| A
resident of Lucknow, Sheela lost both her arms along with three fingers
of her right foot as well as her mother in a train accident at the tender age
of four. So she places the paintbrush between her thumb and first finger of
her left foot and pours out the images crowding her mind on the empty sheets before
her, the work of Sheela proves that she is in no way handicapped. She says " she
has never found her disability to be deterrent in leading a normal life".
She added, " We have to learn from people in foreign countries. Their people use
the brush with their mouth, if they lose their hands and legs, but here, most
people turn to shortcuts, begging, for instance." Sheela who has done her BFA
from the college of Arts and Crafts, Lucknow University in 1991, was interested
in art since her childhood days. "I had a keen liking for sketching as a child.
My teachers and friends liked my sketches and encouraged me a lot. This was the
reason that I took up art as a subject during my intermediate and joined the arts
college later," says Sheela. Woman and nature are her favourite subjects
on the canvas. She tries to depict the different moods, colours and expressions
of woman and nature through her paintings. Sheila's paintings are a continuation
of her thought process. It is a source of immense joy to her. There is no boundary
in terms of ideas or colours. She feels each colour has its own importance and
she uses them according to the mood portrayed in her painting. Her paintings display
soft, subtle hues of blues and greens alongside bold and striking streaks of red
and orange. There is a wide range of variation offered. No awards, no praises,
just a job to help her service as a human being and not as a wayside animal. |
