Today we’d like to introduce you to Nattaya Phongtiangtham.
Hi Nattaya, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello! my name is Nattaya Phongtiangtham (mo). I am from Thailand. I earned my bachelor’s degree in Applied art (painting) at Silpakorn University. I’m currently a freelance and working in my family business, I also have my own business too.
My painting journey began when I’m study at university. I have two parts of my work. In the first part, I have some inspiration from my illustrations. I like to doodle or capture normal things. I have an idea to turn them into some print, so I design the character and put it into a product. First on this journey are “stickers”. After that, I put them to other products that are unlimited or specified.
Every product is telling a story from the people or things around me. They are “ART” that you can use in your everyday life, currently, most of them are stationary. The page of my works in this part is named “wednesdaychild” or “w.n.dchild” on instragram. Sometimes I have an opportunity to collaborate with some other brand too.
The second part is the page name”monnnae” on instragram. I’ve got this name from my nickname “mo” and the second syllable(-nae) is cast from pronunciation in japan, when you call someone’s name and end up with the sound”-nae”, “-kun” or chan. But I choose -nae because it resonates with the words “monet”. I choose this word because in some analyses of textbooks. It has a good meaning. It means friendly, attentive, fluent, and creative. So I put two words together “mo” and “-nae”, this is the background of the name of this page.
Most of my works on this page are painting. I like picturebook, almost all of my collectibles are them. They are very inspired and have more imagination. My painting journey began here. I dream of I will have my own picture books, so I started to paint. I usually use acrylic colors and colored pencils.
My works inspire people or situations around me. I like to put detail into my work. I think little things in the pictures can enjoy the audience when they look at them. The detail can be more fun in any way of technique. I like to play with equipment, currently as a colloage with differnt paper or make some fun textures on the paper too.
I also have an opportunity to exhibit my works at Gallery LVS& CRAFT, ASYAAF (Asian Students and Young Artists Art Festival) based in Seoul, Korea in 2020, 2021, and recently this year 2022. Exhibit in the part of oversea artist section. The painting was also inspired by the people and situations around me.
I capture the moment and turn them into more fun form,telling about them in a more fun story. My direction of art is to tell normal story but full of enjoyment. I hope the audience will feel happy or have a little bit of smile when they see my artwork too.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Most of my problem is ” sometimes I have no idea what would I like to draw”. The way out of this problem is, I will go out to see my friends. I will hang out with my friends and discover some new places to fullfill my mood. I also have several kinds of sketchbooks to bring out the idea, some are doodles, and some are technique books. I think sometimes we just relax and do something else to bring out the ideas.
I am also confused about what should I must do now, cause I must work in the family business and it is not easy for me. I must learn more about the system of business and it is very exhausting. I have no more energy to do what I like. So I decided to split the time what time should I work with my family and what time should I have my own space to relax to do what I like and for my business too.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I think I’m specializing in acrylic painting. I like the textures that happened when painting. It is dry fast. It suits my personality because I’m impatient. I don’t like to wait for the paint to dry. They can be drained on top of each other. I find it more fun to color them on top of each other. It can create new textures. It can be more creative in many ways.
I think my strength is trying new things and finding a fun way to paint. My practice comes from taking inspiration from the environment around me. Whether watching a movie, going on a trip, or picking up some book and opening it. I believe the more I see, The more ideas will come.
As mentioned above I have two parts of my artwork. I can practice my drawing in both ways that are in a part of the page “w.n.dchild” this page mainly focuses on drawing in 2D or cartoon characters for commercial use. I have practiced using various drawing programs and learning about various materials used in the production of products. For this reason I can create products in more fun ways.
The part on page “monnnae” this page is like my relaxing corner. It’s the part where I let my imagination flow, Most of the works are hand painting. I can practice to using color or discovering something new in the drawing. The story on this page inspires people or situations around me, so I will paint them to keep memories looking like I’m writing a diary.
My approach to work is based on telling ordinary stories in life, but telling them in a more fun way, because I think that happiness often comes in the form of simple things. Simple but not boring, simple but good feeling, little things can sparkjoy your day.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I grew up in Thai Chinese family. I remember that it was always busy because there are quite a lot of family members living together. It looks busy but warm. I like the moment when we have a meal together at the round table. We will share the food and talking what we have seen today.
I think the meal can connect everyone to join the moment together. Food can heal us from bad stories that we have encountered in life. I miss that moment, it is warm and keeps reminding me how important family is and how are we happy together. Family is the main force in my life whenever I’m tired I tend to spend time at home.
The influence of family warmth makes me want to convey warmth moments through my drawings because I think that happy images can be of encouragement to someone.
Contact Info:
- Email: monattayasimp@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monnnae/ and https://www.instagram.com/w.n.dchild/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/monattayaa
