WITH works as bright and cheery as travel photographs, Jingjing Villanueva Romero’s first one-woman art exhibit, Postcards From Mamita, ongoing until August 8 at the Wellington Centre, 32nd Street And 4th Crescent Park West, Bonifacio Global City, is aptly named.
The 73 paintings featured—all of them sold almost as soon as the exhibit opened on July 25—are artistic vignettes of fond memories and unforgettable experiences from the numerous trips of the indefatigable traveler.
The late-blooming but prolific Romero started working on her collection only in late-March, as she recuperated from mastectomy for breast cancer and underwent the required chemotherapy regimen.
“On my fifth chemo, I was getting bored as I had almost zero social life. My kids didn’t want me to go out, be in crowded places, fearing I would catch an infection. I was wearing a mask even at home,” Romero says.
At first, she relieved boredom through movie marathons. “Netflix [was] my best friend while recuperating from my mastectomy [and undergoing] chemo.” Eventually, that pastime palled.
Romero decided to explore an interest she had to abandon when she was 10 years old. “I made an attempt [to paint] but my father caught me borrowing tempera paints from a neighbor and he raised hell. He gave me a dressing down, repeatedly telling me: ‘If you don’t have it, you can’t afford it; if you don’t have it, you don’t need it; if you don’t have it, you don’t deserve it; if you don’t have it, you have to work hard for it.’ We were so poor we only had the basic necessities. Borrowing anything or accepting hand-me-downs and gifts when it was not Christmas were mortal sins to my parents. It was a matter of family pride—we had to make do with what we had, live within our means, no pretensions about and not be bothered by being poor.”
And so it took five decades before Romero could and would pick up a paintbrush. Fortunately, Romero, a communications graduate from the University of the Philippines and a successful public-relations practitioner, did not have to look far and hard for a mentor.
“I asked my University of the Philippines Fine Arts graduate niece, Erica Abriol-Santos, to tutor me at home. She is an art teacher for kids, so she was very patient with me!” Romero says. “My art lessons were very hands-on. Erica lectured and pointed out my mistakes as I drew and painted.”
Drawing from her memories of her travels and guided by photographs she took, Romero put on hold an autobiographical account of her trips that she wanted to write so her grandchildren could savor the excitement, joy and feeling of well-being she felt when traveling.
“I had a list of favorites in my head, which I planned to write about for my grandkid…so they can get to know me,” she says.
Her first artwork was her favorite breakfast, a healthy meal of Greek yogurt with fresh cherries and lemon water, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where daughter Bambi and family live
Then, she mined her memory for her favorite scenes and memories of Peru, South Africa, Cuba, Portugal, Brazil, Estonia, Israel, Bulgaria India, Bosnia, the Czech Republic and places in between. She reinterpreted her photographs to express her feelings when she took them and relied on Google to get details, like national birds, national insects, flowers and trees for her own versions.
Without any sketches or rough drawings of those trips (“There was no time, as we were always on the move!”) to guide her, Romero exceeded her goal of 65 paintings by age 65.
But there is more than personal pride and accomplishment for Romero that she completed a major undertaking. Proceeds of her show will allow her to revive her scholarships for seminarians.
“There are so many poor but deserving boys who want to be defenders of our faith. A big influence on my decision was having three priests in our family, an uncle and two cousins [including Utah-based Bishop Oscar Solis, who attended the exhibit’s opening]. Fifteen years ago, I sent two high-school [graduates to the seminary], although only one became a priest….”
The project was interrupted when she had to send nieces and nephews, aside from her own children, to school. Now that they have graduated and her health issues are behind her—Romero’s doctor has declared her cancer-free—the prayerful Romero is taking up where she left off.
The joy and optimism palpable in Romero’s works probably stem not just from having regained her health but from being able once again to help spread her faith.