From Science to an Artist

While I’m self taught in art, I actually learnt science and was hoping to one day be a marine biologist

Oil and colour pencils on Canvas Paper by me

The other day my daughter reminded me that if art hadn’t been my pursuit I would have been a marine biologist. Two vastly different career choices and she’s not wrong. Even with art I had hoped to be a Jane Goodall or David Attenborough. Because in those days they were the role models I heard and knew of. Even to this day I’m a little surprised that I have no idea about names that came after these greats, because there have been a lot of them. Even ones in the Asian subcontinent but I’ve not been aware of them.

Surprisingly my yearning to be a marine biologist was because I knew sharks were maligned by the media a little too much. I’m not even sure how I found out about sharks being dangerous, sure but they were not that dangerous. They just tested things with their mouth by accident. That and I felt it was a little too stereotypical that when we thought of ocean creatures it wad always the dolphin, who were assumed to be smart and cute. I learned later they were all that and deadly when they wanted to be. Laws of jungle applied in their lives too.

That long convoluted story is just to say I wasn’t even aware of it but sometime during my artistic journey I had been not drawing landscapes. Or storybook characters. I had been drawing buildings with perfect proportions and all that my mom was convinced I needed to be an architect. I chose science instead and without me noticing my journals were filled with botany and zoology anatomically correct creatures. I taught myself how to draw animals and birds, no sea creatures yet.

I scored major points in academics because of those diagrams I think. Those journal drawings help me today when I quickly sketch any animal from dinosaurs to insects to even sharks. I settled for drawing them instead. When I realised oils were too much of a space commitment I got myself some oil papers and started a mixed media approach of oil paints with colour pencils on top. The effect has been quite amazing I found.