Mekong River

Few years ago, I had a chance to take a boat along Mekong River and witnessed the villagers whose livelihood depended solely on the river. They catch fish, play with their buffalo, wash their clothes and take shower in the river. Their houses are semi-permanent - made of tin and bamboo – and normally without a door or window. Some of them reside on boats. These people are mostly Vietnamese immigrants who are welcomed in Cambodia but without a legal right to own any land. Sometime they are pushed away from one river bank to the other because of new building construction being started and the land has to be emptied. In the distance, as a contrast, you see a row of five-star hotels which accommodate foreign tourists who are willing to pay more for river view.

Life in Cambodia

Phnom Penh is a bustling and lively city; and there's hardly any place in the city where you don't hear either construction noise or traffic. People honk, dogs bark, and occasionally we hear a sirene from a motorcade of some VIP people with their body guards passing by. In the middle of its rapid development and commotion, I could find peace and serenity in temple grounds, where changes seem remote from life there and where people are happy to resign from the chaotic world outside. These are two of my favorite scenes from my last stay in Cambodia. The black and white one shows a sweeper at Ta Phrom temple, Siem Reap, who becomes the face of the Lonely Planet guide book. The second one is a monk who lives in a quarter next to Wat Ounalom, Phnom Penh. The house which is located in a small alley is painted in bold yellow and strikingly beautiful.

Moroccan tapestry

It has been months since I last painted, and finally I could finish one today - the first in 2009. The idea comes from a tile design in Morocco which is very much influenced by Islamic arts. I like the bold color combination mostly assembled by primary colors such as blue, yellow and red. Blue is a dominant color in Islamic design, and it gives a spiritual touch to the painting. For my tapestry, however, I painted the background in yellow, just to show the contrast. Working with transparent gutta is so messy because it is very liquid, and it is tiring to try to find out the lines that are invisible after the gutta dries up. So while working with clear gutta, it is almost a must to draw the lines with pencil first. But, the pencil lines should not be too thick, because it will stay after you wash the silk. The finished painting is then framed using blue and white Khmer silk.