I've dabbled in art ever since I was in preschool. Throughout school the love for sketching, water color painting stayed with me. My mother and grandpa being my biggest inspiration. I picked up tips of using oil on canvas as a medium through my mother. My vacation days with her back home were spent in sketching, painting on tile and canvas. As I moved to the U.S, I continued this passion and got my first formal coaching with Alyssa Monks at New York Academy of Arts under the Continued Ed program. The experience led me to start viewing my surroundings in pigments of color. For months after, when I'd look at someone's face I would see the shades of color I needed to mix to get that perfect hue. It also helped me to channelize and know my true desire of painting portraits. As someone who appreciates and tries out different mediums and themes, it took me a while to know what intrigued me the most - The Human Countenance!
Oil on canvas and linen.
Everyday life and people. I usually don't go looking for subjects to paint, it has to be something - a moment, gesture or expression that connects and becomes a driver for the painting and I am just a part of the medium to get to the finishing line, which to me is a continuum as I believe there is a fine balance in striving for perfection and finding your contentment. There is beauty in imperfection, that helps you admire for what it is - the journey of getting there!
© Dakshina Verma