This Is A Real Shocker!

I can't believe my eyes when I opened my email recently. He had not been to my site for sometimes and when he came, he was surprised that I have turned into a painter of sort. Immediately he ordered 10 (ten) pieces. That is right TEN PIECES of whatever that I have and those that I have yet to paint.
Wow! I have promised other people too and with his ten pieces, I will have a lot more to work on. There is also this art exhibition being organized by Puteri Kamaliah at Balai Berita in KL this coming November specially for members of PESENI Kelantan that I wanted very much to put a piece or two to show to the world.
The order is from a close friend and I know all these while he had been buying and dealing in art pieces but they are art pieces from established painters and command prices in hundreds of US dollars! After a few emails to and fro, I have agreed to do them for him including those that he requested: paintings of cockerels. Now that is a real challenge to paint a cockerel.
He said he will buy anything other than portraits. Fair enough since I am not a portrait artist and that is proven when a portrait of my grand daughter Balkis is yet to be considered done despite her mum's insistence that I get it done before she comes back for the next end of year break. She and family lives in Labuan. That's still along way to go.
This buyer provoked me into naming my price and cautioned me not to be shy of naming my price. Well I am not an established artist and my paintings will always be affordable to anybody who loves my painting. Just give me an offer and I will not disappoint you. Just keep my work hung on your wall and Pak Zawi will be very happy.
On top of that he wanted the paintings to be framed in good frames. That will add at least another RM100 to the price. One consolation though, he will allow me to use some of the paintings to be displayed at the show with his name as the buyer. So I will have to put a tag Sold to Mr. ....... ..... and of course no price will be displayed. The price of Pak Zawi's painting will always remain confidential between the buyer and the seller unless it is auctioned off publicly, one day maybe.

Meanwhile the name of the new buyer will remain unknown until the day of the art exhibition. If you are keen to know who bought them, please attend the show at Balai Berita KL at a date that will be announced soon by Puteri Kamaliah.
To those who have requested for my painting, don't worry all promises by Pak Zawi will be honoured. Just give me a bit of time. I will get it done.
To commemorate Merdeka Day Pak Zawi finished painting a pink water lily.

Pink Water Lily


Another painting in the works is that of a basket of mangosteen.
Manggis, my current project.

Should you want me to paint one for you, just email me at mohdzawi@gmail.com and tell me what kind of subject that you want me to paint. If i can do it I will do it but of course you will have to wait for your turn as the list is growing every day. Please pray that I will remain healthy as long as possible so that I can fulfill all of your requests before I lose control of my hands due to whatever ereason. As to the price, just make me any offer and I will accept.

My New Paintings

Immediately after considering the first painting done and having it delivered by courier to Zendra in USJ, I started on several new projects. With encouragement from friends especially my mentor Cikgu Mazeri Othman @ Deen, I felt the urge to hone my skill further by attempting to do a portriat of my grand daughter Balkis and also of a landscape of a traditional Chinese wooden house located not far from my own home. It was indeed an ambitious attempt and I could feel the folly of doing a portrait and lanscape using oil which I have never tried before.
Thus far this is what I have produced which of course is far from being successful. Well I will keep on doing it till I get the feel that they were done. Then only will I stop doing it. Whatever the outcome, my daughter Azini has agreed to keep the portrait of her daughter and my friend Zack from Seremban has declared his intention to have the painting of Rumah Tepi Sungai without even seeing the sketch. Some people just have the confidence in a new artist like Pak Zawi.
These are the the product thus far.


Balkis

Rumah Tepi Sungai

After finding that I could not complete the above two paintings, I started on painting more still life based on the heliconias. I called the first one Heliconia 2 and the second one Heliconia 3. My wife has decided that she wants Heliconia 2 to keep in the house. At last she has found the confidence to hang my painting on the walls of the house.
Heliconia 3 will be up for sale to finance the purchase of new canvass and oils for new projects. Hey Pak Zawi survives on a small pension and has just enough to live by. There is not much room to splurge on such things though it is now considered as my passionate hobby. Thanks to zendra who has parted with her fortune to buy my first painting of Heliconia. When I saw the other paintings in her gallery which she bought from Bali, Pak Zawi immdediately offered to replace the painting with Heliconia 2. Zendra declined as she had from the beginning decided that she wanted Pak Zawi's first painting with warts and all. Well it was her money and she can decide whatever she wants to buy with it. See the other fine paintings in her collection here.

