Of Rashid the Potriat Artist.

I am at Rashid's studio which is also the Malay Artists' Gallery which is located on Chulia Street annexed to the Masjid Kapitan Kling. Rashid is doing a portrait of someone as he is a portrait artist and a damn good one. He had just completed two pieces of the Sultan of Kedah and his Consort and had received a good price for them from the University Sains Malaysia. I had known Rashid since I had my first solo exhibition at the ABN-AMRO USM Gallery entitled 'HUMIND". Rashid had a studio annexed to the Gallery and we got to know one another after a while. I learned that he was one of the first few Malays Artist who had ventured on to become a full time Artist earning his livlihood through his art works.
I was still struggling back then trying to get my act together and convincing myself that i need to get out of the salary making habit and join the market selling my works and having met Rashid it had helped me alot in making up my mind to become a full time artist myself. It was not an easy decision as I had no other sources of income to see me through at the time especially making sure my two children got their pocket money. Rashid help me to see through my hesitations and gave me all sorts of encouragments till I started selling my first fews pieces at the show.
Our friendship had grown eversince and I have come to have a good respect for my friend who is not only a great artist in his own right but also a warm hearted man who understands the deeper meaning of life and spiriutality without overzealousness. He is capable of mixing with any one from the highly educated and the lowly and is always humble about his talents as an artist.