Our Mural at the Art District in Bacolod!

Here is a long overdue update. I guess this is one of these times when the excitement is high, but then life takes over... so here we go on this really cool project, and as you will see it has special significance to me.

Last December (and a bit of January) I had the incredible opportunity to create a mural in the vibrant and culturally rich Art District of Bacolod. The mural project has been a collaboration with my daughter and is inspired by both our paths as artists.

The finished mural with Zara and Christine

The Art District in Bacolod is known for its amazing mix of artistic expressions. Its galleries and businesses bring the talents of local artists and entrepreneurs to the community. The Art District is a hub for creativity and inclusion. It inspires both residents and visitors alike. Being a part of this amazing environment (literally) is a dream come true for both of us.

Humble beginnings...

As we start to walk through the process, a quick confession... I am actually the side show in this one! Zara got her kickstart from the amazing folks running the art district. Her mural is the key element and the driver for the design and the story!

Her design shows a figure outlined - a departure from her largely figurative works - on the background of a bed of tulips. Quoting her: "the figure represents me leaving my doubts about my art on that wall in Bacolod. The tulips represent my time of self discovery in the Netherlands. Together it shows my journey to discovering my passion for art. Disocvering I really want to be an artist." What a debut!

Zara's palette

With her design worked out, I got to add a little bit of myself. Or in this case - ourselves. The two piggies are me and my hubby, and here the tulips represent us showering our support on Zara. Of course, the tulips then blend with Zara's connecting the two parts of the mural. And, the red balloon is - as always - my symbol of hope. Hope that she will find her place, find her spot, and be happy with her choices.

Adding piggies to the concrete balls

For both of us this was a very new thing. We both typically paint in oil and on canvas. This was latex on a concrete wall. Bit different in almost any aspect. At first we were really working to figure out the colors. How do you blend them, how do you get the right depth and brightness. And then, since it is latex there is no blending on the wall... it dries really fast, especially in 33 degree (Celcius) heat! But with those details ironed out, we progressed pretty quickly.

The piggies and their balloons

In the end, we took less a week to paint this all. The fun bit was doing the work with my daughter, experimenting, learning, and figuring this out while at the vibrant art district. There is a constant flow of people, who, this is the Phillipines, are all all excited to see new art. Lots of folks stopped by, chatted, took pics, and I am sure wondered what we were creating.

Zara with Charlie

It was especially nice that throughout the mural painting we met many of the local artists and members of the community. Always friendly, and always cheering us on. We got to exchange paint, see other murals go from idea to final product. We sampled some of the food, enjoyed the show in Orange Gallery, and more. We really felt part of the community!

The finished mural. Signed and ready!

I invite anyone visiting Bacolod to visit the Art District to experience the mural and the surrounding artistic community and lovely restaurants, coffee shops, and other local businesses.

And hopefully you go around to see our finished mural. We had a lot of fun doing it, and we hope that everyone likes what we created.

Christine (and Zara)