Kathmandu:

There is love for lord Shiva and there is being enchanted by Shiva. Artist Deneth Piumakshi experienced both just close to Mahashivaratri that led her to create a whole collection of paintings with Shiva as her main subject.

Currently being exhibited at the 1905 Restaurant, Piumakshi’s collection called Shivaratri was unveiled two days after the big celebration at Pashupatinath, where she also gets the imagined prints of Shiva.

“Shiva always looks very strong and powerful,” said Piumakshi. “I really like his wildness, but also he can be a very angry god or a very calm and cool god.”

Piumakshi paints her artworks on a uniquely different material. Before starting work, she buys yards of textiles with lots of floral work. Then she uses the fabric to make canvas and then starts painting all around the floral patterns with acrylic and fabric pa-int. She said she got attached to the feel and look of textile when she was little. Instead of buying ready-made outfits, her mum used to buy fabric and make the clothes herself for her children. Piumakshi said she is also not a fan of those empty looking canvases. The floral textile canvas definitely provides her with an extra challenge of painting around the blotches of flowers.

“It’s like playing a game,” she said. “When you paint something behind it (or around the floral) it’s more than three dimensional. I’d like people to feel they are going behind and discovering things.”

Painting around already existing floral work is no easy task. She has to give a great amount of thought to the colours she picks, so her artwork doesn’t disappear behind the textile. In some of the paintings you can see parts of Shiva peering through the curtain of flowers.

The Sri Lanka born artist said coming to Nepal had inspired her to become an artist. Originally, she used to do black and white sketches only, but after moving here she wasn’t afraid to use colours anymore and took up painting, thanks to the colours of Nepali culture.

The exhibition is on till March 20