Scroll down to view the paintings displayed at -- 'THE DRAWING ROOM MUSINGS' - group art show

Invitattion to Fine Art Show 

'Realism', 'Super realism' and 'Impressionism'  styles are revisited in this beautiful medley of Indian paintings by......

1. 'En plein air' paintings by artist usha shantharam

2. 'Village Life' - Indian ruralscapes by artist Sankara Rao Bhatta.

3. 'Floral Essence' - floral paintings by artist Sukanya Koosappa.

4. 'Rural people' - figurative paintings by Rajit Raghu

5. 'Seascapes' - paintings by Geetika Karki.

..................in that order.

Scroll down to view the artworks. 

Sankara Rao Bhatta - debut artist of the art show 'The Drawing Room Musings'

                                         Sankara Rao Bhatta

                                         Email: bhattasankar@gmail.com

                                         Cell:  9986348165

Born in small village called Pedana (near Machilipatnam) in Andhra Pradesh, I was initiated to art at an early age in school days. I fell in love with Geometry and engineering drawing in my college days at REC Warangal and it was my favorite subject in studies. I started with pencil and charcoal sketches as hobby when I was doing my Mtech at IIT Bombay, which later turned into a serious part of my life. I had participated in a college level drawing competition and won the second prize. I was always impressed by the works of legends like Raja Ravi Varma and dreamt of doing paintings like them. After coming to Bangalore to work as an IT professional, I made a step forward towards achieving my dream by starting learning acrylic painting from Usha Shantharam madam few years ago.  I like doing portraits and landscapes in both realistic and impressionist style.

The theme of my paintings, village life, is very close to my heart. It’s natural to me to paint those aspects of village life, because I was born and brought up in a village. The simplicity of village life always excited me and inspires me to capture the moments on canvas with immense joy. Whether it is women working in fields or people going with their daily chores in a village alley, every scene has a story to tell and tons of emotions to express.

After all these years, trying to improve my artistic skills, I feel confident to showcase my art to the world. This is my first art show and I am doing this under the guidance of my teacher Usha Shantharam. 

Hay Stacking - painting by artist Sankara Rao Bhatta

Sukanya Koosappa - debut artist of art show - 'The Drawing Room Musings'

 Sukanya Koosappa

                                                                   Email:  contactsukanya@gmail.com

                                                                   Cell: 09880024794 

Hi!! I am sukanya, born and brought up in Mangalore. I come from a family where everyone poses immense interest in art and music. Hence the artistic instinct has come naturally to me. I have been doing pencil sketch and pastel drawing since my childhood. I have participated in various art competitions during schooling. I have also won 1st prize in an inter school competition. I pursued my Post Graduation (M. Sc) in Information System from Mangalore University and came to Bangalore few years back to take up a career as an IT professional. Along with my job simultaneously I also decided to persist with my passion for art. Since then I have known and practiced various other form of art. I have been doing pencil sketch and charcoal paintings. Two years back I was fortunate to meet Madam Usha Shantaram from whom I learnt Acrylic painting. I generally do landscape and still life paintings.


Next to my family and friends it’s my canvas and colors which make my world complete. As I have been painting for quite long now, my passion for art has flourished to perfection. I find myself more confident in capturing my imagination on canvas and showcase it to world. This is my first art show and I am grateful to Usha madam for giving me this esteemed opportunity.

The Theme of my painting is “Floral Essence”. The cheerfully blooming flowers in my own house garden and in the surroundings have inspired me to take up this theme. I have seen even a withered plant come alive under my mom’s love and care and I have tried my best to capture some of those thriving beautiful flowers on the canvas. It has been totally a wonderful experience for me to explore the beauty of variety of flowers and then capture them on the canvas. 


Sukanya Koosappa  

 ‘The Daisy ‘

                                                         Painting by artist Sukanya Koosappa

Rajith Raghu - debut artist of the show 'The Drawing Room Musings'

Rajith Raghu

Email: rajithraghu@yahoo.com
Contact No: +919886633619. 

