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AI Images: Al-Lāt

AI Generated Image 2025

I have been using https://creator.nightcafe.studio to create re-imaginations of mythological creatures and gods. My recent series: “Al-Lāt” features the pre-Islamic Arabian goddess of War and Fertility: Al-Lāt (اللات) as she rises from an ancient bathhouse

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Memories of a Violent Past

July 2025 Lustre Street, Población, Zamboanga City

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Mentor Artist Tribute selfie

Paying my respects to the Boholano National Artist Napoleón Isabelo “Billy” Veloso Abueva (1930-2018)at the Libingan ng mga Bàyánì (Cemetery of Heroes) in Barangay Western Bicutan, Taguig City.

I first met Mang Billy when he was our dean when I first entered the College of Fine Arts at the Dilimán campus of the University of the Philippines. I would later get closer to him as I would visit his home in Quezón City, when I was working with his daughter Amihan.

This picture was taken circa 2025, during my regular explorations to document local historical landmarks and artworks around the Philippines.

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AI Images: Sharareh: Prayers to the Night Sky

AI Generated Image 2025

I have been using https://creator.nightcafe.studio with various model settings to create re-imaginations of Angels and Demons. My recent series: “Sharareh: Prayers to the Night Sky” features a female angel rising above the cosmos.

Sharareh (شَـراره) is a Persian word that means “spark” or “radiance”

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Marian Cat

July 2025 Parròquia de San Vicente Ferrer, Barangay Sambag, Cebú City

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Old School Days selfie

I got curious by the colonial buildings in the 1925 A.B. Simpson Alliance School along the Don Facundo Alfaro (1879-1943) Street, in the Tetuan District of Zamboanga City.

The A.B. Simpson Alliance School was established by the Canadian Robert Alexander Jaffray (1873-1945), of the Christian & Missionary Alliance (C&MA). Jaffray named the school after the Canadian Albert Benjamin Simpson (1843-1919), the founder of the C&MA.

This picture was taken circa 2025, during my regular explorations to document local historical landmarks and artworks around the Philippines.

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AI Images: Beneath the Streets of New York Part I

AI Generated Image 2025

I have been using https://creator.nightcafe.studio to create re-imaginations of mythological creatures and gods in a modern setting. My recent series: “Beneath the Streets of New York” features a female mercenary hunting a mark in the sewers of New York City, only to discover hundreds of alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) living beneath the “City that Never Sleeps”

Yeah, I admit it is kind of unrealistic having the woman in a bikini, but I am just riding the sexy female protagonist; ala Laura Croft.

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Kérberos (Κέρβερος)

July 2025 Chinese Community Cemetery, Veterans Avenue Extension, Tetuan, Zamboanga City

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Focus goupfie

My wife and I pose with the famed Ibagiw photographer Wig Tysmans (born 1956) during the 2014 ManilArt, Endangered Visions exhibit at the SM Aura Premier in Barangay Fort Bonifacio of Taguig City. My wife had actually knew Wig much longer, as she had worked with him for the PAL (Philippine Airlines (PAL) in-flight magazine “Mabuhay!” and the fashion magazine “MEGA”

My participation during the 2014 ManilArt was to be part of the international exhibition of Visionary Artists entitled “Endangered Visions”, which was organized and curated by the Cabanatuaneño artist Gromyko Semper.

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AI Images: A New ʿĒḡel Hazzāhāḇ

AI Generated Image 2025

I have been using https://creator.nightcafe.studio with various model settings to create re-imaginations of mythologies and mythological creatures. My recent series: “A New ʿĒḡel Hazzāhāḇ” features a group of angels praying to a golden statue of a Pḗgasos (Πήγασος) similar to how the Israelites had prayed to the Golden Calf / ʿĒḡel Hazzāhāḇ (עֵגֶל הַזָּהָב)

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Kalasadj Crossing

July 2025 Sahaya Village, Mariki, Rio Hondo, Zamboanga City

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Historic Eucharistic selfie

Posing under the 1955 masterpiece “The First Mass in Limasawa” by Angoneño National Artist Carlos 'Botong' Francisco (1912-1969) on display at the National Museum of the Philippines - Cebú in Barangay San Roque of Cebú City.

