THERE are some paintings an artist just can't rush through, and in Tung Yue Nang's case, that would be a detailed still life.

He might be painting Chinatown and landscapes by freehand and on site, but when painting his Peranakan series, Tung even imagines the painstaking way a Nonya lady would be sewing beads on fabric. "Just as she focuses on a bead at a time. That's what I do as well - one brushstroke after another to replicate the details in Peranakan porcelain. You can't do it fast," he shares.

Tung closeted himself in his studio for this series, shutting out the world so as not to get distracted. "It's quite intense and meditative for me because of the detail. I don't like being interrupted when I'm painting this series. It's not like say, the Chinatown works, when I'm painting on-site, and there's a flurry of activity around me, and people stop to look and ask about the painting."