The Acrylics of the Accountant

Maria Asuncion Parra, Ason to officemates, Shoney to others, is an amiable young woman who's good at numbers. Like everybody else, she tried to make the best of the strangest of circumstances ever to visit mankind in more than a century. Now Ason isn't just a productive woman, she is depended upon to put food on the table. So productive that, well into the pandemic, she managed to finish her MBA degree.

Usually hunched over a screen all day, November of 2020, she started looking for distractions. "I don't know if it's anxiety or a fear of breaking down, or depression", Ason said to describe the pressure. Whatever was happening, she wanted a severe distraction. "Feeling ko mababaliw talaga ako kasagsagan ng pandemic tapos dumating pa si bagyong Ulysses. parang teka -- di ko na ata kaya".

She found the distractions she needed in acrylic. "Bahala na kung anong outcome basta magkukulay ako."

"Bahala na basta magkukulay ako."

The result is a surprisingly pleasing look at the world: thick strokes or sloshes of acrylic in bold colors as she pushed back at the strain of the times.

She was surprised after she posted it -- "maraming nagandahan, daming nagsasabi na ibenta mo kasi maganda". She worried about how to react to the praises because she didn't see what they were seeing. Being humble, she named the first painting Charowteira, from 'charot', meaning 'just kidding', an admission to the world that she was being playful. She was, after all, painting for herself.

The next painting she did was that of a woman under a face mask. "Natatandaan ko nung ginawa ko ito, badtrip na badtrip ako sa mga taong hindi nagsusuot ng mask, at sa mga hindi marunong mag tapon ng used mask, kung saan saan lang, kadiri sobra ang baboy tapos nagtataka sila bakit ang tagal tagal ng lockdown. Then I thought of doing a series of masked charowteira."

At first she used anything that was available at home, and then, when she had a chance to go out, she went to National Bookstore, at "pinagbibili ko yung mga materials like canvas and acrylic and acrylic brushes na kahit wala akong idea paano gamitin, kasi nga baka ito yung material na comfortable ako".

Her work has caught the eye of many, but more importantly, she created a fascinating and pleasurable body of work in response to the pandemic. While many all over the world wept and cowered in corners, Ason worked and was relied on, finished her masteral studies, picked up the brush and pleased others and herself./vrp