It's The Beginning for Veranda
Jayanthi LIYANAGE
There is no medium of drawing that has not graced the artistry of
Veranda Bandaranaike. May it be oil paint on canvas, acrylic on canvas,
pastels, pencils, charcoal, colour pencils, pens, pallete knife, water
colours, ink or finger, she has tried her hand at all of them and turned
out a fairly massive collection of art work.
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Some of Veranda’s captivating paintings |
Her exhibition of art to be inaugurated at the National Art Gallery
on July 10 at 3.30 p.m., is aptly titled 'The Beginning'. Presenting the
proficiency she had gained from practical and theoretical knowledge
through a large number of paintings and other forms of art, she is at a
crossroads. "I want to get an evaluation from art veterans and the
public as to in which direction and medium I can most successfully move
forward as an artist," Veranda told the Daily News. The exhibition will
continue on July 11 and 12 at 9.30 to 6.00 p.m.
Veranda is a first year undergraduate of the University of Kelaniya,
studying for a degree in Visual Arts and Image Art under the guidance of
lecturers Kamal Wimalaweera, Vasana Dulwala and Ravindra Lal. She is
also a member of the Ceylon Society (CSA) of Arts under the auspices of
which she experiments her creative ability in painting, using different
methods and media of art.
Veranda says her husband, Maithri Bandaranaike, a trainer in Human
Resources, Management and Personality Development spotted her talent and
applied his personal development theories to her progress forward as a
successful artist.
"She has a dream of art. My job is to push her towards her dream"
says Maithri who had helped her to enroll for art classes at the CSA.
For the last one and half years, she has continued to attend these
classes, tutored by Pulasthi Ediriweeera, Akila Jayalath, Jayantha
Tissera and Danny Siriwardena. Her focus has not been limited in medium
and she had forged on in varied forms of composition, portraits, wild
life, landscapes and abstract art. Her first initiation into art
education began at the First Art Foundation in Kegalle, guided by
artists P. Abeyratne and Nilanthi Weerasinghe.
This year, Veranda won the gold medal in the open category of the art
competition 'The Vision of Mahagamasekera', held to commemorate his 80th
birth anniversary and his 33rd death anniversary. Three of her paintings
on Buddhist themes were exhibited at the BMICH at 'Vesak 2009'.
Last year, She won the Western Province Silver Medal of the 'Ridi
Sittam', all island art competition, for her drawing of an elephant
using the dot method to bring out the three dimensional view. The
contest also won her two other merit awards. CSA chose four of her
paintings to be exhibited together with works of veterans. In the same
year, she won five awards at the competition held by CAS, becoming the
winner of the most number of awards. A unique achievement was her
winning both the first and the second places of the 'composition'
category for paintings 'still life' and 'the kitchen of a village home'.
She bagged the second place for her 'tiger' in the 'wild life'
category and the third place in the 'line drawing' category for her 'Vatada
ge : Polonnaruwa'. She also won a special merit award in the 'portraits'
category.
She clinched an award in the all island art competition held by the
Ministry of Education and Colour Products as well. Veranda now looks
forward to participate in an international art competition and running
an art gallery of her own. |