Heliconia 2
Heliconia 3

Feeling the positive vibes in me, I began painting The Yellow Catleya based on the photgraph of the orchid I found at my good friend Tuan Haji Azmy Omars's house in Pasir Mas.

Yellow Catleya.

These are the people whom I have painted for and will be painting for:

1. Zendra of USJ (Delivered)
2. Mek Yam of New York (completed but yet to deliver)
3. Oldstock of Johor Baru ( Landscape - started)
4.Zackrey Mohd Nor of Seremban (started)
5. U Lee of Toronto Canada
6. My daughter Azura of Amanputra Puchong.
7. Awang Goneng of London
8. Aminah Harun of Subang Jaya - heliconia
9. My son Azuan of Shah Alam.
10. Yanie my daughter in law of Enstek Labu.
11. Dilla of Seri Kembangan Selangor - Catleya
12. My good friend of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (10 paintings!)
13. Dato' Jaafar Lamri of KL - Fishing boat.
14. Zaiton Ab. Ghani of Seremban - An abstract
15. Azini, my daughter in Labuan - balkis (touching up)
16. Teoh Yew Aun of USJ, Selangor - nature
17. HJ Angus of Johor Baru.- Sunrise of KB water front. (I must go and watch it one day)

Hey that is quite a list. So please don't feel disappointed if you find Pak Zawi has not updated LAISI and couldn't find time to visit your blogsite. Pak Zawi will be fully occupied.
Selamat berpuasa to all my moslem friends.
Should there be anybody else interested please email me mohdzawi@gmail.com and indicate to me what kind of subject that you prefer. No portrait of yourself please as I wont be able to ensure you will retain your age. Pak Zawi can also be contacted at Mobile: 019 9125647 Home: 09 7903785.

I Consider It Done

Heliconia Flower

That is how the painting looks as at this time when I am making this post. I consider it done and I have signed it dated August 09. I consider it done and should there be any touch up it will be quite minuscule. That is my first painting.
If you remember when I place it in my previous post, this was how it looked.
It was then still incomplete although the basics were already there but it was not finished.
Now then it is done, it will be ready for collection by Zendra of Kuala Lumpur. To make it easier for her to collect, it will be sent to Shah Alam via my son Azuan who will be returning to Shah Alam on Sunday 23rd of August. So Zendra please contact Azuan at Brusfield Service Apartment Shah Alam to collect the painting. I am really grateful to Zendra for her willingness to own my first painting which really inspire me to go on painting beyond the first one.
The next project will be a landscape as per the picture below. It is a typical Chinese house in Kampong Tepi Sungai not far from my own house. I really love the serenity of the place. Let us hope that I will manage to paint something as close to the one showed in the photograph.

Painting has given me immense pleasure. Hopefully my friend Dato' Jaafar Lamri or Jaflam of Jaff Point will not wait any longer to start painting as Dato' is an avid art collector.

My New Hobby

Colorful fishing boats at Pulau Gajah, Pantai Sabak.

With the interest in blogging beginning to wane, I decided to pick up a new hobby to fill up my abundant free time. Time is one luxury that a retiree like me could have. Often times such times are wasted doing nothing. I might as well use it to paint. Not house painting which is something I do only once in at least after five years when the house paint begins t fade. The kind of painting I have in mind is oil painting on canvas.
The interest on oil painting was rekindled when I saw some oil paintings of the Japanese carps normally known as kois by Chegu Mazeri Othman at his mother's house in Kg. Tok Sangkut. The desire to own one of the pieces by him was curtailed when he said he isn't selling them since he will be using them to fill up the walls of his new house. Infact he said he is still working on many more since he will be making a part of the new house as his personal gallery. Frankly I wont be able to afford to pay for his paintings as oil painting is quite expensive since the materials used are themselves expensive. A meter of the canvas can be had for about RM40. The oil paints are as much as RM9.00 for a 70 ml tubes for the lower quality ones. The frames for a standard size painting can set you back for another RM40 at the least. The most important element is the time it takes for the painting to be finished.
I had the opportunity to observe members of Persatuan Seni Lukis Kelantan (PESENI) as they were having a painting activity at Pantai Sabak, Kota Bharu. Here En. Ismail Kadir an established water color artist was seen putting the above sight of a berthed colorful fishing boat to paper. En. Ismail is an authority in water colors and is often invited to display his works overseas. Soon he will be going to Beijing for such a function.

