Hello everyone!
I’m SK from Singapore. I’m an art enthusiast who spends much of my time painting. Just a little more about myself…
As far as I remember, as a ten year old, I was always staring, wide-eyed at Mrs Lee, my primary 5 teacher, greatly intrigued, not by the science property of water that she was enthusiastically explaining about, but by the sharp features on her high cheek bones and pointed nose.
The English texbook on my desk was barely recognizable except for its full coloured cover, which was largely unfriendly to any old, blunt 2B pencil heads. The rest of the pages were patterned with doodlings of all sorts, including faces, animals and any object that you can think of under the sun.
I could still hear her voice ringing, “Sau Kheng…,” with a ‘stop doodling and pay attention’ stare, while I was quickly throwing my equipment down at the speed, by today’s standard, akin to quantum pace, and pretended to be listening intensely to her topic.
To be fair, actually, I was listening. The thing was, I could concentrate more when I was doodling. The scraping of my pencil on a blank space actually kept my ears up, even though my eyes could be fixated on the criss-crossed lines.
Today, it is beyond my wildest dreams, to be actually doing my first love every single day, immersed in a world of space that never fails to fascinate myself. It is hard to explain, even to myself, what actually draws me to the white canvases. It could be the colours, it could be being able to recreate life on a flat surface, with people and things that are so touchable and yet so untouchable. It is a mixed feeling. I could stare at the work for hours, setting wild my own phantoms of the space I created, imagining how my finger movements could have changed that ambience.
I wish that what I have created or what I would ever create, could provide an avenue for expressions, not only for myself, but for the many friends out there who probably, at one time or another, need a space and a story for self-reflections, or an inner message that inspires.
My Art Journey?
I graduated many years back and started work in the IT industry. The profession did to a certain extent, satisfy my yearn to create. The creation of systems that perform functions that help ease the daily load of the clients scratched my left brain more so than my right. I had an urge to do a little more with my right.
Then, to many of my friends’ bewiderment, I chose to move to a completely different arena, teaching. Crazy it may seem, I took up a post grad diploma in education, specialising in primary school subjects including art. Jumping into teaching kids was an eye-opener. Creative teaching strategies were highly attractive to my free-spirited self. My drawing skills did come into good use as I created interesting teaching materials, decorated classrooms and of course, taught art to the little ones. These had given me much satisfaction too, as the juice in me went wildly excited by the unexpected available space.
Five years ago, I finally started on my personal art journey. I started learning oil painting from Mr Wee Shoo Leong, a UOB Painting of the Year award winner, who is renowned in the art fraternity. I became an infant again, this time round, really learning about painting and art. I practised and read up extensively on my own. The more I delved into it, the more intrigued I became. There is so much to learn, from painting skills and the manipulation of oils and brushes on the canvas, to art history and the wisdom of life. It has given me many opportunities to explore, express and internalise discoveries of life, and of the world. And I can gladly say that I have, now, found myself.
Today, I would like to share my passion with you and I hope it can truely help you find yourself too.
S.K. Chang
June 2021