Les Fleurs Decorative Painting

My first book!

Stop press! Here comes the book! Hot from the oven, this book will be available at selected bookstores from this weekend. The English language version will be released first and the Bahasa Malaysia version will follow shortly. The month of May celebrations continue, first as a mother, then as a teacher and now, the release of the book my painting buddies Nora & Tun and I have been working on since last year. As they say it in French, "en mai, fais ce qu’il te plaît!”- in May, do what pleases you! This book affair reminds me of my younger days, the time when I used to read quite a lot. My father once asked me whether or not I would like to write a book someday. I dismissed the idea then, but I think now I should thank him for asking the question.

Happy Teacher's Day

Yesterday was Teacher's Day here in Malaysia. As always, the kids had all sorts of ideas to celebrate and brought small gifts to school for their favourite teachers. It did not cross my mind that I would also be regarded as a teacher until I received phone calls, SMS messages and flowers from my painting students wishing me Happy Teacher's Day. Wow, I am a teacher! Perhaps not a real teacher according to the original idea of teacher's day when it started here in 1956. May 16 was chosen in the year 1956 when the Education Committee Reports were submitted to the pre-independence government as a foundation of education in Malaysia. It is not a school holiday and is celebrated earlier if the date falls on Saturday or Sunday. Teacher's Day is celebrated around the world on different dates with the days in the months of September and October being the favourites. The World Teachers' Day is October 5. In the US, National Teacher Day is May 6 and Teacher Appreciation Week is celebrated in the first full week of May.

Mother's Day special

Salute to my mum and all of you mums out there. Not that I believe that mother's day should be observed only on one particular day in a year. To me, everyday is a mother's day. But since this day is dedicated especially to mothers and celebrated by a lot of people around the world, why not make it a little bit more special than any other days. Like many other special days dedicated to some special people, mother's day celebration traces its origins back to the ancient Greece and Rome. And like many other special days, it has become a big commercial event. And like many other things that have been commercialised in a big way in the modern world, the Americans have got something to do with it - they set the annual date and many countries have followed suit, on the second Sunday in May - and made it a commercial success. But actually Mother's Day, or whatever day equivalent to it, is celebrated on different dates by people in different countries around the world. Anyway, Happy Mother's Day Mama. And here's a picture of the special things that I got from my little angels very early this morning (by the way, the cheque drawn on the Bank of Love reads "I promise you a million kisses" (sweet!):

Painters rendezvous

My sincere thanks to fellow painters, students, friends and other guests for taking the time to be present at the simple get together "brunch" today. It was really great to have so many of you around at the same place and time. I enjoyed it very much and I hope everyone of you enjoyed sharing your painting tips, experiences and adventures, and showing off your respective "conversation masterpieces".

Rumah kecil tiang seribu,

Rumah besar tiang sebatang;

Jamuan kecil hari Sabtu,

Terima kasih semua yang datang.

Kalau ada jarum patah,

Jangan simpan di dalam peti;

Kalau ada kurang dan salah,

Harap-harap dapat di ma'afi.

Kalau ada sumur di ladang,

Boleh kita tumpang mandi;

Kalau ada masa lapang,

Lain kali kita buat lagi.