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Please Welcome Nalina Ray Pich

Samith — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 05:04:12 +0000

Wow it’s April 2012 already! So many things have happened since my last post. As a family we’ve moved house, moved schools and changed jobs. Our new location in Greenwood, WA is wonderful and the girls are enjoying their schools. I’m doing some strange things for work these days but I can’t complain that it’s boring!

But perhaps the biggest change of all, and more so in the days, months and years ahead has to be the amazing and most anticipated arrival of our newborn daughter, Nalina Ray Pich. Born at 6.57am Tuesday morning 24th April (which just happens to be the same day as her Uncle Till’s birthday!). She weighed 2.67kg and was 47cm in height. So overall she was small (which we already knew) but she was perfect.

The day of labour was a mad dash and perhaps the fastest actually delivery I ever witness! By the time I had rushed into the delivery ward (with a fit ball and yoga matt no less to get ready for the hours of labour ahead) it was too late! Iris was giving birth immanently! The midwives, obstetrician, pedeatrician and all the staff at Glengarry Private Hospital did an amazing job of ensuring our baby girl arrived into the world safely and they did a stellar job of looking after Iris in her recovery. And from my point of view their food was top notch!

We brought Nalina home on Saturday to the loving reception of our daughters Lili and Eve Pich who are doing great job as loving older sisters. The days ahead may be slightly sleep deprived but we honestly couldn’t have wished for anyone more perfect to join our lives.

Nalina means lotus or the gentle one in Hindu. She is indeed a precious miracle…

Now Showing September 2011 Update

Samith — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:54:31 +0000

This update is more for me than anyone else but I’m a bit busy this month with some preliminary work on some some art projects currently underway. This month currently holds the following deadlines for me:

Please feel free to download the flyer and share with others

Bassendean Arts Council Exhbition Flyer

Bassendean Arts Council ‘Expressions’ group Exhibition @ Bakery, Maylands, Western Australia

Exhibition Opening: Friday 16th September 2011
Artwork Delivery: Tuesday 13th September

I’m working on 3 paintings possibly four painting for that group exhibition. It will be my first new paintings in almost a year!

Bassendean Arts Prize Exhibition @ Cyril Jackson

Exhibition Opening 6pm Wednesday 28th September
Deliver artwork Monday 26th September

Leo at Studio 281 wants to have 5 painting ready to see my progress by 30th September after he returns from his holidays.

AND Finally, I’m going to be involved in a group exhibition for Interactive Arts. I will have 4 original paintings finished under the theme of ‘seasons’.

‘Seasons’ @ Moores Arts Building, Fremantle

Opening Friday 14th October 2011
Delivery: Thursday 13th October 2011

Masterchef and Art

Samith — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:07:44 +0000

MasterChef 2011 was a guilty pleasure, a mixture of reality TV, TV game show and cooking I probably wouldn’t try in a million years but would love for someone to cook for me. However the finale (despite it’s split finale debacle) was a stirring example for me of what could be achieved in Australia at this moment in time. Kate Bracks a mother of 2 girls from Orange had a dream to cook, and entered the show willing to work really hard and determined to do her family proud. It just goes to prove that you can make it still if you really want it and I was incredibly inspired by that message.

I’ve been off the visual arts dream for almost a year now, and I think that’s a year long enough. Time to get organised, time to get hungry. *Queue Eye of the Tiger Music*

Watch this blog for more news on my progress, and there’s lots on the pipeline!

Welcome 2011

Samith — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:49:01 +0000

Wow, 2011. Is it just me or does 2011 sound really sci-fi in a really Stanley Kubrick kind of way. Yet here I am with out a teleporter or flying car in sight…

How are you and how have you been? Did 2010 treat you well? It was certainly a big year for many people I’ve known and it was certainly a huge year for me, professionally and personally. I had two solo art shows in 2010, including my first ‘The Mango Tree’. I set a personal record for how much I sold and how much I sold it for. But it was the evolution in painting that surprised me. I guess surprises are expected when you push yourself into a corner and make yourself go for it.

