Students’ paintings on display. Telegraph pictures

Balangir, April 14: It was a day to draw out the creativity from 20 students from various schools in Balangir. The art workshop they participated in helped them learn techniques of drawing and painting from eminent artists.

The workshop was organised by Balangir-based cultural organisation, Bhumika, as part of a day-long celebration of ‘Bishubatsova-2011’ at Law College here today. Eminent artist Rudradev Pradhan, who acted as the resource person, provided key notes and guided the participating school students on various aspects of art.

Lipsa Nanda, a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya here, said that she had a natural flair for drawing. “I have never formally learnt to draw. I do it on my own. This is a good opportunity for me to learn something from a renowned artist,” she said.

Sourav Behera, also of Kendriya Vidyalaya, said he had always wanted to learn to paint, but didn’t know how to go about it. “Here we don’t have a good art school. This opportunity will benefit me,” he said.

After Pradhan taught some basic points about how to paint a picture, the students made some paintings which were displayed.

Hailing Bhumika’s effort, eminent artist Rudradev Pradhan said that it was rare gesture to show so much interest in involving children in art.

“It is great to involve children and groom them for a future in creative fields such as writing, painting and acting,” Pradhan said. “Today I gave them some tips on painting and they responded well,” he said.

President of Bhumika, Dharmendra Prasad Nanda, said that the organisation wanted to help children realise their potential in art. “It is an effort to search for really talented children who excel in the field of drawing and painting, especially as drawing as a subject is missing from the school curriculum. We conducted a competition on painting for school students at the junior and senior levels about a couple of months back. Fifty-four students from 40 schools of Balangir took part in the competition. We selected 10 students from each group and they were invited to this workshop for guidance and training,” Nanda added.