Chooi Feun Tan

Chooi Feun Tan, came to New Zealand more than 20 years ago. Her special talent is painting in water colours which she started about four years ago.

Chooi enjoyed painting as a child but had nobody to teach her until she came to New Zealand. She enjoys using different mediums but thinks that even though using watercolours is more difficult than using oils or acrylics, water colours are more economical, and you can create lots of different colours from the base colours.

Her Moon Festival project was inspired by a mooncake design she had seen and she demonstrated the different stages she goes through to create her painting. The design depicts a beautiful woman against the background of the full moon watched by a rabbit looking up as she floats to the sky. Chooi has painted different stages of her picture so that we can see how it progresses. Chooi says, “I prepared this because it would take too long to show the actual process as it takes days for the paint to dry between layers.” She is looking forward to hanging the picture on the wall as “it is very satisfying and rewarding as painting needs full concentration.”

Sometimes it takes 8 layers for Chooi to get the right colour. She credits her success in art to having a good teacher and says,” I get the satisfaction of my own creation art work and also I am lucky to have a good and patient teacher”. Her teacher is a kiwi lady, who is an award winner painter herself.

Although painting is her passion, cooking is her first hobby and she makes cakes as a stress release. She feels that the “Moon Festival is a time to celebrate culture, reunion and joy. Celebrations in Malaysia, especially among Asians, are more vibrant and joyful because I have more family and friends there.”