THE morning glory flower has a special place in Calvin Chua Cheng Koon’s art.

The flower, which can be found in abundance in Alor Star, Kedah where the artist grew up, inspired Chua’s first series.

You will not miss the purple coloured blooms in Chua’s works, whether they are in oil or watercolour.

In twos or in clusters, the violet petals peer out from the under log piles, beneath earthen jars or simply hang from clotheslines — sometimes in the shade, other times in bright sunshine.

The artist’s knowledge of the creeper can be seen from the confident strokes employed to depict the petals and the structure of the leaves.

“The morning glory is a very hardy plant,” said Chua who graduated from the KL College of Art in 1982.

“You can find it thriving in the most odd places and under the harshest environment.

However, you will never fail to see the beautiful blooms that the plant produces.

Chua finds inspiration in this, likening it to his personal approach to his works.

The artist, who is having his solo at Balai Berita, said he would strive to give his best.

“Sometimes I take weeks to learn about the subject, doing hundreds of sketches until I understand it well enough before starting to paint.

Sometimes, I take months.

But once I get into the mood to express the subject matter, everything will come into place.

” Although most of the works in the solo are watercolour pieces, two of his largest pieces are done in oil — “Sunbathing I” and “Sunbathing II”, which he did in Langkawi in 1994.

They feature images of buffaloes wallowing in the padi fields under the sun.

To create impact on the mood, Chua has kept the horizon high and focused on the golden hues of sunlight streaming onto the animals instead.

Two other pieces done in oil are his log series entitled “December I” and “December II”, which he completed in 2005.

Earthen jars are another of Chua’s favourite subjects which resulted in his “Tempayan” series which he did last year on his trip.

“The tempayan is an integral part of our culture.

The Chinese use it to contain water for cooking and this can be seen in our kitchens.

“The Malays, on the other hand, would have a tempayan by the entrance of their houses.

It is used to hold water to wash their feet before entering the home.

” Chua admits that he is more at ease painting nature and this can be seen from the images in his River series — of orang asli fishermen fishing at Taman Negara.

In these watercolour pieces, Chua tries to capture the mood of the jungle with his play of light and shadows.

The foliage of trees are rendered wet on wet, exploiting the fluidity of the aqua medium and the colour values.

Two outstanding pieces on display were born of his trips overseas.

“Friday Noon”, which depicts the image of a terracotta mosque, is the result of his journey to India.

His visit to Indonesia gave birth to several pieces, one of which was “Borobudur 2001”, an image of statues on a temple wall, captured in dry-on-dry technique with the texture of sandstone exquisitely rendered, along with the light play that are evident in his river series.

Chua also runs his own gallery where he holds art classes.

When he is painting, his wife takes over the running of the gallery.

However, he is currently planning his biggest project ever — to paint the rivers of Malaysia.

“I have always loved rivers and after the river series which I did last year, I have been wanting to paint all the rivers in the country,” he said.

The exhibition ends on April 30.

For details, call 012-393-7339.