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Shedding light on Waikkal's wild beauty
Even before sunrise, she would be out with the boatman on the river, waiting, watching as the first rays of the rising sun cast silvery fingers across the sky and on the waters. These were the sights she looked to capture in quicksilver sketches done in the boat. Again at dusk, her vigil would continue, this time to see the boats come in even as the fleeting, fading shadows, deepened into darkness.

Marie Alles Fernando, has always looked to nature for her inspiration and this time around has found much to delight her in the natural wilderness around the Ranweli Holiday Village and the surrounding Waikkal landscape. On holiday there, some years ago, she was spellbound by the pastoral beauty of the landscape, the unique mangrove ecosystems, the birdlife and the butterflies she saw by the Gin Ganga and decided to dedicate a set of paintings to these scenes.

"The Ranweli series" (estuary, Gin Ganga and environs bordering Ranweli Holiday Village, Waikkal) and other recent work by Marie Alles Fernando will be exhibited at the Lionel Wendt Gallery from May 3-5.

"After my third visit there I did a few sketches as I was fascinated by the natural wilderness which remains almost untouched," she says seated in her airy, beautiful Nawala home, the Ranweli paintings propped up all around her.

One of her favourites is "Night Fishing", a large oil on canvas which is an almost Turner-like depiction of the fishing boats returning to the shore. They are seen as advancing shadows across the turbulent waves, the pale pink hues of the sky contrasting sharply with the darker silhouettes of the boats, tiny yellow dots of light, mere pinpricks flickering from them.

A scene familiar to all visitors to Ranweli would be "The Ferry" which depicts the landing and the ferry taking people across the river, the hotel distantly visible through the enveloping foliage.

There is also "A bend in the river", "Early morning on the river", "Mangroves", "Fisherwomen at Waikkal" all capturing the essence of the dense foliage, the tranquil waters and the rustic lifestyle of this particularly beautiful area.

The exhibition will also feature some of Marie Alles Fernando's other recent work, among them some captivating views of Horton Plains, Negombo and Nilaveli.

Now counting more than 30 years as an artist, Marie Alles Fernando says she seeks more spirituality in the landscapes she paints. Not surprising, for this soft-spoken artist actually begins each day with a period of quiet reflection and reading of spiritual works, even before she takes up her brushes for a pre-breakfast session of work.

Her illustrious career began from her schooldays at St. Bridget's, no doubt influenced by her home environment where her mother and grandfather were both artists. She painted too when she lived in Maskeliya and Nuwara Eliya where her husband was planting, always drawn to the serene beauty of the hills and valleys around her. Her formal training in art was under Ivor Baptiste and later under Prof. Douglas Amarasekera, whom she credits with opening her eyes to light and shade.

A stint abroad at the Methodist Art School in Demarast, New Jersey, U.S. and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria helped hone her skills further. Over the years, she has regularly exhibited both in Sri Lanka and abroad, in 1980 in Bangkok, at the third and sixth triennale exhibition in India and at the Ring Gallery in Vienna in 1986. In 2000, she was honoured with the Zonta Woman of Achievement Award for her contribution to art in this country.

Intensely sensitive to nuances of light and shade, she says she never ceases to marvel at the quality of light she sees here. "It always stimulates me, the way it illuminates everything it touches." Aficionados will certainly find Marie Alles Fernando's vision in the Ranweli series and her recent works quite illuminating.
- Renuka Sadanandan

Visual power gives way to subtle allegory
"Mahath Sada Pini Bidaka" - poetry with an aesthetic appeal. Reviewed by Dr. Senarath Tennakoon
Nandana Weerasinghe, who has already produced four collections of creative poetry, has published his fifth book, "Mahath Sada Pini Bidaka". In his previous creations like "Gin Gage Vilapaya" (1984), "Kiri Suvadati Ratriya (1990), "Satya Kama Nam Wemi" (1994) and "Giraga" (1998), the emphasis on the colour and texture of the language were the outstanding features.

In his recent collection, "Mahath Sada Pini Bidaka", the quintessential feature is the softly explosive evaporating quality of poetic experiences. Nandana's poems are not complete in texture, composition and presentation. Their strength and beauty lie in visualization and allegory.

There is a sensitive rendering when the poet has been a keen observer of the roaring ocean waves on a moonlit night. He sees that the rough waves have imbibed the entire moonbeams attempting to jump high into the sky. But when he moves away from the beach, he diverts his attention to a dewdrop that has absorbed the beauty of the lunar sheen. The first experience which is turbulent, has been transmuted into a soft and silent visualization with an allegory. Nandana has exhibited his acumen in the appropriate use of extended metaphors and rich, refined, meaningful poetic expressions in many of his comparatively short compositions.

Another key feature in this handy volume, is the immense power of emotive meaning engraved in the depths of his poetic expressions. In one instance he has observed the shallow water in a brook being able to break into pieces, the huge shadow of a mighty rock. Nandana's keen sense of observation of nature is intriguing.

The brief nature of some compositions reminds the reader of "Haiku" poetry. These are strong personal experiences expressed in a few lines. "Poetry is the impish attempt to paint the colour of the wind" (Maxwell Bodenheim). However, Nandana has not entirely rejected the traditional texture and pulse of the Sinhala poetic setting and perspective.

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