Jill of all trades

It’s quite difficult to balance engineering, colour palettes and singing at once but Aishwarya Jakka, a second-year student of CMR Institute of Technology, seems to do it with ease. She has many feathers in her hat that includes ‘Nightingale of the Year’ title in her school. She also won laurels at various fests such ‘V Fest’, ‘CMR Has Talent’ and ‘Sargham’ and ‘Cultura’.

Her foray into the world of colours was at an early age. “I would get excited whenever I looked at pencil drawings on paper, so I started sketching from childhood,” she says. However, as she grew up, academics took much of her time and she didn’t take art very seriously. But her desire to explore canvas and colours didn’t fade away.

“My first oil painting was really bad but I kept going. Soon, my first canvas came out really well and that’s when I plunged into art.”

She started drawing still life such as candle stands, cups, spoons etc. “I wanted to explore different techniques. My drawings are based on moments of inspiration. I once went for an exhibition and I came home and sketched the items I saw there,” she recalls. She also has a keen interest in abstract and landscape paintings.

Though it’s a little difficult for her to balance studies and art at the same time, she says that she tries to manage the two by keeping two hours a week or in a month for her artwork. “I have got stuck many times when I start to draw. Sometimes, I wouldn’t know which colour to add or how to take my drawing forward. At this point, I stop drawing and I work out an initial draft. I also take opinions from my friends.”

A self-taught artist, she says, “I have learnt that one should always be able to paint one’s mind. I cannot assemble a patchwork of art abstractly; I have to understand and analyse the flow of colours.”

Painting is not her only passion. She also has another interest that is slowly blooming in her — she is into singing pop and rock numbers and come August, she hopes to start her own YouTube channel for acoustic covers. 

Apart from this, she has also won a State-level entrepreneurship award, which was a business plan presentation, and is currently working on a project that was considered the best idea at ‘Ideathon’. “It’s an Android application where middle-scale and small-scale entrepreneurs can connect with engineers if they face technical glitches. It’s a work in progress,” she says. “I haven’t thought about taking up art as a profession but I do hope I can be a full-time pop and country singer someday,” she concludes.