It’s not often that a niece gets the privilege of being able to write about her youngest uncle (from her maternal side); but it did happen. Humbled by his success with his recent exhibitions over the years, Ifthikar decided to share his new collection to all art enthusiasts barely nine months after his most recent exhibition. He paints primarily because, quite simply, it is what gives him the greatest thrill and pleasure. Happily he discovered that his paintings also resonated with people, and that he was blessed with the luxury of being paid for doing something he enjoyed! It therefore seemed the best thing to do when he retired from business in 1993 aged 55.

Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is an island of extraordinary beauty and it is no small wonder then, that he mostly enjoys painting its magnificent landscapes directly from nature. Getting into the nitty gritty of how he paints, (not all are exposed to this) he begins by accurately measuring and drawing the outlines of the main shapes lightly blocking in their values, edges and colours, starting from top to bottom, background of sky and distant objects through middle ground and finally what is close up in the foreground. He then proceeds to build up details generally finishing the prominent shapes with the correct colour, values and edges that he sees. For him, it is an intensely satisfying experience to lay down the paint with brush and painting knives and watch the picture evolve and translate in to what he had in mind. To me it sounded like a History, Math, Geography and Physics lesson were all thrown into this one subject! His mission is always to strive for excellence and attempt to convey the passion and emotion the subject has evoked to the best of his ability. And, he sure does just that!

Born in Colombo on May 10, 1938 and educated at S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia, Ifthikar chose to explore the education systems in the UK and finished his education at the London School of Economics (University of London).

 He developed a life-long passion for painting as a teenager watching and being inspired by his brother Ashy Cader’s water colour creations. He experimented and soon turned to oil colours in the early fifties which has since remained his preferred medium. He had no formal training but benefited substantially from the opportunities he had visiting the famous art galleries in England and France during his student days, and later on his frequent business tours to UK, France, Italy, Holland and also one visit to Boston, USA in 1984 which were all equally inspiring he said.

But the opportunity to paint fulltime happened when he retired from business prematurely in 1993. He started to paint seriously and had the first of several exhibitions in 1996 that sold many paintings and launched a successful professional career. He paints in the realist-impressionist style and prefers to paint plein-air landscapes. He has been inspired by the great French Impressionists especially Monet, Pissarro, Corot and Post-Impressionists Cezanne, Gauguin and the Dutchman, Van Gogh, and Spaniard Sorolla. Realist and Impressionist American painters who have also influenced him include Sargent and one of the world’s greatest living artists, Richard Schmid. Having been privy to his new collection, I am honoured to remain his niece. The exhibition will have around 45 plus paintings for a preview and reception for invitees in the Harold Peiris Gallery at the Wendt on 14th December, and thereafter open to the public on the 15th December.