KATHMANDU:

The Nepal Watercolour Society has put up ‘Watercolours from Nepal’, its third annual watercolour paintings at the Siddhartha Gallery. The society has showcased 50 paintings by 14 permanent members of this society. Keith G Bloomfield, British ambassador to Nepal, inaugurated the exhibition on May 18.

The exhibition exposes divergent trends of this school of painting practiced by various artists using watercolour on paper.

“Technically, watercolour painting is the most difficult branch of painting because such paintings are transparent and cannot be corrected later. The painter has to be clear and have a plan about what s/he wants to do. Only artists with long period of training and experience and have mastery over the medium can work in watercolour,” says Shreejan Rajbhandari, whose paintings portray nude male figures.

Similarly Ratan Kumar Rai’s three realist paintings, done on the spot, depict the mastery over details, portraying almost photographic details of scenes in Tsarang Gaun, Mustang, Mansarovar Lake, Tibet and Jhang Village, Limi Valley, Humla that he had visited to do research on the life style and add diversity to his paintings.

“Unlike in other paintings in which artists works with dark colours first and then move to lighter shades, watercolour artists work with light colours first and then moves to the dark colour. Every medium has its own limitations and the artist should be able to master within those limitations,” says Rai.

On the other hand, Mandira Malla Rajbhandari’s six paintings are realistic, focusing on Nepali art depicting gods and the living goddess Kumari and working with her favourite colour purple both in plain and texture on handmade paper. Surendra Pradhan’s five paintings are semi abstract employing modern technique to portray Nepali lifestyle and subject.

(The exhibition is on till June 18)