By Uriel Quilinguing
ALTHOUGH I have had hosting experiences of huge public events in the past, never did I feel like a celebrity than in Jan. 25, the day all of Chinese ancestral roots observed the annual Chinese New Year.
The moment, perhaps only for a minute or two, was when showers of red and gold confetti were all over me during a photo opportunity with key members of the visiting Chan Lim Family of Artists and executives of SM Supermalls and SM Downtown Premier during the hand-painted Chinese lanterns exhibit opening rites.
Many times in the past, I personally witnessed the launching of confetti as the program’s highlight, but these shredded thin sheets of colored paper were to fall on stage or on the area where the dignitaries are. Often, I was either on my hosting mode or I was seated way far from the celebrities.
Photo opportunities with guests on stage no longer come as a surprise; it’s been used to wrap up every Talakayan fora that are held at SM City Uptown and SM CDO Downtown Premier all these years.
But the day also subtly drove me down memory lane about two hours earlier, right inside the Ribs and Bibs restaurant when, after lunch, every media practitioner, including bloggers and influencers, about two dozens in all, were given painting kits.
Never was in my wildest dream that, after almost five decades, I would again be holding a paintbrush, mixing colors on a palette with a set of poster color, white sheets of paper, and three reproductions of multi-colored Chinese brush paintings.
Almost five decades ago, I won in every art contest I competed in, be it on-the-spot painting, poster-making, logo-design, and even lantern-making. But it was my first time to do Chinese brush painting and I am not used to a Chinese brush which has a tip (pointed) instead of a toe (flat) of its belly. All the rest of the parts of a brush are the same, however, which has bristles, ferrule and handle.
But handling the Chinese brush is obviously different from other paintbrushes mainly because Chinese paintbrush is pointed and one’s elbow is not supposed to touch the table. Not only that, a Chinese painting artist needs to undergo breathing exercises since one has to take a deep breath before the tip of the brush could touch the face of the paper. And, from the usual use of thumb and index finger in holding the handle of the brush, the ring finger and middle finger with the thumb should be used instead for the strokes.
Chinese brush painting is most challenging and fascinating, compared to other types of paintings since every brush stroke is a defining move; it cannot be changed or corrected. It is an art using simple and effortless single brush stroke to eventually depict the essence of a figure or a scene, be it just a bamboo pole with culms and leaves, a wild orchid in bloom or a sea-grass.
Through simple and single strokes, I tried to replicate two of three samples provided, yet I felt the clumsiness of my fingers and the heaviness of my hands. By just doing the broad brushstrokes, one may have to leave the fine and exact details to imagination.
(Uriel C. Quilinguing is a former president of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club who served as editor-in-chief of Cagayan de Oro-based newspapers, including this paper. For reactions, e-mail them to uriel.quilinguing@yahoo.com.)
