Bhubaneswar, March 22: A six-day workshop held at the Lalit Kala Akademi in the city to promote art and artists from the Northeastern states ended today.

Artists from all the states of the region expressed themselves on canvas using various mediums.

Buddhi Thapa from Nagaland painted various layers of colours on his canvas. The lower part of the frame had various shades of green while the upper part had blues. On the top-right corner of the canvas was an abstract circular form.

Thapa said he wanted to let the viewer's imagination go free and interpret it. "One can take it as a black hole or the sun. On one side, I wanted to showcase the nine layers of the sky and on the other hand, the greenery of the earth," said the artist who has been in the field for 35 years.

Mang Borah from Assam painted a woman. Using a number of abstract brushstrokes, the artist represented the struggles faced by women. Most of the paintings represented abstract ideas and there was a lot of use of bright colours.

Jayanta Bhattacharya from Tripura had put on canvas the picturesque landscape of his state and the problems of the people living in hilly areas.

"People here would not know much about my place because we live in one of the farthest corners of the country. The exhibition gave me an opportunity to talk about the art scene in my state with other artists," said Bhattacharya.

Another artist from Tripura, Pranab Chakraborty, portrayed the prominent cultural identities of the various states of the country in his artwork using cow dung and sawdust. While he represented the Konark temple from Odisha, the Victoria Memorial from Calcutta also found its way in his work.

For the artists, both northeastern and local, the camp was a platform for artistic exchange.

"I talked to them about the latest trends in the field. I also came to know about the popularity of painting in their states and the various mediums that they use to portray their imaginations," said Alok Mohanty, a local artist.