Natural wonders on canvas

His first brush with art was when he was asked by his science teacher in school to draw diagrams on the blackboard. Though the teacher spotted in him the talent to draw, it took another 40-odd years for Mohan Krishnan, a businessman based in the City, to  dabble with paint, brushes and canvas.

His paintings are on varied themes — while some revolve around nature, some are on unique places of interest and those that have an interesting history or story behind it.
    
He recollects how the interest began, much later in life. “After a hectic day, I
casually sat down one day and tried replicating a scenery. It turned out pretty well and I had a lot of people encouraging me to paint again. Those were my first steps into painting,” he says who has not attended any art classes.

His works revolve around nature and places of interest, especially those that have a strong history or story behind it. “Some of the paintings I have done include the
water falls of Mount Fuji, the Kavakuna Cave in Papua New Guinea which hasn’t been
explored as yet, the natural calcite rock formations on Bozhair in Central Asia; and the columnar rocks where the Amazon originated. These are some of the images I’ve watched on television and got down to drawing them immediately,” explains Mohan.

He says that only the extraordinary grab his attention, “I usually sit to paint after my work is done — from 8 pm to well past midnight. It’s not only relaxing but extremely satisfying when I’ve created a picture on canvas,” adds Mohan.

How long does he take to complete a piece of work? “It could take anything between two or three days to even months, depending on my mood and pace of work. There have been times when I’ve also got down to rectifying a particular piece of work because I wasn’t happy with the outcome. My replicas have to be nothing less than perfect,” explains Mohan. 

Mohan has a couple more themes that he would like to paint. “The Rock Islands of Palau, which are a cluster of 120 or more islands, is one of them. I would like to draw a small portion of that island,” he says.

He has framed all his paintings and hopes to have an exhibition soon. “A lot of
people who have seen the paintings  wanted to buy them. I don’t intend to start a business of my paintings but I want to paint whenever I feel like. It’s all mood-based,”
he states.