Beside En. Ismail, there were other artists doing the painting of their favourite subjects before them. One of the painter is a young boy who share his father's hobby. With his father's guidance he will grow up to be a fine artist one day.


One of the finished job.

An artist hard at work.
A close up of his job.

Chegu Mazeri was also at the site though he wasn't painting as he had to attend class that afternoon. I was there to meetChegu Mazeri as I had requested him to buy me some materials for painting. Mazeri had brought along a piece of stretched canvas for me to paint on. Since this is my first go at oil painting and without any experience whatsoever, he asked me to use a recycled canvas that he had used on one side. Beside that he had also purchased for me some tubes of 70 ml oil paints and brushes of various sizes. Since I wont be using those made of hog bristles, he bought those that were made of nylon hairs. He also handed me a bottle of linseed oil to dilute the paints. The oil paints were of red, light green and blue colors. Noticeably absent was the yellow and white colors which I will have to acquire later when the stocks of the dealer is replenished. A few days later I managed to get hold of the yellow and white color. I defintely needed the yellow as I was intent on painting the heliconia that grows in my garden.

After sketching the heliconia flower on the canvas, I started applying the signal reg oil paint on the canvas.
This was followed by the yellow color.

Next I added a leaf blade to fill up the empty part of the canvas. followed by some details comprising of some dark blemishes on the red petals. Some hues of green was later added to the yellow part.
The remaining paints on the tile piece as as the pallette was mixed and used as part of the background colors.
That is how the painting is compared to the real thing. My wife who had been very skeptical about my ability was quite surprised at the result as she had never seen me draw anything before. At least she will now be more supportive of my painting endeavours.
I consider this as the finished product, a rush first job done in less than two days. Now I will have to wait for my mentor Chegu Mazeri to tell me how to improve on the painting. Personally it is really an amateurish job and I will need lots of practice and guidance before I can really produce something that I can be proud of.
Anyway I consider the work as not bad for an old artist doing it first time at a ripe old age of 59 years.

Look, What I Saw Yesterday (Updated)

With nothing much to do yesterday I rode my kapchai around Pasir Mas. Armed with my camera, I wanted to capture anything interesting that I might see. Since I wanted to do a new blog about Pasir Mas New Town for My Pasir Mas blogsite, I headed for the road leading to Rantau Panjang.

This house which belongs to Puan Sabariah the famous dodol maker in Pasir Mas undergoing a new paint job caught my sight.

This house with its ornate fencing and peculiar design has been featured in the local magazines for its aesthetic look. The inside of the house has a staircase that you usually see in a Hindustani movie. The signboard clearly shows you the business Puan Sabariah is in.

The owners of the mansion.

A Lamborghini or a Ferrari in the compound would complement this house.
Going further I saw this yellow hovercraft on its trailer wheel. A hovercraft in Pasir Mas is a rarity indeed. With a vast marshy areas around Rantau Panjang it must be extremely handy to go around the marshland to hunt or just play around. I was told the owner often use this hovercraft.


This worker posed beside the craft to show the relative size of the craft.
The pilot will sit infront. The craft is powered by a small car engine.

While buying my newspaper on the return ride home I saw this sleek car pulling off. The car's engine didn't roar so much so I didn't realise it came to stop right behind me. The awed look on the face of the newspaper man made me turn around and I too was amazed by the sight of the car. I grabbed my camera which was in my camera bag and managed to take these two shots. It was a Lamborghini no doubt. Its the Gallardo. The last time I saw such a car at MOFAZ KL, it was a Countach and was tagged at a cool RM4.5 million.
He came to buy a newspaper too so I guess he must be a local coming back to the parents house.

