Huah Kam Lan, another of our regulars, does not like to talk much. She draws with a combination of bold strokes and fine details, sometimes using both paints and crayons to produce bright, colourful and dramatic drawings.
Sunday 16 October 2011
Siew Yok Kam
Yok Kam is a polio victim since young. She is one of our regulars, coming to the sessions in her wheelchair every week without fail. Despite the fact that only two fingers on her right hand are functional and she holds the brush with difficulty, she perseveres to finish her painting. She needs to take breaks every now and then. As her hand gets tired, the strokes become more shaky but she has produced some colourful and interesting compositions.
She looks forward to the sessions and is one of the earliest to arrive. She makes friends easily and strikes up conversation with those sitting around her. One day she cheerfully demonstrated to me the different self-designed tools that she used to help her move her limbs - eg tying ribbons to both feet so she can lift them herself.
To see more paintings by Yok Kam, go to her web album at:
Saturday 15 October 2011
14 October 2011 - 15th Session
The airy corridor on the 2nd floor of the main building is where we gather every Friday, starting around 130 pm. By 2pm you can see two rows of elderly persons, some in wheel chairs, busy with brushes and paints. Today was a well attended session - due to the special effort of a Home staff who wheeled in several new recruits. By now we have at least 10 regulars some of whom arrive before us! We also had 4 First Year students from Universiti Sains Malaysia who had come to see if they could join the project for one of the assignments. It was a particularly jovial session. Many new recruits promised to join us in the coming week.
Here are some of the new participants who joined us today :-
At the end of every session, we take down paintings done the previous week and put up all the paintings done this week on the wall next to the lift to the 2nd Floor. This is what the wall looked like at 3 pm on 15th October.
Mak Ah Looi
Chuah Keng Im
Ewe Ah Eng
Chong Siew Sim
Here are some interesting drawings done by the new participants.
The gentleman who drew the 3 dramatic birds below came for just this session. He walked up to our tables to see what was going on. I invited him to sit down and try. After some hesitation, he said I will draw some birds and you say what you think. I was quite amazed when he drew the three birds in a few quick strokes. I told him immediately that his painting was excellent. He then said I will try another one and drew two fish. As quickly as he did the drawings, he announced he was done for the day and walked away. We were not able to persuade him to come back again.
It is part of the routine of each session that the participants stop whenever they feel like it. Some spend all their time on one painting, some do two or three before they stop. Many of them will then gather around a round table to have a drink and a small snack.
At the end of every session, we take down paintings done the previous week and put up all the paintings done this week on the wall next to the lift to the 2nd Floor. This is what the wall looked like at 3 pm on 15th October.
The last painting to go up was Philomena Rangel's, shown below. She was the last to finish as she put in a lot of care and effort to produce this fine painting of boats, butterflies, birds and flowers.
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