This is my friend Maya. We met at the Medical Student Council of our university. She chose a photo of herself in an Igorot dress because she is proud of her heritage. Her great grandfather, Dr. Jose Cariño, trained as a medical doctor in the US but returned to Baguio (northern Philippines) in 1918 to help build a general hospital, become its director, and also become the town’s mayor. He advocated for Philippine independence as a member of the indigenous community. His keen activism and desire to serve still run strong in Maya, one hundred years later.

We laughed about the early stages, where she looked like an alien, but she said it looked like her, and believed me when I said I will eventually make her look human.

This is an experiment on the very restrictive Zorn palette that uses only four colors: yellow ocher, ivory black, vermilion and titanium white. Anders Zorn (1860-1920) is probably the best known modern Swedish painter.

I cheated with some ready-made burnt umber and raw umber, but could have mixed it from the four colors of the palette. I substituted cadmium red deep hue for vermilion. The drawing was started on 18 January and the painting was finished on 27 January 2021.