Welcome to Taipei International Club (WTIC) members were treated to lessons on porcelain painting by Madame Makiko Saito, wife to the Chief Representative of the Interchange Association (Japan). During the two-week session, from September 7 to 18, she patiently taught WTIC members who were interested, her hobby which she is very much passionate about.
The first morning began with Madame Ou who had made time to come over to Madame Saito’s residence, the venue for the lessons, to thank her personally. Madame Ou presented Madame Saito with a token of appreciation for sharing with us her wonderful talent on porcelain painting. The first day attracted about 15 members, among whom were Alison Tsai, Athenia Kuo, Amy Chang Chuang, Bo-Chun Chiou, Catherine Hsieh, Dalila Yanett Caceres de Garay, Donna Chang Lee, Gayle Chen, Gwendolyn Chien, Mei-Yen Kao, Melody Yang, Norizan Azmi, Shelly Wen, Shu-Ying Chen, Sophia Huang, Vasanthi Velu, and Zuei-Chu Fang.
Madame Saito had made elaborate preparations for the class. On the main table were laid out all the utensils required for the lessons. This included the brushes, colour, pallets, sample plates of a variety of pictures ranging from Peter Rabbit, flowers to fruits as well as blank plates for members to work on. Members began by given a choice of the picture they are interested to paint. They began by tracing the picture on to the porcelain plate. This, according to Madame Saito, would be the most difficult part. After having traced with pencil, we begin to paint the outline with brown. This we used a special pen, similar to the ‘feather pen’ used in the olden days. The next day, we began to paint in the colours according to the original picture. Members painted at varied rates and generally a member would take two days to complete. Madame Saito would then bake our ‘master pieces’ in her special kiln after we have left for the day. The ideal time frame is an average of about three days for each complete work.
Her beautiful living room is adorned with all her porcelain works, which ranged from sceneries, well-known figures to flora and fauna. With this special sharing of knowledge, I would like on behalf of WTIC to thank Madame Makiko Saito for her precious time, patience, and most of all for her generosity in providing us with all the utensils required for the lesson. We were literally spoon-fed and pampered. We could then take home our ‘masterpiece. Not to mention we also had the opportunity to taste Japanese tea in her exquisite cutlery with some homemade cookies each day while we worked. Domo arigato Gozaimashita Madame Saito. May God bless you.
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by Norizan Azmi, Malaysia |
