Painting hobby helps teacher survive crisis

By Agus Maryono

PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): Like most teachers at state schools, Sutjipto finds it hard to make ends meet on his monthly salary. But "necessity is the mother of invention", as the saying goes. So, he looked for other ways to survive. Which is how he found painting.

Sutjipto, who teaches art at a junior high school, has been painting for years as a hobby. However, for a long time his paintings only decorated the walls of his house and filled his storage room. He told The Jakarta Post he decided to try and sell his paintings because his salary was not enough to feed his wife and three children.

His paintings, generally decorative, expressive or abstract, usually are sold for between Rp 20,000 and Rp 150,000.

Sutjipto, 45, sells his work by holding exhibitions throughout the city.

"But during this monetary crisis it has not been very promising," Sutjipto said last month when exhibiting his paintings at the Purwokerto mayoralty hall. He only sold four paintings for a total of Rp 250,000.

"Before the monetary crisis I could sell up to 20 paintings in one exhibition," he said.

Knowing that painting could improve his family's life, he also encouraged his eldest daughter, Agustin, to take up painting. Agustin, is in the sixth grade and is 12 years old.

She seems to have inherited her father's talent for painting, and she spends more than four hours a day in front of the canvas.

"In the beginning she did some paintings of her own when I was busy painting. I saw that she might have talent. I gave her some guidance and she was able to follow it," Sutjipto said.

She paints in the expressive style and her favorite subjects are elephants, cats and people.

"I am happiest when I paint people and cats. Cats are funny," Agustin told the Post.

She usually paints with oil on canvass or hardboard and likes to paint people because she can change the shape of their faces.

Since Agustin began painting seriously three years ago she has completed 47 paintings. The average size of her work is 60 cms X 48 cms, although she has done works measuring 120 cms X 80 cms.

"When she is seriously painting she can finish a 60 cms X 48 cms painting in half an hour," Sutjipto said.

He said that one buyer offered Rp 250,000 for one of her works but he would not sell it because Agustin loved the painting so much.

Although the proceeds from the paintings can help the family survive, Sutjipto said that during the monetary crisis it was difficult to fully develop the business. The main reason for this is the sharp increase in the price of painting materials. Oil paint used to cost Rp 14,000, now it is Rp 45,000, a 300 percent increase. Canvas used to be sold for Rp 15,000 a meter and now it costs Rp 25,000 a meter. But Sutjipto will continue painting because, besides his salary as a teacher, it is the only income the family has.

As a teacher, Sutjipto earns Rp 400,000 a month, which, he says, only covers his family's expenses for about two weeks. He makes more than this from his paintings.

"Thank God, on average we earn between Rp 500,000 and 700,000 a month from our paintings," Sutjipto said.

Sutjipto says that 50 percent of his family's expenses now are covered by the proceeds from his paintings. He completes 60 to 70 paintings a month.

However, as the monetary crisis has continued, sales have declined drastically.

"In the first year of the monetary crisis I still managed to sell 30 to 40 paintings a month. Now the total is four or five paintings at the most," Sutjipto said.

He now mostly paints flowers to meet orders from his customers, mostly women.

"I think this is the influence of the sinetron," he said, referring to local TV soap operas.

According to Sutjipto, viewers want to imitate the decorations seen inside the luxurious houses on the sinetron.

"So, with the increasing number of sinetron, people like me profit through increased orders," Sutjipto said. "But women bargain hard. But it's better than nothing. I sell (my paintings) for just Rp 80,000."