 To her, painting is like meditation - time is of no consequence while she’s at her easel. Painting is a world by itself, she says.
Ruki Wijeratne has been painting for 21 years and loves the colour that comes with just being in Sri Lanka.
Her initial exposure was when her Art Professor Pavel Kobel made her go to the library and read and learn about the Renaissance period when she was studying in Switzerland in 1987. She then furthered her painting skills in Paris and Manila and in 1994 held her first solo exhibition at the World Trade Centre in Geneva. |
With a smile that lights up the room, Ameena Hussein tells me that she is feeling lucky. This is a happy portent for an author who spent 2008 struggling with cancer and her first novel. It helps that ‘The Moon in the Water’ is already highly anticipated – its path has been paved by its inclusion in the long-list for the first Man Asia Literary Award. It is on the eve of the book launch on Wednesday that I find myself in Ameena’s apartment right over the garage that houses the offices of the Perera Hussein Publishing House, which Ameena co-owns with her husband Sam Perera. She will be the first to tell you that the modest size of their cosy apartment is indicative of how publishing isn’t quite all it’s cracked up to be, but one thing seems certain, Ameena is doing what she loves best.
