Painting the glittering canvas of life

Harshini Perera: A multi-faceted artist:

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

At first take she would seem like any other girl who had made it to the spotlight through beauty and grace but that is where the similarities end. A name so familiar yet so new, a face so familiar yet so unconventional, Harshini Perera has it all, beauty and an eye for art.

Harshini Perera

Harshini who started out on the road less travelled has come a long way from her debut performance on the silver screen from Udayakantha Warnasuriya's youth flick Hiripoda Vessa and has stormed the world of colours with her ' creative streak'.

"I believe I was born with a creative streak and I believe it descended from one of my uncles, Ivor Baptise, who was a renowned painter.

Creativity runs in my immediate family but my uncle was the one who really made a name for himself in the field," said Harshini flashing a smile.

Harshini hails from Colombo and is the second of a family of three. She studied at Bishop's College, Colombo.

Her father, Mahesh Perera is employed abroad while mother Jean Perera works at Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology (APIIT).

"I was never in class because I was always in the art room painting college banners and posters," she said. Unfortunately her school did not offer Art for A\Ls so she had the option of changing the school or taking up some other subject. She decided to pick the latter.

"I was confident that I could paint anyway and if you are really gifted you can draw just about anything. You can learn the techniques and polish up," she said. Mixing up her imagination in the palette, Harshini held her first exhibition at the Lionel Wendt in 1998.

She marks another milestone in her artistic talents in a different light - through her next exhibition which will be held at the Lionel Wendt from March 28 and 29, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The opening ceremony will take place on March 27 at 6.30 p.m.

The specialty of this exhibition is that it will have around 50 creations with the images emerging out of diamonds which had been stuck on the canvas. As Harshini states, this is a new concept and one she had experimented from her childhood.

It all began at six! When Harshini was only six years old she stumbled upon the technique that destined her life. She began visiting a neighbour after school to witness in fascination as he cut gems. The gem dealer let the little girl handle the precious stones and he even presented her with a box of gems on her birthdays.

"Everything fell into place then. It was as if I was destined to work with these glittering beauties. I knew their names and how to recognise the stones apart. I did a miniature version of a portrait of a woman with designs of necklaces and jewellery worked out with stones for my debut exhibition.

Those creations caught an eye of a viewer and he was so taken up with the jewellery designs that before I knew it I had a job as a jewellery designer at Agasti Jewellers, Havelock Road," she explained. She climbed the ladder up to the post of creative director.

After a five year stint in the business she left for the USA to engage in further studies related to the subject. While studying Gemmology at the Institute of America in New York she faced a strange experience which almost lured her to an entirely different path in her chosen field.

"A really classy looking woman was seated next to me in one of my classes who observed me for a few minutes before sending me a card on which she had scrawled 'Would you like to model and go to Hollywood?' I was astounded as it was the least thing you expect after turning up in New York for a week. I did not believe her so she handed me her business card with her picture. Her name was Angelique and at that time one of her movies, 'Potluck', was playing in a theatre in the next street. I was very excited because I began to believe that I must possess some quality of actress calibre because even in Sri Lanka I did a few commercials and got offers to star in movies. People who had seen my photos used to tell me that I should take up modeling," recalled the painter turned actress.

After much pondering Harshini decided to leave the new found opportunity aside and continue with her studies but the experience had altered her life forever.

Adding final touches Pictures by Saman Sri Wedage

"That made me realize that I had to return to my country and help it the best way I can. I decided to take part in the Miss Sri Lanka beauty pageant. One of the organisers spotted me and invited me to take part in the contest. Once you win the title you get a name tag and along with it many opportunities come your way. I can then take my choice in the area which I wish to excel in and make a name for myself," she explained on how she clinched the title of Miss Sri Lanka in 2004.

"It is not only beauty they look for but also your intelligence, skills and the way you carry yourself," she related.

She won the Sarasaviya Award for the best upcoming actress in 2007 for her role in Hiripoda Vessa.

She is married to Buddhika Kulasekara, Director of Programs at Swarnavahini and the two are blessed with a son.

She chose a variety of rubies, emeralds, blue sapphires, peridots, garnets, aqua marines and many more to decorate the sketches to take shape of exquisite images dazzling on canvas. She will not include synthetics in her work.

