Mahatma Gandhi

This painting was a commission for one of my dear friends. He wanted to gift it to his professor from the university where he completed his masters. It was to be a token of love and respect and something beautifully 'Indian'. And he suggested I sketch him Mahatma Gandhi whose influence is anything but restricted to India.

I had the task to complete the sketch at a very short notice. The reference I had to work with was pretty dark and the contours of his right eye were nothing but the dark hollows. With limited time I decided to simply move on and face the challenge along the way(thats pretty much my philosophy for life!!..not necessarily the best one). As the sketch developed I gave shape to his right eye based on my understanding of how it could have been. The sketch was completed, appreciated and given away. With the passage of time I came upon a clearer picture of Mahatma Gandhi and was tempted to match it up to my work. And to my utter amazement it was pretty much what I had sketched. It made me happy.

I recenlty read an aritcle by English author Jad Adams. One of the lines that stayed with me went something like this.... "Every peace protest anywhere in the world owes its debt to Gandhi "...now who can argue with that.