Earl Rina: a vision of joyful experiences

Tell us about your artistic background story and if there was a pivotal moment when you decided to follow your path as a visual artist?
When I was young it was my passion to draw and create artworks in any medium. I started learning painting after I graduated from my Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I took and learned art through some workshops and art classes. There was a time that I painted the Lady Justice with a broken hand holding a broken sword and my father commented that it visualized the inequality of the implementation of justice. He liked it so much that he had it framed and displayed it on the wall of our living room. It greatly inspired me that through my painting I have aroused and evoked someone’s sentiment and perspective. I am still learning through workshops and classes of art to enhance my technique and my niche.

Was there ever a moment of doubt to question your art career entirely?
There was some doubt and questioning of my art career during those times of failed artworks. But I always keep in mind that failure is part of practicing and I should learn from it.

What is your daily routine when working in your studio?
I do not really have a daily routine. I work in a part time job and when the idea for creating an artwork comes, I go to my studio and just paint.

Take us through your process of making your artworks. How do you move from an idea to an artwork? Where does an artwork begin for you?
Most of my artworks are inspiration of beautiful landscapes and nature adventure that I have experienced travelling either locally or internationally. I called it my whimsical experience. I capture those moments through some of my sketch notebooks, my canon camera, and a little watercolor painting. Then, I look into some of the photographs and I paint them in my studio in a way that I feel and I remember them as how beautiful and how pleasing it was to be there. So, I share those pleasing moments and whimsical experiences through my paintings. When an idea comes to my mind I sketch my draft in my canvas and then as I start to paint along the way I just add on some new ideas and it will just build up and build up until I am done.
For me, an artwork begins by feeling inspired while doing a daily activity, especially when I am commuting from work to a place, park, or home. Some other significant moments along the way are the result of my international travels for a vacation that involves nature and learning.

Is there a central concept connecting all your works together or each series or artwork is unique?
Each series are unique and depends on the adventure that I've had. Most of them are inspired by my whimsical daily adventure experiences which is my travels locally and internationally, my daily learning and advocacy for nature and wild life, and some mysterious ideas that pops on my mind.

Would you like to give a particular interpretation of your work to your viewers or you prefer to leave the whole interpretation to your audience?
Most of my artworks have an interpretation of their own but usually I leave the viewers or audience to have their own interpretation that gives them the whimsical, pleasing and mysterious experience.

How do you seek and use inspiration for your works?
I seek my inspiration through my activities in daily living through nature and learning and use it as my inspiration.

How do you select your artworks subjects? Where they come from?
I select my artworks subject through my pleasing moments and whimsical experience through nature and learning. They come from nature and wild life.

Is there an artwork or series that you would like to be remembered for? And if yes, what is it?
The Dancing Silhouette is one of my signature artworks, with figurative dancing of people with a background of nature and beautiful landscape or scenery formed based on my activities in daily living, my travel and my whimsical experience. And my nature landscape whimsical paintings which tells about how pleasing and beautiful nature is as I travel and live my life.

What are your art influences? Who are your favorite contemporary or historical artists and why?
My first art influences were the Japanese anime and manga until now. Because they are my childhood animations. My favorite historical artist is one of Philippine National Artists Fernando Amorsolo because of his beautiful landscape paintings of the Philippine's scenery, and Belorussian French Artist Marc Chagall which his paintings brings me into a world of mysterious experiences.

If you could meet one of your ideal artists from the past, who would it be and what will you ask about?
It would be Marc Chagall. I would ask him if I could become his apprentice.

How have you been affected by the current lockdown, social distancing and all limitations and cancellations in artistic world?
I am affected by the schedule of my short-term goals to achieve my long term goal as an artist, because I have to reschedule them and have to keep myself healthy. It also somehow changed my view on how to go to workshops and changed my shopping to online and the fact that I have to wait for the delivery. It hastened my short-term goals to achieve.

Your presented artworks seem to be a rough semi-abstract presentation of the areas you found during your visual adventures. Why choosing watercolor technique for this set of your landscape paintings?
Choosing watercolor gives me a sense of relaxation, a sense of nature, and a sense of something that is beyond and real.

Do you take photos from the scenes and then paint them, or just create the work while watching the scene, maybe both?
Most of the time I take photos while traveling with the group and some of the times when I get a chance to sit and just enjoy the view I paint them especially when I am highly emotional seeing the landscapes.

Some of the presented paintings are tall with height 3 times longer than their width, for instance "The woods are deep and lovely". How come do you decide about such dimensions?
I decided to give it that dimension to give me the essence of how tall and how marvelous the woods and the trees was where.

"Rhythm of the waves" seem to be very interesting showing wild movements in most of our readers opinions. Moreover, the pink woods seem surreal somehow. How have you chosen your coloring for this set? Is this real or was meant for something?
Mostly of the colors that I have chosen are meant for something on how I feel during the time I was in the place and how I could remember them when I was there capturing them through photos and how was I feeling when I am painting them.

Any upcoming works or future projects that you would like to share with our readers?
I am planning to travel around Canada to experience the whimsical beauty of landscapes and paint them.