With multiple development projects going on simultaneously in the city, Nagpur undoubtedly is undergoing an amazing transformation. However, despite this rapid modernisation, old areas of city still retain the quaint charm. There is no dearth of picturesque locales too. With an objective to depict the beauty of these natural surroundings, of late, newbie artists along with the seasoned ones regularly stop by either lush green gardens or serene lakes or heritage sites to capture the beauty of these spots on their canvases. We give you the details… The activity provides people from all walks of life and of all ages, an opportunity to come together and paint in the lap of nature. “It is a learning process for each one of us. Along with fine arts students, we have many internationally acclaimed artists coming for landscape painting. Youngsters get to learn finer nuances of landscape art from the senior artists through this activity,” shares an artist Babar Shareef, who also teaches in Central India School of Fine Arts.
Quite naturally then, young painters such as 21-year-old Akanksha Patil find these expeditions a wonderful platform to learn outside classrooms. She goes on to add, “Earlier, we would just meet over a weekend but now due to summer vacations, we are meeting on the weekdays as well. We have so many stunning spots in the city. We regularly post pictures of the activity on the social media. Through this, we try to create an awareness about the current state of those places and also inform them about the less explored destinations in and around Nagpur.”
An international acclaimed artist Mahesh Mankar, who have been regularly going to different places for landscape painting shares, “Earlier, not many youngsters were keen on joining us for this activity. Due to the internet, they prefered staying indoors and refrained from coming to a live location for landscape painting. But that scenario is changing now and a lot of youngsters are part of our group. Along with painting together, we talk about various forms of art and share our experiences too.”
Talking about the latest landscape activity organised at Ambazari Garden, he adds, “A lot of people who come to walk or exercise there stopped by to ask us about landscape painting. We were quite delighted to get a feedback from the people directly.”
Besides learning the nitty-gritty of the landscaping art from the seasoned artists, young artists are getting acquainted with the lanes and bylanes of old Nagpur through these landscape activities. So, if you happen to pass through Mahal or Itwari in the morning, you may chance upon a group of painters, engrossed in capturing the raw beauty of the areas on their canvases. Babar says, “The whole idea of starting this activity was to bring the youngsters closer to the culture, history and society of Nagpur.” To this, another artist, Prachi Petkule says, “When we visited Mahal for the landscape painting recently, we saw beautiful wadas (homes) of Bhonsle reign. We captured the architectural styles of those times on our canvases. It was a wonderful experience.”
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