Food trader turns painting activity with grandson into new source of income

KOTA BHARU: When the government announced the implementation of the first Movement Control Order (MCO) last year, a food trader here felt that her business needs to slow down and she would only take orders online.

As a result, Fatmawati Yaacob, 58, found herself spending more time at home, so she decided to conduct art activities with her grandson Adam Wafi Mohd Salahudin, five.

Little did she know, her paintings, which she produced just for fun, would become a new source of income for her family.

"I used to sell food such as kuih apam and nasi berlauk in a shed in Kampung Sireh, but when the MCO was implemented, I had to go slow on the business due to some limitations and spend more time at home.

"So in June last year, I decided to fill my time making drawings and paintings with my grandson using art tools that I bought from a RM2 shop," she said to reporters when met at her house in Kampung Bunut Payong here.

As a proud grandmother, Fatmawati said she would upload a photo of the finished artwork on her Facebook account but she never thought that her social media friends would leave positive comments and feedback and some even expressed their intention to purchase the paintings.

"From there, I had the idea of making this activity as my new source of income and clearly, it is not a wasted effort. Since then, I had produced 100 paintings of various themes, and the popular ones are landscape paintings.

"In fact, I believe that my interest in arts which came from observing my late father Yaacob Awang Mat, a khat calligrapher, doing his artworks when I was still in school, should be fully utilised," she said.

Fatmawati, who has 10 grandchildren, said she was able to produce two paintings almost every day, depending on the difficulty and size of the artworks.

"In terms of colouring, I use acrylic paint in order to ensure that my paintings will look realistic, and it is also not that expensive.

"I usually paint on a canvas or plywood but plywood is cheaper, environmentally friendly and provides a better surface to blend the colours," she explained.

Fatmawati said she would spend up to five hours per day for the art activity, adding that she also received orders from customers outside of Kelantan.

"Each painting is priced around RM40 and could also reach up to RM400. I refuse to charge a high price because my intention is to give alms while doing business," she said.

-- BERNAMA