Only a matter of time
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, February 6
Last Friday, holding her brush and palette, artist Kimi Juneja remained standing for 14 hours straight to complete her painting — a painting, which so far is closest to her heart and has not been readied for the purpose of sale.
The moment I completed it, I shared it with my friends and well wishers on social media and got a huge, unexpected response. People shared it adding videos and shabad as the tune to it. There were calls even from Canada with people asking me for its price and I told them that I had no plans to sell it as of now. My husband remained a big support while I completed this work.
Having actively participated in pro-farmer protests locally, the idea of brushing the farmers’ theme bulged while she was completing some pending portrait orders of her clients, and did not settle till it was finally completed.
In the painting she shows a farmer ploughing his fields while looking up at the dark clouds over his head. The painting carries words from gurbani ‘nishchay kar apni jeet karo’. “The moment I completed it, I shared it with my friends and well wishers on social media and got a huge, unexpected response. People shared it adding videos and shabad as the tune to it. There were calls even from Canada with people asking me for its price and I told them that I had no plans to sell it as of now. My husband remained a big support while I completed this work,” Juneja quipped.
The 43-year-old (looks pretty young) shot into limelight a few months back when she made painting related to coronavirus and frontline warriors. “My painting of a doctor with lines ‘sarbat da bhala’ was appreciated a lot at that time,” she shared, before replaying past times, “even though I was inclined towards painting from the very beginning but I could share more time towards it after my kids grew up and were much on their own.”
About her plans for 2021, she came out, “If everything goes well, I will be seeing my dream coming true. Soon, I may open my art gallery in a posh area and will display all my work there. It will lend a professional touch to my work.” Juneja’s mother and younger sister, too, are artists based in Ludhiana.
A social activist as well, she said, “My gallery will also exhibit the artwork of the kids of Prayaas, an NGO for special kids. I had been organising display of their work earlier in a gurdwara, which I will now shift to my gallery.”
