Wall Art In Bali

Father & Child

"Father & Child #01", Acrylic On Canvas, Year:2007(Private Collection)

One of my friends has commented that this series looks nice, so right here I would like to show them to you all… (show off, ha!)

The reason that made me want to paint this series was that - in my real life experience, I have always felt difficult to know what father’s love is.

So, first of all, I decided to show the father having a close relationship with the child by hugging, while the child enjoys the fatherly love. Hopefully through painting it, I could somehow have a self-discovery about their relationship on both sides.

“Father & Child #01” and “Father & Child #02” both show the cold colour -“blue” background (symbolizing cold, challenging environment); Yet under these “cold” circumstances, love still remains. Therefore I used pink colour to highlight the faces warmed with passion…

"Father & Child #02", Acrylic On Canvas, Year:2007(Private Collection)

"Father & Child #03", Acrylic On Canvas, Year:2007(Private Collection)

舞台

"Deep Rest", Acrylic On Canvas, Year: 2007(Private Collection)

每个人的一生就尤如一场戏一搬，而上帝则是唯一的观众。在日常生活里，我们的一举一动或一个决定，不论是对的决定或错的决定，周围的朋友和家人都多少会看在眼里，但他们却并不能完全客观的了解及分析你的问题。因为今天你所做的决定多少是被过去的经历影响，而未来即将发生的事又与今天或过去发生的事有关联。就这样的，我很怀疑这世界上是否真的有“知己”？相信真正的知己非人，是神！最终在人生的舞台上我们是演给神看，非人！若是演给人看，我们将会很累！因为他们并不了解你...除外，还会论断你！

童年小片段

在大芭窑五巷近熟食区的小游乐场，我记得好像身着与上图同样的一套衣裤鞋袜，异常矮小，大概只有三岁吧！...从第二级的圆形台阶上往下跳-“叭！”的一声，脚板着地，膝盖屈了一下，与此同时，高大的爸爸唯恐我会跌倒，便在一旁弓着身用双手试图扶我一把，并传来他带笑的声音-“哎哟！哈哈！”在不远的爬杆处爬得高高的大哥和二哥几乎同时向我叫唤-“阿jiao（海南话的“耀”字的近音)！过来这里玩！...。”这一小小的片段可算是我对童年的最早记忆吧！它可是异常珍贵的！

注一：在照片里所穿的T-shirt可不是普通款式的，记得在右边的肩膀上有两粒纽扣扣着，要脱衣只需解开纽扣便可方便脱出。除外T-shirt上也绣有小巧可爱又色彩亮丽的Ang Gong Gnia。

注二：呈条纹的袜子也是挺colourful的。

注三：头的形状四四方方的，故从小便有“四方头”的外号（好像是女佣替我取的）。

友情完蛋？？？

接受得了我吗？这就是我！活生生的我！不要期望改变我！

对X友的冷漠自去年便已开始。
是我太小气还是他太bossy呢？
理不出来也不想再去理！
八年的友情就这样断了吗？
当他开始意识到我对他的冷漠时，他确实紧张了一阵子！伴随而来的则是拨电给我太太细问详情...但就是没有找我直接对话。
就这样拖拉了一阵子...后来他写了一封信给我，诉说我的不是，我看后便撕掉了！
我当时常被周围的朋友批评，恰好X给予我“意见”时，也正是我对周围“意见”忍无可忍之时。
也许我应该说X选择了错误的时候向我提出“意见”吧！
真的没朋友可做了吗？
后来我在一次集会里主动跟他说话，但他却摆出了一种“不想理会”我的态度！
算了吧！反正朋友多的是！不是吗？
跟X友的友情还会有重归于好的可能吗？谁知道？
总之就走着瞧吧！

Jump!

Fun!

90% Joy!

"90% Joy!", Acrylic & Ink On Canvas, Year: 2007

Most of the time, I personally find that in my own walk with God, it is sometimes quite challenging to live a total 100% victorious life. At times I may find that, after dealing with one problem, I thought I shall have no worries anymore; but sooner or later, another problem will appear, which causes me anxiety again, so I end up not being able to enjoy 100% joyful life...

As seen in the picture, 90% joy and restful life is represented by the big pink man sitting comfortably on a chair, with a child-like smile; on the other hand, another 10% (shown in the small back-facing black and white figure scratching his head) is about struggling between faith and fear...

