All of 27, the curly-haired Greema Michael from the Malabar region of Kerala beams with joy as she exhibits her paintings at Maison Colombani.
A self-taught artist, Ms. Michael is holding her ninth painting exhibition in the coast town.
The vibrant colour she uses to depict nature and fragmented Cubist shapes reminds us of the African artworks.
Impressionism style
Being an advocate of the impressionism style of painting, she has developed her own style by applying different mediums in her artwork.
While using acrylic and oil paints, she also gives life to her works by introducing tiny sculptors on the canvas.
“I have used acrylic, oil base to depict nature. The exhibition ‘Ocean’ is the reflection of stories from the coast of Arabian Sea to Bay of Bengal. The paintings are an interconnection between ocean and human,” says Ms. Michael.
The young artist credits her grandmother for identifying the artist in her.
“My grandmother gave me paintbrush even before I started holding the pencil. She encouraged me to paint,” she adds.
Ms. Micheal explains that most of her paintings are depiction of stories she heard from her grandmother.
“My grandmother used to tell me stories everyday and I painted those stories on canvas. ‘Ocean’ is the reflection of stories from shore in a bright colour. It portrays life in all joy and splendour,” she says.
A graduate in economics, she completed post graduation in Public Administration. She is now pursuing PhD on ‘Current Productive Population in Bhopal’ in MCC College in Chennai.
Taking time off
While engaging in academics, she takes time off to also pursue her passion for art.
“It takes a lot of patience if you are to bring out a lively piece of work, for each coat is to be carefully primed and one ought to wait for the right time to add the second coat. There are times when I am really not sure what to do next, but ideas just cramp into my mind as I stroke my brush over the canvas.”
She is also a poet and also a sculptor.
The Ocean art exhibition will be opened to public till December 19.
