Paper seems to be the flavour of the capital this week.
Paper seems to be the flavour of the capital this week. After a three-decade hiatus during which canvas became the chosen medium for artists, paper is again back in favour.
Catch the paperworks of 11 veteran Indian artists who are showcasing 46 compositions in an exhibition titled Paper Trail. The works cover mediums like watercolours, crayons, charcoal etchings, pencil drawings and ink etchings. 
The drawings are diverse. Compositions of masters from the 1960s and 1970s like Arpita Singh, Ram Kumar, A. Ramachandran, Bhupen Khakhar, Chameli Ramachandran, FN Souza, Ganesh Pyne, Jogen Chowdhury, Paramjit Singh, Rameshwar Broota and SH Raza have been showcased. The paper works are priced at Rs 45,000 and above, at least three times less than a canvas by the same artist.
Paper is the right choice
Padma Bhushan-winner A. Ramachandran has been painting since the 1960s. "Lines on paper have more fluidity and paper art is much cheaper than canvas. The basic difference between paper and canvas art is the same as the difference between a poem and a short story. Paper art has a special sensitivity attached to it," he says. His artist wife Chameli Ramachandran, who grew up and trained in Shantiniketan, says it is nature that beckons her. "Paper art is something that comes naturally to me. Paper work demands spontaneity, practice and control. Once a stroke is drawn, you cannot undo or redo it," she says.
Art attack on paper
Watercolour paper has an interesting history. It was made around the time Tsa'i Lun patented papermaking in China in 105 AD. Western watercolour paper was developed in the second half of the 18th century. James Whatman paved the way for the development of watercolour paper when under commission in the late 1750s and replaced the traditional coarse laid wire screen of papermaking mould with a wire screen so fine that it was called "wire cloth". This facilitated an even formation of pulp fibres without any textural impressions left on the surface of the newly-formed paper. Whatman-made paper is available in three finishes ufffd "hot press", "not (cold press)" and "rough". He has been credited with the adaptation of the "hard-size" (alum-gelatin) for use in watercolour paper. Whatman, Saunders and Strathmore papers, as well as Fabriano and the Royal Watercolour Society Paper, are still among the world's finest.
At: Vadehra Art Gallery, D-40, Defence Colony
On till: July 21
Timings: 11 am to 7 pm
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