My Favourite Grandma's Portrait

Drew this when I was at my Grandma's one evening. Suddenly felt like drawing her.... probably because I was bored with TV. My grandma was extremely patient especially when I can only explain in broken Teochew dialect that I would like to draw her portrait.

Dated 16 Jan 2005

My grandma has been an inspiration of courage and strength for me...

...having brought up six children on her own, when my grandpa would go off to the South China Sea as a chef on a ship. She used to cry and complain that he would come back, leave some money for her, make her pregnant and go off again. Her first pregnancy was extremely hard as she was only 16 years old, alone in a wooden shack in the forest, that leaks when it rains. Her mum (my great-grandma) wouldn't care for her because it was the Chinese tradition then that once the girl is married into the groom's family, she is no longer her mother's daughter or under the responsibility of the maternal family.

And yet, out of the infrequent pocket money and hardships, she managed to save enough money to buy a terrace house for the family. Ten years ago, she surprised the whole extended family again by revealing that she bought a piece of land in China to build a school, out of the pocket money she saved over the years from my uncles and aunties. She is also a neat freak (her floors are always gleaming, tables neat, great taste in furniture and colours, and you can virtually eat food off her floor). Perhaps doing housework is a way to keep her mind and hands busy...

Respect, grandma! (if only she can understand this...she is illiterate.)   

x your 2nd oldest granddaughter.