Bhubaneswar, April 25: Jayadev Bhavan opened its doors to budding artist Sriya Kanta Pattanaik, who displayed artworks done in acrylic colours at the three-day exhibition —A journey with colour — that concluded today.

The 34 paintings put up for viewing were a combination of colours, compositions and themes. The artist let his imagination lead the way. The result was an ensemble of visual canvasses on a variety of topics.

An engineer by profession, Pattanaik took over three years to complete this collection. A bunch of flowers against a bright red background on canvas greeted visitors as they stepped into the exhibition alley.

Red seems to be one of Pattanaik’s favourite colours, as he profusely used the colour in many of his artworks, mainly in those depicting the lifestyle of Odisha’s tribes. He also used red in the paintings that celebrated love.

A meditating Buddha peeking out of a turbulent ocean was undoubtedly the most attractive of the lot. “Through this painting, I wanted to remind everyone about the teachings of Buddha and spread the message of peace,” said Pattanaik.

Another of his interesting creations was that of a girl tearing out of a portrait and emerging into the world of flora and fauna. An unusual painting of Lord Ganesh depicting the necessity to have a balanced life also caught the eye. The colour combination in the painting was sound. The artist also took up the cause of saving tigers in two of his portraits. A lifestyle transition from pattachitra to computers, folk dance to hip-hop was well depicted in some of the paintings. The visitors also got to see a slice of Odisha through his paintings on Chilika, Lord Jagannath and tribes of the state. This was Pattanaik’s debut as a solo artist. The talented painter has no degree in fine arts.

The painter decided to give life to one of his hidden passions through this exhibition. As expected of a novice, his amateurish strokes in certain places and overuse of colour in others was apparent. He played safe with his compositions, and that is where he probably went wrong. He could have taken his exhibition to new heights with unusual and never-seen-before themes.

However, the painter should be credited for his simple, yet engaging works.

“All the paintings were easy on the eye. I could readily understand what they wanted to depict. So, for me, Pattanaik did a commendable job,” said visitor Pinky Mallick.