In the centre of the gallery, Suma George, an English teacher and artist, stands smiling, lost in conversations. It is a rainy Sunday morning; her students and colleagues are pouring in to the venue to watch her maiden painting exhibition Myriad Hues. An elated Suma runs around explaining to the visitors the technique, acrylic pouring, used in a majority of her works. It is indeed a happy day for her.
“My friends and colleagues have encouraged me to hold this exhibition,” says Suma smiling. Art has been her passion since childhood. Like many women, she had to slow it down as priorities in life changed. However, she was determined to resume it later and experiment with her talent.
The current exhibition is a testimony to her skill in acrylic pouring, a technique where the artist mixes colours and pours them on canvases to create various patterns.
At first, they may look like a splash of colours, but they are impregnated with meanings. One can find moods of nature and wildlife in her works. Suma says an artist can use any tool like disposable cups, sink strainer, the bottom of a bottle or a syringe to do acrylic pouring. This method, according to her, is ideal to showcase the fluidity of life.
“I came to know about it two years ago from a social media group of artists. I have been practising it since then. This technique, which is all about mental calculation, has endless possibilities. You can decide the shades and even the pouring pattern, but the end result will be revealed only after the paint dries. It is a method that demands patience,” says Suma, an English teacher at Choice School, Tripunithura.
“Continuous practice is the key to perfection. My first few works were not good. I had to keep doing it to get a hang of it. Thanks to the members of the art group for their constructive criticism,” adds the self-taught artist, who does painting during her leisure. Her works have been featured on the cover page of a New Zealand-based newsletter and in a YouTube video on paintings by Art freaks global.
The show is open at Durbar Hall till Tuesday.
