For Drishti Chawla, nature is central to her painting. She captures an animal’s physiology in great detail. From multiple trips to the Maasai Mara comes Maasai Mara XIV, the half head of an elephant with a broken tusk.
She paints every crease and wrinkle of its skin, and the bold orange background contrasts vividly with its large grey body.
A white rhino with a lowered head is lumbering along on the azure blue setting of a painting called Maasai Mara XX. And in Samburu II (below), a reticulated giraffe poses with an inquisitive gaze before a bright blue sky.
Samburu II , a reticulated giraffe poses with an inquisitive gaze before a bright blue sky.
“I love colour and bold backgrounds. It adds drama and an interesting factor to the painting,” says Chawla, who was born in India and now lives in Nairobi. “Vibrant hues and serenity are the foundation of my acrylic works.”
On the tomato-red backdrop of Maasai Mara XV is a beautiful leopard whose spotted coat looks as though you could stroke it.
Chawla’s series of paintings titled Eyes focuses on animal eyes — the pale-yellow eye of a leopard or the dark brown orb of a zebra’s eye.
She often infuses elements of the background colour into the main subject, like the orange wrinkle on the elephant’s nose or the wisps of blue around the rhino’s neck.
She says, “I wish that humans could respect the natural world and help in its revival.” Her striking wildlife portraits are on show at the Polka Dot Art Gallery in Nairobi until Sunday.
The Doors paintings are also on display. Door II is of a grey door with a textured surface and deep red handle that opens to green outdoors. Door I is a close-up of a golden brown door with a bright blue ring handle.
Chawla says she is fascinated by doors, and photographs them whenever she sees them. Chawla, 33, studied commercial art at Sophia Polytechnic in India, majoring in photography. She worked in advertising for a few years and then went into painting.