The sun shines on Betsy Westendorp

CEBU, Philippines - Where have all the exotic flowers gone? Where are the regal portraits of Spanish and English royals, Philippine icons, and nostalgic landscapes?

These were the questions I asked myself as soon as I stepped into the Manila Contemporary Main Gallery to view the opening of Portrait of an Artist: Betsy Westendorp.

For blooms and portraiture are what the 85 year-old Spanish painter, the elegant, grand dame of the Philippine art scene who calls the Philippines her home, is famous for. Yet all you see in the ground floor are sunscapes, Betsy’s captivating depictions of the sun shrouded or bordered by clouds, painted in both huge canvases and smaller frames. Atmosferografia, she called it.

Betsy claims friends and collectors are most familiar with her flowers, but she also wants them to enjoy her clouds as much as she loves painting them.

It is an affection that has long been felt, expressed, but never really shared. Once upon a time, Betsy and her Filipino-Spanish mestizo husband would take long walks along Dewey Boulevard (now Roxas Boulevard), and together they would watch Manila Bay’s famed sunset. It was easy for Betsy to fall in love with it. She settled in on a penthouse apartment facing the waters, and whenever she was in town, she would find herself in the balcony almost every day, looking out into the distance and taking in the magnificence of the sun, the sky and the sea it shines over. The colors constantly changed, and she captured them all in her mind. Years later, she started taking pictures.

The clouds in her paintings represent different moments in Betsy’s life. The golden glow of a sunrise reflects a spirit bursting with hope. A stormy sky bruised with depth conveys a disquieted heart. The intensity of the Manila Bay sunset usually harbors melancholy. They are captured with such poetry of expression. Her works undoubtedly produce the same wonder within a viewer as when Betsy peered up through the clouds and took in the splendor of the sky.

She started the paintings for many years, decades even, as a matter of fact. It was another side of Betsy as an artist that was too extraordinary not to share. In collaboration with Silvana Diaz and Galleria Duemila, the exhibit was born! To do justice to her work, Architect Ramon Antonio also designed a room to show how to live with Betsy’s work, and to best showcase the delicate light and shadows in her paintings.

Finally, I asked Betsy, where have the flowers and the portraits gone? She smiled and pointed to the Upstairs Gallery.

Betsy’s story would be incomplete without telling of her highly successful career as a portrait artist, and the intimate Upstairs Gallery was a personal, visual narration of it. A photo showed her painting former First Lady Imelda Marcos in her youth, looking on admiringly. Another showed her finishing up the details of a portrait of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, Betsy awash in sunlight. Another picture showed her in a sunny courtyard with the two infantas of the Spain monarchy, having laughs in between working on a portrait of their brother, a young Prince Felipe, who simply watched. A youthful Isabel Preysler was also on display, the Madrid-based Filipina-Spanish celebrity’s pensiveness perfectly captured in her likeness.

It was a delight to see old friends on the exhibit opening, but I was compelled to see Betsy’s work again in my solace. I dropped by the gallery, without the crowds this time, save for an inquisitive few. In the center of the Main Gallery was Betsy, sharing her stories with the students of Beacon School. Their parents and teachers were absolutely engaged by her, as well. When asked how she has honed her craft, Betsy would answer, “I paint every day,” and stresses it with a smile.

She then got up from her chair, turned to a small canvas, dipped her brush in a light sky blue watercolor and began painting into it. She was in her natural element. Radiant, sunny-day clouds appeared as if they were taken from the skies by a cheerful pair of eyes, like only Betsy can capture. (FREEMAN)