In life's journey, we are often uncertain where we stand:

where things will lead to?
when we'll finally arrive to our intended destination?
what is the right path to reach our destiny?
when is the right time to pursue our goals?

We ask ourselves:

if it’s too selfish to answer our personal calling?
how much more blood, sweat and tears do we need to pour out of our ourselves to realize our own dreams?
how many more personal hits can we bear and take?
how many more china will break and what will happen to others who we leave in our wake in the pursuit of our passions?

We wonder:

whether 3 or 4 shots of espresso might be enough in our lattes in the morning to keep us going?
do we have enough fresh cut flowers on our windowsill to serve as inspiration for our muse?
is the sun shining on the right path to our dreams?
is the rain going to wash all of the efforts I have set forth down the drain?

LISTENING TO OUR HEARTS would enable us TO FIND OUR TRUE NORTH...
On our way there, though, it is important to remember to throw ourselves in the streams of Life...

It is in the unabashed and unapologetic LIVING, DREAMING, LOVING, LAUGHING, FIGHTING, CRYING, CARING, DOING, CREATING, SEEING, SMELLING, TOUCHING, LISTENING and NEVER GIVING UP -- regardless of LIFE's KNOCKDOWNS, OBSTACLES, ADVERSITIES AND CIRCUMSTANCES is how we find our REAL TREASURES WITHIN.

To all Ships at Sea, Friends, Family and Strangers: In your quest to fulfill your destiny, your personal legend and treasures, know that your SOUL, WHICH IS YOUR INNER COMPASS, will show you your TRUE NORTH, relative of your current position in life.

So take-in and cherish all experiences and connections from each of life's pit stops and hills as milestones, omens, signs, and markers along the way. You must embrace all of LIFE'S DETOURS. You must see the world, and take time to search within -- the meaning of life, as you navigate it with humanity, compassion and grace for yourself and others - through your own eyes, ears, heart and soul – and not someone else’s.

Whether you get to the end or not, commit to claiming the LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS with UTMOST PASSION, and REST IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT YOUR JOURNEY IS THE REAL DESTINATION.

And when you really want something so desperately -- that it’s the only DREAM that makes you feel alive, you must wish and pray for it with all of your heart; wake up every day with great courage, strength and hope -- believing that the Great Creator will summon the Universe to conspire to work mystically in your favor to help you achieve it.

I'm a Mariner's granddaughter. I was born and spent my early childhood in a coastal town in the Philippines called Navotas, located north of Manila. It is dubbed as the "Fishing Capital of the Philippines" because the livelihood of many of its residences were derived directly or indirectly from fishing and its related industries. I was surrounded by shipyards, piers, ports, open fish markets, salty air and smell of patis (fish sauce).

My big brother and I lived with my grandparents during the school years when we were children.

My Tatay Peles (grandfather) made his living from the Pacific Ocean by building engines for ships. He also owned commercial fishing boats. The nightly ritual was for my Tatay Peles to grill the day's catch for dinner. We would take walks to the beach pier at the end of the street to watch sunsets. He was also an avid collector of found artifacts from the Sea! I inherited some of the sea shells from his collection.

My Tatay Peles was also into into orchids, gardening, and crafting all kinds of beautiful things such as cabinets, sewing kit boxes, banisters and so much more. He put it in so much detail into his crafts. He was a very talented artisan. I'm hoping that one of these days, my mom will pass down to me the Ship in the Bottle that he made. (Mom: I know I'l exactly where to put it in my studio...) I also would love to find the nautical maps from his sea travels to integrate them into my mixed media art pieces.

How I wish my grandfather is alive today, so we can enjoy creating and gardening together. But I definitely feel his creative spirit when I'm making art and from being around the same things that he treasured.

Thanks Tatay Peles for giving me such profound maritime influence and memories...

THE SEA (Pablo Neruda, On the Blue Shore of Silence)

I need the sea because it teaches me,
I don’t know if I learn music or awareness,
if it’s a single wave or its vast existence,
or only its harsh voice or its shining
suggestion of fishes and ships.
The fact is that until I fall asleep,
in some magnetic way I move in
the university of the waves.
It’s not simply the shells crunched
as if some shivering planet
were giving signs of its gradual death;
no, I reconstruct the day out of a fragment,
the stalactite from a sliver of salt,
and the great god out of a spoonful.
What it taught me before, I keep. It’s air
ceaseless wind, water and sand.
It seems a small thing for a young man,
to have come here to live with his own fire;
nevertheless, the pulse that rose
and fell in its abyss,
the cracking of the blue cold,
the gradual wearing away of the star,
the soft unfolding of the wave
squandering snow with its foam,
the quiet power out there, sure
as a stone shrine in the depths,
replaced my world in which were growing
stubborn sorrow, gathering oblivion,
and my life changed suddenly:
as I became part of its pure movement.