Paint my love

Mumtaz Unwalla paints on pots, glass, canvas, wood, sheets of asbestos, in fact on anything she can lay her hands on. Born with loads of ...

Mumtaz Unwalla paints on pots, glass, canvas, wood, sheets of asbestos, in fact on anything she can lay her hands on. Born with loads of artistic talent, which remained silent for years, her creations were publicly acknowledged and praised, only when her eldest daughter, Sabaheen, was in class five. Sabaheen had to make some charts for her school project and decided to take her mother8217;s help. But when they were displayed the next day, the teacher asked her, 8220;Is your mother an artist?8221; Nonplussed, the daughter returned home and repeated the question to her mother, who replied, 8220;I certainly would like to become one, one day.8221;

And Mumtaz kept her dreams alive. Four years later, in 1986 she took lessons from noted artist G.S. Thakur. 8220;From him I learnt not only the intricacies of painting but also the discipline that this form of art requires,8221; she reminisces. Soon she realised that what interested her most was 3-D art, something like moulding flowers to decorate earthen pots. From gum and clay powder, she progressed to resins and finally found satisfaction with M-seal. Working tirelessly from nine in the morning to eight in the evening with only an hour8217;s break in between, she chalked up more than 300 pots of different sizes, and held her first exhibition at the Amir Hotel. The fact that 80 of them were sold out in a day was testimony to the excellence of her work.

The earthen creations of Mumtaz, which goes on to decorate many an elegant drawing room of Pune, are beautiful beyond compare. She uses pots of myriad sizes and shapes. 8220;Even if I am travelling on the road, and an unusual shape catches my attention, I immediately stop to buy it,8221; she laughs. The pot now undergoes a series of processes which involves the use of repeated coats of primer and paint before it is ready to receive the intricate and lovely shapes that Mumtaz designs and attaches to them. There are lilies, gladioli, dahlias, a delicate cherry, almond blossoms or twisted vines.

It could be luscious strawberries or a fat bunch of grapes. One of her most striking displays is a pot with garlands of green creepers flowing out from the narrow neck. A tiny beetle or a butterfly also made from M-seal nestling amidst the flowers and fruits, adds an interesting touch. Shading is an integral part of her work and all the blooms and foliage are exquisitely shaded in light and dark contrasts. She makes figures too, quot;But trees are my weakness. I am very fond of depicting nature,8221; is her remark.

Another effect that marks her work is the play of light and shade. There always seems to be a glow, it could be from a sunset or a lamp, which lends a luminosity to her paintings.

Mumtaz paints on canvas too. Anything old trigger off her ideas. 8220;I love to go out during and after the rains. The cloud-lining which keeps on changing, the world seen through the falling droplets, the shape of each drop, all inspire me,8221; she says. Once she chanced across an old farmer on the staircase. His work-lined, weary face made such an impression on her, that she immediately painted it. But she had yet to find a suitable background for the figure. It took her days to find the correct setting, and she finally opted for a lovely wood, with a pathway leading out of it. To give greater authenticity and feel to the track, she plastered it with a layer of red earth from Lonavala.

On a large canvas, where she has shown a nomadic couple sitting before their tent, and warming themselves in front of a little fire, real sticks have been used to give a three-dimensional effect. In a painting of a horse, resting at his stable, she has carefully pasted an actual straw, which she reveals were saved from a box of mangoes! For a painting of a Rajasthani couple, the turban of the man and the veil and jewellery worn by the woman, are all crafted out of M-seal. quot;I can always say that I design jewellery too,8221; she smiles.

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But the best of her works are perhaps the paintings on glass, in which she has made ample use of vibrant colours. She has embellished the glass with intricately designed double frames made from M-seal. The frames which could be bouquets of flowers or knots or ribbons, are painted in a golden colour and look extremely ornate.

Mumtaz has held a few other exhibitions too, one of which was exclusively for the manufacturers of M-sea.l.She had carved out life-like figures of children and animals, which could be framed to form a charming picture. She is a founder-member of the Chitary Academy of Fine Arts and its current President. At present, she is busy imparting her knowledge and love of art to a handful of keen youngsters. She plans to hold another exhibition in the near future and work towards building up a large collection.