Les Fleurs Decorative Painting

Also for the boys

We tend to find a lot of decorative items for the girls, but there are also a lot of them for the boys. The objects, abstracts, styles and colours may differ as boys and girls may have dissimilarities in perspective and taste. But it is not always easy to categorise as many objects and styles are gender-neutral. Flowers or fruits in red and teapots in blue may be suitable for everyone, but blue baseball cap and dark-brown leather glove will more likely be the stuff for the boys.

Needles and pins

More on simple and practical daily applications of folk art and decorative painting - this time with the all-too-familiar sewing stuff. All you need to do is just arrange your fabric, threads, needles, scissors, tapes, buttons, etc. and voilà! - you have a lovely decoration.

Message in a bottle

One very interesting aspect of folk art and decorative painting is its extensive daily applications - you can decorate and bring to life almost any daily items that would have otherwise gone to the garbage bin or recycling centre. These ubiquitous green bottles adorned with unassuming "bunga kangkung" can easily brighten up a dull corner of your kitchen or dining area. Very simple and yet, très chic.

More tips on decorative painting

There are more to decorative painting than just ringgit and sen. Certain prerequisites are even more important than cost but they cannot easily be translated into monetary value. I have coined a simple formula for the newcomers - 2Ds & 2Ps, based on the initials of the words Decorative Painting. What are 2Ds & 2Ps? They are the 4 main qualities that beginners should always bear in mind - Dedicated, Discplined, Practice and Patience. Even seasoned painters need to remind themselves of the 2Ds & 2Ps during painting projects or when painting big items such as walls, built-in closets and kitchen cabinets, partition screens, etc. There are of course other equally good qualities but I'd like to make it simple and memorable for the beginners. And for those living with their loved ones, they need to get their spouses, partners or families to understand the 2Ds & 2Ps as well because the same 4 qualities, with the exception of practice which can be taken in a different perspective, are required to maintain harmonious relationships. Another useful formula that I always keep in mind is TLC - Tender Loving Care approach to painting. Again, one needs to balance the TLC between decorative painting and one's own family relationships.

Real life, still life & virtual life

Thank you to all the regular visitors who keep coming here tanpa jemu and sorry for not being able to post regular updates and latest photos of my handpainted works. As it happens in life, sometimes everything seems to happen all at once. In my real life case, it's the time for the kids sporting events, school prize-giving ceremonies for achievers, invitations to weddings and other evening functions, a major project and, at the same time more and more students are asking for weekend classes. So in addition to Saturdays, I have to give in to demands for Sunday classes, and projects. Hence, less time for family and painting orders. Consequently, the list of backlog customer orders for still life works gets longer and longer. Longer backlogs means longer waiting time, and from my own perpective, a sense of uneasiness and guilt for making my enthusiastic customers wait too long for their painted pieces. It also means less time for virtual life blogging and surfing for ideas, and a sense of guilt for letting regular visitors down with fewer updates. Be patient and bear with me for a little while longer. I will start posting photos of painted works by the students soon and you will see how good they are.

Collectible cans

I must admit that regular blogging is not one of my strengths. Finding the time to do it is one thing, writing it nicely is another. I find painting and teaching easier than writing. But others may find it otherwise or both equally well. Unlike face-to-face or phone communications, I will not know who visits this blog, reads the stories and views the photos, unless the visitor leaves a comment or two. Some do, and I really appreciate it. I do know that some friends, fellow painters, students and customers do drop by and read the postings from time to time. Although they don't say very much or at all online, they have a lot to say when they speak to me over the phone or during the classes. Some out-of-town customers do call to check if I have posted the photos of their orders before they come and collect them.

Occasionally I receive calls from people whom I have met before but as it happens sometimes, the name and the face may not click right away. I received a few calls like that when I posted the story of my daughter being hospitalised for virus infection. But what happens today is a little unusual. This afternoon I received calls from 2 ladies whom I have not met before. Both are folk art enthusiasts who are interested in attending classes. Apparently they have been visiting this blog and asked me why I have not been updating it for some time now. Well, I hope the above explains it. And for no special reasons today, instead of posting a photo of my painted item, I have decided to show my collection of tin cans.

East meets west

 
 

One particularly interesting and rewarding aspect of painting a variety of customers' own objects is the opportunity to work with a wide range of non-conventional materials. Colours, tools, materials and patterns used in the folk art and decorative painting movement are predominantly of western origin. But that is not to say that we do not have local materials or that they are inferior compared to the western ones. It is a matter of preference, and one's own background and involvement in the trade.

