By Risidra Mendis

Colourful ball point pens have always fascinated us when we were young. But while many  of us were happily using these colourful pens to scribble away on paper, one artist was using the same ball point pens to experiment in painting. 

As days went by and his experiments improved Mangala Madanayake soon discovered that a combination of coloured ball point pens could be used to turn out unusual and breathtaking paintings.

Madanayake is probably the only artist in the world who uses coloured ball point pens to paint. Speaking to The Sunday Leader Madanayake said there are many artists who use black ball point pens to paint, but that he is yet to come across an artist who paints with coloured ball point pens.

"It was in 1994 that I first started experimenting with blue, black, green and red ball point pens. For an year I kept sketching and experimenting with these colours and realised that I could use the pens instead of water colours or oil paints for a painting," says Madanayake.    

Some of his paintings are carefully shaded by adopting a special method of using ball point pens. "By reducing or increasing the colour of the pens I have managed to create a shading effect in some of my paintings. In some cases I have used one colour on top of another colour to create a different colour combination. "Depending on the size I take about one to four days to complete a painting," Madanayake said.

There is no restriction in the subjects that Madanayake chooses for his paintings and his creations look just like a water colour or oil painting. Among the more popular paintings that he has drawn are the Galle Fort, the parliament complex, elephants and birds from Sinharaja and Yala National Parks and village scenes among others.

Madanayake has held 16 exhibition, todate. However his exhibition this year will give art lovers a surprise as he has for the first time created his masterpieces on canvas.

In 1996, 1997 and 2004 Madanayake won the Presidential awards for his paintings. 

Madanayake's exhibition including around 50 exhibits will be held at Dwellings, Green Path, Colombo 3, from December 5 to 31.

By Warren Balthazaar

"The story of life, of the life of man on planet earth is truly a story for the anthologists, the biologists, the sociologists, and the historians to tell.

Several have done, even while they are still fitting in the pieces, one by one, a few at a time of the intricate puzzle, the jigsaw, the grand design."

That is how Maureen Seneviratne described the main subject of this book on planet earth and the life of man.

The author further mentioned that the book is a story of epic proportions for poets to celebrate in elegiac verse  a saga of sheer heroism of romance and resilience, of tragedy and triumph, of descent into abysmal darkness and ascent into brilliant light.

The author added that the style is simple and being a journalist she well understood the importance of clarity and brevity.

This slender volume contains a remarkable description of the story of life - of man's life on Earth and highlights several aspects of man's achievements, including the great saga of his recognition of his rights to life according to author Maureen Seneviratne.

This slim volume contains a remarkable description of the story of life of man's life on earth and highlights several aspects of man's achievements, including the great saga of his recognition of his rights to life.

A journalist by profession and a writer for whom everything is grist to her mill, her stories have been published in a number of countries worldwide.

She also claimed that she herself was pushed into a great adventure, which made her write this book.

Also she said that she was inspired by her grandnephew to whom this book was dedicated.

The author Maureen Seneviratne released the book last week,  adding another to her collection of many previous publications.

It is not very often that you come across a painter who engages in paintings and line drawings at the same time. But for Chandana Ranaweera, an artist with great talent, painting and line drawings have now become a part of his life. Ranaweera's name is well known among art lovers who know the value and creativity involved in paintings and line drawings.

"Ranaweera has carved out a niche among art lovers for his individuality and characteristic painting. Inspired mostly by temple murals and cave art, he abides by them as his main topic without wandering into other mediums of which he is not familiar.

He is essentially an artist inspired by his rural surroundings emerging from his village situated at Alawwa," says Gwen Herat.

According to Herat, Ranaweera has spent the better half of his life in the corridors of temples if he was not teaching art at his village school. "Mythology has always been a source with 'gods and lords' mounted on steeds and chariots. Using subtle colour as well as black and white, he leaves his signature on them," Herat said.

"Surprisingly there is yet another side to his art which is line drawings. One has to have steady, strong fingers as well as the ingenuity to do so. One look at these sketches will arouse anyone's curiosity. Geometrical figures and abstracted language rolled into one have created improvisation that has impelled him. Flowing between the thick black lines he creates a supernatural depth but truly celestial," explained Herat.

Ranaweera's line drawings include a variety of subjects such as human figures, religious festivals, Buddhist monks and temples among others.

