Artworks by Nimasha Perera

I've loved painting for as long as I can remember. I drew constantly as a kid, and chose art as a subject in school. But traditional art is a difficult industry to build a career in, especially in Sri Lanka, and financial reality eventually pulled me toward the more commercially viable, digital side of creativity. I spent several years doing custom portrait commissions, then moved into digital art and illustration. But the pull back to traditional painting never really left me.

Since 2023 I've returned to it seriously, and it's become a daily practice rather than a hobby. I've completed over 50 oil paintings this year alone. I'm a self-taught artist, drawn to impressionism, post-impressionism, and expressionism, and I learn through constant practice, observation, and study of painters like Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, John Singer Sargent, Rembrandt, and Peter Paul Rubens. I also love intricate ink pen and pastel work, but oil is what I keep coming back to, because of how freeing it is as a medium. I can work Alla prima and finish a piece in a day, or take weeks slowly building it up. It's a medium that seems confusing to learn at first, but once you get past that, it's one of the most forgiving mediums to work with. My brushwork varies between thick and thin depending on the piece, and in either case I like to finish with a layer of fine, almost etched details using a thinner brush. Small individual strokes built up across the surface rather than smoothed or blended in.

My main subjects are antique and worn objects, old kettles, teapots, weathered metal containers, alongside food and other still life subjects. I'm drawn to broken, used things because I think they tell a far better story than something shiny and new. Every dent and scratch carries a history, and that's what I want to capture, up close and intimate. Most of my work is medium to small scale, my largest piece so far has been 16x20 inches. Because smaller sizes make it easier to paint daily and keep experimenting with new subjects.

However, I've started a new series focused on animal rights and animal welfare, two pieces in so far, with more planned, and for this series I'm working larger canvases, giving the animals enough room to really express themselves. It's a way of combining the two things I care about most: animals, and painting. I want this series to give a voice to creatures who don't have one of their own.