Wong Jong Nong relished in the alfresco painting of rural and hilly landscapes, coastal areas and riverine scenes, often in a small group. His painting buddies included Fung Yow Chork, Peter Liew, Wong Chung Hee and Cheng Yaw Ting and the favourite painting grounds are Malacca, Pulau Ketam, Port Klang, Kuala Selangor, Puchong, Seremban, Terengganu, Perak (Cameron Highlands) and Kelantan. Once he selected his “angle” to anchor his composition, he would paint the scene according to part-reportage and part-interpretation, with an eye to the aesthetic elements as his Fine Art training at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art in Singapore (graduating in 1964) had prepared him to do. He painted primarily in oil and often he would spend three to four hours on each canvas, keeping an eye on the changing light. This work of tiered Malacca houses haphazardly dotting the river tells about the shanty living conditions and filth in the waters. Wong was born in Singapore but grew up in the early years in Hainan, China, where his relatives were mainly farmers and fishermen. After NAFA, he moved to Kuala Lumpur where he stayed on until he died from colon cancer in 2010. His first solo was at the LC Yat Antique and Gallery in Kuala Lumpur in 1994. He had a solo at the Yan Fine Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur in 2008 before a fund-raising exhibition for his cancer treatment at Khor Seang Cheng’s Han’s Art Gallery at Amcorp Mall in April 2009. Then his cancer were already in its third-stage.