This set of two watercolour paintings by Tew Nai Tong offers a different perspective on his creative oeuvre. While Tew’s oil on canvas work typically features phoenix-eyed women and doves, his watercolour sketches are more thematically versatile, such as the illustration of purple orchids. The other painting is Tew’s observation, which features a group of Muslim women wearing hijab. Tew Nai Tong received his early art education at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore (NAFA), graduating in 1958. He worked for a while to raise funds for his studies at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, Paris (1967-1968). In the early years, he signed his work as ‘Chang Nai Tong’. His first solo was at the British Council, Kuala Lumpur in 1964 and he had his retrospective at the National Art Gallery in 2007. He taught at the Malaysian Institute of Art from 1969 to 1980, the Central Academy of Art from 1982 to 1985 and the Saito Academy of Art (head of department, 1986-1988). He concentrated fulltime in art in 1992. His awards included Second Prize, Chartered Bank Mural Design Competition (1964); Shell Watercolour Award (1981); Best Award, Esso (1982); Dunlop Watercolour Award (1983); and Grand Prize Asia Art Award (Malaysia) in Seoul in 2009. He was the co-founder of the Malaysian Watercolour Society (1982-1983) and the Contemporary Malaysian Watercolourist Association (1994).