Free

"Free", Acrylic On Canvas, Year: 2008(Private Collection)

This painting was developed after the work "Fly Free" (as seen below). I chose a bigger canvas to show a larger, more spacious sky to put in more people flying in the sky. The grey portion below are not buildings; in fact, they represent wells protruding into the sky (they actually also look like factory chimneys...; it is good to let viewer interpret in various ways though).

The painting shows if people in faith can be simple as children, they can be free and "fly" beyond their trapped situations (represented as the wells).

Fly Free

"Fly Free", Acrylic On Canvas, Year: 2007.

While I was doing this painting, I was in a very complicated mood, as I had some unhappiness with my freelance job matters and wanted to quit at that time... I can still remember while I was still workng on the child-head of this painting, I told myself I must do it nicely because I might quit that job and have to depend on my painting sales only. But praise the Lord! Eventually the matter was resolved, and I even got a better pay! Surprisingly, the smile on the child-head was so happy and cute, totally unexpected...

Hold-on

"Hold-on", Year:2007, Oil On Canvas(Private Collection)

Many people like my observation works. I suppose they enjoy looking at the techniques! Some people even encourage me to do more observational painting... In fact, I love to do observational painting, but right now I have a problem, that is - nobody wants or can find time to be my model (even when I am willing to pay them by hour). For example, few months ago, I tried to fix time with my nephew during his school holidays and decided to pay him $10 per hour, but finally he had to go to school almost everyday for CCA… So what could I do? Another example was: a friend whom I had painted before also rejected my offer… Maybe I can look for a full-time model who poses for an art school, but I do not know them at all! (Also, if I do not know a person well, I cannot paint him/her well!) Recently I am thinking: Shall I paint from photo??? Since nobody can find time to let me paint “live” model, I might as well ask my friends/relatives to only pose for me few minutes first, then I take photos of them and paint back home? Any suggestions?

The painting “Hold-on” was completed early last year. This friend model studies at NTU, and I can still remember I spent around 15 hours to do this painting. In the painting, the girl’s hand is holding a TV controller, paying a lot of attention on the television programme… It seems as if her conversation over the phone has been disrupted as the television programme is too attractive- this is how the “Hold-on” title comes about! It can be related to our Christian walk with God - sometimes our communication with God is also “side-tracked” halfway…!

Bali

在机场出口一时之间见不着前来迎接我跟太太的Bali导游，有点急了！便分头去找！找不着！我便重新回到围栏前一一的仔细查看人群里大大小小的手握“名牌”，总算看到了！一名身材粗大，头上包着Batik的布巾当帽戴，上唇留有一束胡子，包着Sarong的深暗色皮肤大汉（怎么看都不像个导游？？？更像个农夫！）手上握着活像用Photocopy机器放大打印出来的印有我太太名字的大纸片-他的名字叫“Jana！”

我跟太太住在Bali的White Rose Hotel。沿路走出去便可看见二〇〇二年的爆炸事件所遗留下来的建筑残骸（见下图）。Jana告知我们当年旅游业蒙受的打击直接影响了他的生活，很多人都过得苦不堪言！即便是到了今天，还是有一些人还没有完全的度过困境-就如我跟太太参观了一间木雕Studio兼展览厅，一名资深的木雕家告诉我们旅客大量的减少促成了木刻作品存货很多，无奈只能打六折便宜卖出。

我们住的那一区是Kuta，洋人很多，沿着店屋一路朝海边的方向走去，可看见不少的洋人三三两两的进出那一带。有些洋妞穿得凉凉少少的，有些男的则不穿上衣在行人道上走动...更帅气的则扛着冲浪板。在餐馆里（特别是夜晚），大都是洋人在里面进餐，抽烟或喝酒（气氛很好！）。更有些洋人看似是在那里定居的，他们跟那里的店家职员似乎混得很熟，有时候会看到他们站在路边一起口操着英语半开玩笑似的大声交谈。总之那里的旅游与商业气息很浓。

出远门逛画廊是我跟太太共有的“特殊爱好！”在Jana的带领下，我俩参观了不少的画廊兼画家的工作室。（见下图）几乎每一间的画廊兼画家工作室里的画作风格大都大同小异，但可贵的是画里的人物与动植物的分配位置却不同，当然也有不少的抽象画作品，我太太还买了两幅呢！

“Dono”是一名年仅十岁的小画家（见下图）。他连同一群大小画家坐在走廊边示范边工作着。他的一幅画勾起了我的兴趣，最终以二十美金成交。临走时他还向我讲了一句：“Thank you!”而我则回了他一句：“Welcome!”

