By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

For years now, Marcelo Vendiola has been saying he wants to sell his entire collection of paintings "all one time."

"He's always been serious about this, but it's like he doesn't know how to say it, so he says it in a joking way," says son Henry Vendiola.

But Marcelo's as serious about selling the entire collection as he has been about creating it.

His collection consists of more than 3,000 oils, from landscapes to portraits to abstracts, canvases from 4 x 8 inches to 4 x 8 feet that fill up rooms and stairwells and storage areas of his Makakilo home.

It's one thing to look at those numbers. It's quite another to see his work. Vendiola is more than prolific. He's driven and fearless.

He has portraits of sports heroes, local politicians and "the boys" of the World War II 1st Filipino Regiment. He has still life pieces of local fruit. And he has a series of paintings that capture Waipahu's plantation days, from the fields to the sugar mill, from planting to harvesting.

Vendiola, 79, first fell in love with art when he was a young soldier stationed at Fort Knox, Ky. He used the GI Bill to pay for art classes.

Through the years, he has kept the curiosity and excitement he had as a young student, studying the masters and trying new styles.

In the 1970s, he fulfilled a longtime dream of opening an art gallery. But it wasn't what he expected, and he closed the gallery after about a year.

Henry said: "I guess as he sat there and saw people buy his paintings, and thought, OK, so there's $150, but there goes his painting that he spent so much time and effort on. That's why he wants it to be 'just take it all.' "

The idea crystallized when he visited hotels in Las Vegas and saw collections of work by a single artist gracing the walls.

"I guess he was kind of thinking of something like that," Henry said. "Maybe a hotel would buy his paintings and that would supply the whole hotel with his original work."

It's not about the money. Vendiola has probably given away more paintings than he has kept. It's about the validation of his art, showing his work and knowing that his paintings will live past his own lifetime. He has had a run of health problems in recent years, including diabetes, bypass surgery and cancer.

"I tell him, 'Dad, how much do you want to sell this painting for?' He says, 'I don't know, up to you.' So I go, 'OK, it's 34 x 48 inches. What do you want to ask for it?' And he goes, 'Well, what do you think?' I go, 'Dad, look, you put your heart into this. What do you want?' "

What he wants is to sell them "all one time."

Some of Vendiola's work is online at www.yessy.com. For more information, call Henry Vendiola at 672-0098.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.