I have more and more customers wanting folk art patterns painted on their traditional objects and everyday items such as nyonya cupboard, old kettle, coconut shells, tikar mengkuang items, wood cuttings, antique furniture, children furniture, kitchen utensil, etc. It was a little awkward at first, as I wasn't sure if local traditional items would look nice in western patterns and colours. They are usually painted in local or ethnic folk art or native patterns. It was also quite a challenge as traditional items are softer than wood-based materials and metals, and absorb colours differently from the materials I normally work with. The colours therefore, may not appear as attractive as they would have looked like on the normal materials. Luckily, my customers are willing to take risks and give me a free hand.

I am glad that the products turned out very nice and to the customers' liking. Avid collectors normally like to keep unique and personalised decorative items. They are also well-travelled and have seen many attractive patterns overseas. The extra touch provided by handpainting traditional objects with western folk art patterns that they like, such as flowers, vineleaves, fruits and vegetables, makes their prized items even more unique.

Lovely Rosemaling

My painting seminar at Amcorp Mall for the last few Saturdays has been about painting roses such as Ros Singleton's roses. But one of the more-admired traditional folk art (art of the peasants) decorative painting for roses is the Norwegian Rosemaling. Rosemaling has its origin in the various regions or fylkes of Norway in the 17th to 18th century and is influenced by the European rococo and baroque styles of the period.

In Norway, Rosemaling is taught by skilled artists and leading art schools. The word Rosemaling means rose-painting, and those practising the decorative art like to call themselves as Rosemalers. Rosemaling is characterised by long, flowing and colourful lines, elegant flowers and well-placed leaves, created using a more advanced technique of the basic "C" and "S" brush strokes. Rosemaling is used a lot to decorate trunks, boxes, trays, plates, and many other wood surfaces. Here's a beautiful example of Rosemaling (photo courtesy of The Illinois Norsk Rosemalers Association).

Rosemaling made its way to the USA in the 1900s as decorative objects and via European immigrant artists. It is now a recognised art form, thanks to the establishment of the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa. The museum offers Rosemaling courses and certification programmes. It is also the sponsor of the National Rosemaling Competition every year since 1969. Learn more about Rosemaling from the Vesterheim Gold Medalist (VGM) winners, highly talented and experienced Rosemalers Rhoda Fritsch, VGM and Gayle Oram, MDA, VGM.

Rosemaling is recommended for the more advanced students. How you wished sometimes that this country could take a more structured and nurturing approach to our own traditional decorative arts.

Tole Painting & Decorative Painting

Tole painting is very much intertwined with decorative painting. In fact the Society of Decorative Painters was previously known as The National Society of Tole and Decorative Painters, having had its origin among the tole painting fraternity when it was conceived in the 1970’s.

The word tole is believed to have come from French. It means lacquered or enamelled articles and ornamental wares where sheet metal, especially tinplate is used. The art of decorating tinwares could have started in Europe in as early as the 16th or 17th century, possibly in response to the arrival of the more expensive chinaware or japanware to Europe. Tole painting was originally used to describe the art of decorative painting on tin or metal but later expanded to include a wide variety of decorative objects and painted surfaces such as wood, glass, ceramic, fabric and other metals).

Numerous techniques and styles of tole painting were developed by the popular Schools of Art in Europe in the 1700’s notably one-stroke, with brushes double and triple loaded with colours for use on various painted surfaces (tole is sometimes referred to as one-stroke painting).

Today, the term tole painting, together with its heritage, art and discipline comes under the overall umbrella of decorative painting. Nonetheless, tole painting is still very much alive and well.

Thoughts on Western Folk Art & Batik

Folk Art is a traditional form of art with a long history of evolution and usually unique to a particular place or region. The tradition continues to be practised and preserved by people with little or no formal education in art, as we know it today. But the skills, techniques and style are well developed and handed down through generations, often by certain masters of tradition.

We see folk art in everyday objects. It is how people from all over the world relate to nature and expression through colours and patterns. They paint leaves, vines, fruits, animals, landscapes, etc. in creative, colourful and wonderful ways. Depending on the place and time in history, tradition, style and movements of folk art are referred to by many names such as Art Nouveau, Renaissance, Rococo, Romanticism, Abstracts, Chinese, etc. Malaysia and Malay archipelago has something similar in batik. But batik is not yet well documented, and the tools of the trade such as colours, brushes and patterns have not reached the level of portability of the western folk art to reach the general public.

We see beauty in many exotic western folk arts such as Rosemaling and Zhostovo, but the natives of Norway and Russia probably see them in the same way as we see batik. But they maintain, preserve and continue to promote their art as national heritage through museums, art galleries, new materials and international promotion. I can buy books, brushes and colours, and learn the styles and techniques, through the internet, seminars conducted by travelling professional painters, and paint in the cosy and clean environment at home. Batik certainly has a long way to go.