Brushstrokes: New Life In Art

Jul 1

Written By Roxanne

After over two decades chasing business results, Sandra Yu finds a new canvas to give voice to a new pursuit: watercolour painting.

“I was a stereotypical Asian kid, academically very strong but poor in Art and Music,” Sandra Yu confesses.

Not surprisingly, she graduated from university with Honours, and forged a corporate career in marketing and general management across Taipei, Bangkok, Chicago and Guangzhou.

“Imagine, from daily power-point presentations and excel sheets to this!” says Sandra in disbelief. She was 49 when she retired.

“For my second life, I did not want to have a plan. I considered myself like a baby: young, eager, open to learning new things and discover new possibilities. I wanted to surprise myself. The world is so interesting with lots of unknown potential in each of us,” enthuses Sandra.

Just as she was leaving her last career post in Guangzhou three years ago, a friend invited her to a watercolour painting class, which she enjoyed immensely.

“Not bad” was what she thought of her early work.

Looking for a shred of the left-brain Sandra I used to know, I prompted her by asking if watercolour is difficult to control. She confirmed that the water, colour, moisture on paper and time all play different roles, which makes the outcome unpredictable, but she loves “the freedom, the surprise that emerges, unlike oil or pencil which are both more deliberate.”

I asked to see her early work, guessing that she must have seen some talent in herself. I bet “not bad” was actually quite good.

“You know me too well! Part of me knew what good looked like so I was not bad. I returned to Taiwan and after playing around at home for some time, I realised that I lacked foundational skills. I wanted to learn the skills to be able to paint what I wanted, to express what I imagined.”

Sandra took lessons twice a week for a few months. She enjoyed the immediate feedback from the teacher who painted simultaneously beside them. She has since moved to weekly online classes and sees a benefit in this, too, noting that one can pause and rewind the instructions and appreciate the examples shown.

“I consider myself new to painting; this will be life-long learning for me. I want to try different styles and subjects to allow myself to learn and experiment. A master told me that one should never define his or her style too early, or be too eager to focus. The style will come to find you when the time is right.”

While Sandra is on this journey of letting the style find her, she occupies herself with other activities.

“Babies don’t plan, but I do have a simple framework that keeps me from overworking” she muses. She spends 20-30% of her time on advisory work for companies and individuals, 20-30% on social and volunteer work, and the rest of the time with family and developing herself. This is when she picks up the brush and captures her new world in watercolour.

“I like to paint city scenes and bustling streets with human figures. I like to capture the precise moment and ‘feel’ of movements in front of architecture.”

*Studying the Masters: Alvaro Castagnet*

Chinese ink painting has some impact on Sandra as this was the art she was exposed to as a child. Both use water as the main medium. “The output is more fluid. I love the flowing movement and the breathing space that is depicted in watercolour and Chinese ink paintings,” she explains.

Throughout our conversation, Sandra remained consistently open and non-committal. It was refreshing.

“I am definitely still an amateur. I don’t want to put pressure on myself. I don’t want to kill the spirit and freedom. I just want to enjoy the discovery and exploration process.”

Then I caught a glimpse of the deep thinker that I knew Sandra to be. She relayed how fortunate she was to join a “world-masters watercolour seminar” in Shanghai just a year after she started to paint.

“I was so inspired by what I saw and heard; I felt my appreciation and motivation rise to a new level. It was eye-opening and mind-blowing. I learned that no matter how many hard skill classes you attend, what matters most is the story you are trying to tell with your brushstrokes.”

A friend, who was her classmate in her early painting class, suggested that they organise an exhibition on their 70th birthdays. Sandra giggles at the thought because that is such a long way off that it is hardly a goal.

“We should not have an absolute answer to everything in life and surprise ourselves with new possibilities!” Such is the wisdom from this baby.

Roxanne | ws

Roxanne

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