Debalina Sarkar is a new artist and a resident of North Reading. As a small girl, she was interested in art, but soon discontinued it for academics. Her parents were called to school in second grade because her teacher thought that her parents had helped her with her art homework. Her teacher made her paint in front of her because she couldn’t believe a second grade girl could paint that well. Since then, Debalina has painted many paintings during festivals in India. Although she is a research scientist by profession, she rediscovered her art after almost 25 years, after her son was born. She started painting early this year, and was so excited that she painted over 100 paintings in 5 months, mostly with her newborn in her arms. She paints mostly landscapes, flowers and small animals. She uses traditional oil painting on canvas, but has also worked with acrylics and watercolors.
Her influences include American, European and Indian painters. She has also been inspired by various art forms such as contemporary, wet-on-wet, Madhubani, and Renaissance techniques. A lot of her ideas come from within, but many are influenced by modern day painters such as Bob Ross, Wilson Bickford, Ginger Cook, Kevin Hill, and Gary Jenkins.