This is my painting corner. The past year has seen me visit the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts once a week, to take lessons under Singapore contemporary artist Goh Ee Choo. He has won numberous awards and accolades and his works are owned both by private collectors and the Singapore National Museum. But you would never know it just by looking at him.
Mr. Goh, or Laoshi, to his students, is my first true exposure to the quitessential Singaporean. He is very opinionated about Singapore, and all the trials and tribulations that living here entails. Yet, his comments are always done in good-natured humour, and with an endearing self-effacement that one can't help but get swayed, if not altogether involved in his discussions on everything economic and politic, and to our consternation, art.
See, Laoshi is a reformed artist. A Buddhist who has wrestled with his demons and has now found peace teaching painting to bored housewives, cocky art students and working professionals with a few extra hours of spare time in their hands. To say that he is laid-back is an understatement. Nothing fazes the man, and he is a pragmatist when it comes to his students' talents, or lack thereof. I suspect his wonderful wife, Mrs. Goh, who is also an able artist herself, is a grounding presence and must be responsible for keeping him sane and on time (private joke here).
Thanks to Mr. Goh, I found out that I can stick to something and see it through. At the end of the year, I was able to finish two charcoal drawings, two watercolor paintings, and two oil paintings, the difference between each piece evident and startling. I chuckle to remember how terrified we were at the beginning of each painting, how impossible it seemed to get anything finished, and how daunting it was to look at a subject and recognize the various tonal values, shapes, color and proportion.
To compare the first drawing with the one made towards the end of the year is to feel a sense of satisfation, not because the pieces were perfect (far from it!) but the knowledge you have learned and improved is truly empowering. Anyone can paint after all!
I am far from being an "artist" but now I approach my paintings and drawings not with dread and apprehension, but with an inquisitive mind, a more intelligent eye, and a humble belief that in time, it can be done. So thank, Laoshi, for being a patient and encouraging teacher, and a funny one at that.
