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Vandana Srivastava: Living her life through vivid colours on canvas
Artist Vandana Srivastava, who has been bedridden due to lower body paralysis, finds happiness and inspiration in painting Madhubani art, including scenes from her favorite films. She continues to create art and hopes to someday have a solo exhibition to showcase her work.
Bright colours, Madhubani patterns and her passion for recreating life on canvas have made artist Vandana Srivastava (65) happy and lively, even in the most challenging times.
Being bedridden for years due to lower body paralysis, the painter refused to give up on life and continued living her life through her paintings.
Film scenes in Madhubani
“I remember my sons telling me...kuchh challenging banaye aap. And the challenge was to paint film scenes from some of my favourite films. Me being a movie buff, I love watching films and listening to old Hindi film songs, so I knew ke yeh karne mein maza toh ayega but at the same time it will not be easy.
The first few Madhubani canvases included scenes from films like Roman Holiday, The Kid, follo wed by Awara, Sholay and many more. The stint that started as a fun challenge turned into a new work pattern for me,” says Srivastava.
Fest affair
Adapting over a dozen film scenes into Madhubani creations along with hundreds of regular pieces of art, the painter feels there is still a lot of work left to do. “It takes me a week to complete A3 and A4 size canvases; at times less. As I am able to resume work after my regular therapy sessions. It was through social media that the Madhubani Literature Festival connected with me and commissioned my painting Vaidhai for the Delhi edition of the fest in 2022. Getting to feature among the best of Madhubani artists of the country, I felt humbled.”
Continue to get inspired
“I was into oil paints followed by Tanjore paintings for the longest and slowly took on Madhubani art. So, I have been into art for over 40 years now. I took inspiration to paint from my father and the inclination towards music from my mother, a trained classical artiste. I have not thought of coming up with a solo exhibition, but I am a very hopeful person, so, maybe, someday I will get to display my work to the world. Till date, my creativity has kept me going and it always will,” says the Lucknowite.
