After meeting weekly for close to three years, a small group of fledgling artists will finally hold its first group exhibit in July at Chef Jessie at Rockwell Club.
The Green Monday group is composed of painting enthusiasts who completed a basic drawing and painting class, but decided they wanted to continue honing their craft.
Two members, Imelda Tan and Marigene Garcia, told Inquirer Lifestyle that they formed their group because their teacher, Lupicinio “Peter” Ng, told them “it has to be worth my time.”
Unlike other instructors who expect to be paid, however, Ng would regularly meet with them because he is basically “a teacher at heart,” Tan said. “He doesn’t ask for any payment.”
Problematic medium
Early on, the group—which includes lawyers, interior designers, a food scientist, businesswomen, students, university professors and homemakers—decided to focus on watercolor because, Garcia said, it is the hardest medium to work with.
“If you make a mistake with watercolor, it’s very difficult to remedy it; unlike when you work with oil or acrylic paint, you can simply cover up the blunder by applying more paint,” she said.
“Working with watercolor involves planning, layering and deciding where to place the ‘leave-out whites’—those portions that are left unpainted,” Tan said.
One of the newer members is popular cake stylist Penk Ching of Pastry Bin.
Finding time
“I joined Green Monday a year ago because I kept on bumping into the group when they would hold their meetings,” Ching said.
By the second or third time she ran into them, they jokingly asked her if she was stalking them or whether they were stalking her.
“I’ve always wanted to try my hand at painting but I felt that I never had the time. When I expressed interest in maybe joining the group, they immediately bought me my own box of paint and paper that set me back by over P6,000,” she said.
Apparently, painting with watercolor is not exactly cheap, as the group’s instructor insists on using Windsor & Newton paint from England.
The cost of blunders can really add up as each sheet of special paper used retails for P300.
Despite this, members of the Green Monday group have managed to create dozens of soft-hued paintings. For the selling exhibit at Chef Jessie at Rockwell Club that opens July 1, each participating member will have seven paintings on display.
Participating artists in the group exhibit include Ching, Garcia, Tan and Ng, as well as Lea Consulta, Miriam Daway, Theresa Fenix, Daniel Ratilla, Corinne Salazar and Margie Sy.
