a huge chunk of vortex vacuum that if you make that one wrong move, everything falls apart. Mr. Time used to exist in my little reality. But now, I can't even remember how I made him up.

Maybe it has something to do with my stagnant music taste. Or maybe because I'm harder to please these days - when I look at a layout design or a punky funky website it seems easier for me to be the unkind critic. Or maybe it has something to do with my closet that badly needs an overhaul. When I look at it, it says "help".

Just this night I wonder if I will ever feel young again.

PoladroidTreasure: my old burloloys and sunnies from highschool to early college. i have no idea where they are now.

paper dolls

Cooking new project idea. Grinning. Keep up. Look out.

Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer

How do you keep smell?

That thought is from the movie "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer". There is an answer of course, go on and watch it.

It is a story of a man who has an extraordinary ability to smell EVERYTHING and cataloging each scent in his mind. His possessive attitude towards a certain scent brought him on a journey to finally capture and lock the smell of beauty and created the most exhilarating perfume ever.

What I love about the film's style is it's simplistic approach. Because I would have imagined special effects of smoke, colourful trails to capture the essence of the story which is mainly focused on smelling. But it didn't. There's no need really if you have the perfect casting. I adore Ben Whishaw's effortless performance, making him my new favourite "hero".

Here is the last narration of the movie. Moving and beautiful:

"There was only one thing the perfume could not do. It could not turn him into a person who could love and be loved like everyone else. So, to hell with it he thought. To hell with the world. With the perfume. With himself."

And lastly:

"Within no time, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille had disappeared from the face of the earth. When they had finished, they felt a virginal glow of happiness. For the first time in their lives, they believed they had done something purely out of love."

how do you do, govinda?

I miss having to play around with my closet now that i have a very domestic-dedicated life. I'm idle and busy - roughly caught up in one room. A very sleepy combination. All I got is a website, two blogs, the 'waiting' time, and an aching back. And I have no idea why I won't go to sleep.

Or maybe i miss my cebu routine. Or maybe it's just the dusty skies outside.

Say, do you like my doodle?

The Garden of Style

I will build a garden where I can share my thoughts on anything that speaks style: in a household, in a little bit of geek gadget squeek, in illustration and graphic trends, but mostly in playing everyday dress-up or when it's time to go gaga with Polyvore.

This is my first seed of thought:

If I do this, build a humble garden of style, will people come often to see how things are doing around here while enjoying a peppermint tea? Or will they come back to see how more they are annoyed everytime? Will my garden be too interesting or disgusting that I have a pretty good number of followers? I would love to have all sorts of opinion that might agree or create violent reactions among blog hoppers. That sounds like super fun.

Welcome. Enjoy the freshness.