"My grandmother is turning 90 years on March 27, the day I am going to open the exhibition. She is my maternal grandmother and she too is quite creative as she still engages in designing fashion jewellery out of beads," Harshini said.

Apart from creations embedded with precious stones she will also include watercolour, charcoal and oil paintings and black and white sketches in four sections: Strokes of Love, wildlife, gem creations and general.

"I am a person who dedicates hundred per cent of myself to whatever I take up. After Hiripoda Vessa I wanted to do more but never got the chance because of strong protests from my parents. Now after dedicating two years to my baby, there is another chance. I might never do movies if good offers do not come my way. If there is a specific character which I would like to portray and if am offered the role I will not hesitate. I will stick to my paintings and jewellery designing," she concluded..

Ditch dark circles

Look more awake with these simple solutions

Though dark blue shadows under your eyes can make it appear as though you haven't slept in weeks, lack of slumber isn't the only cause. New York based dermatologist Gervaise Gerstner, M.D explains sometimes they occur due to surprising reasons -and what you can do about them.

BASIC FACTS

The skin under your eyes is thin and fairly translucent, which causes the blood vessels in this area to show through and give off a dark, bluish cast. To compound the problem, the fat pads that surround your eyes-and the muscles that hold them in place-sag as you get older, exacerbating the effect.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Family history - Shadows under the eyes are often hereditary.

Lack of sleep - This slows your circulation, making your skin look paler and dark vessels more pronounced.

Allergies - When the body is fighting off an allergen, the veins under the eyes dilate and become darker.

Food factor - If you smoke, drink alcohol excessively, or eat a lot of processed foods loaded with sodium - the blood vessels under your eyes can swell with fluid and look more prominent.

Rubbing - The stress of constant pressure in this area can cause capillaries to break, which results in a bruise-like hue on the surface of skin.

SIMPLE SOLUTIONS

* Use an eye cream with vitamin K . This minimizes

clotting, helping to lighten blood vessels.

* Cover eyes with chilled black tea bags

* The cool water and caffeine combo constricts

vessels and lessens blue tones.

* Camouflage shadows- Try using a sheer

concealing cream that has yellow tones to mask

dark circles.

* Sleep with your head slightly elevated. You'll

prevent fluid from collecting under your eyes,

which creates shadows.

* Drink enough water. Staying hydrated will plump

the under-eye skin and helps obscure blueness.

Shape

Crafts in action

Manel Gamage

Well - known art and craft teacher Manel Gamage will hold an exhibition with her students titled "Crafts in action 2009" at the National Art Gallery on March 14 and 15 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Gamage has introduced many new embroidery techniques to Sri Lankan women such as block work, needlepoint, crewel embroidery, stumpwork, assisi embroidery, Kashmiri work, chamankth embroidery and many more. She has been trained in Canada, USA, Australia, UK, Singapore and Bangkok and teaching arts and craft for 19 years and taught 18,000 students. She has published nine books in embroidery techniques and all her books including the new book "Huck Embrodiery" will be available at the exhibition. She gives lessons on Rupavahini, Swarnavahini, ITN, Sirasa TV and Derana. There will be tablecloths, wall hangings, cushion covers, bed covers and other items done in different embroidery techniques.

This year, Australian aboriginal designs done on wall hangings, cushion covers and bedspreads will be a new experience.

Seafood pasta

Serves 4

20-minutes

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 tsp paprika

400g chopped tomatoes

1litre chicken stock

300g spaghetti, roughly broken

240g seafood (prawn, cuttlefish) (cooked)

handful of parsley leaves, chopped and lemon

wedges to serve

Method

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan, then cook the onion and garlic over a medium heat for five minutes until soft. Add the paprika, tomatoes and stock, then bring to the boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer, stir in the pasta and cook for seven minutes, stirring occasionally to stop the pasta from sticking. Stir in the seafood, cook for three minutes more until it's all heated through and the pasta is cooked, then season to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

Apple Pudding Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 cup honey

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup butter softened

2 cups chopped apples

3/4 cup chopped cashew

1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. In large mixing bowl combine all ingredients except apples, nuts and raisins. Beat at low speed on mixer for one minute then beat at high speed for three minutes.

Stir in apples, nuts and raisins then pour batter into greased loaf pan. Bake for 30 minutes.