An exhibition of paintings by Saro Jay at the Lionel Wendt Gallery from February 15 to 16
Saro Jayaratne (Saro Jay as it is a shorter and more convenient name for her art) was born in Sri Lanka and had a happy childhood growing up in a large family of seven. Her siblings are three sets of twins. She studied at Visakha Vidyalaya and then at the University of Sri Lanka, Colombo. She now lives in the UK where she has been for the past thirty five years.
Saro loves painting and had been interested in art from childhood. As far as Saro can remember her interest in art was triggered around the age of five when an aunt gave her a box of water colours.
She was also inspired by seeing another aunt (her father’s sister, Rose) paint lifelike portraits, as a self- taught artist. Saro was present when Rose presented a painting she had done of the Indian Prime Minister Nehru, to his daughter Indira Ghandi when she visited Sri Lanka.
However, Saro was unable to pursue her interest while studying because art was not an option with the other subjects she chose. Eventually, work and family commitments came first so she took up painting only when she gave up full-time work after her son was born.
The subjects of Saro’s paintings are many and varied, ranging from landscapes, seascapes, flowers and portraits to abstracts. Most of her work is in acrylics on canvas done with brush or palette knife. Saro paints in water colour too and loves experimenting with other media like oils and pen and brush. Some of the work she has recently sold are in mixed media and collage. Saro has been exhibiting for more than twenty years at local exhibitions in Buckinghamshire,UK where she lives. She has also had one of her paintings in the prestigious Llewellyn Alexander Gallery, London, in their, Not the RA, exhibition. She also does commissions of pet portraits and has sold some of her work abroad.