Shubhra Sarkar

Shubhra Sarkar

Walking is a favorite activity of mine; it does not matter whether I am travelling or at home.
Walking down streets or seeing a home all nicely decorated makes me curious about it. I let my
imagination take over and build stories about the people who live there. And I think about the
stories that these homes could tell. My Series is Entitled “Enchanted Entryways” and is inspired
by the old stone buildings in Italy and France. Every chipped and broken stone has a story and I
get to paint that story.
All the paintings are based on my own photographs, taken as I walked down alleys in home or
abroad. I go walking the same way at different times of the day to get different moods.
However, I have noticed that the beauty which struck me the first time stays with me and I
often end up painting that. I choose my subjects depending on many factors; the angle of the
sunlight hitting it, the dancing colors of the walls, the promise of the road ahead. I choose from
among my multiple images, the final composition. I do a study as I must figure out the structure
and perspective correctly of the alleys or buildings that I will paint. My color palette is dictated
by the mood of the scene that I want to portray. I chose medium to large canvasses to depict
the sheer size of the buildings I have seen.
I love to travel. When I come back, I want to hold on to that experience. Memories fade, so I
paint fleeting moments, captured in time, of a place and the feeling it aroused so I can go back
there in an instant. I paint to keep that feeling fresh and alive. My painting, “Withstanding the
hot Sun” was exactly that. It was very hot and as I walked down the alley, hiding from the sun, I
saw this old green door. I was thinking how this door standing faces the strong sun every day
and shelters its owners inside, while the paint fades away.
There is a richness in these stone buildings, an inherent beauty made more beautiful by the
ravages of times. My paintings tell the story of these silent witnesses, the homes, the alleys
which have stood there while we humans pass by.
Email: shubathome@gmail.com
Website: www.artbyshubhra.com
Instagram: artshubhra