BENGALURU: Almost every renowned painter once started with a pack of brush and primary watercolours. If you are someone who has dabbled in painting recently, you would know that water colours are one of the most difficult mediums to paint with.
However, the medium is also one that fascinates many artists. Five such painters will show their watercolour artworks at Chitrakala Parishat from January 26 to 30.
The five artists who will showcase their paintings are Bijay Biswaal, Madhu Kumar, Nirupam Konwar, Ramesh Jhawar and Sadhu Aliyur.
Watercolour is Bijay’s first love, he confesses. “It is a moody medium that has taught me a lot. It springs unprecedented surprise every time and keeps me on my heels,” says the self taught artist.
Bijay is showcasing five watercolour paintings at the exhibition — two from his Odisha temple town series, two his Streets of India series and one from the train series.
Madhu Kumar’s art journey started in 2007 while working in Singapore as an IT professional. This was the year he joined an art class with Chinese artists as teachers.
“Watercolour is spontaneous compared to other mediums and the artist has to react to how the watercolour behaves with the paper. The challenge lies in managing and controlling the medium to get what you want,” says Madhu.
His current works at the exhibition are paintings of landmark buildings such as Mayo Hall in MG Road, Lal Bagh, Vidhana Soudha and Watch Tower at Hampi.
Madhu gained an entry to Singapore Watercolour Society in 2011 and served as its assistant secretary general in 2013. He has participated in various group or annual shows in Singapore and India.
He says artworks earn better profits in Singapore than India. “In Singapore they buy paintings like grocery, but in India it is counted as a luxury,” adds Madhu.
He had his successful first solo exhibition in Singapore recently.
Sadhu Aliyur will be showcasing two landscape paintings on Kerala, one interior design artwork from Auroville and artwork on two Delhi streets.
“Watercolour is the first medium you take to when you start painting, but it is also the most challenging one,” he says.
Sadhu says the most challenging part of the medium is the timing. “One needs to finish a watercolour painting withing 10-15 minutes. With oil you can take one year to finish the artwork. If one stroke goes wrong, you startall over again,” he adds.
For Ramesh Jhawar, light is an important feature in paintings. “More often than not it is a particular quality of light that initially attracts me to a subject,” he says.
Ramesh has got a collection of his paintings on landscapes, urbanscapes and figuratives for the show. Being a self taught artist, he had tried a lot of mediums initially.
“I began with oils, then pastels and later moved onto acrylics but every medium had its shortcomings like the strong smell of spirits in oils, the problem of smudging in pastels and that of storage. Watercolour was one medium, where there was no smell, no maintenance like varnish, didn’t take up much space and above all, was quick and easier to handle. So I finally settled on watercolours,” he says.
However, what fascinates him about the medium is how there is always an element of mystery, a sense of urgency while painting with watercolours, which makes the process of painting all the more enjoyable.
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