SEASONS - My first Solo Exhibition as an Artist

"… so your work can stand out”

Petals by You Solo Exhibition: SEASONS

Strength in Darkness - cold porcelain plum blossoms & acrylic on canvas | Petals by You

A reflection - mixed media | Petals by You

Strength in Darkness - cold porcelain plum blossoms & acrylic on canvas | Petals by You

Botanical Art Pieces | Petals by You

SPRING - Crepe paper garden rose & acrylic on canvas | Petals by You

SUMMER - Cold Porcelain Delphinium & acrylic on canvas | Petals by You

AUTUMN - Crepe paper dahlia & acrylic on canvas | Petals by You

WINTER - Cold porcelain dried leaves & acrylic on canvas | Petals by You

Petals by You Solo Exhibition: SEASONS

Michael Chuah (the owner of Michael Chuah Gallery) said that to me as I was designing the first draft of my poster for SEASONS, my first solo exhibition.

I got used to hiding in order to feel I was good enough:

- hiding behind blogposts with thousands of words

- hiding behind flowers that I make that had hundreds of petals in a single bloom

- hiding behind photographs of my handmade flowers where the actual subject that I was good at (the flowers) simply blended into the background

“Have fun today”

Michael texted me those three words on the morning of Day 1 of my Solo Exhibition last Saturday.

Not good luck or good show or hope you sell well, but have fun.

These two messages from him, although he probably doesn’t know, are the two aspects of Petals by You that I struggle with a lot and it touched me when I read them.

1. Balancing being proud of my progress, being constructively critical of my own work, being motivated to keep going and make my work better, vs

2. Allowing myself to have fun and letting the results be the consequential flow of me enjoying the process which drew me into making flowers in the first place.

To be honest, I never fully grasped why some artist friends said to me “wow you are so courageous to put yourself out there in a solo, I could never” when I was sending out my invites

I was just thinking to myself, what do you mean? I’ve been pouring my heart out to my online diary in various forms for the last 20 years, it’s the same?

No, I quickly learned that it is not the same on 6/6/2026, the first day of my Solo Exhibition.

Just like flower making, I can hide my mistakes and broken petals in a ranunculus that has hundreds of petals and it’ll still look light and fluffy and get all the good comments “wow so pretty”

Yet, if I were a blooming tulip with only six petals with the inner parts also exposed: there is literally nowhere to hide

That’s how I felt when I sat in the gallery - vulnerable.

I am learning to be comfortable with being vulnerable in person, in real life…And somehow still be okay with it regardless of other people’s reactions or lack thereof.

SEASONS is in essence, a way for me to tell myself that this is who I am & how I feel and that’s ok.

I can be myself, as I am.