My inspiration for my artwork was "Forest Fire". The painter- Raden Saleh- was a famous artist from Java. He was well known for his paintings that feature natural elements. "Forest Fire" was given to Netherland's King Willem III in 1850, by Raden Saleh. Soon after, he was named "Schilder des Koning", meaning "King's Painter". When I first saw "Forest Fire", I viewed it as very dramatic and perilous. However, after looking at it closely, I realised; beyond the dark, musty red clouds in the sky- hints of purple, pink and blues smudged together along the horizon. This made me think these colours symbolized brightness and made me think of the saying that ‘there is always some hope- even in the darkest of times- even when all seems lost’.

My mum is Chinese and my dad is South Korean. "Forest Fire" made me think of my heritage because the tigers in the painting made me remember the tigers often found in Korean children's stories. The concept of luck struck me when I remembered the time my grandfather on my mum's side became ill. My mum flew to England to stay with my grandparents for a month - my grandfather luckily recovered. I used these colours: red, yellow, black, white, green and blue to showcase and symbolize hope. In China, red and yellow are worn during Chinese New year to bring luck; in Korea, all these colours are seen on a Hanbok (Korean traditional clothes). The shapes popping out on either side of the artwork are the number "8" in Korean and Chinese. Number 8 is a lucky number in both Korea and China, meaning wealth and prosperity. 八 is in Chinese, and 팔 is in Korean. In my artwork, I used poster paint and carboard. By dabbing my brush onto the surface to achieve a cloudy, musty texture, I imitated the background of the Forest Fire painting. To the right of the painting, I decided to print some red circles using a cup. Around the circles are strokes of black, white, green, yellow and blue. I chose these because they are a combination of the colours you often see in Korea and China.