Veranda Bandaranaike:

Paintings evoke a nostalgic response

Along the highway leading up to Kandy one could see heavy loaded bullock carts, drawn by large hump shouldered bullocks. By the side of the main road palm thatched huts, tagged along acres of rubber, coconut and banana plantations, and lush green rice fields. Walking through the winding paths the trees look like nature’s umbrellas with their widespread foliage providing shade along the way. Flowing down the central hills the Maha Oya skirts a section of its boundary which is the charm of the Sri Lankan landscape. Venturing down the road is a beautiful village named Aranayake.

It is in this village that Veranda Bandaranaike was born on July 7, 1975. It is here that Veranda Bandaranaike emerged to wield her brush, to the delight of her own generation and the enrichment of the generations to come. She is simple in her habits. Her long straight hair, clear cut features elegantly dressed with poise, beauty and charm and a devastating smile, made her a target for the admiring glances whereever she moved.

One of her paintings

Veranda Bandaranaike

Veranda completed her A/Ls at the Kegalle Balika Maha Vidyalaya. Her quest and burning ambition to become a perfect artist made her follow a training course at the Art Foundation in Kegalle where she met Mrs Nilanthi Weeraratne and P. Abeyratne as her art teachers, who encouraged her to develop her art potentials.

To further her knowledge she joined the Ceylon Society of Arts, in Colombo and followed the art classes conducted by the Society. She was fortunate to receive her training under eminent teachers such as Kalapathi Pulasthi Ediriweera, Jayantha Thisera, Akila Jayalath Jayantha Kannangara and Kalabhushana Danny Wijesiriwardena who moulded her into a budding artist.

Veranda held her first art exhibition in 2009 organised by the Ceylon Society of Arts which was a tremendous success. From then onwards she never looked back. She participated in many art exhibitions and received numerous silver and gold medals and certificates of merits at all island art exhibitions.

Veranda is a lover of nature and works in every medium, oil, acralyic water colour and line drawings. Her canvases in oil depict wildlife, birds, animals portraits flower girls, village beauties and landscapes. Her paintings also include historic Buddhist temples Hindu Kovils, Churches and village scenes. Veranda’s paintings are a blaze of colour. Her light and shadow structure is unscientific, incorrect and incredibly beautiful. She is successful in her own perspective, because of her remarkable power of observation which enables her to copy what she sees faithfully. Veranda’s paintings are alive with the flawless richness of green, red, yellow and blue in brisk brush strokes. Sheer perseverance and dedication turned her into a master of the brush. Veranda excels in realistic perception and masterly handling of paint. Beautiful landscapes, visions and the secrets of nature make her paintings eloquent. Her love and expert knowledge in applying colour with bold fluid brush work characterise her artistic personality. Veranda’s choice of subjects such as ‘Two Women’, ‘The Old Man’, The Fishermen, Fruits (still life) and familiar scenes from village life have focused on scenes that evoke nostalgic response. She has also done many book covers and illustrations for prominent authors in the island.

At present she is doing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the University of Kelaniya. She owns a mini art gallery in her home and many tourists visit her gallery to purchase her work.