‘Earth colours’ express him

Madhubhashini Rathnayaka

The pre-historic man who got touched by the blood of killed animals pressed their palms on a rock surface to wipe them out. The astonishment; seeing his ‘red palms’ on the rock surfaces, made him curious in drawing and many experiments on colours were done by him using natural resources. The drawings of bison, horse and others. in the caves of Altemira and Lascaux in France are a result of his then

growing talents in drawing as well as creating colours.

We, Sri Lankans also experience such glorious paintings; in Sigiriya, temple of Degaldoruwa, Anuradhapura, Kelani Viharaya and some other places around the island that our forefathers mastered. If it is mainly focussed on paintings in Sigiriya they are completely done using natural colours derived from clay and parts of trees.

Do you believe a twenty eight year old talented Sri Lankan painter is still following this kind of old techniques in painting. He, a nature lover - Pradeep Indika Bandara expresses himself using earth colours which he himself creates; made by clay and specially have ranges of brown, grey, red and others in 30-40.

I felt this limited range of colours is a barrier in inner expression, but astonishingly he does satisfy what he uses and really his paintings are excellent. By the first look, by the second and by the third and so on we cannot identify that the colours are from earth. He said I make these colours very carefully.

I grind clay/soil into powder and use special techniques to keep its quality. If the painting colours do not have its real quality as if remaining small parts of sand and such things the finished painting will crack and cannot be kept for a long time.

He assures his paintings will remain for a long time as the paintings in Sigiriya are, which means these earth colours have a special feature to weigh with water, sun light, and wind to survive. Pradeep added “when I was a school child I used to paint on a rock which was beside our home. It was like the rock of Sigiriya and I experimented on it by spreading clay plaster and by painting on it. That’s the way how I learned this method by myself.”

He has not gained any kind of regular study on painting except his two years learning period under late Pushpananda Weerasinghe a well-known artist who also followed earth colour painting.

When digging out the history of his special techniques in painting he reveals how he was fascinated on such a new method when he was in grade ten in Kanangamuwa Rajasinhe Maha Vidyalaya: “In our history books there were descriptions on Sigiriya and also how the paintings were done using earth colours.

Those things attracted me and when I came home I experimented them. As I had a talent in painting specially influenced by my mother, I could easily follow the earth colour painting.

Now I have been practicing this for ten years and it heals me while providing me with self satisfaction.” He is not a direct follower of the techniques used in old paintings to make colours. He says: those old paintings have unique features in them and also has his own.

This talented young painter travels many areas in the Island to collect clay/soil samples. He said that he finds the clay for red colour in Gampola and some other colours in places like Nittambuwa, Polgahawela and his own area.

It is a hard process to make colours though the expenditure is not much. It should be appreciated Pradeep is not mainly doing this as a business; he does velvet painting and mural so “if I do this as business such a highly artistic work cannot be created and also I can’t dedicate myself this”.

He has already finished about 30 paintings and also he says his paintings are in all over the world in art galleries, exhibitions and also are with personal owners. If you are also interested in his paintings you can contact him on phone by 0724065926/0602220155 and e-mail by npradeepindika @yahoo.com.

..................................

<< Artscope Main Page