A Remarkable Transformation by Sumita Biswas

It was a huge transformation. One that meant I would explore a whole new world. But I had to take this journey, otherwise I would inevitably be filled with regret, and the sense I hadn’t taken a chance. Dazzled by the art in Rome, the paintings, the frescoes, just the spirit of living there amid the ghosts of so many treasured creators, I wondered if I too could be a painter. Should I take painting lessons, and try to convey my vision to others? I excitedly plunged into this new realm, a world far different than the hospitals where I worked as a paediatrician specializing in neonatology. Along with caring for premature babies, many who are sick and in great need of intensive doctoring, I communicated with parents, anguished parents. I tried to comfort them, particularly when I was a consultant at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.

Medicine is always fulfilling work. But I really felt the art in Rome was beckoning me, that I had to see what the art world offered me. I felt I had to take a chance, try to be creative. After taking a short course with Guy Shoham, who was a terrific inspiration, I chose a special name–Jordan Smith– to sign and distinguish my work. I immediately began to study the paintings of van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin and Monet. They were masters of “subject matter,” composition, and colour combinations. They enchanted me, and certainly influenced my work. Taking the advice of another art tutor, Enver Gursev, I also studied abstract art, their “Colour Wheel,” and learned “Colour Clashes” could turn a technically good painting into a mess. Gursev was a terrific inspiration for me. My medical experience also helped me refine my vision. Caring for people, most critically, is about restoring calm, happiness, fostering good emotion. I also had to achieve these goals in my paintings. Now I love painting beautiful objects, fascinating places. I do this, especially now during the Pandemic, to uplift people’s spirits, to encourage them “to appreciate and enjoy the beauty” around them.

I hope my first abstract painting, “Star”, inspires that type of joy. It is extremely abstract. My second work “Kew Gardens”, was very challenging, for it tries to capture an exotic lily, based on a book by Debra N. Mancoff, Van Gogh’s Flowers. I understand that I am still an amateur artist, still learning so much. But I do dream. I want to be exhibited.

In the meantime I have chosen four paintings that best mirror my spirit, my favourite subject matter, and my continuing to dream. The first one is an abstract painting of my cat Jasper. I call this painting “Star”. I love cats and would love to support a Cat Charity for rescue cats. The second painting is “Gardens” and the idea for this, including the colours I used, is based on photos I took at the Hampton Court Flower Show a few years ago. The third painting is based on the style of Van Gogh (“Van Gogh’s flowers” a book by Debra N. Mancoff) and it is called “Kew Gardens”.The fourth painting is “Beauty is Golden” and based on a painting by Lucien Freud that caught my eye at the “All too human” exhibition at Tate Britain in 2018– the flowers are Orchids.