Drawing was never a question

By Surani Perera
It is easy to appreciate the line drawing art works of Chandana Ranaweera (44) from Kurunegala. The simple
lines of narrow flowing from the tip of a black felt pen hold in white space in a neat effect. The pen strokes show
character as they stand out to tell a discerning picture story.
Born in 1969, Ranaweera first learnt of art from his father. Afterwards, when he started schooling at Kurunegala
Maliyadeva Vidyalaya, his art teacher S.M. Jayathilaka became his instructor and guide. Throughout this time
the passionate artist drew furiously, almost as if in obsession. The activity always calmed him down and
brought him to his happy place.
The Ceylon Society of Art exhibited some of Ranaweeras art work in the years 88/89, the first exhibition of his
creative endeavours. Thereafter, he had a public display of his works again with Sumana Dissanayake, an
illustrator working on murals, oil painting, canvas and Batiks. This opportunity to exhibit with an already
established artist gave Ranaweeras work wide exposure. However, shortly prior to that he had held an
exhibition entirely of his work, titled Come and See.
Since then, I have held this exhibition of mine for a total of nine times, said Ranaweera of the display
collection bearing his personal stamp, which he is extremely confident to host. Nowadays, I mostly like to
spend my creative endeavours on fine line drawings. Something about the technique is so alluring, and
powerful.
On occasion, I would tear up bits of news or colourful magazine paper to create a construction of collage
pictures, he added.
In the mid-90s Ranaweera was one of four artists the world over who were selected by the United Nations to
use their drawings in the world bodys limited edition picture postcard collection. My art has travelled the
world in this instance, said Ranaweera with a smile.
Almost a decade later, Ranaweera would go on to receive the Presidents Distinguished Award at Sri Lanka Art
Society. Spurred on by the many accolades he bagged along the way, he entered his work into this years Big
One exhibition in Japan. I am the only Sri Lankan who has been selected from the first and second rounds of
shortlist they had. It is a competition especially for the disabled, he said.
Having retired as an art teacher just three years ago, this lifelong artist is now devoted to his personal
collection of over 500 childrens books. I simply love the illustrations in stories written for young readers. I
learn my craft and fine tune it now from the imagery I see in these books, being completely clueless about
computers and the internet. Inspired by the styles and drawing in picture stories, I regularly send my art work
to Japanese newspapers, that have regularly been accepting my work and publishing them, he concludes on
the creative labours that now occupy him in his retirement.

-BOX
Line drawing
Line art is any image that consists of distinct straight and curved lines usually placed against a plain background, without gradations
in shade (darkness) or hue (color) to represent two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects.
When you first picked up a pen or pencil and started making marks on paper, you began with line. Whether through self-taught trial
and error, or the helping wisdom of others, we learned how line defines form, creates structure, divides a frame, traces contour,
creates tonal variation like in cross-hatching, and leads the eye from one part of a work to another. Initially a mechanism for getting
outline onto paper: identifying edges--a crucial but perhaps unappreciated step in the process of applying tone, texture and colour-lines begin at last to be applauded for their own merit: celebrated for their presence whether a casual flick of charcoal on paper or
a gentle and quiet streak of graphite.

Originally published on www.ceylontoday.lk