I decided to take a break from commissions and paint this for myself. I have been so inspired by the whimsical art of Jane Filer, that I wanted to delve right into the genre of naive art. There is something so charming and innocent of this style.
This painting is made up of images from my childhood overseas in Malaysia. We lived (and my parents still do) next to the Straits of Johor. At that time, the Seaview had not yet been defiled by rows upon rows of high rises and I could see Singapore from my bedroom window. Our house is in a little estate located in a very steep hill, hence the big hills in my picture. Behind our little estate, is another giant hill with the Sultan of Johor’s palace on it. Now and then there would be sirens and you would know that the Sultan is going around with his motorcade again. Back then, he would have a bunch of police motorcyclists waving at cars to get out of his way so that he wouldn’t be stuck in a traffic jam.
On nice evenings, we would get to see the sun set into the horizon and because of the tropical haze, the sun would usually be this glorious luminous orange. The sky is not blue, but painted with streaks of fiery colours. In those days, you would still find lots of small wooden dinghies out fishing and crabbing.
The little red tree in the centre is my memory of this little tree that used to stand just outside my parents’ home. I don’t know what it is called but it had the prettiest flowers which were deep glossy magenta. Those were the days where kids would go outside without worrying about being kidnapped. We would often pick these little flowers to play with. Sadly that tree was removed sometime in my teenage years.
Often at night, there would be one or two signal flares sent up into the sky into the horizon. I remember asking my dad what they were he would tell me they were special lights sent up during military exercises by the Singaporean army. To this day I don’t know if that is true or not!
