Monday, July 14, 2014

July 19 is Free Museum Day


I got this information from my sister, which is kinda funny, seeing that I'm the one working for Ayala, so I should be getting first dibs on this.

Nonetheless, for those who are free, this is worth checking out.

I for one will be heading there after my morning section council meetings and elections.

See you guys at the museum!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Candle Warmers in True Value

I first purchased an electric oil burner back in 2006, and it was a better alternative to oil burners lit by tealights. They're less of a fire hazard, you can leave them on overnight, and they slowly diffuse the scented oil - you don't run the risk of drying out the water quickly.

I grew to love these and they soon became beautiful accent pieces in my previous condos. In one of my recent trips to True Value in Trinoma, I saw a nice owl-shaped oil burner. 

candlewarmers.com
It was being retailed at PhP 795.75. I did a quick search online and stumbled upon their website - candlewarmers.com. Online, these were retailing at $16.99. They were actually designed to melt scented wax - which are also readily available in Mia Maison stalls. For my purposes, I wanted to use it to diffuse essential oils, my favorite scents being Citronella and Water.

I didn't buy the owl candle warmer right away, instead choosing to wait a good 3 weeks, and lo and behold, my patience was rewarded as it was put on sale at 30% off. I only paid PhP 558.00 for this pretty owl candle warmer/oil burner. 


As usual, my limited photography skills do not do justice to the product at all, hence, let me share more pictures of the owl candle warmer from their website. 

Owl
As soon as I'm able to find a nice spot to place the cute owl in, I'll take a picture and update this post. 

Purchasing the candle warmer wasn't as easy you'd think. Although I had resolved for quite some time already that I'd be getting the owl, when I saw the other options in True Value, I got a bit distracted. Now their website lists about 39 Illumination Fragrance Warmer designs, and True Value carries 5 of these:

Live, Love, Laugh

Vintage Turquoise

Tuscan Cream

Cayenne
I was choosing among Vintage Turquoise, Tuscan Cream, and Owl. However, since there were only 2 pieces left in stock for Owl, I opted to purchase it instead. Anyway, the shape of the fragrance diffuser was unique - I haven't encountered an owl-themed oil burner aside from it.

I was about to buy a 2nd candle warmer, my mom wanted one also, but since I was with Kim, being the economist, he dissuaded me from doing so.

So, I will purchase another candle warmer from True Value perhaps when Kim isn't with me. Who knows, hopefully by that time, they might be on sale at 50% off already!

If you want to know more about Candle Warmers, feel free to visit their website: www.candlewarmers.com

They have an interesting video there of their products. They actually started by warming candles - a safer alternative to burning candles. I'm actually short of convinced to buy their original candle warmer. 

Should you feel the urge to contact True Value in Trinoma to check on the availability of the other candle warmers, because I know I want to purchase the other 4, here is their contact details:

True Value Trinoma
Level 1, Trinoma Mall, Quezon City
0932.629.1658

Honestly, these are quite affordable compared to how much Mia Maison would sell their oil burners. If I were you, I'd buy one while they're on sale. 

Monday, July 7, 2014

A-List is Back with Paintings

I know it isn't an excuse - that I've been busy the past few months. I recently opened up the blog again, and realized I am still getting a steady influx of views. So It is quite unfortunate that I haven't been updating. What drove me further was when I received a text message from a good friend of mine, Len Bayas, who had just recently discovered that I had this blog.

As I said, being busy isn't really much of an excuse, I mean, I still was able to eat out the past few months, right? I was able to go out of town at least once in the past year. The characters that will be accompanying me in this portion of my journey may have changed - haven't been able to keep in touch with the original characters of A-List Manila, to whom we really owe the inspiration of my having started this blog to begin with. And, is A-List still showing in the US anyway? If in which case, let's push this further to new heights.

Moving forward, you won't be hearing that much anymore about Derek and his friends, we seldom see each other anymore, save for the occassional accidental encounter in BGC. My partner in crime now is Kim. So A-List Manila readers, I'd like everyone to meet Kim :)

I underwent so many changes in the past year. Many of you must know already that I am a collector. It all started with stamps back when I was in grade school. Then, I got into collecting Coca-cola memorabilia in high school. Now, I collect paintings. I try to paint also, but that's a different story which deserves another post. Yes, I got fascinated with paintings, and it all started with an art exhibit that I organized in One Serendra.

One of the artists that we featured was Ediefer Gutierrez, and I fell in love with a painting of his. It was an untitled nude of a woman he met in Puerto Galera. It spent several days in my office (as some of the paintings was temporarily stored there prior to the exhibit), and I couldn't stop looking at it.


It's a bit difficult posting pictures of paintings, because, really, pictures will never do these works of art justice, regardless of whether I use an SLR. I love the androgynous look Ediefer's model had about her. So after countless thinking and re-thinking, and after consulting my good friend (who also happens to be a painter), Franco Melendres, I took the plunge and bought it.

From thereon I was hooked. I started looking up paintings online, systems in which a collector can use to record their collection, and have even considered taking up Masters in Art Studies in UP Diliman - this one I'm really quite intent on pursuing.

My next purchase was sometime April this year after I received my performance bonus from my company, and was a Mediterranean seascape from a European artist. This work of art I purchased from Gintong Sining in Glorietta 4.


Most of you are probably realizing now that most of the paintings I like have texture and are more impressionistic.

I visit a lot of art galleries during my spare time, and have visited museums in Metro Manila. Kim and I even went on a sojourn to Angono, Rizal, and visited Nemiranda's Arthouse and the Blanco Museum. Really awesome, if you guys are looking for something to do during a Saturday that doesn't involve going to clubs.

I also commissioned a painting from my friend, Franco Melendres. I'll dig up some pictures of his works and post it here soon so that you guys can see how brilliant an artist he is.

I also recently discovered contemporary artworks. My recent proud acquisition is Jaime Gubaton's House series from Gallery Big in LRI. If the watercolor looks familiar, it was recently featured in an article entitled 14 Artworks Under PhP 5,000.00, link of which I am posting below the painting.


http://manila.coconuts.co/2014/02/13/10-artworks-under-php5000-art-all-manila

I often frequent the Future Market in Escolta, sponsored by 98B, where I discovered works from Anjo Bolarda all at really affordable prices. Anjo Bolarda has recently concluded a show in Vinyl On Vinyl called Sorry for the Inconvenience.

I purchased two of his acrylic painting on wood blocks and made them into a diptych, which was then hung in our guest room.



Pardon my hideous looking comforter, was so proud of them, so soon as I got home, I just had to take a picture of these two. Will share photos later on of how I had them framed and how they're faring in the guest room.

From Future Market, I also met the lovely Sheila Ledesma whose paintings were another case of love at first sight for me. She called these her ectoplasmic series, and I just love how she was able to make the acrylic colors swirl.



As you can see, my iPad and its Capdase casing photobombed the picture.

These are how the paintings looked after I had them framed in FramePlus.



I'll be coming up with an article also on this lovely frame shop I drive to for my framing needs. They are so affordable, and with an expensive addiction such as paintings, you really need to know where to get your artworks framed without denting your wallet.

Hope everybody's up to speed on what's new in A-List Manila. I am so looking forward to indoctrinating the readers to the art galleries and exhibits that I'll be visiting pretty soon.

If you're interested in any of the artists whose works I featured, please feel free to leave me message and I'll give you their contact information.