Arts
A portrait of your pet? That’s Nishitha’s forte
Although immensely popular in Western countries, pet portraits are relatively uncommon in Sri Lanka. In fact, 18-year-old Nishitha Wanigasuriya feels that he maybe one of the few pet portrait artists in Sri Lanka. An avid animal lover, Nishitha wants people to be able to have a lasting memory of a much-loved pet and hopes his portraits will provide this.
Nishitha and below, some of his dog portraits
Nishitha draws with graphite and charcoal mostly using photographs but he has sketched while looking at dogs – with a little help from a photograph. “When I was just starting out I was asked to draw a two-year-old Labrador who just wouldn’t stay still so it was very difficult. I drew a rough sketch of his body in order to get the pose the owner wanted and then drew the rest looking at a photograph,” he explains.
A member of the Young Zoologists Association (YZA) of Sri Lanka, being often at the Dehiwala Zoo for the past 10 years, Nishitha has drawn big cats such as lions and tigers while observing them live as part of the zoo’s wildlife drawing course. He insists that drawing a dog is much harder.
‘A lion will stay still after it has eaten but a dog will always be running around,” he says.
Since starting out this January, he has done over 30 pet portraits, been named the official artist of the Ceylon Kennel Club, and been invited to draw one portrait a week as a guest artist at the Rover Veterinary Hospital in Battaramulla.
So far all his portraits have been of dogs but Nishitha is confident he can handle any animal. “Even my friends mistakenly think I draw only dog portraits but I can draw any pet – from a cat to a rabbit or fish,” he says. His experience as a wildlife artist at the YZA has helped him as he was one of 10 artists who drew the landscape backdrop at the zoo’s chimpanzee enclosure. “Chimpanzees are almost as smart as humans and they can see colour like us. So we drew a 3D landscape to help them feel less stressed,” he says.
Living in Boralesgamuwa and a past student of Royal Institute, Maharagama, now preparing for his Advanced Level examination, Nishitha has big dreams. On the artistic side, he does everything from abstract art to 3D modelling, and on the literary front has written his first novel which is in the process of being published and is working on his second.
In the future, he hopes to earn a PhD in art or art history and one day set up Sri Lanka’s first pet portrait society. “I want to be able to teach other young art students to draw pets,” he says.
Nishitha’s pet portraits cost Rs. 2000 upwards. He can be contacted through his Facebook page ‘Dragon Lines’ or on 0765884783.