There is only one family in Pasir Mas who can afford and would indulge in such luxuries as I have seen sometimes back one of them driving a Mercedez 500 CLK. I rode to that house and true enough, the car was parked in front of the house.The Merc was in the house compound too but I wouldn't dare to go inside to take a picture.
I requested one of the family members whom I know to get the permission for me to post the picture of the car infront of the house and I have their consent. Emir not only managed to get me the permission but also some informations about it.
Depending on the specifications, a Lambhorhini Gallardo costs between RM1.75 to RM2 million in Malaysia. A full tank can easily fill RM300 worth of petrol at the current price. That will take the car a distance of 300 - 400 kms depending on the road traffic. The owner did a test drive at Sepang F1 circuit and he managed to top 230 kph. How is that for speed?
Click on the name of the car below to see the brochure image of the car.

Lamborghini Gallardo

Price New

USD$160,000 (without Malasyian import tax and the other taxes)
Production
1300 a year (projected)
Engine
5.0 liter DOHC all-aluminum V-10, variable valve timing
Horsepower
493 @ 7800 rpm
Torque
376 lb-ft @ 4500 rpm
Curb Weight
3350 lbs
Miscellaneous
6 speed manual, all-wheel drive
0-60 mph
3.9 seconds (projected)
1/4 mph
12.2 @ 122 mph (projected)
Top Speed
192 mph

Well when you are rich, you can afford anything, be it a large mansion, a hovercraft or a Lamborghini, or you can have them all.

Labuan Revisited - Part 1

I was shocked when I found out that AirAsia had retimed our flight to KL from the earlier 1500 hrs to 1600 hrs. As I had another flight to catch to Labuan at 1800 hrs, the time gap of an hour was too short to enable me to collect my baggage to be checked in again for the onward flight to Labuan even though I was already within the terminal. AirAsia doesn't provide direct check in of your baggages to your final destination.
Their staff assured us that AirAsia will put us on the next day's flight to Labuan at no cost should we miss today's flight since it was their fault. They will not pay for lodging though. With that assurance I called up my son Azrin to wait for us at the LCCT incase we may have to put up the night at his place. Hey what happens if I dont have a son living near the LCCT and I have to stay overnight for the next day's flight?

Tok Ma spending the last few moments with Balqis at KB Airport. Tok Ma wont be flying with us to Labuan.

The paternal grandparents and their daughter was at the airport to send Balqis off too.

We touched down at KL LCCT around 5.00 PM and we rushed on to the terminal with Azini carrying Balqis in her arms while I carried the few bags that we couldn't check in due to excess baggage. AirAsia allow us to carry just 30 kg for the two of us and we will have to pay any excess. At the baggage carousel, I picked up Balqis and exited the arrival hall to go to the check in counter at the other end of the building. Azini was left to collect the baggage. Luckily Azrin and Yani was waiting at the exit of the arrival hall as I could hand over Balqis to her and made my way with Azrin and son Irsyad to counter 51 for the check in to Labuan.
After explaining my predicament, the lady at the check in counter cooly accepted my check in and agreed to wait for my baggage to arrive. I have this feeling that her relaxed attitude with the flight due to depart with less than 30 minutes to spare could translate into another delayed flight. I don't care much if it was delayed as long as I can get on the flight.
True to my earlier hunch, the flight was delayed by half an hour, not as bad as the earlier delay in Kota Bharu. Now they have come up with an 'On Time Guarantee' whereby if you experience a delay of more than 3 hours and they fail to inform you in advance, they will compensate you with RM300. Don't get too excited about it as there are clauses that will ensure that it wont be that easy to benefit from it.

Azrin and his whole family was there to meet us. If the flight was not delayed from KB, we could have spent more time with them.

With the new Airbus 320, the journey on both sectors were super smooth. I had ordered online a meal of nasi lemak when buying my flight ticket on the KUL-LBU-KUL sectors. Lucky thing as I found myself so hungry and the quite tasty nasi lemak with al the usual condiments and a piece of 'curry chicken' was to my taste. Azini didn't want any even though I offered to buy another meal for her. I guess she prefered to wait and have dinner with her husband in Labuan.

