This emotive work comprises dark and muted colours, with hints of teal to break the dark palette, and even then, it is sparse, and in some cases, the teal is overlapped by a stroke of black, dampening its effect. It is a contrast and melding between hot-headed and fiery passion against level-headed coolness, evidenced by the use of dark purple. Dato’ Sharifah recently celebrated her 50th in art-making with her Song of Eucalyptus solo exhibition at the Segaris Art Centre, Kuala Lumpur, from Sept 5 to Oct 31, 2017. She has come a long way since she graduated from the pioneering batch of fine art students from the Mara Institute of Technology (now a university) in 1971. She studied for her BFA at the Reading University, England, in 1973-1976, and her MFA at the Pratt Institute, New York, in 1976-1978, under the JDR III Fund fellowship. She won the Minor Award in the Malaysian Landscape competition in 1972 and the Young Contemporary Artists (Bakat Muda Sezaman) in 1981. Her biggest break came in 1979 when she won the coveted Major Award in the Salon Malaysia 1979. Her first solo at the Alpha Gallery in Singapore in 1972 dealt with organic shapes. Then, in 1983, there was her Nursiyah (Dark Light) phase, before the tactile Touch The Earth dual exhibitions and the textile-based Garden of the Heart.