NutArt

Philippine Patterns

2011-02-08T22:19:00.000-08:00

Filipiniana

2010-11-27T16:18:00.000-08:00

Mountain Province / Cordillera

2010-05-31T00:11:00.000-07:00

Philippine Costumes

2010-02-22T16:53:00.000-08:00

Tagalog mother & child

Tagalog children

Tagalog water bearers

Bagobo family

Bukidnon women

T'boli mother and child

Philippine Costumes

2009-08-24T02:08:00.000-07:00

Bagobo children

Gaddang couple

Kalinga mother & child

T'boli mother & child

Maranao family

Turn-of-the-century family

Bagobo women

T'boli women

Tribal Children

2009-06-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

Bagobo Children dancing

Yakan Children

Monochrome NutArt

2009-04-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

NutArt on Canvas (our first)

2009-01-16T18:45:00.000-08:00

Lots of work to stretch a canvas over a coconut shell but it gives a nice exotic flair to an art piece. The picture to the left shows our usual NutArt in comparison to the Canvas NutArt.

We wish a . . .

2008-12-23T03:18:00.000-08:00

Personalized NutArt

2008-12-06T04:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday dear Aiko!

(special request for her favorite animals)

Marine Life

2008-10-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

for a Dive Resort in Korea

Manila - Turn of the Century - Daily Living

2008-10-04T20:34:00.000-07:00

Food vendor and family

Water bearers

Grass vendors

Cordillera Faces

2008-08-21T23:50:00.000-07:00

INA (Lady of Penafrancia)

2008-07-05T01:34:00.001-07:00

INA

(Patroness of Bicol Province)

Philippine Folk Tale - Monkey & Turtle

2008-06-16T22:15:00.000-07:00

"Please, monkey, give me a banana - please!
I found it first!"

"Ok, turtle, I keep the top and you the banana bottom!"

"Who feeds you this camote (sweet yam), turtle?"

Family Joys

2008-06-09T02:13:00.001-07:00

Turn of the Century (Manila)

Mother & Child

2008-05-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

Turn of the Century (Manila) Mother & Child

T'boli Mother & Child

Gaddang Mother & Child

Tiruray Mother & Child

Bukidnon Mother & Child

Introducing NutArt Tampipi!

2008-04-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

Based on suggestions by our blogger friends we started brainstorming.

And this is the outcome. Thank You!

Wedding Pictures and our Sea Turtle!

2008-03-09T03:28:00.000-07:00

"Using the coconut shell as our coin holder added a special touch to
our Boracay wedding.
We love the fact that you hand-paint, number and record each of these shells, so we shall treasure ours and remember your admirable work always. Thank you for making these unique ba-os!"

Janice & Alvin

Philippine Patterns

2008-02-14T00:31:00.000-08:00

B'laan tribe pattern
(Mindanao province)

Bagobo tribe pattern
(Mindanao province)

Mandaya tribe pattern
(Mindanao province)

Philippine Costumes

2008-02-04T17:30:00.000-08:00

Church wear
(turn of the century)

Visayan house dress
(turn of the century)

mother and children of Kalinga tribe
(Luzon province)

Philippine Costumes

2008-01-14T01:14:00.000-08:00

a couple of the Bukidnon tribe (Mindanao)

a couple of the Bagobo tribe (Mindanao)

Philippine Costumes

2007-12-13T20:14:00.001-08:00

Bagobo tribe

(Mindanao province)

Higaonon tribe

(Mindanao province)

Kalinga Apayao tribe

(Luzon province)

Kalinga tribe

(Luzon province)

Kalinga tribe
(Luzon province)

Philippine Costumes

2007-10-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

Gaddang tribe
(Luzon province)

Ibaloi tribe
(Luzon province)

Philippine Costumes

2007-09-07T18:15:00.000-07:00

Mandaya tribe
(Mindanao province)

Yakan tribe
(Mindanao province)

Bagobo tribe

(Mindanao province)

Manila
(19th century)

T'boli tribe

(Mindanao province)

from Bukidnon
(Mindanao province)

Anemone Crab

2007-08-20T18:47:00.001-07:00

Not edible!

