PETALING JAYA, March 19 — Nur Aisyah Muhammad Fairuz started out in art uncertain if she even had the talent to succeed in it.
Now, she’s using her gift to help with her ailing father’s hospital treatment bills.
A viral tweet announcing her availability for portrait requests has paved the path for her to provide much needed income for the family.
The 20-year-old shared her experiences of learning how to draw with mStar and said that support from her peers helped with the necessary confidence.
“At the start, I just drew for fun with shading that wasn’t very good but I persevered because I had a genuine interest.
“I almost gave up learning how to draw but with the support of friends, my motivation to learn got stronger,” she said.
She explained how her father’s deteriorating health prompted her to start taking commissions for her work.
“My father has been suffering from stage four chronic kidney failure in both of his kidneys since last year and in the past two or three months, his condition worsened,” she told mStar.
Hi korangg, kita ada buat potrait sebab nak sara keluarga. Ayah kita sakit. Kalau tak beli pun, mohon rt untuk rezeki kita. pic.twitter.com/fokCtdLWSs
— elle (@asheyyaa) 17 March 2019
In addition to drawing portraits, Aisyah has taken over the family’s takoyaki street food business after her mother, who usually runs operations, took time off to look after her father.
The budding artist offers black and white A4 portraits of individuals for a fee of RM30 and RM50 for drawings with couples.
Her viral tweet has garnered more than 16,500 retweets and 4,600 likes so far and social media users have been praising her entrepreneurial efforts in easing her family’s burden.
Aisyah completed her STPM examinations last year and mStar reported that she hopes to pursue an art degree at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in the future.
