For those celebrating, I wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous Lunar New Year!

Being away from family and friends in Singapore, I felt compelled to recreate some festive mood at home. So while it’s the Year of the Pig, I painted some fishes yesterday to welcome the new year (and hopefully some new ‘wealth’!).

In Chinese, the word fish 鱼 🐟 ‘Yu’ sounds the same as 余 ‘Yu’ (which means ‘abundance’). Fish is a common dish eaten during the New Lunar Year meals to symbolise having abundance. As fishes are closely associated with water and life, it is considered auspicious to keep fishes at home.