Meera Dayal’s works are a testimony to her connection with nature
It is said you need the rub of the green to complete a mission successfully. The idiom, ‘the rub of the green,’ literally holds true in case of Meera Dayal. In most of her works she uses a hint of the colour to convey a message on conservation. The artist has been working with the theme nature since last seven years. Her forthcoming exhibition at India International Centre will be the sequel to her former show and therefore it is titled Inscapes II. The reason, she says, the works are not called the landscapes but Inscapes is “because they are all about introspection. They inspire the onlookers to look beyond the visible and think about the ways to preserve our surroundings.”
Mostly figurative, Meera’s works are inspired by what she sees. She spent a large part of her childhood in Himalayas. She frequently travels to Ranikhet to be close to the nature. “We collectively have caused so much harm to the nature in our cities that we do not find peace here. I have always been closely connected to nature, so I have to go back to my roots to express myself on the canvas,” she says. Meera was also at Corsica island in France and she says that her evenings were mostly spent outdoors. “I would go out with my pen and paper and would not come back until I completed my drawing. Some of the paintings are taken from my experiences or what I saw then,” she recalls.
From soothing blue to fiery red and calm yellow, she uses several shades in her work to define the beauty of nature. Meera informs that in the beginning of her career, she was doing pen and ink work in black and white but later she realised that nothing conveys the mood and emotion better than colours in the paintings. “I love my works to be vibrant. I experiment with different shades to bring out various moods of nature,” she adds.
The delicate petals of a deep purple pansy, the auburn autumn leaf, a valley of wildflowers playing with the wind — all suggest a beauty to cherish, while reminding one of their strength of perseverance. “All these parts of nature are important for the survival of the world, but they are now endangered only due to the negligence of man,” says Meera. She has spent almost five decades painting, hoping to encourage the viewer to take an initiative to help stop the destruction of nature we see all around us.
Meera has largely been working in oils, acrylics, pen and ink, pastels, mixed media and water colours. Paris, she says, was the turning point in her life. It widened her horizons and she learned a lot about Western painting through the ages. “Even as a child I used to dream of being an artist in Paris as I had poured over books about French artists ever since I can remember,” she says.