This year, SAISA art was hosted at OSC. The event is different from SAISA sports event in not being a competition but rather an event that aims at improving the art skills and knowledge of all participants by creating art together and and learning as a group. The event ran from the 22nd to 24th, so we had three full days. I hosted two senior students from Lincoln School, Connor and Jas, who where fun to share the three days with. I knew Connor from SAISA Music, as we were hosted together by a family in Chennai, so it was cool meeting him again.

On the first day, we met in the morning in the auditorium and were greeted by a speech and two dance performances. We then got straight into the program afterwards, piling into the bus and heading to Kelaniya Temple. Here we looked specifically at the paintings, trying some observational sketches and taking photos of the structures for later reference. Following this we continued to Barefoot in Colombo, where art pieces were exhibited. We used this opportunity to identify themes and repetition in the different artworks (and to get a quick snack at the bordering restaurant). Now, even though some of us had a snack, we were all ready for lunch, and so we drove to a restaurant, where we had a good buffet. Afterwards we drove to a place close to school that was originally built for a film set but is now used especially as a wedding spot. The main feature is the green and shady garden, where we spent over an hour sketching some of the things we noticed. With this we drove back to school, where some of us ended up playing football, while others had dinner. The final activity was Gecko Factor, the annual talent show, which was a lot of fun to watch.

Most of the second day was spent in our cohort groups. The group I had chosen was watercolor, and we started the day with an introduction of the different watercolor techniques. After some experimentation of the different media, during which the artist, Subutha, came around and helped us when we had difficulties, we started with the main piece, which would then be hung up at the exhibition. I started with a stupa, using a technique I had never used before, in which you cut out shapes cut out a shape and lay it on the paper, to paint the surrounding area. This was suitable for the stupa as it is mainly white. I then added some shading onto it. Since the paper was big, I decided to have several smaller pictures, so I added some of the figures that I saw the day before at the temple, concentrating on the different shadings of light and shadow. All of us were very tired by the end of the day, and the student I was hosting went straight o bed after we arrived back home, giving me some time to catch up with school work.

On Sunday, the final day, we started with some group photos. After this, we finished our paintings. I could not come up with things to fill the paper with after I painted a lotus that was on sale at the temple, so the artist showed me an abstract technique in which watercolor is blown over the paper. A root-like structure was created, which reminded me of the exhibition at Barefoot we visited two days before. This proved to be a great addition to my piece, as it added contrast to the more realistic part. The exhibition in the end was the perfect way to share the art everybody had been doing in the different groups, and I enjoyed looking especially at mixed media pieces, many of which used maps of Sri Lanka to create interesting artworks.

It was the first time for me to come together with many like-minded people in arts and therefore a great experience. I learned many new techniques and improved the ones I already had, while on a broader scale, I improved my teamwork, collaboration and communication skills by working in groups, although I feel that these skills would have been improved even more if teamwork had been a bigger part, as mostly the painting was individual.