The painting features the Augustinian Father Pedro de Valderrama (died 1594) conducting the first mass to the Portuguese explorer Fernão de Magalhães (aka Ferdinand Magellan, 1480-1521) and his crew on the 31st of March 1521 in Limasawa of the island of  Southern Leyte or Butuan, with Rajah Kolambu and his warrior observing the mass.

I have long been aware of this painting since my childhood, as this was commonly used by the government and educators to discuss Philippine historical events, so I was happy to finally see it face-to-face in 2015, when the National Museum of Fine Arts in Manila was opened for free to the public in 2013. And now I am glad that  my students can see this artwork now that it is on exhibit in Cebú City.

The Aduana (Customs) Building was designed by the American architect William Edward Parsons (1872-1939), and was later repurposed as the Malacañang sa Sugbo in 2004 to be the presidential palace in the Visayas before it was finally transformed into the National Museum of the Philippines - Cebú in 2023.

Artist’s Biography:

Carlos “Botong” Villaluz Francisco (1914-1969) is noted as the greatest painter to hail from the artists’ town of Angono, Rizal province. Francisco graduated from the University of the Philippines (U.P.) School of Fine Arts, under Fernando Amorsolo. After graduation, Francisco created illustrations for the Tribune and La Vanguardia, while he also did commissioned sets and murals with the emerging modernists, Victorio Edades and Fermin Sanchez. Their works were used in productions held at the Manila Grand Opera House and the Clover Theater. Francisco’s distinct style of painting set him aside from the classicists of the period, and he would later be part of the first wave of the Philippine Modernist Movement, that would change the face of art. After World War II (1938-1945), Francis began teaching at the University of Santo Tomas. During that period, he started collaborating with the director, Manuel Conde Urbano(1915-1985, National Artist for Film), in developing the script for the filmGenghis Khan (1950), and two uncompleted projects: Putol na Kampilan (Broken Sword), and Tatlong Labuyo (Three Wild Roosters). Francisco was also the costume designer for Conde’s films, such asPrinsipe Teñoso (1941), Ibong Adarna (1941), Siete Infantes de Lara (1950, Seven Princes of Lara), and the Juan Tamad series (1947, 1959, 1960, and 1963; Lazy John). Francisco’s unique compositions and bright color palettes won him many awards, but his distinction in the art scene was by the many murals that he executed in many buildings such as Bulwagang Katipunan of the Manila City Hall and the Stations of the Cross for Far Eastern University. In 1964, Francisco was given the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award from the City of Manila, and in 1973, he was honored as a National Artist in Painting.

The photo was taken circa 2025, during a field trip with my Grade 11 of the School of Design and Communication (sd+c) of the Southwestern University PHINMA (SWU)

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AI Images: Naṭarāja: The Dance of Creation and Destruction Part II

AI Generated Image 2025

I have been using https://creator.nightcafe.studio with various model settings to create re-imaginations of Angels and Demons. My recent series: “Naṭarāja: The Dance of Creation and Destruction” features a female angel and demoness dancing among the ruins of a temple

Naṭarāja (नटराज) is actually the dance of the Hindu god Śhiva (शिव)

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Its Only a Paper Moon

July 2025 Sahaya Village, Mariki, Rio Hondo, Zamboanga City

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One of those days selfie

Cosplaying as Sakamoto Tarō (坂本 太郎) from the 2020 shōnen manga (少年漫画) comics and 2025 anime (アニメ) animated series “SAKAMOTO DAYS”, in my apartment in Barangay Sambag, Cebú City.

My interest to cosplay as Sakamoto Tarō, when I was discussing with my daughter about watching the anime series; and then my daughter says: “Eh dad, you look like him!”

Yeah, I was tickled pink to have my daughter compare me to an animated character.

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AI Images: Flōra Part I

AI Generated Image 2025

I have been using https://creator.nightcafe.studio to create re-imaginations of mythologies and gods. My recent series: “Flōra” features the Roman goddess of flowers: Flōra who is the counterpart of the Greek nýmphē (νύμφη) of Spring and flowers: Khlōrís (Χλωρίς), who is presented as redheaded woman with floral body paint, laying in a flower bed in a temple ruins

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Inland Life

July 2025 Sahaya Village, Mariki, Rio Hondo, Zamboanga City