In Oct 2010 I married the love of my life and my soul mate, Iris. For someone who paints almost exclusively about love it’s not hard to stay a romantic espeically with someone like Iris. Yet both of these huge events sit side by side with what I did only a few months later.

In Jan 2011 I fulfilled a life long desire to be reunited with my long lost family in Cambodia and return to the country of my birth from which I fled from. There are too many reasons to say about why it had taken to almost my 32nd birthday to do so. I guess the simplest reason was it was not meant to happen until then. However, neither rain or hail (not that there was much of either in a Perth summer) stopped me from doing so in Jan.

: Angkor Wat at Sunrise

To say that the visit changed me and my perception of the world is an understatement. I am still reeling with what I saw and felt and tasted and everything afterwards. I am not sure how to describe it, this feeling I have inside me. But I guess the word would have to be ‘mission’. I feel like a have a real mission now or a cause I can wear on my sleeve and be passionate about. That passion is helping my family and the many children in Cambodia to gain access to quality education. Being a teacher and a life long learner I know first hand the benefits of receiving a great education, something Australian see as a birth right but for many people across the world is an expensive and unobtainable privilege.

: My mum and her grand daughter Sopetra

In my travels I saw the joy of ordinary children travelling to school to learn and I was effected by the immense poverty of those who couldn’t afford to go. I realised if they didn’t go then the perpetual cycle of poverty would only continue. It had to start with giving them a chance to get an education. I also met an american man by the name of David J Biviano who was also affected by their plight and who sold his apartment in Florida and all his possession to start an orphange to help every kid he could get a great education. He demonstrated for me what you could do and the real change you could create when you had a mission.

: The family back in Cambodia

David helped me realise that ‘the future does not lie in the hands of children. The future rests in the hands that holds the hands of children’.

You can go and join his Facebook page here.

Obviously not everyone can can sell their house and live in Cambodia (it’s a nice thought though). I realised the best way I can help his cause and my cause to help my family back in Cambodia is by painting.

So I’m now making a commitment to give 10 percent of the proceeds of any sale to the Cambodian Children’s House of Peace with the plan of directly sponsoring either a child or the worthwhile work they do there and a further 10 percent to help my family with basic needs. I hope to raise $1000 during the course of this year. $1000 can make an immense difference to many kids because every cent goes directly to them.

It’s my way of giving back and it’s my way of increasing the prosperity for all.

I plan to keep you updated and be transparent in my mission, and I definitely plan to get more people on board and interested. If you’d like to learn more about David’s amazing work click here. If you know some one who would like my work or what I plan to do then I invite you to tell others and get them to join and become a ‘Special Samith Subscriber’ by subscribing here or going to the SUBSCRIBE page.

I haven’t created an art work in months, and as usual I have big plans for 2011. But you know what, it’s going to be fine, in fact I think 2011 is going to be fantastic.

: Hello 2011!

Got some plans for 2011? Share them below.

Grateful Wednesday

Samith — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 02:45:59 +0000

I am grateful that I have a full time job that pays well.
I am grateful that I have a job that works well in picking up and dropping off my girls to school.
I’m grateful that the weather today is simply perfect but nevertheless there’s a working fan in this room.
I am grateful for my diary so I don’t have to remember things mentally.
I am grateful that I am sore from Wing Chun training.
I am grateful for creamy pasta dishes.
I am grateful for people who design cool t-shirts so I don’t have to be boring and can expressive my personality.
I am grateful for people who can let go and forgive.
I am grateful for the IGA that is open at 7am in morning when I have run out of milk.
I am grateful for news on the web so I can save money and not have to buy the paper.
I am grateful for whiteboards so I can draw stuff and not have to cling onto my creations.

What are you grateful for?

