From an old Sketch Book - 1982 - Green Bay, Wisc.

The following sketches done in 1982 when i was going to college in Green Bay, Wisconsin in the United States might have been done to commemorate 'Mother's day' at the time. I was fooling around with India Ink and brush which till this day i still enjoy every now and then.

There are proper ways of sketching children and i am not good at it. These sketches were doen from imagination and the subject matter were spontaneously manifested as the drawing happen.



The Mother's Quotes came from the Internet and various other sources.





Enjoy!



People I Have Met - Google+

People I Have Met - Google+I can imagine Mike Shaw travelling in the East in countries like India and China and capturing simmilar features of people, it would be awesome.

Welcome Year of the (Water) Snake.

.Regression is a painful phenomenon to wade through at this time in my life an so I have to find the ways and means to generate my energy to overcome this feeling. This morning I handed one of my works to the Penang State Art gallery to see if they would purchase it for their permanent collection and my 'Rezeki' is good I might be able to buy some new art materials to continue with my works. Most of my art materials were taken to Dubai and so I am back to square one.
My daughter is about to leave for Hanoi for a month vacation with her closest friend whose father is a Malaysian Diplomat in Hanoi; I told her to go as it will broaden her perspective of the world around her. I hope she will have a good time there as I am sure her friend's father would make sure that the girls had a good time. My son Karim who has started his further education at Hang Chiang college is now getting the feel for what being educated is all about; he wants to be a movie director. Somehow he has a hard time learning the basics,like the joy of reading and what it would take to be ahead; but i still have the confidence that he will pull through and find his own ways towards achieving his goals. My son in Switzerland, cant say much of what he has been up to lately, but I know he too is doing his best at whatever he aspires to do. From his occasional entries in the Face Book of his artworks he seems to have touched something of his own, I hope he persist and keep growing with it. My son in Dubai, well he is busy with his own life, making things happen for his future.
Almost a month since i return and everywhere and everyone i talked to very few has much positive changes in their lives to talk about and more express despair and confusion with how things are in their lives especially with the way the Malaysian political scene is manifesting itself. In no time in the history of this country are the Malays more disenchanted and disillusioned than now. It seems their future is up in limbo as their hopes and aspirations are beginning to be sapped from the grasp. Most people i talk to express uneasiness towards what is to become of their future with the challenges ahead. Most i know are living in abject denial and resorting to lets wait and see attitude towards the upcoming elections. True to their nature Malays have a hard time admitting to the weaknesses and faults of those they elected as leaders. They would rather let the law of the land take its course even if the justice system in the country itself is dysfunctional.
I have heard so much horror stories of the hardship faced by the poor in this State of Penang alone that it makes me want to switch off my sensitivities and turn a deaf ear simply because it hurts. My helplessness in being able to do much to ease the burden faced by those i know of and care about makes me hopeless. Rapes, robberies, and inhuman acts between man has become synonymous with the politics of the country. It seems like we are heading for a meltdown or a decadence of society. it all seems in the service of self interest; taking care of number one.
This being the Year of the Water Snake it is my hope that something in the nature of what the snake stands for will manifest and we will learn a thing or two from it. One of the character of the snake is that it is symbolic of manifesting wisdom.  It is also a symbol of the healing powers or rejuvenation and renewal; the snake sheds its skin every now and then.
 
"Ancient Chinese wisdom says a Snake in the house is a good omen because it means your family will not starve. This could be taken metaphorically to mean that a Snake could never have a problem with his family starving because he is such a great mediator, making him good at business. Or it could mean that a Snake would be willing to sacrifice his possessions, something the Snake has a lot of, in order to pay for his family’s food. Any way it is interpreted is representative of the Snake’s character and is a measure of the value he puts on his material wealth. The Snake is keen and cunning, quite intelligent and wise."
The Snake is the intuitive, introspective, refined and collected of the Animal Signs. They are attractive people who take cries with ease and do not become flustered easily. They are graceful people, exciting and dark at the same time.
Contemplative and private, the Snake is not outwardly emotional. He can appear cunning and reticent and works very modestly in the business environment. The Snake will plot and scheme to make certain things turn out exactly as they want them to. They are not great communicators and can become quite possessive when they set their minds on achieving the interest of a partner."
Chinese Horoscope.

