Lifestyle Buzz

This exhibition is a collage of her paintings inspired by her trips to Finland, Mongolia, Switzerland and, in India, to Ooty, Alibag, Kashmir, Gangtok and Kolkata amongst others!

Mangal chooses water colours as a medium to express herself. She is passionate about being with nature and this passion is eloquently reflected when she paints landscapes with colours. She says, “Painting is a hobby but I am passionate about it and believe that I have it in my genes as a proud legacy from my artistically inclined grandfather and mother. I used to paint a lot during my school and college days, but very few paintings from my younger days are currently preserved. There was a long gap after my marriage and, quite suddenly, during a vacation to Ooty in October 1982, the urge to paint resurfaced. Now, wherever I travel, I must carry my papers, brushes and paints with me.”

A preview of Mangal’s paintings has evoked reactions from her admirers….............

• Eeva Kainulainen, Vice President, Global Communications, Wärtsilä Corporation, says, "Congratulations, Mangal, for the exhibition! There are a lot of feelings in your paintings. I saw them for the first time some years ago in Helsinki when you were painting a scenery with birches – typical trees in Finland. Your paintings create a good feeling, they are fragile and sweet. All the best for your artistic future!”

• Prof. Anant Bhave, News Reader and columnist, says, “There are many Mangals integrated in one person conveniently called, Gogte Mangal Pradeep. She has an extraordinary zest for life which expresses itself in various mediums. Mangal is a college teacher, a writer, a traveller, a traffic control volunteer. And she is also an amateur painter. She paints landscapes in watercolours! The freshness and the natural blending of her colours will offer a memorable experience for all viewers.”

• Rajani Dandekar of Camlin Ltd, says, “Mangal is a self-taught artist. She has been handling colours from her childhood. Painting is her hobby but, at the same time, she takes it seriously and paints very passionately. She is particularly fascinated by nature and so landscapes are naturally her subject. She finds solace and peace in nature and the tranquility in nature inspires her to paint. So, she paints on the spot. She becomes one with the landscape and you can see that in her paintings, which are finished with great enthusiasm. She has had many opportunities to travel and stay at some of the most beautiful places which abound with natural beauty and she has used the visits to bring them alive to us in her paintings. She has natural flair to choose the right colours and uses the brush with ease. I am confident that she will progress faster in her water-colour paintings if she can devote more time to develop the skills of this particular medium.”