Philippine Harvest

2007-08-16T01:26:00.001-07:00

everybody loves it...!

Mother Mary's Garden

2007-08-13T18:58:00.001-07:00

The Mother of all mothers!

Guardian of Mother Earth

2007-08-10T02:59:00.001-07:00

...we are her guardians!

One Jeepney Trip

2007-08-07T01:53:00.000-07:00

All in one nutshell

Welcome to NutArt

2007-07-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

One of our angels painted on a coconut shell.

The concept of NutArt came one fine morning during breakfast. It began with the topic of making charcoal out of the empty coconut shells left from the previous copra making days. We have more then 30 coconut trees in our garden so beside using the nuts for buko we also make the rest into copra (dried coconut meat). The leftover from the copra making are the coconut shells which are usually made into charcoal (coconut charcoal is so clean and pure so it is used for many filter applications).

Michael reflected on the sturdiness and durability of the coconut shell (or “bao” as it is locally called). He said “sure, making it into charcoal is just but logical but is that all there is to it?” Being Pinay, I said, “There sure are!” (thinking of the Philippine maglalatik folk dance where male dancers use them as costumes and the many souvenir items sold at markets). Michael was driving at something which I could not yet pinpoint, “Yes, but what about painting on it?” I recall looking at him blankly then. My paradigms were stuck to the maglalatik dance and the smiling faces drawn on polished coconut shell bags. I simply had no idea of what he was talking about.

Michael definitely had an idea but did not know how to explain it. So, he decided to draw a series of doodles on our table napkins just to show me how painting in a coconut shell would look like. Upon which he concluded to call it “NutArt.” And that was it.

Michael, by nature, follows the German adages “strike while the iron is still hot” and “make nails with heads”. That is as the Pinoys say “action agad” to the first. As to the second, it means to make something very effective and functional. Now, I really do not know if we have a similar saying to that but I do hope we have one! Anyway, with these German mottos guiding our every step we immediately made the first batch of polished coconut shells and painted on them. After that we asked one of our friends to have them displayed in his souvenir store. We also drove all the way to the Department of Trade in Calapan and had our NutArt’s name registered. All in a matter of two weeks--- Whew!

As it went, the first months were definitely very valuable learning months for us. We kept brainstorming, experimenting and improving on the quality and look of the paintings. We went around the various resorts and observed where they sold well and who actually bought them. Michael also documented every art piece and came up with a database for them. Since then, we have been doing and selling NutArt for nearly two years already.

As we got to know our medium (the coconut shell), we noticed that every individual shell has its own characteristic thickness and texture. Having gone through the fire baking during the copra making, each shell has been automatically cleaned of any rot-causing microbes even before we do the inside and out side sanding/polishing of the shells. Constant care is spent in sorting out those shells which show hairline-thin cracks or unwanted grooves. After the careful selection comes the step of polishing the shell. This takes a lot of time and dexterity. Only well polished shells can serve as the “canvas” for the paintings and get a prime coating. Then everything is hand-painted using top-quality acrylics.

A lot of scrutiny still comes after that and only when both of us (especially Michael’s) give it our thumbs up then the final painting is sprayed with a special fixative. This, as the final layer/sealant, ensures a water resistant, non-gloss and color-fast product. Every NutArt shell is provided with a stand. Michael designed it with an ingenious adjustable viewing-angle feature so the shell can either be placed on a table/cabinet surface or hung on the wall. These stands, by the way, are also assembled by hand.

We do enjoy doing NutArt and because of the many coconut shells we have handled (and are handling), we have a deep respect and awe for Mother Nature’s way of designing her many, many creations.

We hope you continuously peek once in a while in this blog and get to see what we (in our humble way) have co-created with her! And if you feel you’d love to have one---then, they can be yours too! Just send us an email for details. Thank you very much.

God Bless Us All!

Bernadette

Click: ViewPoint House Retreat
(our little paradise)