Painting a new life at 63

Feroza Farook brushes aside worries with stroke of artistic genius:

Text and pictures Hathoon SHERIFFDEEN

She saw only gloomy colours before she discovered the brighter shades of life on the palette. When her loved ones gradually drifted away, when gray clouds overcast her life, she brushed off the gloom with vibrant hues on the canvas.

Feroza Farook entered the ‘coloured’ world at the age of 57, six years ago to paint a fresh beginning. Being a casual housewife and engaged in usual household chores like cooking, cleaning, gardening and raising children and grandchildren, painting opened a new path for Feroza.

Being a mother of three daughters and a son, with a husband who was a simple businessman had given her lovable surroundings to live in. She only thought that she is capable enough to look after a small family with kind hearts. All what she did was to help her children and grandchildren in their studies.

Feroza completed her first painting in 2002, when she was 57. This was the period she had to live away from her children. They moved abroad gradually for jobs and for various reasons. When her last child migrated to Australia she felt the loneliness heavily. That was the first time Feroza and her husband painted the gray picture of being alone.

“My days were dark. I couldn’t find a means to overcome the darkness.

Then I realised that I have got three drawings of my mother. My mother had done three paintings at the age of 16. After that she did not paint. I thought of restoring them, but I was not very good at drawing.

I took a drawing book and drew whatever that came to my mind to get my hands used to drawing sketches. I drew three books of pictures to get used to colouring and understanding the methods of mixing them. Then my husband helped me put them on the canvas,” she said.

She never thought she could improve her drawing to this scale. “When I drew for my children and grandchildren it was really hard for me to finish one picture. Now drawing is my favourite pursuit. My husband and children love to see my drawings and they encourage me to draw more,” she remarks.

Sigiriya

Her garden is full of fruits and vegetables. Every inch in the garden is used purposefully. “I love gardening, cooking and being with my family,” she says. Feroza’s children have taken most of her drawings to various parts of the world and introduced Sri Lanka through her drawings.

Her pictures disclose many historical facets of Sri Lanka and what she had seen in her younger days. They are the shades of the past and the present. She enjoys putting Sri Lanka on the canvass. That made her children interested in her paintings. She says she is proud that her children are proud of her drawings and she is delighted to see her drawings adorning on the walls in the houses of many high profile foreign dignitaries.

She has faced many difficulties too. Feroza said she was asked to draw a picture of Julius Caesar by her son-in-law. “It was hard.

I had to be perfect on my curves and strokes looking at the original picture given to me. I found that picture hard to draw because for the first time I had to draw a classical picture. I also had to be careful about every single brush stroke because that picture was to be gifted to a diplomat.

I took more than a month to finish this picture. Feroza feels drawing keeps her occupied. She finishes her routine household work every day by 10 o’ clock and sits with her brushes and paints. “I draw till six o’clock without a break,” she said. There are more than 50 paintings in store.

The rickshaw puller

The specialty of her paintings is the choice of vibrant colours. “ I see my country as full of glamour. I have not seen a dull Sri Lanka so far. All my paintings are reflections of my inner vision,” she said.

She also said the sea is a prime attraction. For her, the sea swells with emotions and thus it is a reflection of emotions.

“There is a lot to paint about the sea. It’s all about how you see, the sea and how you are related to it,” Feroza said.

Feroza will exhibit her paintings tomorrow at the Harold Pieris Gallery, Lionel Wendt Memorial Art Centre, Colombo.Shades of Serendib is her first public painting exposure. Feroza has proved that one’s age is no barrier to begin a venture.

Talent can be discovered at any time, she believes. This attitude made her walk ahead at her age. “ It’s still surprising that I have become an artist at this age.

I only thought I will be a mother and a wife. in my life,” Feroza says with a new hope.