Full-blast florals

You've seen Phansakdi Chakkaphak's watercolour paintings of flowers printed on cloth shopping bags, in magazine spreads and on products sold to raise funds for good causes, but nothing compares to seeing the originals.

The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre is offering a rare opportunity to do just that - and get a real sense of the effort and talent involved - in the exhibition "Beauty in Bloom", continuing until November 29.

Sixty paintings are on view to help celebrate the 76th anniversary of Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Architecture, from which Phansakdi graduated in 1968.

Phansakdi handpicked the watercolours - with effort, he says, since he loves them all. But he admits there's one he refuses to sell.

"I spilled coffee on the paper and thought it was ruined, but I was able to fix it with a lot of effort - I spent three months on that painting and it's got my DNA in it!"

Phansakdi's florid style comes directly from National Artist Chakrabhand Posayakrit, his former teacher, who told him when he first picked up a brush in 1991, "Don't pencil-draw, don't sketch."

The result of that lesson was "Rosa", which Phansakdi describes in his book, also called "Beauty in Bloom", as "the painting that has turned my life around".

He was helping Chakrabhand decorate porcelain puppets. The ajarn pointed to a bunch of white roses in a vase and told him to paint them. When Chakrabhand saw the finished work, "He told me to leave porcelain behind and start painting."

Phansakdi took the advice and also left behind a well-paid job as creative director of McCann Erickson Thailand. In return, he says, he's found peace of mind.

"It's like meditation. Whenever I paint I feel really happy."

He enjoys painting flowers because they're so varied in form and colour. His favourite is the water lily, because it's indigenously Thai, has soft hues and is as fresh as the pond in which it blooms.

Phansakdi utilises photos as a memory aid, mostly for the leaves, but strives to preserve living blossoms while he's painting them to observe their "constant change".

Among the charitable organisations that have benefited from sales of his paintings over the years are the Foundation for Mentally Retarded Children, which has the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen, and the Medication Fund for Needy Patients at Queen Sawangwattana Memorial Hospital in Sriracha, Phansakdi's hometown.

Garden tours

"Beauty in Bloom" is on the Art and Culture Centre's third and fourth floors, daily except Monday from 10 to 10.