 

Native of Kerala, 39 yrs, Done B.E. Electronics and Communication, Diploma in Business Management, and is pursuing General Management program at IIMB.
Currently working with an IT MNC in Bangalore.

Other than painting my interests are playing outdoor/indoor games like Tennis, Badminton etc and Swimming, Traveling, Long drives, Reading, Movies etc..

Early interest in Art:

My interest in drawing and sketching started while I was in 2nd standard. But I couldn’t put it on a paper neatly. So was a poor artist as a kid. But I had the urge and interest inside to sketch and paint. The breakthrough and turning point came when I was in 10th Std. We had to sketch cross section of ear, parts of insects etc. I was surprised myself after sketching cross section of the ear. The only thing I did was, took time and sketched patiently as I wanted to impress my teacher. After seeing my sketch I was surprised myself and got the confidence that I can draw and sketch.

I am very fascinated and amazed by the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci, Raja Ravi Varma, Michelangelo etc., especially for their resemblance to reality. I also enjoy and admire paintings, sketches done by various artists in magazines and other locations. I try to explore their style and method of painting. All types of arts like Sketching, Painting, Caricature, Cartoons etc fascinates me

I did sketching of mostly curriculum based things like lab apparatus during pre degree classes, engineering drawing at NMAM Institute of Engineering College, Karkala.

In between I sketched faces of few celebrities and did some paintings (water colour, poster paints)..

After a long gap (Busy with work and family).. in 2010, I decided to enhance my painting skills. I joined Usha’s art class. I feel Usha is one of the best teachers I met. She is patient and doesn’t force her ideas on the students. I got very good fundamentals in painting after being part of her classes.

Paintings for Exibition:

Here I chose to depict rural people and their work . My childhood (2 to 5 yrs) was spent at my ancestral home at Etakkad, a small village in Kannur district. Those years were the closest experience I had with rural life. People wore simple dress, no electricity but kerosene lanterns at night, water was manually drawn from well, fire was from firewood and dry leaves, utensils were made of clay or aluminum..people did labor work like carpentry, weaving, yarn spinning, stone cutting for building house etc. Still I felt people lived content. Past few years I have been traveling to different places, I pass by many rural areas. I always liked the simplicity of rural life. People spend their entire life there without the luxury of technology, transport etc. I enjoy watching them at work. Most of them earn by using their skills in different areas. They use simple tools, knowledge from their parents and ancestors and are very good at their work. And the people around them support them for their living. I always wanted to paint and bring an instance of life of those people on canvas, while they are on their job and during leisure time.  

Turbanman - painting by artist Rajith Raghu

acrylic painting on canvas 

size: 20"x30" inch

 

 

Geetika Karki debut artist of art show The Drawing Room Musings

                                           Geetika Karki 

                                  Email:  : geetika_karki@yahoo.com 
                                  Cell:  09686400833

Hi,

 I am Geetika Karki. Born and brought up in Nainital. By education Electronics engineer by profession a Software engineer.

   Today I stand here and present myself as an Artist. Having lived in the lap of nature I have seen mostly every shade and creation that nature has. But every other day nature comes back and surprises you with its creativity. Hence since childhood I have been doing drawing and sketching .Every creation would inspire me to further create which led me into exploring various mediums of art (which included pencil, coloured pencils, and water colours).

  Painting has been my best friend since childhood. I still remember what all I drew and painted in school (Sunset, Gandhi ji, Manipuri dancer etc). My first still life was a Geranium flower pot as an exam. Beside that I did sketches and painting at home. The ability to make a good art work would always lead and inspire me to make another one and another one.

    My quest to master Oils led me to Usha Ma’m who introduced me to Acrylics and since past one year that I have been with associated with her has been imparting her vast knowledge and experience in order make me a master in Acrylics.

     For me God is the Ultimate Artist and his creations, the ultimate Masterpiece. What I do paint is what he creates and my whole objective is to be able to re-create his splendid magic on my canvas.  Hence all my paintings that I present here have been inspired by the world’s biggest canvas; the sky and water. My paintings consists of the skies and water and hence can be termed as ‘Seascapes’ as I have tried to capture the beauty of the sky in the water.