In this year of The Snake let us hope that we will move wisely and contemplatively towards the change that we all need to face in the upcoming election.Let us not allow our emotional drive overtake our sound judgement and look forward towards a more  prosperous year all around. 
 

Pages from my latest Journal - Rome

Pages from my latest Journal - 1

Hasnul J.Saidon - The Renegade

The most misunderstood, frowned upon and almost feared by; charismatic, multi talented most respected as an artist/ thinker is my close friend Hasnul Jamal Saidon. We got to know one another the day I walked into his office sometime in 2006 with a few sketch books of mine and he went bonkers with ideas the result of which I had my first Solo Exhibition at the ABM -  AMRO, USM Gallery, downtown Beach Street. Hasnul launched the show and a Silat performance being staged by a group of English Silat Masters. My life as an artist in Georgetown began with that first Exhibition called HUMIND; this was what I owe my friend.

Hasnul is often lost in his 'quamtum field' where  few would dare to venture into, as such  he can be abrasive and uncouth in his manners if and when situation demands which sometimes does not sit too well with his local peers. In our 'Malay' society the art of being vague and evasive, indirect and roundabout are ways of the norm. But Hasnul has his mind and he delivers his thoughts an ideas with great amount of passion and energy that those not used to him often finds it to hard to digest; Hasnul has gone , "Round The Bend". He has been around the corner and saw the other dimension in the form of The Univesity of Southern Illinois and meeting the man, Najjar Musawir in his course of studies there. In the Black neighborhood of Southern Illinois along with his friend Najjar, Hasnul was awakened, the potentiality of the limitless space and the ability to manipulate time and circumstances: the Sothern Illinois Education part of his life was the bend of his creative impulses and passion.

Hasnul will throw your crap back at you and not blink an eye; you have to get use to it or best to leave him be; he to my knowledge has low tolerance for mediocrity and not being genuine about oneself as he is to himself. His ingenuity sometimes takes stabs at his fellow peers especially those of the Empirical 'Old School'. But he is bound and determined to challenge them to take the "Quantum Leap" with him into the unknown dimensions.

His former students and peers hold him in high esteem even if at a distance sometimes; but this does not impair him in his motion, he is ever ready to whack left and right if he feels the need to and more than often he would be on the right track. Blazing eyes and deep rooted contemplation is second nature to him when you engage him in a dialogue on his favorite subject, be prepared to listen as the dam break loose.
He is an excellent writer in two languages and sings and plays on the guitar like apro.

It is indeed fortunate to have met and got to know Hasnul, slowly but surely i hope I will get to see him flower into his Gardens or unveiled from his Hijabs.(veils). The last angry Men!

And the show must go on....



On location; one of my temporary studios, at the MGTF doing what i enjoy most, creating life out of canvasses. Being an artist noth9ing more than just being who I am in one aspect of my personality.  Maybe just as a hobby or a serious career but, it all is part and parcel of the process of becoming an artist.  The beauty of being a No Studio artist is the fact that I am mobile, movable and able to up and do it elsewhere. Off course I have no permanent studio to bragged about at the end of the day...but Such Is!



I call it the Dance of the Dakhinis from the Buddhist version of angels maybe...Lord Krishna's 'Cow Girls', I started off with very simple technical tricks like using the masking tapes and so forth and then layering paints; I like to play with the back ground on this painting; the foreground I have lost the battle.



There were moments  when the painting came to life with a loud glow saying it is done, but I did not know how to stop and so it is one of my unfinished painting that I like. Its is my Mona Lisa



What do I hope to accomplish! Fame ? Fortune? Maybe so, but from whom? I do it for myself because it is like getting high or drunk. I enjoy creating things out of my head and making them real so much so the audience would stop a  moment to take a second look and not just brush past by.



 Yes, there is indeed a subliminal message there with me and women's bossoms and yes ,It is not safe to fall in love with your subject there is a thin line between passion and obsession.; one has to know when to retreat when the odds of having a success seem futile. Change, move on to another assignment, stop by the coffee shop, chat on FB! Make obscene love to your wife!
or Just Chill... and this too will pass...