KOCHI: For Monisha Chandran, colour pencils were her go-to instrument for conceiving portraits. With time, the Malappuram native started tapping into multiple mediums including oil, watercolour and acrylic to create realistic artworks.
Soon after completing B.Tech in 2014, Monisha forayed into art full-time with her art page ‘MC Pink Palette’ on social media. Portraits being her favourite, the 28-year-old didn’t limit herself to just gifts. She tried her hand at celebrity portraits as well.
“My artworks started getting recognition after I drew Anushka Shetty. The actor herself posted it on her social media. This boosted my confidence,” says Monisha. Portraits will hold a special place as it involves a great amount of effort to bring out someone’s face beautifully and realistically, she adds.
While looking to experiment further with her art, Monisha stumbled upon hand embroidery. “It’s been eight months since I ventured into hand embroidery. I have been hooked ever since. The first embroidery portrait I did was of actor Kunchacko Boban and it took me two months to finish,” she says. The hard work finally paid off when the actor himself shared it on social media.
Being well versed in hand painting, getting the right colour palette for embroidery was not much of a task for Monisha. “To get the accurate skin tone, instead of just stitching peach colour threads together and forming an orange shade, I take a cream colour thread. Hair is also done similarly. Instead of making it pure black, I blend brown shades for the baby hairs to make it more realistic,” says Monisha. Monisha replicates images sent by customers on her hoop.
What sets MC Pink Palette apart from the rest of the hoop artists is her photo-realistic works. “I want to make my embroidery hyper-realistic by adding even the most minute details which are often overlooked. So far, I have brought in such minute details on canvas, I want to do the same with thread as well,” says Monisha.
Priced from Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000
Instagram:@mc.pinkpalette