There is an ‘Ra’ at the bottom of her paintings. That’s for Reema Abraham, she says. She is netter known as Reema Narendran, a journalist who wrote many great stories before leaving the profession one day to pursue what she had secretly loved doing all that while — painting. Not drawing, she specifies. It’s always been paintings, for she loved colours. It’s been two years since she started Lemon Yellow, her gallery of paintings in Thiruvananthapuram, and recently opened another in Kochi. But this is her first exhibition there — at the capital, with scores of tiny paintings themed on Christmas.
“I was just thinking what to do for Christmas and this idea came to us. It is the time of demonetization and there was no point putting out big paintings. People could afford to get smaller ones, priced at Rs 500 and Rs 1000 and gift it to dear ones for Christmas,” she says. In less than two months, Reema has finished about 70 to 80 paintings. On the walls of Lemon Yellow are many hooks where her paintings had been. “We thought there were too many Santa Clauses but surprisingly, nearly all of them got sold.” Her Santas look cute, waving a hand, with bulky cheeks and smiling eyes. There is a dark Santa riding his sleigh over a night blue sky. There are other Christmas themes — pine trees and snowed houses, red stockings for gifts, poinsettia and wreaths.
She calls her gallery Lemon Yellow because she loves Van Gogh and he loved yellow. The exhibition is on till December 24.
