Art in the Park 2016

I visited Art in the Park 2016 with a mission in mind. Last April 3, 2016, Kim and I braved the drive from the suburbs of Quezon City and Antipolo to Makati, and looked for parking. Quite a challenge to find a good parking spot yet again, and we ended up parking in Paseo Center, which was a good block away from Salcedo Park. I was insistent on going to Art in the Park because I wanted to visit the booth of Ang INK and purchase more magnets for my reminders board in the office. I was able to purchase quirky magnets last year for PhP 70.00 each.

When we got there, I headed straight to Ang INK's booth, but they didn't have any magnets. What they had though was my Ateneo batchmate's, Jomike Tejido's, Sanctuaries coloring book. It features about 30 coloring plates based on his banig paintings.

His banig paintings by the way were sold out before lunch.

Jomike was also there so I asked him to sign the 2 coloring books that I purchased. Yay!

Kim and I went around - I'm quite relieved that they have multiple cashiers this year. Last year, we had a challenge waiting in line for the painting, canvas bag, and magnets that I purchased.

In support of Museum Foundation of the Philippines, I purchased a nice fan from their booth. Keeping it in the car in case I have to wait in a parked car with the windows down.

We also passed by the booths of Vinyl on Vinyl where I looked for paintings of Anjo Bolarda. I was never able to move on from being unable to purchase Anjo Bolarda's Harmony of Change from the Silent Auction in Greenbelt last 2014 - and all because my car broke down on me in EDSA. How hateful. Unfortunately, Vinyl on Vinyl had none of his paintings for the event.

Two stalls down was Cevio's Art Haus, and they had paintings of Keith Paras which were priced rather good. A small painting of his was around PhP 12,000.00++ with 5% discount of the list price. I was particularly interested in a larger piece which was at PhP 19,200.00 without the discount.

I have been wanting to own a Keith Paras painting and I would have purchased the larger piece, had Kim not stopped me. He wanted me to purchase a watch that I have been looking into buying for 3 months already.

He hurriedly dragged me out of the park, and practically pushed me to drive to Glorietta to go to Meridien to purchase the watch.

Merm by Benedict Reyna of Ang INK

Here's my proud purchase from yesterday's Art in the Park. This could be possibly the most affordable painting in the event yesterday. I visited my Ateneo high school batch mate, Jomike Tejido, in the Ang INK booth and that's where I met the artist, Benedict Reyna, and saw this cute painting of his:

The painting is acrylic on a 6" x 6" canvas. Very very cute! Now all I need is a mini easel, and I can prop it up next to my other small paintings!

Art in the Park 2015

Another Art in the Park has passed. And their payment scheme is still so inconvenient. I'll also be posting pictures of what I bought from this year's Art in the Park, but for now, I'm sharing photos of the various artworks featured by the galleries this year:

Chez Karine Royal Pudding

I bought this pudding from Chez Karine in Serendra because of the cute bottle. There, I said it. The bottle is just so cute. As soon as I got it - I ate the chocolate pudding, and had the bottle washed. Don't you just want to try it for the sake of the bottle?

Chez Karine

Serendra 2 Loading Bay, Mckinley Parkway

Bonifacio Global City, Taguig

tel. no. 02.8041889

Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles

I have been reading quite voraciously again, lately. I finished the Maze Runner series, Tragic Theatre by G.M. Cornell (which had quite a few typographical and grammar errors), Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl (quite interested in Dark Places as well), and John Saul's House of Reckoning (which, I reckon, is the best revenge novel I've read).

My resolutions for 2015, however, is to be able to finally read through Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. There are quite a few novels in this series already. Let me list the novels according to order and published date:

1. Interview with the Vampire (1976)

2. The Vampire Lestat (1985)

3. Queen of the Damned (1988)

4. The Tale of the Body Thief (1992)

5. Memnoch the Devil (1995)

6. The Vampire Armand (1998)

7. Merrick (2000)

8. Blood and Gold (2001)

9. Blackwood Farm (2002)

10. Blood Canticle (2003)

11. Prince Lestat (2014)

I already have Interview with the Vampire, and I started reading it. I also have a copy of The Vampire Lestat, The Tale of the Body Thief, and The Vampire Armand.

Obviously, the challenge here is finding the other novels. I know Queen of the Damned is readily available in National Bookstore, Fully Booked, and Powerbooks, but what about the rest? Will also be checking Booksale for good measure.

So that's my reading challenge for 2015. Hope you guys will also find time this year to read a good book or two.