Rhythm of life

Prem Pothro, Oil on canvas

"Snaner aboshorey" had a woman drying her hair, with the sun-rays at the back. In this Salma had used brown for the skin tone, blue for the sari, and black for the hair. Linseed oil and "jesso" -- an item to create grainy texture -- had been used. "Premika" had the conventional romantic theme of love , with a woman standing , flower in hand, dressed in brown and blue. This was offset by white while the flower had a central position and had a feeling of expectation of the arrival of a beloved one. "Prem-potro" had also a romantic theme , with the figure presented in a semi-abstract manner, where one had to pause to drink in the entire beauty and to figure out what the lines and colours were about. Brown, red and green had been used with subtlety, with flat strokes, using plenty of splashes and blobs. " I like the relief effect of using thick layers of paints as it lends depth to the work," Asma says.

"Thinker", similarly, brought in a young woman waiting for someone's arrival, lost in thoughts. The water colours on the banana leaves had acrylic and water-colour to present "Romoni", another semi abstract, that brought in a seated woman's figure, seen from the back. This was in copper , steel blue, gold and red "Romoni-11" was another alluring and intriguing back view of a seated woman, with the sari falling over her shoulders. This was although she had a conventional dusky complexion. The garment appeared gold, bronze and electric blue. "Aboyob" had two faces with strips of copper, electric blue, brown and black between them. In this portrait of a woman one had to look hard and concentrate to distinguish the limbs , body and flowing hair.

There were three paintings labelled " Boshonto" which brought in the scintillating flowers of spring. The petals and stamens had been enlarged , one of the paintings concentrating on orange, another on yellow while the third being purple. These were in water colour. The yellow had shades of green, the purple had splashes of pink and brown, while the orange flower had smears of black. "Nibriti" brought in solitude with the suggestion of sunshine in pink and orange falling through bending trunks of trees. Another painting, with the same title, had in branches of trees, and grass in the composition; the streaming sunlight was brought in variations of pink and orange.

Large yellow poppies were seen in the next painting with their thick fleshy leaves gliding around with centres of startling orange and black, presented with orange and mustard leaves. The painting was done on three separate parts, put together. The lily, on the other hand, was done on four pieces of canvas. Both gave the effect of a game of blocks.

"Mukho- Mukhosh" creations brought in the delineation of evil characters around us in society and they were different from the other paintings which were out to please the eye while they provided food for thought. The ugly faces with snarling mouths displaying big teeth , monstrous eyes and curved eye-brows were partly covered with cloth. The white cloth on top of the images stood for purity while the rest of the painting for ugliness and bad traits.

"Indrio" brought in the five senses with focus on the eyes, next the nose, later the mouth followed by the ear. " Without the five senses," says Salma, it is not possible for me to paint."

Salma Kaniz Ahmed is a fine example of what women can achieve besides being excellent homemakers. The artists who have inspired her most are Monirul Islam and Mahmudul Haque.