He makes art with a good ol' Reynold's

Shirish Deshpande uses a simple ballpoint pen to make paintings that hold scores of layers, millions of pen strokes and some serious patience

Shirish Deshpande uses a simple ballpoint pen to make paintings that hold scores of layers, millions of pen strokes and some serious patience

At first glance Belgaum-based artist Shirish Deshpande's paintings may not strike you as radically different from regular watercolour or oil paintings. But a closer look reveals millions of lines juxtaposed by using colourful ballpens. For Deshpande, these pens are a tool to depict scenes from everyday life such as a sunlit doorway, the chiseled features of a woman's face, landscapes or even abstracts.

Painting made by using ballpoint pens. pics/ anil naik

What inspired you to embark on this particular method of painting?
I have been a busy graphic designer for the last 30 years. A year ago, I approached my one-foot-by-one-foot hardboard and instead of a paint brush, I used some multi-coloured ballpoint pens. Several layers and two days later, I finished my first ballpoint painting. I made a few more which I uploaded on the Internet. The positive feedback I got motivated me to pursue it further.

City-based artists such as Sanjay Khilare and Sheel Sadvelkar have also experimented with ballpoint pens. How is your work different from theirs?
I have not seen their work yet but I have heard that they only use single-coloured pens. I prefer to use a lot of colours in my paintings.

Which are the colours that you predominantly use?
I use all the shades that are available. I tend to use Reynolds and Uniball pens and stick to colours like black, blue, red, green, pink and purple. The choice of colours depends on the theme of the painting. Since, there is no yellow ink available, I have to make do with au00a0 yellow pencil.

Certain artists who work with the ballpen use techniques such as cross-shading or draw vertical lines. What is your technique of painting?
I have restricted myself to hatching (drawing parallel lines close together) and cross-hatching (drawing lines at angles) to create sharp images and a greater impact. I visualise the painting and keep working on it till I get the desired outcome.

How do you cope with the limitations of a ballpoint painting?
I love to play around the restrictions. For instance, unlike oil paint or watercolours where one stroke covers a large area, the ballpoint pen builds a painting stroke by stroke and there is no scope for correction. Once a stroke is made, nothing can cover or erase it. Since there is a very limited palette, colours have to be made from scratch.

How much time do you require to complete a picture?
It takes around one month to finish a painting.