Saturday mornings are sacred again. I have started Chinese brush painting at the Bintang Arts and Culture Center, taught by the wonderful Laoshi Kit. I needed something to pull me away from my phone, and this does exactly that.

What looks simple is, in fact, incredibly hard. Painting bamboo is not easy. The ink bleeds, the paper moves, and once you touch the brush to the surface, there is no turning back. It takes focus, calm, and patience. Three things I am still learning.

We start with bamboo because it teaches everything. When you can paint bamboo, you can paint anything. Every stroke carries a lesson: balance, rhythm, scale, proportion, breath. You have to understand anatomy; how a plant bends, how a bird perches, how the composition holds together. You cannot draw a tiny bird beside a giant stalk of bamboo. It is about harmony, not decoration.

Chinese brush painting may be thousands of years old, but it is the perfect training for modern design. It teaches control and freedom at the same time. You learn that beauty lies in precision, patience, and knowing when to stop.

My early paintings are far from perfect. The bamboo leans too much, the ink runs wild, the birds look confused, and yet I love every one of them. They remind me that mastery begins with humility, and that sometimes, the best way to learn balance is simply to let the brush flow.