Les Fleurs Decorative Painting

Celebrity bread bin

It gets tougher to keep my blog alive despite many requests and complaints I received from regular visitors who like to see photos of new painted pieces. Okay, I'll keep it simple, here's one bread bin that has become a celebrity - it was presented by a client to a VVIP recently. It has french baguettes painted on it. The French word to use would have been "pain" or "pains" but in this case, the English word "bread" would be more appropriate.

Open-house season

  

Post-Aidilfitri has always been a hectic festive open-house season, a true Malaysian tradition. It's an excellent excuse for being busy 'balik-kampong' travelling, visiting relatives and friends, hosting visitors, and for over-eating. The waistline benefits from the month-long Ramadan diet regime don't stay long after Aidilfitri. It is also a good excuse for not having the time to update my blog. Salam Aidilfitri to all my readers, maaf zahir & batin.

Have a beary good trip

Have bear, will travel. Some people just have that special knack for nostalgic collectibles. And I am a little envious. The last time she had the antique sewing machine cover, and now this nostalgic suitcase. As usual, I had to see it go after painting it, with mixed feelings - joy and a heavy heart. It's the decorative painter's dilemma. You get to paint lovely things to the best of your ability and take pride in the results. Unfortunately, they belong to other people. It looks like a win-win scenario, you are happy and the clients are happy. But actually, there is a feeling of sadness inside. It's like the feeling of wanting something nice that belongs to someone else. The french, who have the knack for the expressions of feelings, say it quite well, perhaps with a slight exegeration. They say; "partir, c'est mourir un peu" - to leave, is to die a little. In other words, it hurts to say goodbye. Have a very good trip.

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!):

The seaside beacon

I don't know exactly what it is about lighthouses that I like them so much. They seem to have the ability to trigger memories of distant places of long ago. It may be just the evoking images of beautiful seaside settings on the background, or perhaps the abstract concept of a shining beacon - the guiding light the early seafarers depended upon long before the days of modern navigational equipment. Whatever it may be, I like the whole idea of a lighthouse, complete with its beaming and revolving light that illuminates the night sky, the sturdy tower that can withstand the rough forces of nature, the station and keeper's quarters, and the beautiful and strategic seaside locations where they are normally found. I must have seen a number of them long ago when I was very young. I'm not sure how many of them are still around today, which gives the idea that lighthouses belong to the time of distant past. I have painted a number of lighthouse pieces like this one here and it has always been kind of sad to let them go to their rightful owners. But there is no doubt that I will paint more of them.

Tutti Fruity

Painting fruits can be so much fun - thanks to the bright and delicious colours provided by nature.  But painting them can also be quite a challenge due to the wide range of colours, tints and shades of the different types of fruits. You can have all the major colours - red, yellow, green and blue - if you have the right collection of fruits all in one place. Although we can easily get colourful tropical fruits here, the popular fruits to paint tend to be those that come from the cold and temperate climates, such as apples, berries and grapes of different kinds and origins. Whenever I have to paint them, I get to learn about the different varieties of fruits from different parts of the world. For instance, apples are not just apples - there are big and small apples, and there are red, green, royal gala, granny smith, washington, richmond, china fuji apples, etc. as well as european, american, australian, chinese, japanese apples, etc. And the same goes for berries, grapes and other fruits. It is the nitty gritty details of the artistic aspects that contribute to the beauty and uniqueness of handpainted items.

Decorative plaques

Decorative wall plaques remain one of the most popular items among my students as well as among my customers. I guess it is due to the simple, flat surface and the versatility of the plaques - small enough to hang anywhere inside or outside the house yet big enough to complement or enhance the decor of the respective areas. You can place it at the entrance or the living room with the words "Welcome", "Home Sweet Home" or just the house number. Everyday French words such as bonjour and bienvenue are also regularly used. Or you can place one on the door of each room e.g. "Dining", "Kitchen", "Powder Room" or "Washroom". For some strange reasons, washroom door plaques are very popular among my customers. You can also place one on the door of each bedroom with the given names of the rooms or the kids. Plaques are also a good starting point for students wishing to paint for own use, for sale or for a gift. They are the most popular gift items for events such as moving to a new house, opening of a new shop or redecoration of a house or a shop. The plaques come in various shapes and sizes. The bigger plaques are sometimes written with words of inspiration or extracts from the religious verses as specified by the customers. More and more people these days want unique and beautiful plaques painted to order according to their own unique personality or the unique theme of their home decor.

Every house used to have one

Now, here is something that I would love to have one for myself. This kind of nostalgic items from the days gone by can really bring back fond memories of the past. In this case, it reminds me of how sewing machines used to be a common feature in almost every home. It used to be an indispensable part of every family. My mother had one, and her mother had one too. How times have changed. They don't make this kind of things anymore and sewing machines are no longer an essential part of every family. So, I really enjoy having things like this old sewing machine case in wood in my care for a while, until it's time to say goodbye. After the necessary makeover as requested by its rightful owner, off it goes back to where it comes from. But not without leaving a mark in my life. The thoughts continue to linger, not so much on the painted product but on how the society has evolved. It seems to me that mothers no longer have the time or the necessity to sew or mend items of clothing for the family, and so many new gadgets continue to take over the place of the old ones as time passes and people change the way they live.

Colourful adventures

Decorative painting can sometimes feel like a series of little adventures, especially when customers bring something out of the ordinary for me to paint. Each item - big or small, old or new, in different shapes or materials, for own use or for gifts, in one piece or in sets, etc. - has its own interesting story. Among the non-typical items that I've had the chance to paint are different types of lamps, kitchen utensils, coconut shell items, wall clocks, coffee tables, big trunks, earthen urns (tempayan), barrels, old cupboards, kitchen cabinets and doors. Designing the patterns and choosing the colours for non-typical items are less straightforward compared to the regular items. And in the process, I get to learn about, among others, the history of the items, the reasons for painting them, the intended recipients, the environment where they will be placed, and the rest of the items or decor that they need to blend with. Very often, the circumstances are different and interesting. Therefore, each piece represents a different story.

The cancans

Painting cans can be fun and even nostalgic. Ordinary household items such as cans, jars, tins and basins can add variety and serve as a refreshing alternative to the range of decorative items dominated by wood and wood-based articles. Due to surface characteristics, metal and glass articles are a little harder to paint and the finished products require a little bit more care than the wood-based items. But their popularity, at least among my customers and students, appears to be growing recently. Historically, the art of tole painting - the precursor to, and still remains synonymous today with decorative painting - started with metal-based enamel and tin wares. So, while painting metal-based materials, one can't help thinking about the days when a similar activity took place some 500 years ago, or even earlier.