Painting Again

Wow! It was quite a long painting break but surprisingly I did not miss it when I was in Mekah. Now that Im back home that I feel I need to get hold of the brush.

I have started painting again, even before the new year. Infact I was painting on new years eve!

Currently I am trying to complete some unfinished projects at home, and has also been commissioned to paint at the 2 usual places. If you are interested to buy painted furniture do visit my friends' showrooms at Indahreka Cipta at Section 27 Shah Alam and Junes Furniture at Bandar Baru Selayang. You can also get unpainted furniture and some other small decorative items there.

My art classes commenced about a month ago, every thursdays and fridays. Lakshmi, hope i can manage the old fashioned rose before your next lesson.

Here are some pictures of the newly painted stuff.

Back from Mekah

Its been a month since I came back from the Haj pilgrimage in Mekah al Mukaramah. Everyone has their own story and experience. Words couldn't really express the soul experience and spiritual journey that I had; my feelings between me and Allah but it was such wonderful and unique feeling, all I can just say is that I want to go again and again and again- be it umrah or haj and I wish to take my 5 girls there some day....AMIIN.

It was good meeting and making friends with muslim from all over the world, manage to communicate though we speak different languages, be one of the almost 4million people there, getting to pray in congregation in masjid nabawi and masjidil haram, aware but still amazed as how we pray the same way though we are from different countries, background etc and experience performing the total haj ibadah learning faith and patience. I was also down with fever and cough for a long time but got better towards the end of my stay. I can go on and on...

On the physical experience, as usual I know how to enjoy myself wherever i go. We visited historical places, I had fun shopping for souvenirs, getting books and Qur'an, admiring beautiful sejadah, tasted some saudi food and meet up some Malaysian friends for coffee. While walking through one of the shopping area I spotted some interesting tromplleil paintings. Have not had the time to find out about Arab painting tradition, probably one of you friends and readers could highlight me! Here are the pictures of the paintings on walls of the arcade.

So now im back home more refreshed and energized than ever and has started painting after 10 days of rest; guess the longer I wait to start work, the jetlag seems could go on and on.

Updating Previous Events (cont)

The English Garden (August)

Besides painting, my other interest is ID. I had an opportunity to design an english garden concept for a client. It was a small, partially-roofed deck area which calls mainly for container garden. Most of the garden accessories are from Indahreka Cipta and of course the plaque Le Jardin Anglais, the english garden in french was painted by me. Enjoy the pictures!

Wanita Hari Ini (September)

I was invited to be featured in TV3 Wanita Hari Ini with Azlin, owner of Indah Rekacipta about painting on furniture last 8 September. That was my first experience in a live telecast programme. It was only a 10minute segment, therefore much that I wanted to share couldn't be said. But it was a fruitful one as subsequently there were many callers interested to learn. Indah Rekacipta will organise a series of painting workshops next year, hopefully. For those who are not familiar with the name Indahreka, they are a wholesaler in house decor items especially furniture, situated at Section 27 shah alam. Have a look at the screen behind me. Those who watched TV3'Semanis Kurma' on thursdays during the fasting month would have noticed the white furniture painted with floral design, sponsored by Indah rekacipta .

Updating Previous Events

I have missed updating certain events since last July. Here they are:

Vicky Nicholson workshop (July)

Craft Haven organised a workshop for decorative painters last July at Da Vincci Art Centre, the Curve. It was still about roses, but totally different technique and style. This is my 2nd workshop conducted by foreign decorative artist, last year I attended one by Sandra Smithers which mainly covered usage of different mediums to painting.

This time, besides learning the technique of strokes for the rose, we learned about using Magic Mix in painting, background and the roses too. Like the word says, it is like magic! Now I manage to achieve a smoother texture of strokes, especially painting larger size of roses and leaves. And it helps in doing a gradual shading to the background.

Though the course fee was quite steep, it is a lot more money saved than for me to go to Australia to learn a small project like this one. It was really value for money as I feel I have learned a lot and gained painting tips from Vicky, and has applied it to my recent paintings. I hope we will see you again in the near future, Vicky.

Congratulations Craft Haven for the success of the programme and hope that you will bring in more artists teachers from abroad next year. I had a wonderful time with other fellow decorative artists, met old friends and made new ones.

Art Demo at Amcorp Mall. (August)

I was invited to do a demo on decorative painting during the MERDEKA Carnival at Amcorp Mall. Nora and I turned up with our books for sale and some items as samples as we did not have the time to paint on short notice, or rather i did not have things for sale, Nora managed to paint a couple of plaques. Turn out was not good, probably it was too early (11am on a saturday), but I gained the experience and met some people interested in this field. And proud to see my name on the 'Events for today' board for the Merdeka Carnival, as soon as we entered the mall.. Yeah!