对我个人来说Bali的传统画风最令我喜爱！特点是整幅画画得密密麻麻的，大都有许多人物，稻田，房屋和动植物等，每一片叶子每一处细节都画得很详尽（也不晓得画家总共花了多少时间制作一幅画，也真佩服他们的耐力！），层次感和特殊的透视效果都很好（见上图）！真叫人看了会尽不住想要将画抱进怀里尽情的亲吻它！
最终，我们也买了三幅传统民俗画，好开心呀！

在Kuta的海滩可看见许多到处招揽顾客的流动摊主。有帮人美化指甲的，按摩的，纹身的，卖地毯和卖手饰的。我个人认为那里不是休息的好去处，因为一些流动摊主会一直重复不断的要求你帮他们买东西或接受他（她）们的服务（令你觉得又烦又气！）。除外，那里的海浪也是蛮大的（见下图及下下图的录影片断），可看见许多的冲浪好手在冲浪！坐在滩上观望的我只有感叹自己不懂得（也不敢）应用冲浪板在海上顺海滑行。至于游泳嘛？总觉得浪太大，不太适合。玩水吧！那还不错！

The Clear Sky

"The Clear Sky", Oil On Canvas, Year: 2004(Private Collection)

Recently, I have found a secret to live a worry-free life…

The Bible mentions that in all the problems that we face (no matter how terrible they are), as long as we know that God loves us and believe we are more than conquerors in Christ, we shall overcome!

Four years ago when I painted “The Clear Sky”, in fact deep in my heart, I knew I did not have victory in my Christian life at times... I believe that was the reason why I painted an unhappy woman at the right side, and on the left side painted the same woman carrying weights (the two weights represent Moses’ two tablets of Ten Commandments given by God). She seemed to be struggling with the weights (as if trying to keep God’s laws to make herself righteous), but could not hold them for long as the weights were heavy (representing impossibility for man to keep the Laws). She ended up unhappy instead, worried and could not enjoy her life because she was using her self-effort to please God. Happy, victorious Christian life (the cloud-portrait on top) seemed so far, out of her reach…

一点小技巧-画卡通鱼

(A)首先用2B铅笔在画纸上轻轻的画出鱼的造型。鱼的造型因人而异，有的人喜欢用很多直线来进行创作，而有些人则喜欢用弧线来塑造形体。哈哈！画漫画就是这么一回事，不需要别人教，只要拿起笔来动手画，就会画了！不信吗？不仿自己试试看吧！

(B)用胶彩(Acrylic)开始上色，先涂上浅蓝色背景-胶彩易干，所以涂时动作要快。

(C)开始为身体着色，与背景的交界处留出空白也无所谓，反而可以制造一些特殊效果！

(D)着上亮眼的红色。

(E)开始勾描出黑色的线条。记住线条要有粗细变化。

(F)最后加上少量头发及注明日期和签名。

(G)完成图。

Eyes Down

"Eyes Down", Acrylic & Ink On Canvas, 91.5cm x 91.5cm, 2007(Private Collection)

I admit that, though I am a Christian, I have often set my eyes looking at the environment and things that happen around me rather than on God. The painting above is entitled, “Eyes-Down” to describe the tendency to look at worldly things below instead of looking up to God.

I may seem to encourage people (especially my wife) to seek God always, but sometimes I am not aware that in fact, deep in my heart, I have depended on the worldly pattern of thinking and logic! Recently I tend to be quite concerned of death, because my relative has just passed on. I look at myself and think - I am already 41 years old, so when is my time to go to heaven? Perhaps this concern is also due to my dad passing away at 42 years old… Fortunately God knows the thoughts I have and is willing to show me that death for Christian is like an entrance to the heaven, and only God’s Word has the final authority, not doctors’. Therefore I slowly set my faith on my Lord Jesus Christ again. Praise God!

The painting shows children with down-cast eyes. No doubt manna (food provided by God) is all around them, but they just cannot see or choose not to look at God’s providence...

十八年前开始...

