Other than its infectious virus, COVID-19 has unleashed so many hidden talents of so many people. Name it, it’s all over social media, messaging and e-commerce platforms.
Foodies offering all types of international cuisines, cakes, pies and pastries have emerged from various home kitchens. Other than the wide variety of healthy and unhealthy gourmet dishes and comfort food choices, a number of beverages, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, were not to be outdone. Suddenly, aspiring chefs, bakers, bartenders and restaurateurs have come out of the woodwork, their creations becoming a part of dining tables of families for breakfast, lunch, merienda, dinner and even midnight snacks.
More farms have sprouted not only in the usual rural sites but also in crowded urban settings where families started growing vegetables for their own consumption. Apart from vegetable farmers, there was also a proliferation of closet green thumbs that yielded an assortment of ornamentals not only to adorn homes but also to serve as air purifiers to protect families from potentially unclean and harmful air. The rise of the “PlanTitas” and “PlanTitos” has come.
Then there is also the exposition of creativity and art. Before the pandemic there was already the emergence of a vibrant art scene. Aspiring painters, sculptors, graphic designers, fashion designers, etc. were already all over town attracting a wide range of enthusiasts, collectors and buyers, affirming that there is life and livelihood in the creative space. For some of them, their creative expression addressed functional purposes produced by the need to establish safety measures amid the pandemic. A variety of face masks, face shields and other forms of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has been designed, paving the way for a wave of functional art. For others, finding more time during the lockdown was simply an opportunity to bring greater refinement to their craft and to inspire those who find connection with their creation.
I became very much aware of these very refreshing and energizing trends (brought about by an otherwise disruptive and anxiety-ridden pandemic) not as mere bystander and passive observer in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Viber and the other digital communication platforms that have obviously kept pace with these developments. To a certain extent, our home has also become a staging ground for some of these worthwhile initiatives. We definitely experimented with home cooking and practiced chemistry in mixing cocktails. We also planted vegetables and fruits and started nurturing new plant varieties.
But if there is one thing that stands out at home, it is the explosion of portraits painted by my wife. Didi has actually been dabbling in art for years now. Way back in the 1990s, she was doing wonderful watercolors which she would exhibit at Windows Café, the restaurant she and my sister Christina ran in those years. Although some of her paintings were bought by friends and relatives, she didn’t pick up painting then as something she could pursue, as either career or hobby. This must have been because she was also managing a restaurant and food business which demanded so much of her attention.
Still life in watercolor, 1997, one of Didi Lopa’s early works
When she and my sister decided to close Windows Café, her time and attention shifted to taking care of our growing children while I was busy building my own career in Development work and trying to save the world in my own humble way. She was by all measure a full-time mom and wife in what we would consider her most productive and energetic years.
Oh, before I forget, before the restaurant venture, Didi was a flight attendant in the glory days of Cathay Pacific. She was easily earning four times my NGO wage and was flying all over the world. As it was then in Cathay Pacific, she would have been entitled to a lifetime benefit of free tickets to any destination she and her family would wish to visit had she stayed on for 10 years straight as part of their crew. But when we got married and after she gave birth to our firstborn, this was not to be so.
Didi Lopa as Cathay Pacific flight attendant in 1985
In case you have not noticed yet, I am guilt-tripping now, realizing that Didi has already put off for a long time now much of what could have given her personal fulfillment, in deference to my and my children’s own fulfillment.
But 30 years after and seeing her do portrait after portrait today, I am hoping that she has finally found something that makes her truly happy.
I believe this rush of creative energy started when she drew a portrait of Auntie Cory (Aquino) while we were looking for an appropriate cover of the book I was editing on my aunt’s memoirs (To Love Another Day). I initially asked Mel Vera Cruz (an artist friend) and my brother Jamike (an artist himself) to take a crack at it, using a photo of Auntie Cory taken by Alex Loinaz. Even as I knew Didi could do her own, it did not cross my mind to ask her. Long story short, she volunteered to do one and when I submitted the three studies to my nephews Jamie Bautista and Paolo Reyes who were designing the book, they unanimously chose Didi’s work.
President Corazon Aquino’s portrait by Didi Lopa on the cover of ‘To Love Another Day’
Since then, other friends have commissioned her to do portraits of their loved ones. One of the first ones was a portrait of the late Justice Ricardo Puno, the father of our close friend Eric Puno.
Didi Lopa and Eric Puno beside her oil portrait of the late Justice Ricardo Puno
Then came the portrait of another dear friend, Yorkie Gomez, followed by those of other friends: Lia Manuel, Bon and Carol Ramos, Mike Mapa, Franco Sevilla, Tonyboy Cojuangco and Nicky Gemperle. To further hone her craft, she did portraits of my sisters, my mom and dad, me and our kids. As Christmas present, she did her first “fourtrait” of Vice President Leni Robredo with her three daughters, Aika, Tricia and Jillian. which she fondly titled “the Angels of Jesse”.
Didi Lopa’s ‘Jesse’s Angels,’ an oil portrait of Vice President Leni Robredo, her daughters Aika, Tricia and Jillian
As they say, we cannot really turn back time and try to do things differently. But we are also often reminded that we have to make the most of every moment the Lord has blessed us with.
So for the time we have left, I am happy to be my wife’s stage-husband as she discovers more and more, and showcases the PainTita in her!
Happy 30th anniversary Mom!
Newly wed Rapa and Didi Lopa on Jan. 5, 1991
To follow Didi and see more of her work, please check:
Didi Quiason Lopa (@didiqlopa.paints) • Instagram photos and videos
