Benjie and Carina

Oil on canvas by Benjie Mallari

"Palm Sunday," oil on canvas by Mario Parial Upon waking yesterday morning, I reached for my phone instinctively, half dreading what the day's news feed would bring me. The month of October has been a period of reaping of good souls. First, there was Mario Baluyot, my husband's best friend and our compadre. Next was graphic designer Manny, one of the country's best and whose passing I could not mourn openly in this space as a gesture of respect to the family's wishes. Next came Vic Tirol followed quickly by Benjie Mallari. And yesterday, the painter Mario Parial's wife and muse, Carina. It doesn't help that the heavens are sending gusts of wind and pelting us with rain. Husband Rolly Fernandez and Benjie last saw each other at our home two months ago. He arrived after breakfast lugging a painting from his last show. No, Rolly wasn't out to purchase it. He and Benjie had a tradition of swapping art works. I overheard them laughing and exchanging stories over mugs of coffee in the veranda while I attended to house chores. The friends parted before lunch. As Rolly escorted Benjie to his vehicle, the latter's last words were, "P're, eighty thousand 'yan!" When my husband relayed this to me, I laughed inside. It was typical Benjie statement laced not with arrogance but with lightness and humor. We were glad that he had come up in the art world. Our encounters with Carina were always linked with Mario. We first made our Parial purchase at the old Heritage Art Center on Lantana Street, Cubao. I chose the Palm Sunday scene, drawn to the innocence of the children's faces and the almost naif-like style of the artist. When Rolly gained Mario's acquaintance and friendship, we would make trips to their Marikina home. Collector hubby would climb all the way to Mario's attic and rummage through old works, including a 1965 print. The artist appreciated that Rolly liked his prints and bought scores of them, later exhibited at Hiraya Gallery. In fact. before Carina passed on, she had planned on following up the book on Mario's paintings with a second one on his prints. What we liked about the works, especially where females figures were concerned, were the women had the shape and features of Carina's cameo-like face. She was truly his inspiration, and she returned his devotion in kind. I used to see her at the Fine Arts faculty room at the University of the Philippines Diliman handing out invitations to Mario's show. She had a personal word with each of the invitees. She was that gracious. On this day colored a bleak gray, my family and I send you off with wishes of happy rainbow trails, Benjie and Carina!