del Rosario, John

In the early stages of the pandemic, I had resigned myself to the fact that I was powerless over the lockdown. In defiance, I decided to fight back by making art. . . through painting. The Chinese characters of crisis ( danger + opportunity ) allowed me to focus on the positive. I decided to paint a supercell hurricane / lightning storm as a metaphor for the pandemic. It had started out as a three (3 ) panel painting ( with a single panel being 32"" wide X 47"" tall ), but has evolved into many panels. The whole set is connected, it still is technically a single painting made up of 23 canvasses. I used this painting to vent out my fears, frustrations, anger, resentments, loneliness, etc. . .all the negative emotions. . . The beauty of my journey was the eventual surrender, acceptance, serenity, peace, the sunrise. . . This experience has taught me something profound, I considered it a sabbatical that had allowed me to quiet my mind and had given me the chance to recalibrate my compass. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvKlaxn_8YU

I am John, I moved to Canada in 2003, and have been living in the lower mainland ever since. I had done some water color paintings in the past. I love nature and painted dramatic landscapes. I did this for a number of years, I had accumulated a decent body of work. Around 10 years ago, my interest in art slowly faded away. I ended up focusing on work. This was the time I was trying to carve out a living doing house painting. In the back of my mind, I was wishing that someday, I will have a chance to get back to my art again.