Tondo girl’s painting best of 4 million entries

MANILA, Philippines–The girl from Gagalangin in Tondo, Manila, counted Leonardo da Vinci among her idols. At first, however, the shy 13-year-old spoke so softly as Mona Lisa probably would, that you had to lean closer just to hear her.

But one look at her artwork and you’ll see how Trisha Reyes’ eloquence flows through her hands, her strokes on the canvas confident and emphatic like exclamation points, her colors a spectrum of emotions from fear to hope, from sadness to joy.

Combining these skills with inspiration drawn from a recent family outing, Reyes has sent out an urgent message—and the world is taking notice.

Her “Life in the Forest” topped the 20th United Nations Environment Programme’s (Unep) global painting competition. According to Bayer, a corporate sponsor of the contest, her entry bested some 4 million other children’s paintings from 99 countries.

The freshman from St. Stephen’s High School in Manila received the award and a $2,000 cash prize at the Tunza International Children and Youth Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia, earlier this month.

Her winning work, a 15” x 20” piece rendered in oil pastel and water color, will go on exhibit around the world and will be replicated in Unep posters and calendars, Reyes said in an interview last week.

“I’m very happy but at the same time I didn’t expect (to win).  Of all the entries, I was lucky to be chosen,” she told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

“There is a lot of news (about the environment) that get mixed up in my mind and adds to my knowledge. I’m very happy because through my painting, I am able to really express my feelings,” she said.

Ugly consequences

And when asked to describe her work, a more confident Reyes spoke almost without pause:

“In my painting, the little girl is me, parting a grey curtain to expose two sides: a sustainable forest and (the consequences of its) destruction.”

On one side, she said, “there is massive deforestation and its ugly consequences like air and water pollution, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity and people’s livelihood.”

On another part of painting, “I envisioned a sustainable forest where plants and flowers grow beautifully, diverse animals, birds, insects roam freely. I would like to express through painting that we must treasure our world’s biological treasures.”

Reyes’ win brought pride to her school. “We’re very happy and very proud of her.  Our school’s philosophy is whatever the students’ interest is, we will help them develop,” said St. Stephen’s principal Judy Tan.

Under the guidance of a trainer, Reyes finished the painting in one weekend in April, three months after  learning about the Unep competition.

A spark from ecopark

She said she drew inspiration from her family’s summertime trip to La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City, one of the few remaining patches of green in the metropolis.

Reyes’ father Joselito has been a factory worker in Taiwan while her mother Conchita does office work. No one in the family has been into visual arts until Trisha and elder sister Joselle showed their talents.

Reyes said she first developed a love for drawing when she started emulating her sister, now a college senior, who has a knack for animé cartoons. “She was like a mentor,” she said.

At  7, Reyes won her first art competition, an on-the-spot contest at Museo Pambata in Manila.  In the same contest, her sister earned an honorable mention.

Since then, Reyes has racked up one award after another, thanks to what she considers “a God-given gift.”

A catalogue of her works shows her personal trademark of bright colors, unexpected patterns and meticulous attention to detail. In Trisha’s world, skies, flowers and birds are best painted violet or pink.

Asean prize

Her art portfolio has grown into a thick collection of certificates from local and international competitions. In 2009, for example, she flew to Bangkok, Thailand, to collect her prize as the Philippine winner in the Asean Regional Drawing Competition.

At the Unep competition this year, Reyes said she had a blast interacting with fellow young artists from around the world, gaining “new best friends” from Kenya, Germany and Japan.

“We shared stories about our different cultures, our experiences and our hobbies.  The best part was meeting new friends because it adds something to you as a person,” Reyes said.

With “college still a long time away,” Reyes has yet to decide whether she will pursue a career in the visual arts. Right now, she said, she would just focus on her academics while honing her painting skills on the side.

“On Saturdays and Sundays, if ever there’s a contest, I paint in the morning and study in the afternoon, or vice versa,” Reyes said, as though summing up a typical Da Vinci day.