Saturday was break day for me. Me and Ilyn would usually go out to Megamall or Makati, but at the last minute, we decided to go to Manila instead, and visit the National Museum, for a change of pace. It's been, my God, 15 years since I went there? The National Museum is located at the old Senate Building near Luneta. I have heard that there is a new museum, an extension of the old one, at the Finance building right next to it. I heard that the new Museum here was kick ass so I was rather excited on seeing it.
The old museum is where the colossal SPOLARIUM by Juan Luna is located. Measuring at 4 meters high and 7 meters wide, it literally dwarfs everything in the room.
The room contains other remarkable Juan Luna paintings, but aside from the Spolarium, the only other painting there that truly impressed me was a portrait of Juan Luna himself painted by Hidalgo. I looked for other Hidalgo paintings, but it seems it was the only one there. I remember seeing more the last time I went.
The new museum contains the wreck of the Spanish Galleon "San Diego" and many of its artifacts, found off the coast of Nasugbu, Batangas. The presentation is really amazing. They tried as much as possible to lay out the wreck in very much the same way it was discovered. Can't describe it more than that. It has to be seen to be believed. Not only does it have this wreck, it also has a lot of artwork. Paintings by Hidalgo, Juan Luna, Amorsolo, etc., and a couple of sculptures by Jose Rizal.
The one thing one will notice is the huge amount of potteries there. Some of them look like potteries I have here at home, but the difference being some of them are more than 700 years old! One funeral urn is purported to have come from 700BC. 2,700 years OLD!!
While I have been truly humbled by what I have seen there, I have discovered something that has disappointed...no, CRUSHED me terribly. For a long time I entertained the notion that somehow, somewhere, dinosaur bones would be discovered somewhere beneath some land or in some cave here in the Philippines. Sadly, I discovered that it would be impossible. In one interactive display where the geologic history of the Philippine islands is played, I learned that the lands that form the country have only come to existence 60 million years ago, 5 millions years AFTER the dinosaurs became extinct. AAARRGGHH!!
Oh well, it was a great experience nonetheless, and it's something I'd recommend anyone here in the Philippines to try.
Drawing Ocholocrat
Here is the inked version of the panel I put up here earlier. Pencilling it took less than 15 minutes, but drawing it in ink it took several hours. I'm pretty slow now. It's been a while since I've really drawn like this. I hope to get faster as I draw more. Gad, I'm going to have to.
