Lankan scenic serenity in watercolor
K M A Bandara
An exhibition of paintings in water colour executed by Thamara
Damayanthi, Art teacher of Ananda College, Colombo, is on view at the
American Centre, Colombo till February 17 (Every Monday to Thursday 9 am
to 5 pm / Every Friday 9 am to 12 noon). This exhibition is titled
‘Thishoba 2011’. This is Thamara’s fourth exhibition under the same
title.
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Kelaniya
temple |
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Thamara
Damayanthi |
The term Thishoba, as explained by the artist, is the short form of
athi-shoba which in vernacular usage, refers to maximum serenity. As the
very title indicates, majority of the paintings in this collection,
depict the scenic beauty of Sri Lanka’s environment as such it can be
called a felicitation to mother Sri Lanka.
The exhibition includes studies of landscapes, sea scopes, rocky
sites, religious edifices, dwellings of village folk shadowed by green
foliage, dusty pathways, street scenes with building on either side
disappearing into distance in space rural sites haunted by domestic
animals all set to skies indicative of different seasonal changes some
cloudy, some smoky and some peaceful.
A striking feature that capture the viewer’s are in this exhibition
in the skill shown by the artist in manipulating watercolor as a
transparent medium. She is to be credited for utilizing the natural
behavior of watercolor quite meaningful.
Watercolour is supposed to be a medium difficult to master. More
theoretical knowledge will not enable one to produce a good work of art
in this particular medium. It needs sufficient practice. It is a medium
renowned for its translucency and the way the paper white appears
directly and through the paint.
Majority of the paintings in Thishoba 2011 are successful attempts at
capturing nature’s beauty, by allowing watercolour to bleed and blend on
wet surface the artist has achieved fascinating affected. This is quite
evident in her clusters of trees with green foliage, dusty pathways,
buildings and skies, cloudy and smoky. In all these she rejects the
unwanted and captures the essential, with minimum brushwork devoid of
detail. In other words the artist has captured nature by being a slave
to nature. The use of subtle changes of tone to convey an impression of
distance and space is quite appealing. The artist is very grateful to
the American Centre, especially to the members of the cultural unit, for
the encouragement given and the co-operation extended to make this
exhibition a success.
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