Ambassador Spotlight: Q&A with Thainlin Tay

Where is your favorite place to make art?

The outdoors, for sure. I live in a dense urban environment surrounded by buildings, so I love to capture old architecture and heritage buildings that remind us of the past.

How would you describe your style?

My sketches are done quickly with loose and variable ink lines from my fountain pen and washed with vibrant watercolors that reflect the spontaneity of the moment.

What are your top three most used colors in your work?

Ultramarine Blue, Raw Umber, and Hooker’s Green

What travel supplies do you bring everywhere you go?

A neatly organized art setup featuring a green case, a sketchbook with a red circle on the cover, watercolor paints, various pens, a pencil, and an eraser, alongside an illustrated card of a cat. — Thainlin’s supplies are listed below, clockwise from top left.

Folio Palette
Duotone Forest A5 Art Toolkit
Etchr Lab Sketchbook 6"x6"
Red Pocket Palette (personalized with cat sticker)
Polymer Eraser
Traveler’s Company brass fountain pen
Hongdian Fude nib fountain pen
Lamy 0.7 mechanical pencil
Unipin 0.5 fine liner pen
Sakura Gelly Roll 1.0 white pen
Water brushes with broad/flat, large and medium tips
Traveler’s Company brass clips

What is your favorite piece of creative advice?

I recently read this book, and it’s good advice for everyone doing art:

Art is making something better without knowing what better is. Making art is trial and error. You have to get comfortable making mistakes because you will make mistakes. The trick is to know which ones to keep.

—Walter D. Bannard in Aphorisms for Artists

What’s a fun fact about you?

I work in the IT industry, which involves a lot of stress from deadlines. But, it’s about creative problem solving too, and that’s where an “artist mind” comes in useful.

When do you usually make art?

I sketch on weekends and while traveling, when I am the most relaxed.

Who inspires you?

All the great painters of yesteryear—impressionists, post-impressionists, and modern artists. There are also a few Asian sketchers and artists with their unique styles and approaches.

Why do you make art?

I aim to capture a scene so beautifully that it always stays in my memory, even when I don’t have the artwork with me any longer. I also make art to relax and stay focused.

Thainlin Tay
Social Media | Ambassador Page