"Line drawings profoundly influence artists who express their thoughts from a dark and obsessed mind subconsciously and can affect the observer's senses. Many carry a narrative in message, a sense confined only to the painter which summarises a situation why art lovers hesitate to patronise line drawings or even to study them. Line drawings are a distraction interfering with an artist's spiritual responses.  But the expressive potential in line drawings has not yet been discovered or accepted which makes an artist end up as a cartoonist," Herat said.

According to Herat some of the line drawings through the medium of stain glass on characters from the plays of Shakespeare at Stratford -upon-Avon express a more passionate view on the art of lines.

"At least a bold artist is convinced that lines too are a great asset to him. Ranaweera builds on lines with a bolder and stronger lineage. He will do it with time but for the present it is a struggle to draw the attention of art lovers to take a deep and penetrating look," says Herat. (RM)

D. M. Gunaratna

The paintings on display by Chandana Ranaweera are mainly based on the themes on Buddhism. Devotees offering alms, burning scented oil lamps, gods venerating Lord Buddha are depicted in Ranaweera's paintings of  the Buddha and his disciples. Some of his works display miracles of Lord Buddha and his disciples.

In the execution of his works Ranaweera has adopted mixed media namely brush painting, penning, patching and etching on paper - a special brand of paper.

His paintings cannot be categorised as abstracts. They are neither modern nor traditional. A superb combination of all those brands of art can be observed on those exhibits. As a result those paintings on display convey to the viewer, concepts of the artist in a very high tone.

This is the new evolution of the artistic career of Ranaweera and is due to the constant involvement in exercise in art during the last two decades.

R. S. Karunaratne

Ranaweera is a highly sensitive artist  and seems to have been moved by painful memories buried deep in his psyche. If you view his paintings superficially you will see gods in different poses, veena players and monks.  Sometimes it is amazing to see some gods clutching their mobile phones, bottles of water and riding on bulls but still carrying a trident. A group of Buddhist monks begging alms barefooted and unprotected from the scorching sun can be seen in some of Ranaweera's paintings.

With his roots deep in the rural soil of Alawwa, Ranaweera appears to have been influenced by hordes of men, women and children seeking the intervention of gods in their woes. His paintings depict how gods dominate the lives of villagers. Drawing a kind of poetic inspiration from such scenes.    

Ranawera has portrayed gods in different perspectives. A god carrying a mobile phone instead of a conch or trident appears to be somewhat bizarre according to conventional standards. Ranaweera is a product of various cultural forces running in different directions. You have to look at his paintings for a very long time to unravel its meaning. One consolation is that his paintings occupy small spaces. He does not paint on large canvases.

He seems to have given up the ball point pen with which he created some of his early paintings. Although they were appreciated by art lovers Ranaweera has outgrown that period imbibing various other interests generating in his surroundings. His paintings are out of water colours.   

Over the years Ranaweera has evolved his own personal style without the need to copy or imitate other painters. Although he cannot be classed as someone belonging to a particular group of painters he has his own perception as a mature artist with a vision. His current exhibition shows his own idiom and peculiar motif of expression.

Most of his paintings depicting gods are a sharp social comment to say the least. Even when he paints drummers he uses sober colours upholding the sanctity of religious festivals. In some of his recent paintings we see fragments of ola leaves embedded in the artwork implying their sacred tradition. His collages include torn pieces of newspapers, used razor blades and pieces of cloth with jagged edges silently indicating that life itself does not run in a methodical pattern.

Those who view his paintings are bound to be baffled by gods with hooded eyes whimsical mouths and noses. The artist is simply trying to shock his viewers and make them open their eyes to reality.   

Helloooo,

So, its December again.Chee Chee Corea heard about the newest traffic arrangement in the city called 'UniFlow' and went along Galle Road with his friend Tell Us Four Anandappah.They spent four hours seated at a bus stop watching endless number of cars pass by in a single file in one direction.That was their entertainment for the day. Whilst seated watching the flow Chee Chee decided to tell a few husband and wife stories to Tell Us Four . Here we go:

Chee Chee asked his wife, "Where do you want to go for our anniversary?" She said, "Somewhere I have never been!" Chee Chee told her, "How about the kitchen?" She ran after the garbage truck, yelling, "Am I too late for the garbage?" Following her down the street Chee Chee yelled, "No, jump in!"

