In contrast to the guy I wrote about previously - my comrade-in-art Jojo Garcia - Jerry Dean was a very disciplined student. He diligently attended his classes, passed his plates on time, and abhors gallivanting and indulging in forbidden pleasures . He is one classmate whom I have not lost track of over the years. We are compadres - he is ninong (godfather) to my younger son, Kai. We were also partners once in a t-shirt printing business, and snorkeling buddies too.
Jerry worked for many years in animation, first as special effects, and later, as background artist. His stint in this field honed his skill in watercolor techniques. With the advent of the computer, he was compelled to learn Photoshop and other digital painting programs. Jerry had also worked abroad, in Vietnam and Singapore as animation background artist, and in Kuwait as muralist. Although the latter job paid well, he confessed that he'd rather not do murals again if the job includes doing ceiling paintings, which gave him a bad neck.
His marriage opened for him another career - that of cake decorator. His wife, Franz, you see, owned a bakery, and she encouraged Jerry to enroll in a cake decoration course. Jerry did, and the knowledge he acquired he was able to put into good use when he went to work in Singapore as cake decorator. He was back after almost a years' stay in Singapore and is again indulging his true passion which is watercolor painting.
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| Rouge at Dawn |
Jerry likes his watercolor paintings wet - that is, he loves applying watercolor paints or inks on wet paper, and lately, canvas surfaces. The effect he's aiming for is the one wherein the paint "explodes" or spreads out upon contact with the wet surface. (see above).
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| Early Journey |
Unlike his old watercolors (right), Jerry's 2011 works, Self-Contentment and Fusion of Archetypes (below), are very much pared down, and very colorful too. This is all to the good, because his abstract treatment of part of the background gives the painting a more spontaneous and fluid quality, which are traits one always looks for in watercolors.
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| Self-Contentment |
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| Fusion of Archetypes |
When his love affair with watercolor will end Jerry can't answer as yet. He had implied that he hasn't exhausted all the possibilities of the medium. As things stand he is just into herons, flowers, and boats. So we can expect Jerry to devote several years more to watercolor if he intends to take on the challenge of depicting other subject matter.
awesome!
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