Capturing landscapes with strokes of colour

BY MARY OOMMEN -

Born in the Rizal province of Philippines, Kendrick T Pangilinan was introduced to the world of creativity and art by his grandmother who used to cut out animal figures from old newspapers. “I would often play with them and tried to make my own paper animals as well. Then came my first summer art workshop at Silangan Centre which is part of the Pinto Art Museum. My mother enrolled me to this summer art class to learn basic drawing and that really started my passion for the arts,” says Kendrick who now lives in Nizwa and teaches at the Nizwa College of Technology.

Kendrick enjoys capturing, with his colours, the many beautiful sights that Oman’s varied landscape offers. His travels across Nizwa and Muscat have given him inspiration to paint. From the quiet serenity at the falaj to the many hues of green found at small oasis that dot the countryside, he recreates them beautifully. His style is spontaneous and energetic. Kendrick usually uses oil pastels and has more recently begun dabbling with oil paints.

Kendrick says he owes a big part of his artistic creativity to Andy Orencio, one of the founding members of Salingpusa, a group of artists based in his hometown. “Andy coached and mentored me in the arts and has been a great inspiration,” he added.

As a young boy, Kendrick enjoyed going to museums and art exhibitions and spent time immersing himself in the paintings of local Filipino artists like Fernando Amorsolo, Malang and Jim Orencio to name a few. Sharing his memories, Kendrick says, “I started drawing or painting when I was around 12 or 13 years old and continued to do so on and off for a while before I lost touch. I did not go back to this hobby for a very long time and it was just last year that I decided to go and pursue my passion of drawing and painting again. I typically like to draw landscapes, but am now moving towards painting still life and people too.”

Kendrick’s landscapes are more than just a representation of a specific place. He blends his colours beautifully, and with each highly-textured stroke, also places additional layers of emphasis and depth. With bold strokes of green, brown and grey, Kendrick brings the typical Omani falaj to life on canvas — artfully capturing the trees and wild grass that borders the falaj as it carries lifegiving water to the thirsty land. “I love the way modern and the traditional life come together so seamlessly here in Oman. It is like National Geographic in real time! I really enjoy drawing Oman’s falaj set among the date farms,” he states.

The eldest of four siblings, Kendrick graduated from the University of the Philippines, Diliman with a degree in Speech Communication and went on to pursue a Master degree in Teaching English Language. Though he took a break from painting in the past he continued to indulge his passion by visiting museums and art galleries on his travels. He fondly recollects his travels and says, “I remember when I went to Singapore and Yayoi Kusama’s artworks were on display, I immediately lined up to go there the following day. Another interesting museum I visited was the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad and I was amazed with its rich collection.”

Kendrick held his first first solo exhibition of his landscapes in the Philippines in August this year. He also plans to display his work at an upcoming art exhibition at the Nizwa College of Technology where the theme will be Creativity in Diversity. He says, “It took me 20 years to realise that I need to get back to my passion of painting and though I have some regrets that I stopped doing it for a time, I believe it is never too late.” His advice to budding artists is “never stop drawing.”