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.

- BÜM D. TENORIO, JR.

Mystery Lady, 24" X 18", oil on canvas

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.