Point Taken

Having learnt the skill from her guru Chandrakant Mandhre Kulkarni,the artist says that despite following the painting form for such a long period,she hasn’t got bored of it,owing to the creative variety it offers. “There are so many sides to it – effects,tones,expressions,shades . Since you use fingers more than brushes to create the right effect on the portrait,it gives a personal touch to the work,” says Kulkarni,whose exhibition showcases 12 such paintings. The collection also has four charcoals of Hindi film actresses – Vaijantimala,Meena Kumari,Madhubala and Divya Bharti.

Pointillism,she says,is all about dots. “One can either use fingers or rounded brushes but I feel one should use fingers because you are able to move them better on the canvas. It also helps in achieving a dark or a light colour tone with ease. The technique in itself is simple yet complex,” she says. The artist first sketches out the rough painting on the canvas and then uses a brush to lightly tap the colours and the process is repeated till the desired effect and tones are achieved.

While it took Kulkarni less than five hours to create each charcoal painting,her works based on Pointillism were altogether a different affair. “It took me anything from a few days to over a month for each . One needs to wait for the colours to dry before moving on to a fresh coat. If you rush into a painting,there is always the risk of the colours blending into one another and the effect getting lost. It requires serious patience to complete them,” says Kulkarni.