Natural diversity on canvas

Ruwini Jayawardana

It is a journey through Sinharaja in a batch of still images. You get features like overgrown wilderness, waterfalls, fungi, birds, flora and fauna in a series of paintings. Each painting oozes with colour and breaths life.

It may have taken around six months for Jayasena Colambage to capture these moments of nature at her best as paintings but the effort had paid off. The gifted artist who is a product of Widyarathne College, Horana, will hold his maiden exhibition at the Lionel Wendt Gallery from January 14 to 16.

Around 50 paintings will be displayed at the event which is titled ‘The Sinharaja’. The opening ceremony will be held January 14. It will be opened by National Lions Club District 306 A2 District Governor Lion Chandra Katuwawala.

Hailing from the outskirts of Ramukkana, Bandaragama, Colambage said that he had followed the arts stream to excel in talents. He had won many island wide competitions and brushed up his artistic skills under his brother, Gunasiri Colambage. He had painted illustrated stories for a number of newspapers and magazines such as Silumina, Nawayugaya, Rasawahini and Riwiresa. He was also the editor of local comic magazines Sithuwama, Samanala and Disnaya and had worked as an artist and art director for several advertising agencies.

He held a group exhibition at Bandaragama Central College last year with several other artists. The event was a immediate success as visitors marveled at Colambage’s skills with the brush. He had used oil on canvas for his collection of images based on Sinharaja.

“I took photographs of the forest and painted them at home. There is one particular image which portrays two lions. This is an imaginative piece because there was once a belief that lions roamed Sinharaja. That is how the forest’s name derived,” he said. Colambage’s next venture is to recreate old paintings, mainly portraits. He will be engaging on the project in the near future.