Divine Strokes

What amazes me about the art of Lakshmi Krishnamurthy (Lakki) is her versatility, the range not only in subjects, but also in technique, medium and style. The array includes Lepakshi, illustrated manuscript, miniatures, glass painting, Tanjore, Mysore, Bengal, murals (both fresco and tempera), Warli, Pata Chitra, and Pithora.

The creations of this Chennai based artist conform to the traditional iconographic codes with their mythological and historic implications. At the same time, she introduces new expressions and interpretations with great finesse. She uses natural colors from rocks, earth and vegetable sources, and brushes from kora grass to squirrel hair. She learned the skills of making brushes and gold and natural colors from the legendary master, Sri Deoki Nandan Sharma.

Lakshmi Krishnamurthy’s training in art started with a course at the College of Fine Arts at the Kalashektra, Chennai. She was fortunate to work under Sri Sreenivasalu in the restoration of old Tanjore paintings during her student days. Even today she finds the time to do restoration work. That is a great service because, without such dedicated effort, many of the beautiful old paintings would be lost.

After Kalashektra, it was a sojourn to Kerala to study the Cochin Murals, ad then to Rajasthan, Banasthali Vidyapeeth, for Jaipur frescoes and temperas. Her unabated yearning for knowledge continues. In that sense she is still a student. She is also a research scholar, a guru who teaches art to many talented disciples, a visiting professor at Kalashektra, an expert in restoration of paintings, and a very good artist. Perhaps the best of her is yet to come.

Lakshmi Krishnamurthy has conducted several workshops and seminars. She has been associated with some major art related projects. She has held a number of exhibitions of her paintings in India and abroad.

Some of her paintings are reproduced below with her permission.

'The God of Love' (Glass)

'Intelligence' (watercolor on silk) 'Abundance' (oil on silk)

'Cognizance' (Tanjore)

'Vakrathunta' (glass)

'Aditya Hridayam' (Tanjore, glass, sheet metal embossing)

'The Kandamdana Parvatham' (Tanjore narrative)

'Tranquil' (Tempera)

Click on the images for enlarged view.

All the paintings are works of Lakshmi Krishnamurthy. Copyright reserved.

Ends.

Also see:

Raja Ravi Varma: A movie on the Royal Painter