I bet Balqis was the only passenger who glanced through all the safety procedures as written on the phamplet available in the back pockets of the seat infront of you.

We touched down at the new Labuan Airport at about 8.40 PM and there waiting for us was my son in law Lokman. Balqis was wheeled out in her pram and Lokman took Balqis from me at the door to the arrival hall. I tried to go back to the arrival hall to help Azini collect our baggage but was not allowed by the female security personnel who was guarding the entrance when I couldnt produce my boarding pass. After a short while Azini came out with the baggage. We drove back to their flat at Taman Mutiara, Bedaun, Labuan, Malaysia.
This airport is a new airport as I remember the old airport was much smaller when I was last here some ten years ago.
It was night and I couldn't see much of Labuan.
The next day my SIL and Azini were busy cleaning up the house. The house must be made such that anything within reach of Balqis must be stashed somewhere safer. Though she has yet to walk, she could stand up by holding on to chairs or table and just pull everything down.
Azini had to prepare to get back to college in Keningau for another 2 weeks of classes.
We left Taman Mutiara at 2.30 PM to send Azini to the International Ferry Terminal. This terminal serves the passengers going to all destinations such as Brunei, Kota Kinabalu and Menumbuk. Azini's destination was Menumbuk and the fare was RM15 by small ferries with outboard motors. Each boat will only carry 12 passengers. Anything more than that number is ilegall but up to sixteen passengers has been known to be carried by such boats.
Fares and timetables can be collected at the ticketing office. One thing special about this terminal is the announcement of arrivals and departures of ferries just like the way they do at the airport. Even final calls were made to passengers who had bought tickets but have yet to board the ferries.

The view of the International Ferry Terminal in Labuan.

At the exit of the ferry arrival hall there is displayed the places of interest in Labuan. How convenient.

After Azini had boarded the ferry we left the terminal. Lokman took me around the island and I was so excited when I saw so many places that I can come back and do some photo shoot. I wonder if I can find enough time to visit them all.Of special interest will be the birdpark, the chimney, the tunnel, peace memorial etc.

We stopped to have the best satay on the island at a place called Layang Layangan. I would choose their satay anytime over the current fare they are serving in Kajang. Their beef satey is far superior in taste. A whole young coconut will be served with the satay and the satay cost an affordable 50 sen a stick and no fat or skin will be put in between the meat as is often done in Kelantan.

Lokman and Balqis waiting for our order to come.


A whole cocnut is served with no ice or sugar added.

We had a nice view of the beach at low tide.

On the way back to Taman Mutiara we came across this sunset and I told Lokman to stop the car to enable me to take this luxuriant color of the sky over Labuan.

Glorious sunset. I must let Akmal fiddle around with the above photo using photoshp and let us see what he can come up with.

I waited again today for another display of colors in the sky but God created the special show to be on only on that particular Sunday evening. Who knows when the next show will be on.
My daily routine beside nannying Balqis to surf the net whenever I have the chance. If she is not asleep I will have to compete with her for the use of the laptop. She is really adept with the note book and will know which button to hit in order to alter the image on the screen. A good hit with her plam never fails to bring the result.

Balqis taking her turn at using the laptop.

Those are the account of my arrival and the first few days in Labuan. I must explore the rest of the island when I have the chance.

My New Toy Part 1.

The desire to own one has been there for sometimes but finance or rather priority just won't allow me to buy it yet. This time I can't hold back the urge anymore especially after hearing the good news that my eldest daughter Azura had been cleared of the dreaded Cancer after a cone biopsy was done on her a few weeks earlier. We just came out of Dr. Nik Mohamed Zaki Mahmud's room at Hospital University Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian for an appointment earlier where the good news was broken to us.
It was with a feeling of joy that we headed for KB Mall in Jalan Hamzah Kota Bharu for a small celebration where we ordered some pizzas from Pizza Hut with all of Azura's children in tow except for one month old Mohamad Aqil. While Azura and family headed for Piza Hut, I headed for Sony Center a few doors away.
This is the third time that I came to look at the cameras in this shop. The first time they dont have the stock of the model that I was interested in but they do have the high end Sony Alpha 700 which cost double the Alpha 350 that I had in mind. They do have the Alpha 200 but I was thinking of getting the Alpha 350 which is one rung higher. On the second visit the stock just came and I had allowed my fingers to caress the beauty. The beauty came with a twin lens package, a standard 18 - 70 mm F3.5 - 5.6 zoom lens and a 50 mm - 200 mm telephoto. The retail price was RM3400 much higher than the advertised RM2999 meaning the telephoto was added on at a price of RM401. Another freebie was the tripod. I will still have to buy the memory card and a soft case of Sony single case iwas offered at RM90. The case was a bargain and it comes only with the set. I love the telephoto lens to shoot at faunas from afar. I have often failed to get close up shots of many animals so far without it. All in I will have to fork out RM3600 to get going. Not a bad package really.
Other standard accessories that came with the set were:

