Faces

I had the chance to draw when I was on sick leave last month (I couldn't walk properly so I didn't go to work for a couple of days). Armed with my then unused oil pastels, I picked up my sketchpad and immersed myself in the therapeutic effects of drawing. Aside from forgetting for a while that I was in pain, I was able to come up with this:

Nicole
October 01, 2010

Why did I name her Nicole? My inspiration for this drawing was Nicole Fox, America's Next Top Model Cycle 13 winner. She's my favorite among the 14 contestants, and I'm so glad she won. Cycle 13 was being replayed for the nth time on Star World when I drew this. I know my drawing doesn't look like her (I didn't intend for it to look like her), but her red, wavy hair prompted me to draw a red-haired girl as well. Plus, Nicole Fox loves to draw portraits, so I thought of trying it as well since I couldn't think of anything else to draw.

The following day, I drew another face. Here it is:

Clara
October 02, 2010

I started drawing this the day after I drew Nicole, but I didn't finish this on the same day (I forgot when). Anyway, I named the girl in the drawing Clara because my inspiration for this was Clara Perez, the main character in Arlene J. Chai's novel, Eating Fire and Drinking Water. It was the book that I was reading that time, and on the cover was a girl with a brown, wavy hair. I didn't copy it, but it prompted me to draw something similar.

Speaking of faces, in the November issue of Women's Health Philippines, my face appears! Haha! I was featured in the magazine's beauty pages for their makeover article. Here it is:

Yup that's me! To all those who gave me nothing but compliments about the photo, thank you! :) Feeling ko ang ganda ko. Haha! (I feel so pretty. Haha!) This was shot a couple of months ago. The day before the shoot, Denise and Kim from WH asked me if I'm free the next day and if I could be given a "makeover" for this article. I said yes, and two months after, my photo appears in the magazine.

I remember what Sam Gallardo, the makeup artist who did the looks for the makeover article, told me while she was doing my makeup: Yung mga hindi palaging nagme-makeup, sila yung mga magaganda talaga. Maganda kang bata (Those who do not usually wear makeup are the ones who are really pretty. You are a pretty girl). To which I couldn't say anything but thanks.

So it's not really what you put on your face. Whether you're a makeup junkie or a girl who prefers the "no makeup look", what matters is how you see and carry yourself and how you deal with other people. That, I think, is real beauty - one that's not only on the outside but on the inside as well.