   Activities: 

·         2011 - Participation in ‘Chitra Santhe’ at Chitra Kala Parishad

                                          'Sunset' - painting by Geetika Karki

 

About artist usha shantharam - 2011

This is -- about myself..........!!

About artist usha shantharam 

Usha Shantharam

Cell: 9343796153

Email:  usetty@gmail.com

Art blog:  http://usettyblog.blogspot.com/       

Arists statement:  ‘My personal philosophy is to open people’s minds to the beauty of our times and the scenes of everyday life around us.’-usha  

Artist usha shantharam is the curator and presenter of the show ‘The Drawing Room Musings’. In this group art show she has launched four students of her weekend art class (all software professionals) into the mesmerizing world of Fine Art. 

Usha Shantharam started her artistic journey right from childhood when she won many prizes for art at school.  She learnt the techniques of oil painting from the late English nun/ artist /tutor - Sister Good Shepherd- Bangalore. 

Artist Usha Shantharam is known for her innovative color combinations, unusual angles and the play of light and shadows in her paintings. 

She has conducted, and taken part in many art workshops, art camps and served as judge in competitions.  She has exhibited her paintings in two solo shows and many group shows, extensively all over India, and in many prestigious galleries of Bangalore such as Chithra Kala Parishad, and Rennaissance Gallery. 

She blogs regularly about her latest paintings and art related activities on the internet, and she also shares her knowledge of painting, in her art sessions on weekends. 

She is a member of 'The Bangalore Art Forum', and various other art forums on the net and has many followers of her art in Social Medias like the Face book and Twitter.   

In this group art show called ‘The Drawing Room Musings’, usha presents a collection of ‘en plein air’ paintings called ‘GREEN EARTH.  These paintings are done directly on location spots like the Lal Bagh of Bengaluru,  Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary , Mysore University campus and Ooty. 

Here is a teaser 'en plein air' painting done on location at the 'Lal Bagh'- local park in Bangalore City. 

        ‘Shadows at noon’- ‘en plein air’ painting at Lal Bagh

                                                         by artist usha shantharam

Shows and Activities : 

-          2011 – 12^th March joined ‘Life Drawing Club’ and painted portraits from real life model.

-          2010- 10^th Feb – Served as Judge of ‘Abstract Art’ competition at the Bishop Cottons Girls College – Bangalore.

-          2010 – 5^th Feb - Awarded ‘Woman Entrepreneur in the field of Art’ by the students of Bishop Cottons Girls Collage during ‘Entrepreneurs Week’.  

-          2010 – 17^th and 18^th January - Participated in the ‘Art and Social Media’ Workshop – Bangalore.

-          2009 – Nov 8^th and 9^th - Group display of paintings at prestigious   ‘Bangalore Club’ – Bangalore.

-          2009 – May 3^rd to 13^th, ‘Prathibimba’ group show at ‘Renaissance Art Gallery, Bangalore.

-          ‘En plein air’ art camp at Lal Bagh – Bangalore, as member of ‘Bangalore Art Forum’.  

-          2009 - Solo show at Chitra Kala Parishath called ‘Body Language’ from 1^st to 8^th February.

-          2008-2009 – Traveling Group shows at Jodhpur ('Palette Symphony of art Gallery Jan 4th to 24th '); Jaipur,(14^th March to 24^th March); Calcutta('GC Laha Centenary Fine Arts Gallery' Dec 29th to Jan 10^th); and Goa, as member of the ‘Scribble artists association’- Hyderabad.

-          2008 - Finalist –for Nationwide Art competition –Kala Sangati – Hyderabad.

-          2007 - Solo show at the ‘Trinity Acres and Woods’ Community in December.

-          2007 – Joint art show at ‘Chitra Kala Parishad’ Bangalore in May. 

