My aptitude for art

One of my early watercolour paintings

1. I inherited my aptitude for art from my mother. She had a talent for drawing portraits using colour pencils. We were told that as a young girl she would model some clay into beautiful tiny animals such as a goose, a hen, a goat or a buffalo.

2. I did not pursue a career in art. However, I was destined to become an art teacher. I was very enthusiastic at the beginning of my career. Occasionally, I would take a group of students on weekends for outings in the country where we enjoyed painting the scenery.

Another one of my surviving pieces

3. A few of my artist friends who were art teachers themselves succeeded in earning extra money out of their works. I did try to follow in their footsteps but ended up throwing in the towel. At first I was very enthusiastic to carry out an art project but later I began to take my own sweet time and slack off until I abandoned it altogether.

4. During my secondary school days I became my art teacher’s pet. I remember painting a view of the paddy fields on a piece of large hardboard using powder tempera paint. I was proud when it hung on the wall of one of the classrooms.

5. Later my art teacher was transferred to another school and a new art teacher replaced him. The new art teacher had asked me to paint a mural on one of the walls of a classroom building but I refused. I still recall what he told me then, “You’re wasting your talent.”

6. With regard to talent, the year 1975 was a very memorable year during which I was in my element and put my talent to use by producing creative works. That year I was selected to attend a one-year course in art education at the Specialist Teacher Training Institute (STTI) in Cheras.

A linocut, 1975

7. Five out of 19 in our group were my college mates of 1968. It had been six years since we met, so it was like a reunion for us. The other course participants were also very friendly and helpful. Everyone seemed enthusiastic and hard-working. That gave me the motivation to do my best.

STTI, Cheras, 1975

8. One night I went to the classroom-cum-studio with a few friends to do our own thing. I began executing a large semi-abstract painting based on my studies of the coconut palm. I stayed up all night painting the canvas with brushes laden with acrylic. Eventually in the early hours my canvas manifested itself in a unified form of colour, shape, line and texture. 

9. I was late for the morning class the next day. My close friend told me that Mr. Yeoh Jin Leng was pleased with my painting and he commented something like: ‘This fellow is really a colourist. He would become an artist one day.’  

10. I had the time of my life that year, pouring my creativity into my drawings, paintings, prints, designs and sculptures. I completed the course with flying colours. In spite of that, I was not destined to go places with my artistic talent. But still, it is of use to me when I started my children book project a few years back. I did my own illustrations for the books.

An illustration from my unpublished children book

An illustration from my children book Merak dan Bangau (Peacock and Heron)