Featured Artist of The Week: Punam Sanghrajka!
"Punam is an abstract landscape artist, using blended colour, broad
brushstrokes and textured marks to create layers and subtle movement. She
aims to bring the warmth, hope and lightness of Kenyan skies to your home.
She calls her style ‘structured abstract’. You can tell what she’s created, but it
doesn’t have all the details. Working with brushes and palette knives, she
uses colour and texture to bring the work to life.
Her work has been exhibited in London and New York and she has collectors
all over the world.
Artists statement:
During my painting sessions, I fall into a meditative state which allows me to
have silent conversations with myself. The way the paint moves, blends, folds
and creases with the texture allows me to connect with my day. These
conversations really help me see the positives, helping feed my mind with
love, positivity, empathy and thoughts of abundance. They are a visual journal
to help me work through my feelings - it’s about the process and getting so
engulfed, everything else can be forgotten for a while.
When you see my work, I want you to take a moment and get lost in what you
see. To stop, take a breath and let a memory come to life. Something from
your childhood, a moment shared with a loved one, a holiday, anything that
allows you to take a step back from your everyday life and pause. I want you
to feel nostalgic for something special – just like I do when I’m creating.”
Selected artwork:
Artworks in order:
Blue River , 2021, acrylic, inks, mixed media on canvas board , 20x20cm, £85 unframed
Inspired to find fragments, moments of time, memories, to get me through the grief of losing both grandparents (most recently my grandfather). They both had a strength and resilience in them I have never seen before and yet there was also a softness that taught us to love, forgive and always be happy with what we have. “Don’t go looking for acceptance or validation outside your own home, be proud of who you are and where you’ve come from”, they would say to my brother, sister and I on our Sunday afternoon tea time (my Indian friends will know tea time – chai and biscuits at 3pm, only too well) This piece is woven with fragments of those precious moments I had with them in the 18 years they raised me and then for years afterwards, whenever I went home to Kenya, to see them. It’s about the contrast of strength and softness – a balance helping me to see that both love and strength, perseverance and rest, determination and compromise, can carry you through anything, just like they taught us.
Exhale - 2020 - mixed media on canvas - 121x61cm - £850 unframed (sold) "When we know how to be at peace, we find that art is a wonderful way to share our peacefulness. Artistic expression will take place in one way or another, but the being is essential. So we must go back to ourselves, and when we have joy and peace in ourselves, our creations of art will be quite natural, and they will serve the world in a positive way." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh Exhale is inspired by the soft wispy clouds created by tropical heat moving. Warm summers, long walks, soft breezes making the clouds move in ways that seem nearly impossible. Growing up, I loved watching the clouds move and now, when I need a moment of quiet I look up at the sky to escape and find a moment of solace. Into the Deep, 2021 ,mixed media on paper, 30x22cm, £120 unframed
Inspired by my grandparents and their ability to be both strong and soft. It's filled with the deep inner peace they both held inside. It’s about the contrast of strength and softness – a balance helping me to see that both love and strength, perseverance and rest, determination and compromise, can carry you through anything, just like they taught us.
Hold me tight, 2021, mixed media on paper, 20x15cm, (not for sale)
"I wish I could show you, when you are alone or in darkness, the astonishing light of your being." Hafez This piece was started at the end of 2020. It was the toughest year of our generation and the one before us. We had to spend so much time away from our families, friends, colleagues and even strangers that you’d pass in the street. Yet, we emerged, stronger, more resilient, more forgiving, more tolerant, more accepting and full of gratitude. We all have within us a light, so powerful that it’ll help guide us. We just need to take the time to find it.
Time & Tide, 2020, mixed media on paper, 20x15cm, (not for sale)
"When we know how to be at peace, we find that art is a wonderful way to share our peacefulness. Artistic expression will take place in one way or another, but the being is essential. So we must go back to ourselves, and when we have joy and peace in ourselves, our creations of art will be quite natural, and they will serve the world in a positive way." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh Time and Tide is inspired by the soft wispy clouds created by tropical heat moving. Warm summers, long walks, soft breezes making the clouds move in ways that seem nearly impossible. Growing up, I loved watching the clouds move and now, when I need a moment of quiet I look up at the sky to escape and find a moment of solace.