十八年前。
那年我二十三岁。
我是一间出版社的全职设计师兼插图员。
当时每日的工作量都很繁重，但开心的是常有机会制作有趣的插图。（见图二）

当时常用的材料是广告彩（Poster Colour)配合黑墨水笔（Technical Pen)。有幸的是画出来的东西一般上都被采用，满有成就感的！

（图一）
当时最大的喜悦是有机会绘制故事版的“桃太郎”。（见图一）

“桃太郎”完稿后我便离了职。（也许自己当时太情绪化吧！不是吗？不仿仔细瞧瞧我的作品（图一和二），据了解情绪化的人的画作大都以弧线居多，而直线则显得少！当然不能否认的一点是自己的纪律也着实太差。）

(图二)

十七年前开始，我转入了另一家出版社。

在那里，每个星期都得赶画三份给予不同年级的小学周刊（见图三和四），忙得不可开交！画稿大多数是先以广告彩(Poster Colour)为底，再用细毛笔沾黑色颜料将黑色部位填上及勾画出形线。这样的画法即简单又快捷，当然还得在画面贴上文字说明和连贴版面以供印刷机印制等，总之，什么都得做，但却忙得开心！

（图三）
哈！在制作小学周刊过程里的一点小感触就是记得自己还是小学生时，也多少有接触过类似的周刊，但却从没想过长大后的自己竟会制作这类的周刊给小朋友们看！不知道小朋友们喜不喜欢我所画的插图？

（图四）

期间也帮忙公司制作了“儿童诗，绕口令”的有趣读物（见图五）。虽然都是清一色的黑白稿，但我却也热衷于运用黑白二色来进行搭配，有趣极了！透过画稿也可看出当时的刊物制作还处于剪贴的时期，电脑还没有引进。
不知怎么搞的？这本读物的原画稿竟然在我家里？事隔多年也没有人来向我领回？

（图五）

近几年来，我常画提供小学校用的看图作文，看图讲话及看图选择题等的插图作品。但因不能对外公开插图内容，所以不便在此提供给大家观赏。

（图六）乃是为一间教会的牧师所出版的宗教读物做的插图。内里绘出了基督受苦的过程-受鞭刑，背十字架及被钉在十字架上。
总的来说，画插图在我的生命里有着重要的地位，它大大的丰富了我的人生！
（图六）

Ride

Before I did this illustration, deep in my heart, I told myself that I wanted to create a picture which people would feel happy when they look at it! So, if this picture cannot bring sense of happiness to you, it will mean that I have failed!
Note: One thing I do not understand is that - both the boy and the girl look very "Chinese". The dinosaur image is taken from reference of a toy model at home.

Lamb-Over-Me

I did this illustration last year... I enjoy looking at this girl/lady a lot because I often find that I have created a nice cartoon portrait form. I think her hairstyle looks marvellous too, with the green-colour hair contrasting with the red background; Her protruding forehead also suggests quite a young age; But for the lamb, I don't really like the form, maybe because it didn't look realistic enough?

By the way, "Lamb-Over-Me" = "Righteousness" in the Chinese character.

进步

“肖像”，油画画布，二〇〇二及〇三年。

前几晚，问及太太：“绘画技术的进步并非只单靠埋首在画布前的锻炼，心境的改变与更新也是重要的。”

她想着，我不等她回复，又说：“就好比我吧！我曾停止绘画五年，后来又从新提笔，但却发觉自己非但没有退步，反倒进步了！”

她回道：“我也有过同样的情形！”

“是一种心境的改变促成作品进入某种新的意境！”

“我指的是弹琴！”

“...............”

“我常停止弹奏一段时间，过后重新开始弹却也发觉自己的琴艺进步了！”她点着头说。

我笑着说：“感觉上似乎与心境的放松密切相关！不是吗？我年轻时一笔一划都一板一眼，重分析！画画时尤如全身上下都配带着十几把刀，一点也不放过！就这样的生出了许多拘谨的画来！隔几年后，心胸放宽了，刀子也少了，画也显得轻松自然起来！或许这就是所谓的进步吧！”

漫画-“舞”

昨天晚上，在牛车水一带观赏完一名国外画家的个展后，闲来无事，便决定到狮城大厦去闲逛。
走着，本打算买一只新手表给自己...但我所喜爱的品牌却没有中看的，又打算买点新玩具...但随即又打消了这个念头（因为家里的玩具实在太多！），最终便朝漫画店走去。
在漫画店里，脑筋一片空白，看看这里，摸摸那里，想买“医龙”，但已看过了真人搬演的电视剧...深恐电视剧里的人物形象与剧情会影响自己看漫画的想象空间...继续走着看着，无意中发见了六本装的“舞”只出售三十元，觉得价钱合理且又便宜一丁点，便买了！

“舞”的原作是工藤一也，作画是池上辽一。

稍微对漫画懂得一点的朋友一定不会对池上辽一感到陌生（据了解香港的漫画大师马荣成还满喜爱他的作品呢！）。但遗憾的是我自年少便只有没头没尾的东一点西一堆的草草看过他的漫画...而并没有从始至终完整的看完他的一套作品（这一次机会总算来了吧！）。

哈！今早便已观看完毕！觉得画工很好！简练的笔法一点也不啰嗦！特别是人物的姿态更是生动活泼！还有漫画里黑，白和灰三色的搭配也非常引人入胜...。当然，也多亏了原作剧情紧凑，不拖泥带水，不多也不少的刚刚好！令人读后心里觉得：“值得!”

