There is nothing grand and monumental here, but an awesome ethereal mood takes over you when you gaze at Archana’s paintings. Her imagination captures on the canvas many a spellbinding view of the simple tree that one fails to notice in the speed of life. We need someone like her to draw attention to our immediate surroundings - nature, of which we are a part and parcel. And there is emphasis on the feel rather than what the eye documents within each frame. Archana makes
spontaneous decisions that transform canvases into sounding boards of her personal emotional responses. Her aesthetic is characterised by deft impasto knife work, strokes of bold colour that twitch and curl, light-drenched spaces that share a kinship with momentary qualities of impressionism and an interest in conveying mood. While some of the paintings are delicately bathed in tempered light, others exude a fl avour and warmth that linger into distant memory of leaves, worthy of multiple recalls. Through subtle colour harmonies and knife work, she seeks to create a palpable sense of mood in each painting. Her technique is mostly intuitive; her response to nature and its elements are dreamlike.

Archana’s style of painting sometimes forces you to think of tradition, but she can break away from the mould with absolute irreverence the very next moment with interacting hues and shapes, seemingly painted in a single fl ash of perception.

Born in Kerala and brought up in New Delhi, Archana R D King is a journalist-cum-painter based in Dubai. A postgraduate in Mass Communications, Archana had been a correspondent with the United News of India (UNI) and afaqs! in New Delhi. She had also been a news producer at Star News in
Mumbai before joining Gulf News in Dubai in 2006. Although a self-taught artist, her works were a part of seven international group shows held in New Delhi, Singapore, Mumbai, Kochi and Dubai respectively. Archana is B’lu, the brush name derivative of her pet name, Babloo. She is listed in artinasia.com and is a member of Dubai International Art Centre. Archana’s much-loved subject is the tree and the artist is amazed by its attribute of growth despite being rooted. Her paintings complement the collections of a cross section of art afi cionados and critics across the globe. Her fi rst solo was called Tree of Life, which took place at the Cochin Art Gallery. Her second solo is scheduled for November 27-30 at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. Archana is married to Deepak King.