C.P.Adorio, Sunday Painter: UnArtTradingCard

Snow Mountain. Archival ink on 2.5"x3.5" Bristol Board on 8"x10" mat.
Down The Hill. Archival ink on 2.5"x3.5" Bristol Board on 8"x10" mat.

Goodbye Edo. Archival ink on 2.5"x3.5" Bristol Board on 8"x10" mat

INVENTING

When I was in in 5th grade, I got a B in home economics for creating my own cross stitch design. My teacher told me that I was inventing my own design when I was supposed to cross stitch from a kit. My sister and I then invented a dance sequence called "Inventing" in defiance of the teacher. I did not like that teacher. When I was in nursing college, I had this dream of becoming a medical painter or illustrator like Dr. Frank Netter. My nursing notes were filled with illustrations, especially the microbiology notebooks. After graduating from college, I had my rural internship in the mountains. I did not do any art, instead, I learned to ride a motorcycle. Later, I studied speech pathology and illustrated instruction manuals on speech exercises for families of children with cerebral palsy. I also illustrated speech articulation cards for patients. During traffic hours in Manila, I often got stranded in traffic jams. I took the time to illustrate the urban scenes and landscapes. When I immigrated to the US in 1982, I started oil painting everyday and cross-stitching on the weekends, while working as a nurse. I painted over 100 large canvas paintings. I gave away most of them. Between 1986 and 2004 I did not paint but drew hundreds of architectural floor plans and schematic drawings of farms and cities while working as a trauma and emergency nurse and raising two young children with my husband. I started oil painting full time in 2004 again while my children were in grade school. I was also employed as a clinical analyst. My specialty is writing clinical decision support rule modules. I also bought a boatload of scrap-booking materials and equipment. They are waiting to be used. These days I alternate between pen and ink drawing and oil painting. I am learning to watercolor. It is very frustrating for me. If not for the sable brushes and the 400-pound watercolor paper, which I love, I would have given up long ago. I don't know why I keep drawing and painting. I love art supplies. I pray when I paint and draw. My squiggles are the equivalent of Buddhist prayer wheels.

9.4.11

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