Four
goldfish from my uncle was where it all began. Thereafter, for
more than 20 years, I struggled with the constant frustrations
of not being able to keep goldfish well. I was in and out of the
hobby, discouraged and given up after my goldfish deteriorated
and died, only to come back with renewed courage when I thought
I have enough savings to buy better equipments. Years of wild
goose chase ended when I finally met Mr. Alvin Lim in 2001 � my
friend and mentor, who taught me the way of keeping goldfish.
That is when I realized that the goldfish hobby is not about
having the most advanced equipment but on understanding their
environment.
The Goldfish Art Gallery was conceptualized from my casual
sketches of goldfish, which I illustrated to consult Alvin about
goldfish appreciation and their body conformation. When many of
my hobbyist friends like my sketches, it inspired me to explore
serious goldfish artwork.
Alvin, with his
profound experience in judging goldfish, is naturally one of my
best critics. I also had the honour to gain some very useful
insights about watercolour painting from Mr Seah Kum Chuan,
President of the Singapore Watercolour society when I attended a
watercolour appreciation course conducted by him.
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Ying, Alvin and me
:D |
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Although 2 years of painting still life and nature in college do help in
my artwork, painting goldfish is a totally different �feel�. I desire
for my artwork to emanate
the dynamism of the goldfish, thus, adapting the earlier
styles of plain stale and �hard� illustration to a �softer�
style of expressing movement of form. Being a goldfish fanatic
spending much time with goldfish everyday probably helps me to
express them spontaneously. I believe that only an artwork
created with passion will take on a life of its kind. Besides painting goldfish, I am also busy with my other
passion � breeding goldfish. The latter made me realize that it
is much more difficult to breed a decent fish than to paint one.
Well, that is probably why I love to engross in painting my
pseudo perfect goldfish whenever I can find time for it.
Special thanks to my good friend
Mr. HK Ying, for
nagging me to launch the art gallery everyday. Without him
getting on my nerves, I would still be procrastinating. Mr. CH Toh,
fellow member of the Vermillion Goldfish Club and a keen patron
of my artwork, for his suggestions to my art gallery. Last, but
not least, to the fans of my art out there, with whom I have
never met � but have been so generous in their compliments of my
humble artworks in all these years. I would continue to strive
to improve my artworks.
I am also
very appreciative and guilty to my family, in particular, my
wife and children for putting up with my love for the goldfish.
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My apologies that most of my
artworks are sold out, however, if you are interested in
future goldfish art sales, you may wish to register
in the following link to be notified:
Register your interest for
goldfish art notification
You are also welcome to
submit any
feedback to us and sign on our
Guest Book.
Thank you for visiting my gallery!
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Wee Yap
Dreamer &
goldfish fanatic
February 2007 |
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