Painting the lotus 荷花

I love this silver haired lady who sat opposite me and shared that she did not go to school. Today’s session was on painting a lotus leaf and flower and my class had a surge in the number of seniors who attended. Many who did not turn up during the last session came. Little did I know the real reason why some did not attend the painting class. The outdoor benches were nice but it also presented difficulties for them to sit. Another problem was with having to stand and listen to my demo and instructions. After some discussion and input from a fellow sister, we decided that we should try another venue and have a different format to teaching the seniors. 

It is a new learning for me to understand my users (in this case, the seniors who have done much for us in their youths) and help them appreciate and enjoy ink painting better.

Painting Daisies 雏菊

Many markets and florists in HDB heartland sells daisies as part of their daily offerings. I was often attracted by the beautiful small flowers and their vibrant colours.

I decided to pick up two stalks and used them in my class to share how to paint daisies using real examples.

Here is some info about daisies (Source: http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/growingflowers/flowersandgeography/daisies)

• A Daisy is a perennial whose evergreen leaves form a basal tuft or a rosette.
• Daisy flower plant has a prostrate fashion or a growing habit of spreading.
• Daisies can be propagated by division in spring or through sowing seeds in spring or late autumn.
• English Daisy is a serious weed in the northwest United States.
• The Daisy flowers open at dawn and are visited by many small insects.
• Daisies are used by children to make daisy chains.
• The Daisy’s leaves are edible and can be used in salads.

富贵花开

The joy of being ordinary 平凡，也是一种幸福

I had a lot of fun painting this bunch of bananas and thinking of a quote to go with it. In Singapore, bananas are one of the cheapest fruits you can get in the market and a bunch can cost as little as $2 or less. It is a wholesome meal or supplement if you are going for a run. May we find joy in the ordinary:)

A piece for Valentine Day’s event by Women of Vision 情人节2017

If you are wondering whether to get a gift for your beloved, do consider buying this calligraphic painting piece by Pin Lay, a social artist with Gallery@OURF who will be donating all the proceeds to children from ChiangMai World Vision community. Some information about the challenges faced by these children: (reference: https://myvision.worldvision.org.sg/campaign/love-is-the-reason-donation/)

• 15% of youth suffer from addiction problems (e.g. to amphetamine, alcohol, etc.)
• 10% of female youth were made pregnant as a result of engaging in pre-marital sex
• 12% of youth display violent tendencies
• 5% of youth reported being abused at home
• 14% of youth dropped out of school
• 4% of youth suffer from HIV/AIDS
• 7% of children have been placed in orphanages as a result of their parents being sentenced to imprisonment for drug-related crimes, or passing away from HIV/AIDS

 

The meaning behind the painting:

• Chinese ink on rice papers
  76.5cmx46.5cm
  Silver frame with border

There are 9（九）roses, including the bud, representing an auspicious word in Chinese, 久， meaning everlasting and eternal and the roses are arranged such that two are bigger than the rest, a painting to signify that from two people, comes future generations of children. The rose can also represent the women from the Women of Vision, who decided to come together to make a difference to the lives of children and while it is still a budding organisation (the singular bud), we hope it will spin off many offsprings and bring about hope and love to the vulnerable children we are helping.

The word 恒 means eternal and it is the artist’s wish that the one who bought this painting will be blessed with eternal blessings of love!
All proceeds will go towards helping the vulnerable children from Chiangmai under World Vision.

Silent auction starts from an auspicious $488. You can do an online bidding at https://goo.gl/forms/QiweOtEqvqiG3EJj1

心想事成!

 

一字走天下:福

When I first started writing 福 in 2009 little did I know that I would have written and given away 福 in so many places and countries, the latest being in a shopping mall!

It was a nice feeling to see my students blessing others with their 福 written with care and great diligence over the two weeks prior to Sunday’s event at Katong i12.

A bonus to me to see the various renditions of my calligraphy, hung and enlarged or reduced in size to become the mall’s CNY decorations.

May each person who have a piece of the handwritten 福 by my students or the printed ones done by the mall experienced love and bountifulness in 2017.

Here are some pix taken at the mall yesterday:

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福。福。福 Blessings

When I first found out that the word 福 means a person (一口）having a one to one relationship with God and working hard in the field (田）it makes a lot of sense to me as blessings come from above when we are diligent to do what we are meant to do here on earth. Many many years later, I have wrote countless 福 for friends, to raise funds and to bless others from many different countries such as Bhutan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Mongolia, South Hebron, Zambia and hope to populate and bring 福 to even more people to encourage them that we do not walk alone. When Jesus came, He came to give us life and life abundantly. (http://chi.pinlay.com/CPL/travel.html)

It is with a grateful heart that I gave two pieces of calligraphy with 福 to my ex- SJI students, one of whom is going to Hong Kong to work.

Another opportunity to help a friend raise funds for cancer research and also to challenge my students to work harder at their calligraphy came when there was an opportunity to write 福 at a local mall at Katong i12.

They became the most diligent students practising hard…for the live demo on 15th Jan 2017 at the mall and I became quite an expert in cutting the gold speckled red papers for the auspicious word 福。

Here is the calligraphy I wrote for them just one day before my Klang trip and it is now used as a decoration for CNY.

Join us on the 15th Jan 2017 from 1pm to 6pm to redeem a hand written calligraphy 福 by my students when you spent at least $80 at the mall.

To hear upfront and personal stories of how they are inspired to take up Chinese painting

Mr Wesley Seah(Visually impaired) https://ourfeducation.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/the-diligent-students-and-their-bio-mr-wesley-seah/

Ms Evangeline Yeo(Visually impaired) https://ourfeducation.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/the-diligent-students-and-their-bio-ms-evangeline-yeo-visually-impaired/

Ms Toh Szu Hui https://ourfeducation.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/the-diligent-students-and-their-bio-toh-szu-hui/

Mr Nicholas Hong https://ourfeducation.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/the-diligent-students-and-their-bio-nicholas-hong/

 

 

E-learning Training for teachers

A series of 4 sessions of E-learning using G-suite was conducted for the teachers going to start the secondary portion of El Shaddai school in Jan. The diligent teachers asked many good questions and came from different cities – Malaysia, Iran and Singapore. Here’s wishing them success as they roll out their e-learning plans for the school! I called them my AA* students as they have such excellent attitudes towards learning!

Here are some pix of the training session:

Painting the Xmas tree

The first session started with the students learning how to paint an Xmas tree using Chinese ink brush strokes.

Here are some of their works and pix.