Country Cottage Arts

Sunday 21 November 2010



I've been quite busy replying to  enquiries and conducting demos in  women's organisations,  post my tv appearance.  I've had enquiries from Johore, down South  to Sabah in the East, and it is indeed gratifying to know that my short snippet on national tv has made known this art to a wider audience.    I've had many calls from retired citizens from the outskirts of the city centre  who want to occupy their time meaningfuly and after seeing the Selamat Pagi Malaysia programme and my emphasis on recycling , they are very keen to learn /do something similar.  Only problem is they have no idea where to  get the supplies and have no knowledge of acrylics.  All they could say was that they did something with water colour in school during their schooling years !  Sounds familiar, isn't it?   We put so much emphasis and importance on getting 'A's in our school subjects that we neglect the simple and finer things in life like learning a skill.  And when the years catch up with us in our twilight , we have nothing to fall back on to keep us sane,  occupied when the kids leave the nest.....................................................

I have now embarked on an experiment of using cheaper China made acrylics with a more simple and earthy style of painting to reach the lower income target groups, retired citizens and others .   This is also in response to queries and  difficulties  in getting acrylic paint supplies and brushes.  As I had mentioned in my earlier blog posts, it is indeed quite difficult to get the required art supplies as only selected outlets sell these.  I am of the view that this is one of the  main reasons, ( other than the cost of paints/brushes ) why painting is not a common hobby in Malaysia . The painting style I'm experimenting on is more freestyle with less  emphasis on perfect strokes and definitely no layering involved.   I'll upload when I've finished my experiment.......   till then, the pictures below are some of the works done by Datin Masinah, Datin Vivienne and Siti Zulaikha

Morning glory trellis on a  lattice background, by Siti  Zulaina







Unfinished painting by Siti Zulaina but I thought it might give readers some ideas..........