My inspiration for this piece of work was the painting Forest Fire by Raden Saleh,1849. Raden was born in the village of Terboyo on the island of Java. Raden was first taught by a Belgian artist. That artist acknowledged Raden’s work and skills, managing to persuade the government of the Netherlands to send Raden there to study art. In the Netherlands, Raden studied skills in portraiture and was later accepted into various European courts. Furthermore, Raden further developed his skills as a painter and visited several European cities, being a successful painter. This artwork is a landscape painting of a scene where a few tigers are seen brawling at the edge of a cliff. There are also other species of animals seen in the background, such as the eagle in the distance and the buffalo. What I enjoyed about the painting is the layered texture of the sky. You can clearly see the levels using contrasts of dark colours and light colours. The realism and dramatic effects expressed through paint overall made me really like the painting. I chose the number 35 as it is how many minutes I would usually go out for a walk at night. The sky and nature around really reminded me of how I would take walks around the forestry area of Singapore. I choose to write the number in both English and Mandarin as it represents my identity, I came from a Chinese family and was raised in an English-speaking country.

For my painting, I chose to approach the background with rich, layered colors, inspired by the background of Raden’s Forest Fire. The layers create a dynamic representation of the sky and nature, blending in a visually pleasing way. Like Forest Fire, my artwork primarily reflects themes of nature and wildlife.

An eye-catching aspect in the composition are jagged, yellow and black crystal-like blades cutting across the canvas. These sharp, striking forms symbolize the duality of nature—its beauty intertwined with danger. Much like a blade that can pierce through with deadly precision, this dangerous aspect of nature enhances its beauty, similar to the elegance of a swift blade dancing with grace and authority, just like how nature seems to control us and the world around us but yet in an elegant manner. This adds depth and complexity to mirroring the balance within the natural world.