We came, we chatted, had tea and dumplings together, saw and chatted some more, and parted ways after more than 2 hours.

I had the pleasure of catching up with one of Singapore's pioneer artists last Thursday. He's really old now, something like 88 this yr. He is entirely self-taught, and doesn't believe in using oils and the typical paintbrushes, prefering to stick to Chinese inks and Chinese brushes for his art. And he paints whole landscapes from MEMORY. *gasp*

I won't say I'm a big fan of his works or that he has a great variety in the first place, but just listening to him speak about his inspiration, about the times when the Singapore Art and Equator Art Societies were flourishing, and when Tampines had only 1 school of 64 students and he was the principal (and the teacher, and the janitor, etc, you get the general drfit), was simply awesome. I feel as if I had been in the presence of greatness.