• Battery Charger
• Rechargeable battery pack (NP-FM500H). At first sight the battery looks similar to my batteries for my Sony Handycam. This will be a big plus as I can interchange the batteries when on a trip.
• USB Cable
• Video Cable
• CD-ROM
• Shoulder Strap
• Eyepiece cover
  

The model boasts of the following features:

• Quick AF Live View - a good point since my eye sight is deteriorating and squinting through the viewfinder to get things framed up and focussed is not my forte anymore
• Super steadyshot inside the body and not in the lens, another excellent feature as coming close to 58 years in age, my hands aren't as steady anymore.
• 14.2 mega pixels is a feature not found on even the high end Alpha 700. Such resolutions of course can only mean that zooming in on the captured image isn't a problem (anyway that's my perception)
• Bionz Image Processing Engine. I don't if this is the best engine to process an image.
• D-Range Optimizer which is an image enhancer.
• High sensitivity range ISO 100 - 3200.
• 2.5 Frames per second exposure using viewfinder mode. Slower if Live mode is used. Good enough exposure speed for me.
• 9 point AF (Still blur on this point, may need Ted Adnan or Steven Lee to explain).
• Creative Style
• Anti-dust - an important feature to keep the mirror dust free especially when the lens is frequently changed in dusty condition.
• 2.7" Clear Photo LCD. Great size to use clearly the composed picture to be taken and to view pictures taken. The tiltable screen suit me fine for taking overhead shot or low angle shot without having to lie on the ground if I were to use the viewfinder. With a bulging tummy such position is of course difficult for me.
• Alpha mount- quick mounting and release on a tripod.
• Smart teleconverter. I must check with the retailer what this feature is about.

With those informations with me I told them that I would be coming back tomorrow after I have made my decision on whether or not to buy it.

I have read the advertisement of Alpha 350 somewhere and with any advertisement, I am easily impressed.

It was only almost a week later that I returned to the shop to buy the Sony Alpha 350K. I was shocked to hear that the old package was already sold out and they now have a new package. The new package is without the telephoto lens. What a disappointment! At the price of RM2999 it now comes with a single lens, the Sony SH0006 Standard Zoom Lens. The only consolation was that it now comes with a bigger capacity 8 GB Memory stick Duo with a CF adaptor and a simple tripod will be thrown in for free. The tripod wasn't to my satisfaction as I will be using it alot. Another disappointment was the battery for the Sony Alpha 350 came with a grrove at the back of it to accomodate a ridge in the battery housing rendering my Sony Digicam battery useless despit it being similar in everything else.

The sales rep of Megacity Electronics reworked the package to include the following items:

• RGB 55mm UV Filter
• Octagon 55mm lens conversion which is a fish eye.
• Digital Eye TR - 288 Pro Tripod.

The above package would cost me RM3600. I wanted the Sony soft casing for single lens but the price of RM120 seems abit steep for now.

I came for the camera and so I bought the camera. After paying for the camera I rejoined my daughters family at Pizza hut before the pizza gets cold and the people at Megacity Electronics repack my camera back into the box

After a good meal of pizzas I collected my camera and headed for home feeling satisfied that at last I have in my possession a DSLR camera to enjoy the hobby called photography.

The Tripod, the camera and the fish eye lens.

Part 2 will be about the Sony Alpha 350K's performance. Hang on there will ya?