A revisit to Paris in 1999 proved greatly inspirational to Tew Nai Tong. It was at the tail-end of winter, between February and April, but it was still cold and chilly and nothing could be warmer than painting studio nudes indoor, especially when such models could not be found in Malaysia anymore because of changing mores and stricter Islamic policies. He revisited old haunts of his halcyon student days while relishing the new ones, and painted with a new eye and a maturity over the years. Nai Tong was like a boy again despite his being already 63. He diligently painted about six hours daily. After graduating from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art in Singapore in 1958, Nai Tong furthered his studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, returning in 1968. He started teaching at the Malaysian Institute of Art in 1969-80, the Central Academy of Art in 1982-85, and then the Saito Academy of Art in 1986-88 before deciding to become a fulltime artist in 1992. His first solo was at the British Council in 1964 and he was being accorded a mini-retrospective by the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, in 2007. Nai Tong won 2nd Prize in the Standard Chartered Bank Mural Design Competition (1964), the Shell Watercolour Award (1981), Best Award in Esso (1980), the Dunlop Watercolour Award (1983), Grand Prize Asia Art Award (Malaysia) in Seoul in 2009. He was co-founder of Malaysian Watercolour Society and the Contemporary Malaysian Watercolorist Association and Le Beaux Art Gallery.