As life begins blank just like a paper with no colour but clean white, we take our first step. The very first scribble.. the very first splash of colour; the choices we make in life. It might not be crystal clear as you wanted it to be with the pitch-perfect shape. The colour is out of line and not neat and tidy as you thought it would be. Choices and decisions we make in life does not always give us the result we wanted them to. It may be contrasting, maybe this was not what you wanted. BUT keep painting!

Move ahead, and pick another colour, the paper needs more colours. If the errors are going to happen by your choices, change the colour. I’m sure you are going to get a rainbow page. 

After adding in a number of colours, just look at it. Do you see it.. Do you see the beauty of how the learnings you’ve grasped helped you improve. There’s purple, green, orange, blue and wait there’s still white, well adding a unique beauty to it. 

But.. there’s something missing.. different chapters of life; different beautiful colours named memories. What a splendid journey it is… But it isn’t completed yet.. 

විචිත්‍රවත් වූ විවිධ වර්ණයන්ගෙන් හෙබි වූ ඒ සිත්තම තවමත් පූර්ණ නිමාවකට හිමිකම් නොකියන්නාක් බඳු දිස් විය. කාල වර්ණයේ අවතීර්ණය එයට අවැසි. කළු යනු අඳුරේ වර්ණය වේ. එහෙත් එය එසේද… නිහඩ රැයක සීත සුළඟ හඹා යද්දී ඈත අහසේ පුංචි තරු දිදුලන අපූරුව තවත් ඉස්මතු කරලන්නේ රැය වෙලාගත් අඳුරයි. රාත්‍රියේ ඒ අන්ධකාරය කෙතරම් නිහඬද, අපූරුද. ඒ අඳුර රැයෙහි හොරාවන්ට අරුතක් එක් කරන බව ඔබට සිතෙන්නේ නැද්ද?

මේ සිතුවමටත් ඒ කාල වර්ණය එක් විය යතු බවක් හැඟෙන්නේ මෙහිදී කළු ආදරයේ වෙස්ලගන්නා නිසයි. එසේ නම් කෙතරම් මතක, අත්දැකීම්වලින් ජීවිතය පිරී ගියත් ආදරයේ පැවැත්මයි එය අර්ථවත් කරන්නේ.கறுப்பு நிறத்திற்கு ஏன் அடர் என்று பெயரிட வேண்டும்? அது பாசத்தின் நிறமாக இருக்க முடியாதா? இல்லையெனில் அனைத்து வண்ணங்களும் ஒண்டினைக்கும் நிறமாக கருப்பு நிறத்தை முடிசூட்ட முடியாதா? இவை அனைத்தும் பார்வையாளரின் கண்கள் மற்றும் எண்ணங்களை சார்ந்தவை ஆகும்.

A viewer of an Art can speak thousands of thoughts which flow within their mind as the art is being seen and felt. But the artist may have something different to say about it. Hearing from the artist itself is a splendid event of astonishment, as sometimes things we miss seeing are spotlighted by the artist.

Here’s what the artist – Rtr. Thinuka Sethmin had to say about his drawing.

How would you explain the meaning of this art in one line?

The Connection between nature and the circle of life.

Could you explain this statement further?

Spring is when leaves and buds begin to bloom. It is the childhood period of a person. It is full of new beginnings and there’s nothing, but innocence and pure joy surrounded with excitement. Then comes summer where the sunlight embraces and explores the environment creating a vivid beauty all over with unique colours and different views, just like the youth who loves to shine bright and explore opportunities. The environment is felt, and emotions and feelings are at their hype. Autumn is when the environment matures. It’s not the hyped vibe but the leaves and other elements of the environment start to mature just like humans who enter adulthood. They become calm, learn through experience and mature. And finally arrives winter freezing everything, old age is frozen and never ends but a person in this period of life is of much wisdom and experience. He or she has seen all phases and challenges of life.

That is how I as the artist felt while painting this art. Said the artist of the painting.

Those were the thoughts of the artist but the amazing fact about a drawing is that,

It allows the viewer to read and feel his or her own thoughts as they sink into the painting.

What do you feel while sinking yourself into the art?