KOCHI: A feeling of entering a flourishing woodland overwhelms any visitor walking into banker and artist Sandhya A R’s exhibition. A collection of 24 acrylic paintings on display, flushed in shades of emerald, in tune with the title Green Thoughts, conveys the artist’s preoccupation with the fertile verdure of Kerala and its fauna. The show is currently underway at Durbar Hall Art Gallery.
Sandhya aka Sandhyambika, says she was passionate about art right from childhood. “My mother was an art teacher at school and I think I inherited my penchant for drawing from her. The second half of my pseudonym, Ambika, is her name,” says Sandhya started painting seriously about 10 years ago. Although her first solo exhibition took place in 2016, Sandhya decided to hone her skill by tutoring under a master. “When I was working for the first show, I realised that painting makes me immensely happy. Being a self-taught artist, I felt that getting trained would help me translate my ideas onto the canvas. So for the past three years, I have been practising under an artist called Sidharthan who is a retired professor at RLV College,” says the 46-year-old.
Sandhya’s works are vivacious and stark re-imaginations of the natural landscape surrounding her. Lush and deep tones blot her canvases filling the entire frame in contrasting colour profiles. Her lotus series, for example, is inspired by blooming water lilies at Malarikkal in Kottayam.
“Nature by itself is a striking composition. I am very inspired by its patterns and try to replicate them. However, my process is very spontaneous. I only have a rough idea of the composition and usually refer to a few motifs online or in publications before starting a piece. Sometimes, I’m incited by classic works of art or it’s the nostalgia that catches my eye,” says the mother of two.
All the figurative works at the exhibit feature women. Sandhya’s impulse to place them in the foreground of a scenic vista comes from her own personal experiences and anecdotes. “As women, we face many hardships but overcome them triumphantly. At the same time, life brings us many delights. I try to portray these opposite experiences when I paint women characters,” adds Sandhya.