CHIRASRI JAYAWEERA BANDARA - ON FLOWERS
This blog is about new entrants to the Colombo Medical Faculty of the University of Ceylon (as it was then known) in June 1962. There were a total of 166 in the batch (included 11 from Peradeniya).Please address all communications to: colmedgrads1962@gmail.com.You may bookmark this page for easier access later. Header image: Courtesy Prof. Rohan Jayasekara, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo (2011 - 2014). Please use the search bar using a key word to access what interests you
Mahendra
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for the effort taken in publishing my paintings of flowers. I appreciate your enthusiasm.
You are doing a great job as the Blog admistrator to keep our batch mates together and keeping the blog alive. Keep it up. well done !
Chira
Thank you Chira . These are really great Your paintings are very valuable for their beauty plus all the information you impart. The flowers are beautiful. You really should hold an exibition.. Chira do you know how the Indians use the Niyagala as medicinal. As you say people use it to commit suicide . We had a case in our area when I was a child . Thank you Chira . I loved this. Please keep painting. Manil
ReplyDeleteManil
DeleteThank you very much for appreciating my paintings which I value so much. It is encouraging when others appreciate my paintings.
I got the information from the internet. It was mentioned that Indians use Niyagala for medicinal purposes. I didn't probe in to it. I will try to find out.
I just started painting fishes.
Chira
Chira
ReplyDeleteWhat a superb collection of paintings. You are getting better with every display. The script helps enormously to get to know them better. The write-up is wonderful, brief and to the point. The use of accurate colours brings the flowers to life and reality. I appreciate your wonderful ability to give the paintings the 3D effect. Well done and Thank you.
Nihal
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your encouraging comment which I appreciate so much. I enjoyed getting the script from the internet as I learnt quite a lot in the process. Chira
Choira, I am amazed by the details you have captured, both in form and colour. Shows that you have a lot of patience apart from your talent. Keep painting and send them to be posted in the blog. Have you thought if capturing historic sites such as Sigiriya, Dambulla and some sites in Anuradhapura? Looking forward to the next instalment.
ReplyDeleteMahendra
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your comment. Much appreciated.
I think I am not good at painting scenaries but I could try.
I just started painting fishes.
Chira
Mahendra
ReplyDeleteYou have asked whether I could paint Sigiriya, Dambulla and sites in Anuradhapura. I looked at these sites in the internet. I found statues of Lord Buddha in these sites. I am not an expert to paint these statues and I feel I might insult Lord Buddha by my painting them. Being a Buddhist I feel I cannot paint them. Please excuse me.
I could try to paint Sigiriya, but that alone is insufficient isn't it?
I hope you can understand me. Chira
It was just a thought Chira. You must paint what you are comfortable with. My views on painting revered people like The Buddha, Jesus won’t be acceptable to many. I feel that honest attempts to capture these great people on canvas is not disrespectful at all. What would be disrespectful would be to draw them in an insulting and mocking way.
DeleteMahendra
DeleteThanks for your comment. I felt I am not an expert to paint these statues.
I did a cross stitch of Lord Buddha as I felt I could do it well. I fed in the picture to the cross stitching web site and followed the details given. I was happy with the result as it came out well. I am sure you can remember this as you published this with my first interview on the 12th of December 2020.
I think we should know our capabilities before we embark on any thing. Chira
FROM MANEL (OWLIE)
ReplyDeleteChira, your skill at fine art work is amazing! the paintings are beautiful. I appreciate the scientific annotations as well which was both interesting and helped to broaden my botanical knowledge. I never thought that anthuriums could be poisonous or that sunflower plants could be as tall as 30ft.
Thank you. Looking forward to your next series on fish.
Manel (Owli)
Manel ( Owli )
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your encouraging comment I appreciate it very much. I value your enthusiasm in posting comments in order to keep our Blog alive.
I was educated in my old age in getting annotations from the internet, which I enjoyed.
Chira
Chira, the flower that you have drawn as ‘Sal’ is the flower of the Cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis) a tree from tropical South America introduced to Asia by the British in the 19th centuray. This is often confused with the Sal tree mentioned in Buddhist and Hindu literature. Which is thought to be Shorea robusta. In Japan the sal tree of Buddhist scriptures is identified as the deciduous camellia (Stewartia pseudocamellia), called shāra, from Sanskrit śāla.
ReplyDeleteManel
Manel (Owli)
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for enlightening me on this.
I typed "Sal" on the internet and found the details which I published.
So the internet made me understand that The flowers I painted were sal.
Now I understand that they are Cononball flowers.
I just typed Canonball flowers and found these 'sal' flower photos.
The real Sal flowers are small white flowers.( I saw on the internet just now)
I learnt that The Lord Buddha was born under the real sal tree and not under the Canonball tree. Although we all know that the Canon ball flower as the sal flower, the real sal flower is a small white flower.
Chira
Chira,
ReplyDeleteThank you for submitting this collection of paintings of flowers for us to enjoy. They are gorgeous! Thank you also for including the valuable information about the flowers.
I often feel that people who live in Sri Lanka tend to take our flowering shrubs and trees for granted. In the northeastern US, where I live, all the flowers disappear in the winter. We cut back some of the flowering shrubs and plant bulbs in late autumn. Then we await the emergence of the first crocus peeking through the ground, which is one of the first signs of spring! These are followed by daffodils and tulips, and then we know that warm weather is around the corner. Pansies are also often planted in containers in early spring because they can tolerate the cold pretty well. Do you know that the humble Lantana (ganda paha?)is often sold in nurseries as a container plant. I have on occasion paid for one of these plants which is easily found on the side of country roads. I suspect the ones in the US nurseries are cultivars.
Srianee
ReplyDeleteThankyou very much for your comment. Much appreciated. Glad you enjoyed the paintings and valued the information given.
It appears that you are growing flowering plants. All the best.
Chira
Chira
Dear Chira,
ReplyDeleteMy sincere apologies for not posting a timely appreciation and comment. As explained to you privately, this was due to forces , Karmic or otherwise.
This was one of my most cherished of all your posts. My deep love for flowers was instilled almost from birth.For any important event at home mostly pirith and alms giving ceremonies Father got down flowers from "hill country". I particularly liked arum lillies, barbeton daisies and dahlias.You have painted all these so exquisitely. From childhood I can remember the orchids which were hanging from the mango tree in our front garden.The Cooktown orchid is the national flower of the State of QLD.I was once gifted , a beautiful specimen of this by a friend but despite my best efforts , it didn't survive. I had better luck in Srilanka with anthuriums including a rare black one and dahlias which don't do too well in Colombo. My mother who was a
keen gardener looked after them when I went overseas.
I have many stories about the Araliya grove in front of our HO quarters in Galle; in fact I have written a short poem which I should ask Mahen to publish
Thank you once again for your brilliant post.
Kumar
Thanks Chira for this superb display of details and colour.Lovely to see some of my favourite flowers so clearly and realistically recreated with your special ability.The very same hands that did do many intricate surgical procedures that we all as your colleagues admired watching you perform are now giving us another treat to our eyes and mind.Wonderful and many thanks.Keep up the good work and we will watch the space for more treats of this kind
ReplyDelete