KOTTAYAM: When the entire farming community in the State is struggling to come to terms with the fall in rubber price, a small-scale rubber farmer who also happens to be an artist, has embarked on a novel venture.
Hailing from Anikkadu near Kottayam, Siby P.Martin uses rubber sheets, instead of canvas, to paint. He has already come out with 10 paintings and all of them were sold out. It was the fall in price that set him thinking. He started using rubber sheets as a medium for painting. Siby owns four acres of land.
“I think this will help market rubber when the prices are down. In fact, foreigners appreciated my paintings on rubber sheets and were eager to buy them”, he said.
All the paintings were done in oil color, though acrylic too was found to be pretty good. “I would like to expand my work as this will help market the product”, Siby said.
He says the initiative is rewarding as well as satisfying. He sees a great future for rubber paintings. “We cannot do a preliminary sketch on rubber sheets. Instead, what we can do is to give color to the sheets. Oil colour is the most appropriate medium for pictures. The black coloured sheets are the best”, he said.
His paintings have fetched him around Rs 7,000 and Rs 10,000 per piece. Siby is now planning to establish an art gallery in Ponkunnam and the rubber sheet paintings will be the special feature there, he says.
