Spotlight: Faye Marcos, Creative Cube Dweller

Now and then I will be posting artist profiles of notable people I have come across. There are so many talented people who are not given the opportunity to share their gifts, and I hope that in some little way I will be able to help spread the word about their works.

For our first profile, let me introduce to you Faye Marcos. I first met her in high school. I think we were seated beside each other for a quarter of a year during our senior year. We shared the same interests so we hit it off really well. She liked to draw and sing a lot, so I was surprised when she didn’t take the art route when we went our separate ways for college. We rekindled our friendship several years later when we joined the same photography club and would watch each other’s bands perform. I got this idea of featuring people because I would always see her works posted on social media sites, and I know that she has been thinking about an exhibit of some sort or selling her works.

Name: Faye Marcos

Alias/es: fayeshka

Medium: Watercolor, gouache, acrylic, ink and photoshop
Website: http://fayeshka.blogspot.com
Favorite artist: Gustav Klimt

Describe what you do.

I'm an IT consultant by day and an artist and musician the rest of the time. I have my own space in the blogosphere about art, music, and travel—three things that I am really passionate about. I also own a cupcake business with my sisters.

For my artistic background, I'm self-taught in drawing and painting. I do watercolor, gouache, or acrylic paintings of patterns and people. Subjects for my patterns are mostly foliage inspired, while the people that I draw are usually either fashion-related or just interesting everyday moments that I capture in my camera during my travels. 

My blog is a reflection of what I do—I write about art and illustration by sharing my own work as well as inspirations from other artists, gigs with my band, and other local bands that we play with, my experiences when I travel, my work as an IT professional and some bits and pieces about my personal life. Before, I was really frustrated ending up in the IT industry when I would like to do more creative work. Now, I've accepted and embraced the challenge of balancing my life as a systems analyst and a creative. I write about my journey as an example to corporate professionals who want to practice their creativity and channel their inner artist. My blog is my platform to let others know that just because they don't earn a living from their passion doesn't mean they can't keep on doing it. 

What is your favorite piece of work and why?
Gustav Klimt's portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer because it's just so darn pretty! From her face to the textures and patterns of her clothing to the dainty way her hands were positioned, it's just so beautiful to look at.  Ha ha. Hope II by the same painter comes a close second because it's the only work of Gustav Klimt that I've seen in person. It literally shimmered! I love his art nouveau style, his take on patterns and the slightly distorted positions of his subjects. There is mystery and whimsy in his work that I really admire--even if you've seen his paintings several times already, there is still so much detail in them, it's impossible to take in at one stare. Every time you see it, you feel like you're looking at it for the fist time. If I have the means to acquire any painting in the world, it would be those two. 

What do you wish to communicate with your work?

With my paintings, I don't think I have a single message to communicate. I just like drawing pretty patterns and I enjoy capturing expressions and movements of people. The message that gets sent to the audience depends on them.

With my blog, however, I would like to think that I am promoting pursuit of one's passion and a ton of positivity and motivation to just do what you love and love what you do. I would love to be able to write and draw more about environmental issues, conscious living, and our indigenous people.

If you could collaborate with anybody in this world, living or dead, real or fictional, who

would you choose? 

That's a tough one! It's hard enough to choose from the real and the living, sinama mo pa yung dead at fictional! Haha. If I have to narrow it down, I might as well choose a Filipino. I would love to collaborate with Kublai Millan. I learned about him when I visited Davao in 2008. He's amazing at any medium and his style also has so much variety. I would love to learn techniques from him or just pick a part of his brain coz he seems to never run out of things to make. I went to Ponce Suites in Davao and it was just visually overflowing. Artworks and sculptures and doodles everywhere! And who knows, he's just 10 years older than me so the collaboration has a chance of happening in this lifetime. Hashtag: positivethinker

Do you have any other hidden talents?

I'm an expert at sleeping. I can sleep in two minutes flat. I can sleep in moving vehicles and even while standing up. I'm a pretty decent runner and Frisbee player.

If you could create a universe, what would it be like?

I trust in the universe as it is but if I can make improvements, I would make the ozone layer invincible to toxic wastes. The sky at night could use more color. There will be multiple suns and multiple livable planets. We can really bounce off the clouds and the pink and purple ones will have strawberry and berry flavor respectively. Unicorns will be real. Humans will be humans but incapable of greed.