Glad to be back!

This is my first painting after such a long lay-off due to work commitment and personal struggles. Since October last year, I have not been able to finish a painting. If I was not interrupted by work, it would be something else. Finally, after visiting my mentor and friend Maamor Jantan last week, I was able to summon enough spirit to start and finish this piece. It was a street scene. If it looks familiar, it is. I won't tell you where but you will know if you come across it.

This work started out to test a new paper in the market, a 300-gm paper produced by a Malaysian company. The texture looked good so I decided if it will hold the colours well. From my amateur experience, I think it is quite good. I really hope Malaysian paper manufacturers (we are one of the best in the world, I am told) would come up with proper acid-free papers for artists.

Yes, we have good art product distributors. Yes, we can import good papers like Waterford and Langton and Saunders. But for the struggling artist, this is sometimes quite out of reach. Local papers, I am sure we have the technology to make them, will ease the financial burden for the artists. And killing two birds with one stone, for lack of better analogy, we will be promoting ourselves as good art paper manufacturers. One brushmaker has already made headway into Europe with synthetic sable. So?