For the love of trees

By Rashika Fazali

Charmaine Mendis has a strange liking for trees. She is fascinated by them and is a deep lover of the jungle. “The love of the jungles came from my father, and my own interest in it, and later the love of trees, from my mother. My father was a hunter and went shooting very often. It was natural for me to follow suit on our regular trips to the jungles,” explained Mendis.

Though she loves trees, she used to struggle illustrating them on paper. “I thought you could never draw a tree as it is. But after I went to Karunasiri Wijesinghe’s black and white tree drawings exhibition in 2005, I realised you could draw trees just the way they are,” she said.

Today with the help of Wijesinghe, who in fact mentored her and taught her to draw beautifully, she has learnt to overcome the barrier of drawing trees. She stated that it is a tremendous achievement to be able to draw trees as they are to the naked eye. “It has given me satisfaction, especially knowing that such a painting has come from my hand,” acknowledged Mendis.

At the moment, her exhibition ‘Svayam’ – a Sanskrit word meaning ‘self’ – is underway at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery which showcases most of her paintings and drawings. “This exhibition is about an expression of myself, my feelings, my experiences and my escape,” she stated. The exhibition is open until Monday (3) between 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For a lady who loves art, Mendis revealed that though she studied art in school, she never took it seriously. However, her likes were in another field of art – Bharathanatya Arangetram dancing. She became the first dancer to perform this style in Sri Lanka. “I truly believe that I was born to dance,” said Mendis

Under the guidance of her master Shri T.S. Govindarajapillai, the last master of the Tanjore tradition, who was specifically bought down to Sri Lanka to teach her Bharathanatya Arangetram dancing, she performed in Colombo, Jaffna, Madras, London and various other places.

She also performed for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip in 1954 when she partnered with Sesha Palihakkara, her guru in Manipuri and Kathak in the lead role of Damayanthi in NalaDamayanthi. She has also performed on BBC TV when Indian dance was little known.

She then retired from dancing to devote her time to her family. One fine day, she discovered the thrill of ‘lying and soon she succeeded in getting her private pilot license and then the commercial pilot license.  Having made flying a reality, she only had art to master. 25 years down the line, she explained that she took her youngest son, the late Sanjiv, to an art class taught by her friend Lathifa Ismail. “She awakened me to painting and soon I ended up being the guest artist for Sanjiv’s first solo exhibition at the age of five,” said Mendis. She then went onto have group exhibitions and soon landed with her first solo exhibition in 1983 named ‘Colours, Light and Shade.’

Last year, she had a group exhibition, ‘Vruksha,’ which was an exhibition of black and white drawings of trees of Sri Lanka. Her drawings portray the utmost detail. One might even wonder if a tree can be depicted in such detail.

She also dabbles in another kind of art, sketches she prefers to call ‘reveries.’ She revealed that this kind of art has no particular shape adding, “I just take a pen and draw whatever comes to my mind and somewhere, it takes a form.” She added that depending on her mood and the nature of the drawing, it could take a couple of hours. “If I am drawing landscapes with oil, then it will take me around four to five hours.”

In conclusion she said, “For me, drawing is like meditation.”

 – Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe