Dhanashri Bapat
“Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher”: an adage that is vividly echoed in her art as Dhanashri paints in cohesion of her inspiration.
Originally from Pune, India and an Ottawa resident from past 18 years, Dhanashri Bapat is an active artist on Ottawa’s art scene. Her artistic senses, particularly in painting, have always been significantly coursing through her childhood. She pursued and earned thus, her Applied Arts degree from Abhinav Kala Academy and worked as a freelance designer in India before focusing on Fine Arts.
Be it in India or in Canada, nature and its multiple facets have always been a big influence on Dhanashri's work. Eternally mesmerized by the beauty and elegance that is nature, Dhanashri revels in the translation of its immense scope onto her canvas. The changing seasons offer a great palette of moods and colours. And she likes to capture these nuances in a representational manner.
Dhanashri primarily uses watercolours to best depict her work. She finds watercolours to be very lively, fun as well as a challenging medium to paint her own interpretation of the subject. Over the years, her painting style has evolved, as she studies, explores & experiments different mediums such as acrylic, ink, mixed media.
Dhanashri has been teaching watercolour painting courses at Ottawa School of Art under their General Interest Programs since 2013. She also offers workshops for various age groups (in person and online) in collaboration with art associations/ galleries.
She is an active member of some local art organizations and has been participating regularly in their juried and group shows. She has many successful solo shows to her credit as well. Her paintings get showcased through various local art galleries and are in private collection of many, in various countries, such as India, UK, USA and Canada.
Dhanashri conducted a virtual workshop under 'Creative Thursdays' in collaboration with National Gallery Of Canada in March 2022. It was a landscape inspired by paintings from the exhibition "Canada and Impressionism: New Horizons".
You can view the Demo on Gallery's Youtube Channel:
https://youtu.be/_fU1U2anlks
Dhanashri also has worked as an Illustrator for some magazines and book publications over the years.
One of her floral paintings has been published in the internationally recognized book " Painting in Watercolour-the indispensable guide" written by UK based Artist David Webb. It is an example of an expressive 'Ink and Watercolour' technique.
Recently, Dhanashri and her family got featured in one of her neighbourhood magazines. As a member
of Artists of Stonebridge, her artistic journey over the years was elaborated and acclaimed in a wonderful 2 page spread article.
of Artists of Stonebridge, her artistic journey over the years was elaborated and acclaimed in a wonderful 2 page spread article.
This is one of Dhanashri's interviews on a local news channel (in Marathi language).