New Photo’s of Sam

Samith — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 01:04:44 +0000

It’s interesting when some one else is taking photos of you, unguarded, revealing sides of you you were not always aware of – especially of my daughter Eve. I love these shots because they seem timeless. Huge thanks goes to Adrian Noetzli for taking them.

Wishing you a wonderful day and much success,

Samith Pich

‘Just be yourself, everyone is taken.’ – Oscar Wilde

November Already

Samith — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 13:43:17 +0000

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” –Pericles

Time stands still for no one. We also can’t save it for a rainy day and use our time then, perhaps under some blankets and a warm cup of milo. Time can only be spent and I think about my days a lot as I come to the end of another year. I’m asking my friends now their thoughts on the year they’ve had, whether it’s promises were fulfilled or was it possibly just another year. I hope it’s not the first time they’ve ponder their days but the tentative answers don’t give me much hope – as if they’re trying on the words for the first time.

Some things I haven’t done this year are:

wrote a poem
learnt how to swim
and gone sky-diving.

Some of the things I have done:

applied and got my passport
written out my CV
had two art exhibitions
married the love of my life
started Wing Chun

What is life measured in? I doubt it’s measured in time.

Sunday Reading

Samith — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 15:46:14 +0000

I love Google Reader it, it brings all my favourite subjects and authors to me and lets me read at my leisure.

Tim Ferris’s Blog (Author of the 4 Hr Work Week) had a great post on Stoicism and it reminded me of some practical similarities it had with Buddhist philosophy – espeically it’s ideas of self experimentation and observation and not taking yourself too seriously. Benjamin Disraeli’s quote of:

‘to be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge’

also rounds off the conversation because I think it’s true that we are our most dangerous when we believe we know everything. To believe you know everything is it’s own form of ignorance.

Goth Seth had some great pointers (when does he not?) to say about efficiency and cultural change in companies.

I want to leave you with these words from a wise man:

‘Everytime you don’t follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual daedness’

I have been having a conversation with myself for a couple of months now, one in which I confuse myself and don’t like the answer. If you have ever done this, you will know that not knowing is a hard, but knowing what you want to do and not doing it can be as hard on you. I pray for courage, wisdom and patience.

Introducing Mr & Mrs Pich

Samith — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 15:11:21 +0000

On Sunday 3rd October, I fulfilled a long held dream and that was to marry the love of my life, Iris Pleyer. From the moment I saw her I knew straight away she was the one. It’s been an amazing two years (almost) but the wedding would have to be a highlight of my life. The day was perfect, the venue and ceremony was unforgettable and everything surpassed my expectations. And the bride? Stunning. Here’s some shots…

Banners On Terrace

Samith — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 04:40:55 +0000

This year’s theme was ‘Innovation and Renewal’. The man and the woman represents people in our community working together, the plant represent reknewal and the environmental friendly light globe represents – well freedom! lol. Huge thanks to Jenni and Jaqui O’Taigo who work at the Town at Bassendean and where so helpful in communicating their vision and Cyril Jackson for allowing us space to complete the project. Currently the Bassendean is working on finding a permanent home for this banner that was so great to work on.

With the help of three wonderful students needing hours in their Community Participation unit, we managed to finish this year’s Bassendean Banner on the Terrace Entry. Measuring almost 3 metres long by 1.6 metres the banner took approximately two months to complete with only two lunch times a week to work on it! After it’s completion it recieved (in my eyes) pride of place on St Georges Terrace Perth for everyone to see along with 200 other Council banner submissions!
This year’s theme was ‘Innovation and Renewal’. The man and the woman represents people in our community working together, the plant represent reknewal and the environmental friendly light globe represents – well freedom! lol. Huge thanks to Jenni and Jaqui O’Taigo who work at the Town at Bassendean and where so helpful in communicating their vision and Cyril Jackson for allowing us space to complete the project. Currently the Bassendean is working on finding a permanent home for this banner that was so great to work on.