Fernando Amorsolo in Lego and stormy weekend

"Grand Old Man of Philippine Art" is what they call Fernando Amorsolo, Philippine's first ever national artist. His works include landscapes, depicting the life of Filipinos, portraits, sketches, historical paintings like the making of the first Philippine flag, etc.

He studied here in the country and abroad, making a name for himself not only to his own country but raising flag in other countries as well.

He died on April 24, 1972 at the age of 79. If only he could have lived another 50 years, he would have seen some of his works reaping millions in Peso. The latest was a 1949 work of his entitled Planting Rice auctioned more than PHP30 million.

Here in the city, some of his works can be found on display at the gallery of Sierra Pines.

While his works by themselves were already masterpieces, imagine being recreated using Lego bricks.

When I have learned about this through social media, I marked my calendar right away so I can see them.

At first, I didn't know that these paintings were recreations. I thought they were the original paintings to be displayed in one of the malls.

When the day of display arrived, even though it was raining hard at that time, we still went to the venue and checked it out.

We almost didn't go because upon checking outside, it was foggy and wet. However, I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity. Weekends are the only free time that we have to go and the exhibit will only be for a short time.

Images that I took while in a taxi going to the mall.

The paintings were displayed at the atrium of the mall so that it will not be missed. They were huge in size also and that's where they should be properly placed.

This project is called Project Amorsolo and there were three different works of Fernando Amorsolo recreated using Lego bricks. This is to commemorate the 50th year since the proclamation of Fernando Amorsolo as a national artist.

The three works of Fernando Amorsolo were entitled: Bayanihan, Early Traders and Dalagang Bukid.

Thanks to PinoyLUG (Lego users group), this project has become a reality.

*Bayanihan *is one of the Filipino traits that is still alive today. It is timely as well because during the pandemic, the spirit of helping each other, taking care of each other, looking out for each other - bayanihan was kept alive, strengthening the bond among Filipinos. Early Traders recognizes the importance of other countries who extended their help as well during these trying times. Dalagang Bukid on the other hand recognizes the role of the Filipino women and how important that role was not just in the home but in society as well. Fun fact: This was done by all-women team from PinoyLUG.

I can only imagine the time and effort spent to put these pieces together to come up with these works. Kudos to PinoyLUG for this inspiring and creative idea and to giving new and fresh look into Fernando Amorsolo's works.

Naturally, this exhibit were shown in different places here in the country. I'm glad that it made its way here in the city and I had the chance to see it.

For more information about Project Amorsolo, check out bricknerd.

Because it was still raining by the time we were done, we headed on to a cafe for coffee.

Dokto balls (sweet potato balls) is just a perfect pair to black coffee.

This is my entry for this week's #BeautifulSunday and #SublimeSunday. #BeautifulSunday is hosted by @ace108
and #SublimeSunday is an initiative of @c0ff33a.

All photos were mine.