Chinese Temple

We are into the chinese new year mode now, same day next week will be the new year celebration. Everyone getting ready for a long holiday and shopping malls are pack with shopper buying last minute supplies for the celebration. As for our brothers whom are non chinese, well they are also busy as this is also a national holiday so everyone have plans to go somewhere with family. I just wanted to wish everyone to have a great holiday and while on the road drive safely please.

The painting below shows a very old chinese temple (Tua Pek Kong) located just next to the Sarawak River. Every year, this temple will be filled with well wishes from all over the city praying for a better fortune and health for the coming year (This year will be the year of the Tiger). Burning of stick of incense will be seen all over the temple especially heavy during the 9th day of new year as this will be the start of the Hokkian new year. Hope i can captured the image before going back to Kuala Lumpur.

Hope you like this painting may the coming year of the Tiger bring good fortune, better health and abundent of happiness to everyone.

The Old Boat Man

Another familiar sights for those living at Kuching. He is the boat man whom tirelessly steered the small sampan that travel between the Sarawak river. In the olden days, they are as crucial as the common public transport such as buses or taxi that connects school children or working people to their destination. This is especially true for those who lived at river banks. Nowadays he is mostly a tourist attraction. It’s still quite an experience to ride on this low-lying sampan with your hand just inches aways from the river, a totally different perspective sitting in this small sampan and watched the busy scene of the city. This days all the sampan are equiped with small motor, if you notice carefully there is a string on the roof of the boat which connects to the rear motor. Just need to yank and the motor will stop or reduce speed or vise versa. The two paddle are for steering the boat toward the destination. Only RM1.00 for each ride. Like most of Kuching old trades, this is also a disappearing sights. Fewer and fewer offered such service and soon disappeared with the old man.

Broga Hill 2 – The misty side

This is another painting done on the same hill but from a different angle and under a different environment. I think the picture is take during early morning so distance fields are covered with fog and mists. Picture taken by Nicole. I highligted the tall grass which actually covered the entire hill.

Hope you like the painting.

Broga Hill

This painting is done from reference photos of a few friends whom had done hiking to the Hill. I never thought there is a landscape as such just a few kilometers from KL city. Wide open area with low laying grass, it looks like some overseas scenery. Thanks to Pn. Nicole, En Meor and En Leong for your photo.

Hope you like this painting.

Time for ais cream

This is a painting of one of the oldest existing ice cream parlor in Kuching City. Since my primary school (1970s)days it was already there serving faboulus soft vanila ice cream, not icy or sweet. Just soft, creamy and smooth.

There are also famous for it’s home made bread. One of their all time favourite would be ice cream tuck in between two slice of bread, the benana split and vanila with peanuts. They are all irrisistable and that is why there is always people queing at the store. Hope you enjoy this painting.

I have done some sketches of me and my friend eating at this shop Link.

Melon Time

What a way to start the new year with some fresh fruit straight from the local market. This painting is done on Kuching local market located near the old Gambier street. Till today the local fruit vendor is still a popular spot to buy local produced fruits. It comes with the seasons, sometimes its the durians and mangosteen populate the scene but other time it’s some other fruits. Here in the the painting it’s the watermelon, normally there are two types, the one with the stripe and the one without. Well under the hot sun,best is to have a cooled watermelon to bite on.
Hope you enjoy this painting.

Happy New Year

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year and may the year 2010 bring good fortune and happiness to everyone around the globe. Every year there will be display of grand fireworks at the Petronas Twin Tower at Kuala Lumpur. Going early is a must if you wanted to get a good site to watch the countdown finally. Also not to forget the aftermath, hours of traffic jam, so better plan your route of escape earlier.
Hope you enjoy this fireworks display.

Open Air Market

Thought of finishing some painting related to new year celebration but i guess i can’t finished it on time, but will try to post them up may be this weekend. So instead i puting up this one which shows the landmark of my home town. It is one of Kuching famous landmark, not sure about the history of this place have exist since the 1960s. I think it used to be some sort of fire brigate with the training tower. Nowadays it’s an eating place, famous for it’s “sio bee” or pork dim sum. The painting is referenced from a picture i captured a while ago, it’s middle of morning with stong sun shining and long shadow overcast from the taller bilding (the Electra House) next to the market. Hope you like this painting.

Kerosene Lamp

Just complete this painting. I done this piece out of nostalgic memories from my grandma house. The lamp is lighted using just kerosene and amazingly it is almost as bright as our florescent. It takes some skill just to light the lamp, so my father did shared some of his experience while i was doing this painting. Nowadays we can’t even get hold of kerosene, so i guess will never see this chap light up anymore.

The bunch of paper next to the lamp is actually an old Chinese calender, each day a piece is tear off as the day leap forward. Each piece stated the day in the English calender also the significant of the day to Chinese believe and the day in Chinese. Quite amazing actually, as all this information can be obtain just from one small piece of paper. During the olden days, the calender of this type is of importance to the Chinese as it highlighted the auspicious or bad days ahead. Chinese New Year are celebrated based on this calender.

Grandma House – fishing for Crab

Well promise is a promise, this is another one of Grandma house sketch, now this are the man made streams nearby the house, the stream are used for transporting harvested coconuts or cocoa by small “sampan” (wooden boat) to nearby collection point. As seen from the sketch, the stream water level are control by series of dam, especially useful during dry seasons. Lots of mud crab in those streams during those days, well mud crab aren’t that popular in the market back then mostly just consume locally by farmers well all those change now as restaurant now offer gourmet mud crab dishes nowadays. If you can see carefully there is a contraption (next to the man pulling the string from the water), it’s a square curved net with rotten fish head hanging in the middle. This are lowered into the stream and wait for movement on the string. Once they moved, just quickly pull them up there u have your crab. Pretty easy actually especially and they are hungry. Hope you like this sketch.