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Lester Perera's fourth exhibition of bird paintings opens on November 29, the fruit of diligent effort, whenever time could be spared, in the past five years since his last exhibition in May 1996.

He now offers a whole new collection of 40 watercolour and acrylic paintings marked by some notable developments in technique and style. The delicate, meticulous bird depictions so characteristic of Lester's style are still very well represented but his new ventures into holder, habitat-focused, larger scale paintings are an exciting new development.

Lester has always striven to couple artistic merit with accuracy. The proportions and postures, the intricate body details, the blend of colours, the background habitat - all should be as close to nature as possible. He spends days out in the field, observing, making notes and sketching. Back at home, his field sketches and notes get transformed, after a lot of thought, trial and deliberation, into paintings.

Career

Lester started painting in the 1980s while still but a teenager at school at St. Joseph's College. His family's traditional bent for the outdoor life, jungle forays with his long-time school crony and fellow wildlife enthusiast Gehan de S. Wijeyeratne; a solid biology background knowledge gained at his alma mater - all these were strong influences which propelled him very early on towards a career as a bird artist. A further formative experience was a two year stint with the National Aquatic Resources Agency (NARA), when he was based at Bundala, the internationally renowned bird site where he carried out a research project on turtle nesting behaviour and also researched on whales, dolphins and flamingos.

Plan

Currently, Lester is closely involved with the Ceylon Bird Club, an outstanding authority on Sri Lankan birdlife as well as the Sri Lanka Natural History Society, which he has served as President. Recently he has done the artwork for a number of key studies on Sri Lankan birds and made an inroad into the international bird art market. His long-term ambition is to achieve international recognition as a bird artist and to continue his work as a conservationist.

This year, he made a momentous decision to work "full-time" as a bird artist. We can expect more paintings, more often and of course more renown for this talented young bird artist cum ardent "birder".

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