The Ateneo campus done in watercolor
Architect and artist Jano Eustaquio’s paintings of Ateneo buildings help raise funds for retired teachers, fallen security guard
Nostalgia played a part in the successful fundraising efforts for retired teachers and a slain security guard among Ateneo high school silver jubilarians. But the watercolors by Jano Eustaquio can actually stand alone. His paintings of buildings and high school wings, religious statues and tree-lined campus roads have a dream-like quality, the colors more evocative.
Nostalgia played a part in the successful fundraising efforts of a class of Ateneo High School silver jubilarians but the watercolors by Jano Eustaquio can actually stand alone. His paintings of buildings and high school wings, religious statues and tree-lined campus roads have a dream-like quality. They’re based on photographs but because he uses a watercolor wash, the colors are more evocative, less in-your-face.
An architect by profession, Eustaquio was also an architectural renderer when he started working two decades ago. Using paper, pen, brushes and paint, he would bring to life building plans, imagining how the structures would look like once completed. For the school’s fundraiser, he had a relatively easier time since the school’s buildings are already existing.
All he needed to do was secure permission to enter the Ateneo campus in Katipunan, Quezon City—it was still off limits in the middle of the year—and take some photos using his phone’s camera.
“I took pics to get the correct sizes and proportions, and then I would plot them out on paper,” Eustaquio told Lifestyle.
He immediately began painting, sometimes working on two or three pieces simultaneously. He used to do several renderings at the same time so it wasn’t a struggle.
“I’d work on them during weekends, spending two to four hours on a painting. It’s something I was familiar with. I liken it to muscle memory.”
Artistically inclined
Even as a child, Eustaquio was already artistically inclined.
His father was well aware of his son’s talent and enrolled him every summer when he was in grade school at artist E.R. Tagle’s studio in White Plains, Quezon City. Instead of being sore to be unable to enjoy the summer vacation, Eustaquio appreciated the classes and grew to love and look forward to them.
“I learned the foundations of watercolor paintings, which is one of the most difficult mediums to master because you can’t go back to correct your brush strokes. We would draw flowers, still lifes and trees—so many trees. There was even one year where all we painted were trees,” he said.
Trees are very much part of the landscape of the Ateneo campus and they are well represented in his paintings. Sunlight filters through their leaves and branches, casting shadows on grass and pavement alike.
His initial paintings focused on structures in the high school campus including the tree-lined quadrangle and larger-than-life statue of Mary beside a kneeling boy with the chapel behind them. “I’ve done six or seven of this particular scene from different angles already.”
Subjects have since been expanded to include the Church of the Gesu, the college library, Faura Hall, and quadrangle as well as the mossy, well-loved rock garden at the grade school, and images of the Immaculate Conception and The Holy Family.
In the span of a few months Eustaquio was able to come up with over 40 paintings that quickly sold out, with requests for commissioned pieces like the buildings at Ateneo Law School campus in Makati.
Online auction
“There have even been requests for me to do paintings of UP (University of the Philippines) Diliman landmarks but I tell them I’m focused first on my alma mater. After our homecoming on Dec. 3, maybe I can work on those.”
Last week, Eustaquio and his class (4E Batch ’97) put up a 20” x 30” painting of the high school quad up for online bids. It’s a special one because while the beneficiaries of this year’s homecoming fundraisers include the Order of the Blue Eagles and the first-ever retired Ateneo teachers’ fund, all the proceeds for this online action will go to the family of Jeneven Bandiala, the security guard who died in the line of duty last July 24.
The framed artwork, signed at the back by members of the school’s security and staff, is posted on the Facebook page of Fine Arts Philippines that will accept bids until 8 p.m. of Dec. 3.
“When we heard about the unfortunate shooting on Ateneo grounds last July, our class decided to help. At the time, sales of our watercolor paintings were picking up so we decided to render our bestseller, the high school 4th year wing, and auction it off to help the family of Kuya Jeneven,” Eustaquio said.
The renewed interest in his talent for painting watercolors might just be the start of a new chapter in this architect’s life.