Brushing aside age they bond over love of art
Gathered around a dining table in a home down Horton Place, Colombo 7, there is not just concentration but also fun and laughter, as they prepare for an art exhibition.
……And it is not just an art exhibition, for all 13 artists wielding colour pencils are over 50 years old, dabbling in this new adventure for the first time in their lives. Calling themselves young-at-heart, they have perfected this medium, the detail and vibrancy of which have even surprised them as they dub it a magical journey.
The art has also become a strong bond, one for all and all for one, to inspire and support each other even in times of sadness.
Where age is not a barrier: The young at heart at work. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Never even dreaming of becoming an artist, Push Nanayakkara (60) who now teaches the group had been surprised when she was told by someone with conviction, that she would one day get into that role and also sell her paintings.
“I didn’t believe that. At Ladies’ College as a schoolgirl, I was more into sports and full of energy and after marriage took on the role of home-maker,” says Push looking back in wonder how her life’s course had changed forever.
Then one day in December 2016, on seeing a work of modern folk art, a thread of creativity had emerged. When she contacted her friend and artist Shehan Madawela, he had suggested that she buy a drawing book, immerse herself in it and play around with water colours.
A creation by Ciyanthi
Ciyanthi Mapagunaratne
When Push insisted that she wanted to try her hand on canvas, Shehan had advised her to walk first without attempting to run but later yielded and told her to do so with acrylic.
This is what Push engaged in…….. “I kept on drawing.” When she visited a friend in hospital and presented a painting to her, she had suggested that she take her work to collector Suresh Dominic who had put aside three – two of the tropical heliconia plant and an abstract of a poppy field and requested her to state her price.
However, as Push’s husband, Tissa, was reluctant to sell them, the paintings had been taken back to adorn whatever space there was on the walls of their home.
When the COVID-19 pandemic eased, friend Kshenuka Wickremasinghe Saparamadu, had urged Push to teach her painting too, knowing that she was already into jewellery making at home in Battaramulla.
Push Nanayakkara
Starting with two students, Kshenuka and Roshi Madanayake Perera in January 2022, now the classes of Push have expanded with more than 25 being guided on strokes of acrylic and colour pencil art.
The earnest wish of Push is to gather around her those who are facing the empty-nest syndrome, who have had very busy schedules as working women or homemakers, now facing loneliness and grappling with feelings of being left behind as the world moves on.
For Push personally, she recalls with tear-filled eyes how art has helped her through tragic times, after her beloved Tissa passed away suddenly in 2023.
“I took a break for nine months but came back to my passion with colour pencil art in April last year,” she says, adding with poignancy: “When my wings were broken, it was my art that helped me to fly again.”
For Ciyanthi Mapagunaratne who turned 80 on September 2, who had lost her husband when her children were quite small, her busy life of looking after the children is long over. “I am alone, with nothing to do now.”
When one day, Push called her, Ciyanthi had said she was lying in bed, just staring at the roof. It was 10 in the morning! When on another day, Ciyanthi visited Push, she had seen many engaged in painting. It was then that she joined the classes in 2022, when she was 77 years old.
“At the start, I was scared and shy,” says Ciyanthi starting with acrylic and moving onto colour pencil art.
Taking to painting like a duck to water, the others call her the “star” in their group.
| The exhibition | |
| ‘Birds of a Feather’, a colour pencil art exhibition, will feature the work of Push Nanayakkara and her students at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery next weekend on September 20 & 21. The other 12 artists who will exhibit their work are: Ciyanthi Mapagunaratne; Kalhari Perera; Kalindi Pethiyagoda Kulatunge; Karmini Wijesekera; Kshenuka Wickremasinghe Saparamadu; Manisha Senaratne; Nandika Jayawardena; Rohini de Alwis; Roshi Madanayake Perera; Samantha de Silva; Shyamali Wijeratne; and Sumi Schaffter. |
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