-          2007 – Her paintings ‘Green Earth and Red Oil’ and the ‘Water Lilies’ were selected by the US based Gallery Front.com Art organization for their ‘Peak Oil’ project and published in the Sept-Oct 2007 issue of their Art Magazine.

-          2005 - Participaiton in ‘Chitra Santhe’ at Chitra Kala Parishad.

-         1998 – Organized and participated in ‘Rajastani miniature painting’ workshop by renowned artist Shri Uma Shankar Sharma.   

Painters and Paintings of the group show - The Drawing Room Musings

Organizing an art show takes time and patience.  I started to work on this show more than a year before it shall materilize.  Firstly to book a gallery for the show and fix the dates was foremost in my mind. 

Chitra Kala Parishath it will be, I decided.  - my favourite venue for art shows. 
The dates available were 16th May to 15th May 2011. Ten days may seem a long time, but from past experience, I decided that it would be appropriate. 

So now the painters are

Sankara Rao Bhatta
Sukanya Koosappa
Geethika Karki
Rajit Raghu
and their mentor (myself)  usha shantharam

What was the theme of the show going to be.  All four of the students and me were hooked on to different themes and styles of paintings. 

Sankara painted ruralscapes, which was very close to his heart, as he had spent a major part of his childhood in rural Andhra Pradesh. 
Sukanya painted fresh garden flowers which reminded her of the beautiful garden her mother tendered in her home in Mangalore.
Geethika Karki from Nainital painted lovely sunrises and sunsets over water bodies that were shot from her husband's camera.   
Rajit Raghu painted figuratives from his hometown Kerala. 

Recently I had hooked on to 'en plein air' paintings after my trip to Mysore.  There I had painted some very lovely trees at the Mysore University Campus.  I also made many trips to our local park 'Lal Bagh', where I used to sit for hours to catch the sun playing tricks with shadows on the lake.  More paintings materialised during my trip to Ooty early this year 2011.  So I decided to show them at this group show named 'The Drawing Room Musings'. 

To sum them all
Sankara Rao Bhatta - Ruralscapes
Sukany Koosappa - Floral paintings
Geethika Karki - Seascapes
Rajit Raghu - Figurative
myself usha - 'en plein air' paintings.

Basically all the paintings are typically 'desi' - Indian in nature.  This medley of landscapes, figurative and botanical paintings could bring only one name to my mind.  This is a drawing room collection of paintings.  Strictly speaking these paintings would be ideally suitable for display in a drawing room, living room, office or just anywhere you name it. 

Hence the name 'The Drawing Room Musings' of Indian Paintings.

How it all started - The Drawing Room Musings - fineart show

Around mid 2008, in response to emails enquiring whether I teach painting, I decided to give it a try.  So I decided to answer the emails and devoted my weekends for teaching.  There has always been a steady trickle of students who join in and out now and then.  Surprisingly all of them have been software proffessionals wanting to persue their childhood passion of drawing and painting.

I decided to teach only in acrylics, as it was the newest medium at that time, with new colors being introduced by the day, and also much less messy than oil paints.  

Slowly this catched on, but I noticed that only a handful of them were really interested in pursuing the fine art of painting. It is for these regular students who have shown their keeness in painting that I decided that they deserved to be launched into the mesmerizing world of fine art. 

I had plans of having a show this year 2011, maybe a solo or a group one.  My last solo art show was in 2009.  It was called 'Body Language' - a collection of figurative paintings, and was held in Chitra Kala Parishath.  My last group show too was in 2009 at the Bangalore club. High time to have another show I decided.  Why not share the stage with my students this time. They too may benefit from this exposure.     

All reasons combined-  

Thus the 'The Drawing Room Musings' was conceived. 

The regulars were Sankara Rao Bhatta, Sukanya Koosappa, and Geethika Karki.  Rajit Raghu was also a keen artist, but was unable to be regular due to his job pressures, and his IIMB classes.  But he was so joyous when I offered him the chance, that he braved all committments and decided to devote time for painting for the show. 

So I decided to have the four of them display their works along with me in this group show which I will be curating and taking part as well.