She discovered her flair for bringing into the canvas the beautiful temples, monuments and heritage sites of our country and in the process the world around her discovered the artist in her.
 


Priya spoke to Chennai Chimes about her work as an artist with passion “I have been interested in drawing right from my childhood days and enjoyed art classes in school. Intricate designs captivated my attention and hence I drew the portraits of the various Gods and Goddesses. After I got married, I took guidance from artist Logaguru, learning various techniques. It was by chance that I did a pen and ink work of the famous Thanjavur temple and received enormous appreciation from my family and friends. I was thrilled to sell that first work itself and since then I have done several pieces of the various temples and monuments of India and they have adorned the walls of many galleries, shops, hotels, corporate houses and homes.”
 
Priya has had both solo and group exhibitions and has won the admiration of connoisseurs of art and laymen alike. She explains her innovative style of work in which she creates the images with small black lines only. Initially she used Indian ink, but now she has shifted to rotring pens. She visits temples and draws rough sketches and later on scales it to any appropriate size or she uses photographs and paper clippings of temples and monuments that she has not visited. Each piece is an original and therefore takes a lot of time and this medium provides no scope for correction.  The work involved is very elaborate and she feels her perception is very important and the outcome is the realism effect blended with her creativity. 

      
 
Priya started Li’l Studio, her art school in 1997 and she has trained several young children. With her experience, she has structured three levels of learning. In the first level, the kids are trained on free hand strokes and colouring. In the second level they are introduced to pastels, water colours and pencil sketches. Children in the third level do an advanced study of the mediums, they do spot drawings of arranged objects and portraits. Emphasis is given on how to compose a picture with the different aspects – observation, balance, proportion, perception and harmony which gives the foundation to a beautiful picture. As a teacher she feels her responsibility is to teach the various techniques of drawing, at the same time ensuring that she does not curb the imagination of any child. 

Recently, Priya held an exhibition titled ‘Exuberance’ displaying the works of all her students based on the poem, ‘All things bright and beautiful’.  Bhavani Ragunandan, the Principal of Vidya Mandir School, Mylapore, Chennai inaugurated the exhibition and expressed her immense pleasure at seeing the works, speaking about the pencil sketches, pastel colours and oil paintings. The ambience was definitely exuberant as skill and interest of the children combined with the dedication of the teacher was very evident.  I asked Priya about the success of her exhibition and pat came the reply, “Great response, a lot of appreciation, we are all on cloud nine”.

Priya dreams of teaching ‘special’ children some day as she feels that they have a lot of potential and art work can be a good avenue for expressing their talent and feelings. Priya concluded by acknowledging that her family played a vital role with their involvement, motivation, encouragement and staunch support which gives her a lot of room to be creative, explore herself and establish herself as an eminent artist. Practise of any art form results in experiencing a feeling of satisfaction and bliss in humans and those who are inculcating or unearthing the passion for art in children are doing yeomen service to mankind and we heartily wish Priya and the likes of her.

Contact details
Phone 98846 01159
Email priyanatraj@yahoo.com
Website www.blackhue.in

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