Deep in Rellie Liwag’s heart

For someone who picked up the paintbrush late in life, Rellie Liwag is a prolific artist who fills her canvases with life.

In “Deep in My Heart (A Metamorphosis),” her solo exhibit at the ArtistSpace of Ayala Museum in Makati City, ongoing until Dec. 21, Rellie tells in her seemingly autobiographical artworks the power of life as seen in her meanderings and musings masquerading in oil or acrylic lines.

One thing is for sure, Rellie is a storyteller. Each of her 27 paintings on exhibit tells of a tale so unique to the artist’s experiences yet so universal the onlooker can relate. The stories she wants to convey are immersed in the colors that are vivid and muted in her style that varies from realism to impressionism to abstract realism.

In Drifting Thoughts (acrylic on canvas, 28” x 24”), the viewer is lost in the imminent melancholy of a woman in red, her eyes fixed on the future, unsure of the events to take place. A bird is perched on her shoulder, perhaps the winged creature is her alter ego or the innermost desire of her life to be free.

But joy is also a feeling Rellie celebrates. In between Bow Bridge (oil on canvas, 30” x 20”) and The Hamptons (oil on canvas, 30” x 25”), the artist captures New York at the glory of autumn. Colors are resplendent on canvases; a milieu of the good life is in the air.

“I have always wanted to be a visual artist,” Rellie begins, “but I didn’t believe in myself at first.”

Rellie’s talent was like a seed in storage. She was waiting for the seed of her creativity to touch the fertile soil that would make it germinate. For years, she went with the flow of self-doubt and indecision. She vacillated whether or not to pick up the brush. Then one day, during visits to museums in New York and in other parts of the world, standing before masterpieces like Vincent Van Gogh’s, the seed of her artistry germinated.

“I remember being moved to tears listening to an audio guide about Van Gogh. His passion, his refusal to conform, his relentless search for truth—I saw myself in him. He was misunderstood, yet he kept going. That depth spoke to my soul,” she says.

The creative seed fell to the fertile ground and before Rellie knew it—with a few telling her she was “too old” and “too late” for the game—she was already creating art.

Her formal studies began at the Art Students League of New York, where she honed her skills in realism and portraiture. (On exhibit is the impressive Replica of the Young Rembrandt, oil on linen canvas, 25” x 21”. See it and be mesmerized by Rellie’s command of the paintbrush.)

Later on, she became a member of the Portrait Society of America, and this helped her deepen her understanding of the human anatomy, a requisite in portraiture “because realism dictates that the depiction of the human body part should be real to its measurement.”  

Rellie was unstoppable after the germination of her artistic pursuit. In an intensive 14-day workshop at the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy under Russian maestro Igor Nakaslov, her life was further changed. “That workshop was transformative. It challenged me technically and pushed me to explore the emotional depth behind every stroke.”

Deep in My Heart celebrates Rellie’s journey as an artist. Her creative growth is seen in her painstaking realism, intuitive impressionism and thought-provoking abstract realism.

“I am happy in the constant discovery of myself and my art—a certain stroke, a certain color, you finally get it and feel great—and you become more confident, more mature. There is just so much beauty around us. We have to find it. When I have problems, I turn to art, and I see beauty,” says Rellie, who had a stint as a model for Pitoy Moreno and Auggie Cordero after finishing Communication Arts from Maryknoll College.

“I believe art is one way God is getting through us. There is added meaning in my life now, a certain spirituality that nourishes me. My life is a canvas filled with bright, happy colors,” she concludes.

At the exhibit, an oil painting titled Sacred Heart of Jesus (14” x11”) has its own spot in a corner, alone but with eyes that seem to comb the whole ArtistSpace. The painter’s faith is alive.

Deep in Rellie Liwag’s heart is an artist ready to take on the next challenge. Her path is illuminated. She’ll find it in her heart.