Colours & Me

Colours, for me, mean celebrating life, rejoicing in our existence, expressing our emotions and communicating with nature.

Each hue carries its own mood, sets its tone and compliments the other shades. Charcoal makes me feel earthy, watercolours make me float gently, acrylics give me vibrancy and oils provide depth.

Travelling through different cultures, absorbing their tints and tones, inspired me to express what comes from within me. Having received no formal education in art, I have experimented with mediums, played with palettes and taken tips from friends.

Above all, as my mom painted and my dad sketched, I would say it’s ‘IN ME. Both my daughters too, dabble in artistic creativity.

I find working with my hands very therapeutic. The more I paint, the happier I feel. When I painted still life in oils, it was slow and calming. Once I discovered acrylics, it was exhilarating and gave me a wider range of ‘in your face’ shades! Abstract has encouraged me to let my imagination blossom.

I have tried my hand at various mediums and forms of art – oils, acrylic, watercolours, charcoal, paper burn, découpage, clay firing, etc. Each form has its own language and expressions.

In fact, for a long time, I have painted for myself. But people who have seen my work adorning the walls of my home, have always asked me, “Do you exhibit?”, “Can we buy?”.

My family has always been encouragingly critical of whatever I chose to present them with. At times, they could not see what I saw. But at other times, they showed me something which I did not see – thus helping me to develop and evolve.

I did my first solo Art Exhibition at The Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi in 2017.

Subsequently, I participated at the India Art Festival at the Thyagraj Stadium, New Delhi.

Since then, I have been exhibiting at various international online galleries.

So, here I am, Sharmila Thapar, presenting my second solo Art Exhibition.