Flower Power
Every other week, painter Sonal A Singh, armed with her sketch books, jars of paints and a picnic basket, parks herself on the hillsides of Kasauli, capturing the wild blooms that envelop the mountains. The wild flowers grow untended, in thick clusters, swaying in the breeze that carries the fragrance. Using free brush strokes in watercolour, Singh captures these sunflowers, poppies, and lilies on canvas.
“Watercolour is perfect for this body of work which needs an effortless flow,” says Singh, whose works will be a part of the inaugural exhibition at Art On Steps, a gallery at Hotel Icon, which opened its doors on Friday. The gallery comprises the space around the stairs and artists can display here free of cost.
Singh’s exhibits are a mix of collages and paintings, with flowers as the central theme. “Collages are close to my heart and I enjoy creating them. No, there’s no serious story that I paint here,” she says. Printed paper, glittering materials, trinkets, beads, ribbons, and threads are used to create scenes full of people and places. Autobiographical strains fill the collages, as Singh depicts childhood memories spent in South India, playing under the canopy of banana trees and spending long afternoons with friends in the lush fields. One work, Dream Themes, is full of images of young girls with flying hair, children enjoying Christmas and bougainvillea creepers with its colour spread across the canvas. Bright colours and combinations mark Singh’s works, with yellow finding maximum preference. “Yellow is lively, easy to work with and creates so much energy,” says the artist with a smile.
