Boasting breathtaking landscapes and abundant wildlife, Sri Lanka offers many objects for nature-painting. Among prominent names of Sri Lankan artists, a new generation of artists have emerged that draw inspiration from the country’s natural beauty to produce artwork that replicate the island’s surroundings.
Sri Lanka’s wildlife and natural environment has been the object of wide-spread admiration and motivation for professional and amateur artists with Nature paintings often exhibited in Art Gallery Sri Lanka. Alongside internationally-acclaimed Sri Lankan artists such as Anoma Wijewardena and Senaka Senanayake, whose modernist artwork in vibrant hues depict Sri Lanka’s wildlife, fauna and flora, a new generation of Nature Artists are emerging with many portraying life-like paintings of their subjects with many featured in the Sri Lankan Art Gallery.
Many Nature Artists attempt to emulate the beauty of Sri Lanka’s diverse bird species on canvas which, for Sri Lanka’s new generation of budding artists, is an artistic skill fostered from childhood. Wildlife Artist Tharanga Herath continues to use watercolour and acrylic to paint Sri Lanka’s wildlife with remarkable attention to detail. He, like many Wildlife Artists believe that extensive study and observation of birds and animals in their natural habitat is the key to producing ‘Photorealistic’ paintings, that closely resemble the reality of animals in the wild. Tharanga Herath, Jayantha Jinasena and Hasitha Kumaradasa are few Sri Lankan artists that devote considerable artwork to Sri Lanka’s bird population.
Other Sri Lankan artists strike a balance between paintings of Sri Lanka’s endemic bird and animal species. Artists including Tony Hopman and Lalith Gunathilaka have art pieces on the famous Sri Lankan elephant while the renowned artist Vishi Dharmasiriwardena’s paintings titled ‘The Serpent Eagle’ and the image of a charging elephant aptly named ‘The Charge’ is part of the art collection at the US Embassy in Colombo. Vishi Dharmasiriwardena’s other artwork include realistic depictions of endemic elephants, leopards, sloth bear and deer. Apart from showcasing Sri Lanka’s vibrant wildlife, Nature Artists like Dulari de Fonseka find inspiration in Sri Lanka’s breathtaking geographic landscape which is captured in admirable colour and monochrome paintings.
Thanuja Silva is a travel writer who writes under the pen name Auburn Silver. She has a passion for fashion and a deep interest in admiring new and exotic attractions around the world.
