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Nature's splendour on canvas:
Colours galore
Jayanthi LIYANAGE
Eleven art students of Lathifa Ismail, two young boys and nine women
of widely varying ages, put together their resources to exhibit their
work at Lionel Wendt on August 26 and 27.
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The colourful array of paintings of eleven artists. Pictures by
Sudath Nishantha |
The artists painted what they fancied and the result was a burst of
rich and vibrant colours sprouting from the walls and very pleasing to
the eye. There were drawings of scenery, still life and images culled
from wild life.
Dominic Ockersz, one of the two male artists who was just into his
twenties, said that he focused mainly on wild life and preferred doing
art of old masters' style. "I like animals and I have painted since I
was small. After finishing my ordinary levels, I started studying art,"
Dominic said.
"Lathifa Ismail helps me get my own style of drawing. He uses mainly
pencils but employs water colours to add a final touch to his drawings.
His repertoire included birds and animals, drawn from examining pictures
and gathering the essential features of his subjects.
The exhibition was the first public display of Dominic's paintings of
this magnitude although he had exhibited his work when he was much
younger.
"If I see anything nice, I paint it," said Hethumathi Karunatilaka
whose exhibits included pastels and oil paintings depicting scenery and
still life of flowers and foliage.
His foray into the art arena was accidental and amusing. In 1980s, I
brought my daughter to the art classes of Ms. Lathifa Ismail. After two
days, she refused to go for classes, so instead, I joined the class."
After seeing the work of her mother, the daughter is now interested
in learning art and has even asked to be given into her keeping some of
her mother's artwork, of which one is titled, 'The Lady in Orange.'
The other artists who threw their energies into preparing this feast
on walls were Anne Wijesekera, Ishra A. Sadique, Shermila Cassim, Jamila
Nehmath, Dileeni, Shiffaya Gafoor, Dianthi Wijeratne, Dushi K. and Yohan
Pinto. |