                      *      *     *

A man placed some flowers on the grave of his dearly departed mother and started back towards his car when his attention was diverted to another man kneeling at a grave. The man seemed to be praying with profound intensity and kept repeating, "Why did you have to die? Why did you have to die?" The first man approached him and said, "Sir, I don't wish to interfere with your private grief, but this demonstration of pain is more than I've ever seen before. For whom do you mourn so deeply? A child? A parent?" The mourner took a moment to collect himself, then replied, "My wife's first husband."

                *     *     *

Chee Chee and wife came upon a wishing well. Chee Chee leaned over, made a wish and threw in a penny. The wife decided to make a wish, too. But she leaned over too much, fell into the well, and drowned. Chee Chee was stunned for a while but then smiled - "It really works!"

                *     *     *

Wife: "Honey..... What are You Looking for?"

Husband: "Nothing."

Wife: "Nothing...? You've been reading our marriage certificate for an hour?"

Husband: "I was just looking for the expiration date."

                 *     *     *

What is the difference between Mother & Wife? One woman brings you into this world crying... and the other ensures you continue to do so.

                  *     *     *

Wife: "Do you want dinner?"

Husband: "Sure, what are my choices?"

Wife:  "Yes and no."

             *     *     *

Wife: "You always carry my photo in your handbag to the office. Why?"

Husband: "When there is a problem, no matter how impossible, I look at your picture and the problem disappears."

Wife: "You see how miraculous and powerful I am for you?"

Husband: "Yes, I see your picture and say to myself, What other problem can there be greater than this one?"

               *     *     *

Girl: "When we get married, I want to share all your worries, troubles and lighten your burden."

Boy: "It's very kind of you, darling, but I don't have any worries or troubles."

Girl: "Well that's because we aren't married yet."

                 *     *     *

Son: "Mom, when I was on the bus with Dad this morning, he told me to give up my seat to a lady."

Mom: "Well, you have done the right thing."

Son: "But Mom, I was sitting on daddy's lap."

                  *     *     *

A newly married man asked his wife, "Would you have married me if my father hadn't left me a fortune?" "Honey," the woman replied sweetly, "I'd have married you NO MATTER WHO LEFT YOU the FORTUNE"

                  *     *     *

Father to son after exam: "Let me see your report card."

Son: "My friend just borrowed it. He wants to scare his parents."

                   *     *     *

Girl to her boyfriend: "One kiss and I'll be yours forever."

 The guy replies: "Thanks for the warning. Hahahahaha."

                     *     *     *

A wife asked her husband: "What do you like most in me my pretty face or my sexy body?" He looked at her from head to toe and replied: "I like your sense of humour."

                       *     *     *

My wife dresses to kill. She also cooks the same way.

                *     *     *

My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met. A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong.

                 *     *     *

I bought my wife a new car. She called and said, "There was water in the carburetor." I asked her, "Where's the car?" She replied,   "In the lake."

                  *     *     *

"The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret."

                   *     *     *

 After a quarrel, a wife said to her husband, "You know, I was a fool when I married you." The husband replied, "Yes, dear, but I was in love and didn't notice."

                    *     *     *

When a man steals your wife, there is no bettter revenge than to let him keep her.

                    *     *     *

I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months - I don't like to interrupt her.

                    *     *     *

My girlfriend told me I should be more affectionate. So I got myself two girlfriends.

                    *     *     *

A man said his credit card was stolen but he decided not to report it since the thief was spending much less than his wife did.

                 *     *     *

Man is incomplete until he is married. Then he is finished.

                  *     *     *

A little boy asked his father, "Daddy, how much does it cost to get married?"

The father replied, "I don't know son, I'm still paying."

                    *     *     *

Young Son: "Is it true, Dad, that in some parts of Africa, a man doesn't know his wife until he marries her?"

Dad: That happens in every country, son.

                *     *     *

Then there was a man who said, "I never knew what real happiness was until I got married; then it was too late.

                *     *     *

A man placed an ad in the classifieds: "Wife wanted." The next day he received a hundred letters.

They all said the same: "You can have mine."

                 *     *     *

A woman was telling her friend, "I made my husband a millionaire."

"And what was he before you married him?" asked the friend."A billionaire," she replied.

Ta ra and see ya next week,