Filipino Associations In PNG: FAPNG and LFAI

One of the prominent Filipino associations that I know of in Papua New Guinea is the FAPNG whose office is in Port Moresby. There is a similar association based in Lae called LFAI or the Lae Filipino Association, Inc. 

While it's a fact that they have been functioning around for quite some time, I haven’t been too concern about joining. Perhaps during the past few years, I was fine with doing things by myself and I didn’t see the merit of being in one of the group.

Just recently, the talks about an election of officers for FAPNG have reached our doorsteps through a co-worker named Levi, who is also a candidate for the secretarial position. And a few days ago, kuya Tony, who is an old-timer in PNG has sent us a couple of membership forms.

Now that I have started blogging about my experiences in PNG, I might as well try and blog about the good things that FAPNG is doing to promote camaraderie among the Filipinos living in this country.  But I am more interested to blog about their projects and community services that directly relate to the betterment of local communities.

So it has come to pass that I’ve decided to join.

This is the logo of the FAPNG (pronounced as fapnang) and I took this shot during one of our company’s Christmas Staff Parties which was held at FAPNG’s Club House.

A couple of days ago, I received this receipt from them confirming my payment for the membership fee. The document behind is a list of certain privileges that a Filipino can get as benefits for being an active member of the association.  The paper with colorful prints just behind the receipt is, I guess, a flyer from one of the aspiring parties trying to inform us of their good intention to serve in administrative positions if they win the polls this upcoming FAPNG officer election.

That will be on the 30^th of October, 2016. I am off by then so I’m looking forward to drop by the Club House and cast my vote.

This is one of the activities that happened during our Staff Party at FAPNG Club House: a few staffs are seen enjoying the music while some are lining up at the background to check on the free food.

What I love about our company is that it makes sure that all of the staffs are not going to go home hungry. Here’s one of the staff with his fair share of the freebies.

Mmmm, isn't that cake lovely?

Like how a party venue should look like in the end, we actually have left behind some garbage around despite our efforts to keep the place clean.  But it’s a good thing there’s not much of rubbish to clean for these two gentlemen who immediately came to sweep around as soon as everyone was out.

Thank you guys!

Mont Marte Two Seasons Watercolor

Two years ago, I posted on my Facebook page that I would not be painting portraits anytime soon. This is because during that time, my accompanying art skills were on par with that of a Kindergarten learning to draw. My favourite tool back then was a mechanical pencil, which was a gift from my friend, Ali, who came to work for our branch in Daru. Nowadays, I believe that my art skill is still around the Kindergarten level, but with a slightly pronounced improvement. I have also welcomed the opportunity to try out other art mediums, like the watercolor in particular.

This is the Two Seasons watercolor from Mont Marte, which I bought for K30+ kina from Theodist. The paints come in tubes that look pretty durable. Cheaper watercolor brands in tubes are often plaqued by unnecessary problems like a leak from the bottom and breakage along the lines near the cap. But with Two Seasons, you can get your money’s worth and you couldn’t be happier.

Here’s a pencil sketch that I drew for this blog entry. Most of the art pieces that belong to a watercolor artist begin from a simple pencil sketch.  I drew mine with less shade and a little subtle so the lines wouldn’t show up too much in the end product.

I have a well lit custom-made drawing table where I carry out my sketching. However, it doesn’t have enough space to accommodate all these panting tools so I had to clear up the things on my laptop table and did the setup there.

This brush holder is the latest addition to my painting tools. The price is around K9+ from Theodist. Those watercolor brushes are new ones too. My first impression of brushes is that all brushes are the same and are all suitable for water-based paints. My updated realization is that not all brushes are cut out for watercolor painting. There are brushes that look subtle in appearance, but can become a threat to the paper in an instance so it is always a good thing to check the labels before making the purchase.

These brushes have a “watercolor” label on the package.

I’m very new to watercolor painting. Having said that, I guess I am allowed to use a “scratch pad” for testing the intensity of paints before I actually apply them on the drawing. One surprising advantage of watercolor painting is that you can easily dismiss a mistake for style.

As the scratch pad is filled up with psychedelic swatches of paints, the art piece itself is slowly taking form. The pencil strokes becomes less visible and the once two-dimensional drawing becomes a bit alive from the constant application of shades.

Here’s the end product. Overall, I have spent roughly thirty minutes for the pencil sketch and some two hours for the application of watercolor paints.

Happy painting everyone!