Lai with her painting tools and a work depicting a Spanish girl.
INSTEAD of using paintbrushes, Datin Jessica Lai turns to her kitchen utensils to create art pieces.
She feels paint brushes limit her strokes and prefers to use baking utensils to spread paint evenly on the canvas.
Her painting tools include spatulas, piping nozzles, cake knives and forks.
She uses acrylic, oil paint and glitter to get vibrant, unabashedly loud, and mostly cheerful effects.
Lai’s abstract paintings are not unintentional splashes of colour on canvas but are based around a subject, storyline or theme.
Her favourite art series is Metamorphosis, in which she relates her spiritual journey to the life cycle of a butterfly.
As a Christian, Lai said she felt that self-growth happens when one accepts change and this transformation is reflected in her paintings.
She has a special love for butterflies too, and her Instagram usernames are butterflai28 and Jessartie28.
Another of her painted series, called Feather, depicts strength, freedom, wisdom and belief.
To date, her largest artwork is a 1.2m by 1.5m oil-on-canvas piece.
The self-taught artist has participated in several group exhibitions, with the most recent being the Horizon Food & Art Fair 2023, which took place at Avenue K shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur.
Several of her pieces have been purchased and she has been receiving commission requests.
Lai is unsure if she can call herself a painter, due to her lack of experience.
Lai with her art piece titled ‘Happy Trail’.
“I don’t even know if I am an artist.
“I feel the title is reserved only for trained professionals.
“I simply enjoy painting and it turns out that people who see my work seem to like them,” said the mother of two.
She confesses to being fascinated by bright colours. This is reflected in her fashion style and paintings.
“I love colours that reflect cheerfulness, playfulness and happiness,” said Lai, who also enjoys hiking in her free time.
Her artworks have a pop art touch and she plays with vivid colours like fluorescent pink, red, green, yellow and orange.
Her art is also a reflection of her jovial, happy and fun personality.
The animal lover says her poodle, Honie, and a Bichon Frise named Jerome bring out a playfulness in her that is reflected in her work.
“I graduated from the Malaysian Institute of Arts and joined an advertising agency as a visualiser. I also did sales in the past.
“Later, I ventured into baking and did that for about 10 years.
“I made figurines for cake toppers, with a lot of edible glitter.
A painting from Lai’s ‘Metamorphosis’ series.
“My bestsellers were simple butter and chocolate cakes with customised cake toppers.
“However, over the years, many home bakers emerged.
“People even asked me for my cake recipes so that they could bake cakes for sale. I got bored of baking after that.”
She said that essentially, her interest was in creating beautiful things.
She discovered her love for painting a few years ago just before the Covid-19 lockdown.
Lai recalled that she felt moved to paint a portrait of Jesus.
She digitised her portrait of Jesus, printed copies, gave them to her friends and received some encouraging messages.
“I am grateful that my husband and children have been encouraging me to paint and explore this field.
“My husband even created a mini painting studio for me,” she added.
Lai has several of her artworks displayed in her home, saying that they make great conversation pieces.
She cites Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh as her favourite artist.
She is also inspired by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi.
