Artists in showbiz

By RONALD CONSTANTINO

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WHILE in quarantine, Bea Alonzo discovered the joy of painting…along with garden­ing. Her subject is mostly plants and flowers.

Mark Bautista returned to his other love, painting, also during quarantine.

He was an architecture student in Cagayan de Oro when he switched to singing and acting.

Ten of Mark’s painting sold for P419,000, which he donated to charity.

Raymond Lauchengco made good use of his idle time. He tried his hands at sculpture, using as medium odds and ends he found lying around the house. The result is 14 pieces which went on exhibit online. Proceeds went to workers who lost their jobs.

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ARTISTS IN SHOWBIZ – There are many artists in showbiz, painters in par­ticular.

Heart Evangelista, Richard Gomez, Ian Veneracion, Mike Austria, Cesar Montano, Maria Isabel Lopez, Pilar Pilapil have joined painting exhibits.

Maribel is UP-trained. Ian’s father is noted painter Roy Veneracion.

Others who dabble in painting: Melissa Mendez, Nina Ricci Alagao, Bangs Garcia, Solenn Heussaff, Tom Rodriguez, Xian Lim, Michael V, Jojo Lastimosa.

By the way, Richard has a sizeable collection of art pieces, mostly contempo­rary.

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HOLLYWOOD STARS – Hollywood has its share of painters.

They include Pierce Bro­snan, Johnny Depp, Jim Carrey, James Franco, Syl­vester Stallone, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Jane Seymour, Lucy Liu.

Brosnan, as a student, painted a lot of landscapes and abstracts. But showbiz came in the way. He re­turned to painting in the late ‘80s when his wife be­came very ill and died.

He said painting was one of his therapeutic crutches, the other being prayer.