到了这里，我想也许大多数的漫画专家都会笑我吧？因为“舞”只是一部池上辽一的旧作品，其他的作品还没有拜读...至于最新的作品呢？是什么？

有空时才查一查看吧！

Fruitful

"Fruitful", Acrylic On Canvas, Year: 2007(Private Collection)

Relax in Christ,
Rest well in Christ,
Sit with Christ,
And also believe that I am already in the Promise Land…
Whatever happens to me, I shall fear not, and hurt not…
and I shall also bear fruits naturally!

Every time when I feel stressed…
I know…
My heart is restless!
And I have forgotten that I am already in the Promise Land!

Full House

"Full House", Acrylic & Ink On Canvas, 51cm x 51cm, Year:2007( Private Collection)

I have always longed for having full joy in Christ, every moment of my life!
This painting is all about my dream- fully enjoying my life in Christ!
Hopefully one of these days I can live earthly life as if heavenly life!
No tears, no worries, no fears and no sorrows!Just simply believe that as Christ is, so am I in this world!

Joy & Sorrow

"Joy & Sorrow", Acrylic & Ink On Canvas, 51cm x 51cm, Year:2007( Private Collection)

超人梦

少时爱看第十频道的日本超人连续剧。

记得常与两名哥哥及佣人一起观赏。

当然也发了不少的超人梦！-时常幻想自己也是特种部队里的一员，身着橙色的紧身制服，胸前有一黑色V字形的标记，戴上图样设计别致的头盔，与侵略地球的怪兽对抗！而自己则是会变身成超人的特种队员...。我二哥生性滑稽，就爱扮怪兽！就这样，我和大哥便常与他对打了起来...。

有一次，位于市区的首都电影院上映了“猴王与七超人”，我可乐了！便伴随两位哥哥及表姐弟们去观赏。影片里的猴王虽是主角，但却没能吸引我。我偏爱七超人！内里有超人三号香修树，一号专专，男女合变的北斗南，红衣侠及东光太郎等，真正令我看足了味！

长大点后，在专科学院求学期间，也像超人一样，一天用功十八个小时！累吗？不累！铁打的！

出来帮人打工时，还继续上演超人剧！一分一秒也不放过，能顶！则顶！休息二字是我的敌人！

现在呢？超人累了!

学习休息。

My 41st Birthday Present...

The God & the god

"The God & the god", Oil On Canvas, 4ft x 6ft, Year 2001(Private Collection)

Year 2001 was such a busy year for me – house-moving, picking up a new job, wedding preparations, doing illustration and painting!

Painting - “The God & the god” was done in that year. I did it with so many things happening around me and hardly had long hours to do painting for a day! Sometimes I could only spend one hour for it and sometimes I never even touched it for few days! So I eventually took very long time to complete it.

I also was not very sure whether this painting was a good painting or not, so I kept asking my wife-to-be for comments…and she often said to me, “I think you have done a good job!” But I was still unsure after hearing her comments! I kept asking myself, “Why?” Oh! Maybe the whole painting was too dark? Maybe the subject matter was too negative? Or maybe the images were not up to the standard that I expected? Maybe…???

In God’s blessings, I sold this painting few weeks ago. I tried to make a last observation before sending it off to the buyer’s warehouse. Finally, I felt in my heart saying, “I love it! It is nice!”

"Don't Worry, Sir, Will Increase In Future!"

Years ago, I was very poor. I can still remember there was once when I only left about nine dollars in XXX bank. I could not use ATM card to withdraw my eight dollars (bank account needs at least one dollar in there…), so the only way I could do was to go to the bank counter to withdraw from the bank staff! I was so embarrassed when I showed the staff my bank book - only left that much money in there… I smiled to her (an Indian staff) bitterly and said, “Hah! Hah! No money! Very poor!” When she heard that, she replied: “Don’t worry, Sir, will increase in future!” Wah! What a statement! That encouraged me a lot and really made me feel warm in my heart! A few simple positive words can really lift a person up, man!

Today, I would not say I am a very rich man, but at least I have more than enough for many things! Sometimes when I think back, even now, I can as if still hear her voice saying, “Don’t worry, Sir, will increase in future!”