I want you to picture this. You are sitting on the floor of your bedroom apartment feeling inspired about your budding creative business. You pick up a piece of paper and write down your future business name, location (including the country). Yes, the country that you plan to visit and move to someday.
Well, that was me in my 20’s. I had never been to the USA before, but I made it a goal of mine that someday I’d come here. Here’s what I wrote:
“Siti Nuriati Husin Studio, Los Angeles, California.”
I always admired people who got a chance to study overseas; in America, in the UK or in Australia. and I wanted to do that.
I had planned to continue my studies in America after receiving my Diploma, but I couldn’t get a scholarship due to the economic downturn in Malaysia in 1997. I also looked into travel packages to LA, but they were too expensive. At the time I taught myself to paint portraits with pastel. Even though I was shy about my new art skill, coworkers and friends asked me to do portraits for them. I now had a side business!
I dreamed of the impossible. I wanted to become a successful portrait artist in America someday. Some of my family members and friends thought I was crazy or too ambitious. Some even mocked me for my dream to go to the US, but I was determined about the life I wanted to build. A decade later, I realized that dream. Now I’ve been living in LA for 20 years and love it.
The Portrait Years: A Strong Foundation
I have been a professional fine artist for over two decades now. After I quit my full time job as a secretary, I moved back to my hometown, Melaka. I became a stay at home mom and I started a home-based business offering portrait commissions. I took care of my newborn while working from home.
After I graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Business with a focus on marketing, I had the opportunity to do my first solo exhibition in Melaka. This exhibition helped me land my first newspaper feature in New Straits Times Malaysia.
Not too long after that, I got an offer to have my Princess Diana portraits published in an international book by the author of the book, Madonna in Art. Of course I said Yes!
When I moved to LA, I brought my unfinished paintings of Princess Diana to my new home and continued working on them.
In 2007, my Princess Diana portraits were published in the coffee table book Diana in Art alongside 150 artists from around the world. In a single year, before it was published in the UK, I received press features in the United States and Malaysia. If you’re interested, you can find the book in the Los Angeles Public Library and see my work there.
For a girl from Melaka who once watched her mom paint and dreamed of doing the same someday. And for someone who didn’t go to Art School this was truly a blessing in my career as a fine artist.
I felt I was on course to become one of the best portrait artists in America.
But then in 2008, after some soul searching, I quit my portrait painting business cold turkey. I remember asking myself out loud: “What am I going to call myself now?”
Yes, it was my personal decision. It wasn’t easy because I’ve been honing my portrait drawing skills since I was very young. I already got press mentions and now, all of a sudden, I’m walking away from the business. But I wanted to please God so I did it anyway.
The In-Between Years: Exploring Without a Plan
What followed was a decade of creative exploration. And honestly? I learned a lot and it was both exciting and challenging. When I quit portraiture, I also stopped painting with pastel. I focused more on painting still life with colored pencil because I had just started designing an Islamic greeting card line.
I also discovered a skill I never knew I had — I became a Malay-language voiceover talent for a company right here in Los Angeles.
When we started homeschooling I took a new role as a learning coach to my eldest son. We learned in depth about our faith as a family.
And because I got serious in creating my card line, my husband introduced me to the paper crafting world. I probably spent hundreds of hours watching paper crafting tutorials.
I learned how to create handmade greeting cards and bookmarks. I started selling them through my first online website that was built by my husband.
I love learning. I decided, instead of going to college here, to continue my educational journey in the fields that interested me. Besides investing in an online business coaching program, I also studied website design, photography, copywriting, and online marketing.
My husband launched a YouTube channel for me, Siti Nuriati Studio. He also edited and uploaded the videos for me.
I was never bored. I was learning about my new interest while teaching my children.
Over the years, I’ve acquired a ton of new skills. One of those new skills is painting with watercolor.
But in the beginning of 2018 I picked up pastel again and I started painting still life and botanicals. I also decided to go back to offering painting commissions. I was very happy with painting these new subjects with my favorite medium, pastel.
I chose to quit paper crafting and focus solely on my fine art. I renewed my business goal: help my clients find inner peace through art.
I thought, this is it! This is what I’m going to do for the rest of my art career.
The Homeschool Moment That Changed Everything
So one day, I was teaching an art or history lesson to my youngest son. All of a sudden, I was inspired to search for the national flowers of the world. I said to my son, let’s see if there’s a book about the national flowers of all the countries in the world.
So we searched, clicking page after page after page, but we couldn’t find anything. I was frustrated.
There was nothing. No books. No comprehensive collection.
I looked at my son and asked, “What if I paint all these flowers and compile them into a coffee table book, just like the Diana in Art book? But instead of gathering work from artists all over the world, I painted every single flower myself?”
The light bulb went off; I was thrilled with this idea!
I’ve found a new purpose. I feel like this is finally my chance to contribute something meaningful to the world through my art.
I actually didn’t know that I was looking for a signature project. Actually it found me instead!
Why This Felt Different
I’ve had plenty of creative ideas and some I actually took action on, like my 100 day watercolor challenge. But this one felt different.
The funny thing is I was never interested in painting flowers for most of my life because I was too focused on painting people’s portraits. I never even imagined that someday I would be painting flowers.
I was just so excited to paint the national flowers. I didn’t think about the depth of this project yet.
It Didn’t Start Grand
Here’s what I want you to know about finding your signature project: it probably won’t come to you while you are staring at your backyard, listening to birds chirping or squirrels squeaking and chasing each other. Well, actually, that’s what I enjoy everyday.
My inspiration came during a regular day homeschool session. It started as a homeschool mom and her son, curious about flowers. That’s it. That’s the whole story of how the World’s National Flowers Project was born.
Now the Diana in Art book, where I got 4 of my Princess Diana paintings published, was on someone else’s agenda. This time this project is on my agenda. It’s my duty to make it a success.
And you know what? Earlier in the year, when I got the idea for the national flowers, I wrote this in my journal: Create urgency in anything. ‘What if I die tomorrow, what legacy am I leaving behind? What unfinished projects, tasks, to do lists would benefit my family and humanity?
Dreaming big has brought me to this moment.
In the next episode, I’ll introduce you to the project properly — what it is, why national flowers specifically, and the unexpected personal discovery it led me to along the way.
Stay tuned!
Stay Kreatif,
Siti
