Bird on Papaya Tree Painting

Hi, I am Aditi Deodhar. I have been sketching since I was 6 years old. It all started with my mon sending me off to a drawing class in the summer vacations, after the 1st standard exams. I hated it initially, as it meant me attending a class while my friends played. But the teacher was great. I began enjoying the class and drawing. I participated in various drawing competitions, thereafter, won some prizes. The biggest part of it was the enjoyment I got and the passion I gradually developed. Crayons and sketch pens eventually changed into watercolors, acrylics and oil paints; the passion only increased. In high school, I was fortunate to have a very good and dedicated drawing teacher. That time I was into pencil sketches and portraits. Many cricketers, movie stars were the subject of my portraits then. In my second year of graduation, I joined Mr. Bal Wad’s Creative Club. There I started enjoyed painting as much as sketching. I learnt patience from Wad sir, which was not a my very good quality till then. Patience to practice, patience to work hard till idea is as perfect on the paper as it is in my head. For the next 10 years, I worked with acrylics. Once at an exhibition with my friend, we met an art student who agreed to teach us Oil painting. And it was hoot. Wow!! What a medium. The things we could do. I created a replica of Thomas Kincaid’s painting, something I wanted to do for a long time. For some time, painting took a backseat with my experiments with paper-cutting, woodworking. Now, fast-forward to 2021, and I am back into painting with an old love, Watercolors. Fluidity of this medium is simple amazing. Coming back to a transparent medium after years with opaque paints was a bit challenging, initially. Medium is not the only thing I am experimenting with, however. History is one more of my passions. While creating exhibition “Story of a River” for Jeevitnadi, I got to study it officially ?. I spent 2 months at Bharateey Itihaas Samshodhak mandal library, studying the river, how my city developed in its cradle. Exhibition, organized at various schools, colleges, institutes, corporates since then, succeeded in providing a glimpse into the history of the river and generate interest about otherwise neglected lifeline of the city. Since the exhibition, idea of combining art with history and geography dominated my thoughts.