Dakshina Kannada’s Vilas Nayak is a name that probably the whole world is familiar with.

Now meet Shabari Ganiga, Karavali’s sole female fast painter, who like Vilas is steadily carving a niche for herself in the region. “Painting has been a passion since I was a five-year-old. It is what I looked forward to doing soon after coming back from school,” says Shabari.

The fondness for the art grew and it was five years ago that she decided to take up another dimension – fast painting. “It all began when I started attending events to participate in cultural programmes. I’m also a singer, so whenever I finished my turn and had to wait for my team mates to perform, I’d end up getting bored. So, I decided to start painting when my team performed on stage. I gradually started doing live paintings on stage based on the dance/song that was being performed. Initially, I’d sketch and then paint it.

But that drew taunts from my team members as they felt it was no big deal to do something like that. I took it up as a challenge to start painting straight off and soon I was doing 6/4 feet paintings in less than five minutes,” adds Shabari.

The 23-year-old MCA student loves painting portraits and has already done many live fast paintings. “My dream is to go international and show Dakshina Kannada’s inherent and rich culture on a big platform. I also want to paint Dr Veerendra Heggade, a personality I look up to,” she tells us. Shabari has one grouse though. “There are not many female artists in our country and that is something I’d like to turn around,” the artist sums up.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Mangalore News / by Madhu Daithota / February 25th, 2017