Passing glimpses captured on canvas
There’s a pencil sketch by Harry Pieris in Marie Alles Fernando’s home that she will never tire of. It’s of a young boy’s head, and her mentor’s mastery of restraint and fluidity has her coming back to it time and again. This is what art is for, she muses. It should never cease to inspire, to surprise and delight.
Marie Alles Fernando: “Every corner of Sri Lanka is a picture”. Pix by Mangala Weerasekera
Her newest exhibition’s focus is on watercolours and pastels, for Marie finds that the two mediums work best in expressing the often passing glimpses that she translates onto a quick thumbnail sketch during her travels. The viewing is simply titled ‘Paintings by Marie Alles Fernando’ and will open to the public on December 7.
As someone who has been drawing for over half of her lifetime, Marie needs little introduction. Yet to not trace such a long and memorable career seems a shame. She began drawing at a young age, winning school prizes for art and eventually moving on to study under Ivor Baptiste and Prof. Douglas Amarasekera. She began exhibiting in the late 60’s, first in Sri Lanka and Asia, then Europe.
Marie has been awarded numerous accolades for her art; dreamy pastels in soft focus, textured watercolours and evocative oils, her three favourite mediums. Her work has been supplemented by extensive travel around the world. Yet it’s her island home that she loves exploring best. “I love travelling out of Colombo,” she tells us. “Every corner of Sri Lanka is a picture. My task, as I see it, is to capture this beautiful land for the world.”
For this fairly monumental charge she will only work with the best. This exhibition will bring to the public gaze 50 of her best watercolours and pastels, and a few oils too. These were created over the last two years, based largely on travel in the North and North Central provinces of the country with her husband, Cyril.
There are several paintings in her own space (Raintree Gallery on Sir James Peiris Mawatha) that we are immediately captured by. They stand out not just for the subject, but also for their colours. Marie uses her palette to great effect, capturing monks amidst the lushness of Anuradhapura with olives and browns, superimposed by the textural contrast of a thicker orange. Then there are the fishermen of Mannar and Jaffna captured under the hazy glow of a sunrise or sunset-soft oranges, cool blues and foamy whites.
The impact of her work will depend on lighting, she reveals, and how well she captures a sight often encountered while travelling. Many of these paintings originate from a simple thumbnail sketch that Marie will quickly line-in while on the go, and then later she will devote a day or two to transform it onto the canvas.
All these pieces- the entire exhibition in fact- she hopes will cater to the new generation of art collectors. “When I started out there were very few people who would buy art,” she reflects. “Now you see this incredible interest in art, especially local art, and I’ve met a fair number of young collectors.” Marie hopes that her evocative paintings will inspire a few weary minds at the end of a long day, especially those who live in small spaces and apartments. For this very reason, the price tag for her work is on the affordable end, she says. “I want to help them start their collection by making these accessible financially.”
After all, Marie knows best about the therapy that is art. Her own home is filled with paintings, a collection she has lovingly amassed with her husband. It’s for this very reason that she opened the Raintree Gallery. “It’s for anyone who wants to come in and browse. There’s no obligation to buy anything,” she smiles. In a corner hangs a massive painting of a benevolent tree-the raintree that she encountered in Bangalore and named her own gallery after. “Such a beautiful tree,” she sighs happily, gazing on it for what can only be the umpteenth time.
| The exhibition is open to the public on December 7 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and December 14 from 5-7pm, during which times Marie will be at the gallery. You can also visit the gallery after the 14th during its normal hours from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on every weekday except Monday. |