She is a journalist by profession
and an artiste by choice. But
her love for nature from her childhood days has today made her a popular artiste among art lovers around the world.

Saman Leema Pereira, a self-taught artiste, has used her work to highlight what she says are the simple pleasures of life.

She paints in oils and water colours while her other unique creations include glass painted coffee table tops in floral designs, tablemats, glass panes for mall windows, glass paintings, lampshades, wrought iron candlestands and even glass bulbs. She makes jewellery out of peacock feathers and painted glass pieces. Printed posters and greeting cards based on her glass paintings are very popular in Abu Dhabi. A couch fashioned out of three ancient bullock cart wheels is one out of the many unique pieces of furniture created by Leema.

"There is no end to the things you can design and create by using the glass painting technique. All you need is some creativity and an artistic touch to create unimaginable designs," Leema said.

"For art to bring happiness and a sense of well being, it has to be simple, easily accessible and close to nature," says Leema. Leema refers to her work as mosaic on glass because she uses a variety of geometrical shapes to create a painting. "Mosaic on art is very time consuming. Once the sketch and outline are done the paint is applied drop by drop to the surface. The end result is stunning. A small mosaic on glass usually takes two to three days while a bigger one takes about a week to complete," Leema said.

Leema, an art teacher, says she is willing to teach anybody interested in the technique. Her work has adorned many homes in the UAE. Saman Leema has now opened The Island Art Gallery in her native Gampaha. My gallery is open to any artiste from anywhere in the world to display their work free of charge. Through her gallery Leema hopes to help new, unrecog- nised talent and help inexperienced artistes sell their work.

Exhibition by photo journalists

A photographic exhibition organised by the
Freelance Photography Association will
be held at the National Art Gallery. The exhibition, organised for the first time will commence today (25) and will be on till Tuesday (27). Six-hundred and fifty photographs by professional photo journalists will be on display.

Workshops on photography by Domonic Christopher will also be held on all three days. The exhibition is sponsored by Debug Epson and entrance is free.

Arts round-up

Givenchy’s international make-up artist Joseph Dosh was in Colombo recently to launch the new make up range Le Makeup.

The new cosmetics range created by Givenchy make-up artistic director Nicholas Degennes, goes back to the beginning. It takes its inspiration from the 4G logo which is embellished on all the packaging as well as on the famous prism blushers and powders.

The pivotal part of Le Makeup is its new lipstick, Rouge Interdict — a metal tube engraved with a captivating geometric design, the 4G logo. Four collections are released every year, but this year’s most promising collection is the Christmas 2007 collection. Each product is decorated with a delicate shower of diamonds. These products include a shimmering lipstick, mascara with diamond glitter and pure diamond lip gloss.

Givenchy’s new fragrance "Ange ou Etrange" (literally means angel or stranger) was launched on the same day.

The stage show — Mamai Banai presented by popular singers Rohana Baddege and Bandula Wijeweera will be held on November 29 after a lapse of 10 years.

However during this time the show was performed overseas for Sri Lankans living in other parts of the world. Mamai Banai has become popular among foreigners who have taken an interest in Sri Lanka’s traditional music. Sarath Kulanga and Jeevan Handunnetti will assist Baddege and Wijeweera at the show. Costumes are designed by Irangani Gunewardene, sets are by Abhimangala Gunewardene with production by Edward Chandrasiri. It is organised by Jude Srimal.

The stage show will be held at the Tower Hall, Maradana at 6.30 p.m. and will be sponsored by the Singer Lions Club, Nugegoda.

Play House, Kotte, the leading children’s play producer, presents a two day Theatre Festival for young audiences on December 7 and 8 at the Navarangahala at 3.30 p.m. and 7 00 p.m.

The organisation’s latest creation Walas Pawula (Bear Family) and the well received Himakumariya (Snow White) will be showcased at the event. The festival is sponsored by HNB Assurance PLC in a bid to promote children’s theatre in Sri Lanka.

The Play House, Kotte has been organising festivals of theatre for children and youth annually for the last 25 years. The institution was established in 1981 by Somalatha Subasinghe to further the cause of children and youth theatre in Sri Lanka. Both plays are written by Somalatha Subasinghe.

Walas Pawula is directed and choreographed by Dr. Chandana Aluthge and Himakumariya is directed by Somalatha Subasinghe. Music for Walas Pawula and Himakumariya is by Tharupathi Munasinghe and M.R. Chulasinghe, respectively.

The cast comprises Pramudi Karunarathne, Damayantha Perera, Wishvajith Gunasekera, Chaya Sri Nammuni, Sanjaya Hettiarachchi, Hiran Abeysekere, Shamaine Gunarathne, Nayomi Gunasiri, Dinuki de Silva, Mayura Kanchana, Suresh Fernando, Namal Jayasinghe, Geetha Alahakoon and Ishara Wickramasena.

LIVING focuses on the luxury property market

Once on par with prices in London, New York and Dubai, the value of luxury properties in Sri Lanka appears to have lost some of its lustre… so, what’s going on? Is the real estate bubble about to burst — or is this just a lull? To find out, get your hands on the latest edition of Sri Lanka’s Definitive Guide To LIVING, the glossy bi-monthly from Media Services which gives you a comprehensive look at the real estate industry in Sri Lanka with current market trends and expert views, plus cameo appearances by the stars… Celestial, Monarch, Emperor, Trillium, et al.