IT STARTED more as a hobby for Reynaldo Gatmaitan. Having finished Architecture, his first art works were initially done through duplication and his art medium of choice is watercolor.

His artworks, then and even now, have very good attention to structure, detail and color. Since watercolor dries incredibly fast, Rey had to pre-set his ideas to make sure that he places on canvas his exact views and thoughts.

What's your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers

He started with a few commissioned works focusing more on familiar structures like old houses and edifices and later venturing into blending scenery. After eight years in Saudi Arabia, Rey had this fascination for oil painting.

"I really got hooked in oil painting. It is a bit fascinating and involves a lot of attention and patience," Rey told this writer in an afternoon interview at his home in Angeles City.

It was along Friendship Avenue that he was first captivated by oil paintings in the workshop of artist Arvin Tayag. Little by little, Rey had managed to learn most of the tricks of the trade through innocent inquiries.

Soon enough, Rey mastered the delicate art of blending light and dark shades and transforming his paintings into masterful renditions.

But unlike other artists who wait for inspiration and the "mood" to make their crafts, Rey would rather look for the inspiration than to wait for it.

"When I am not inspired, I tend to look for inspiration or at least get my self to be inspired to actually make my paintings," Rey said. He spends his day with his artworks, and a visit to his house in Angeles City would reveal a throng of good works dating back to his early exposure into art.

Most of the artworks that he would consider his "magnum opus," however, have ended into the hands of art collectors and commissioned projects by art patrons.

Reynaldo Gatmaitan's works are delicate and proceed with precision lines of detail and clarity. His watercolor paintings are organized in the presentation of detail and every stroke seemed to have been chiseled into the canvass. No wonder that he had been making the rounds of exhibits here.

Rey had been a part in major Kapampangan artists' exhibits like those organized by International Christian Artist, Samut Sari Art Exhibit organized by the Museo Ning Angeles, Alaya Chamber of the Arts Exhibits, and major exhibits staged mostly at SM malls here.

For invites, comments, suggestions, violent reactions, hate-mails, indignant rebuttals and what-have-you email the author at ianocampoflora@yahoo.com. (09275425466)

For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan.

(December 3, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.