In a world subjugated by the social media bug, it’s hard to find people who can be considered as committed hobbyists. Because sadly enough, the passion to commit oneself to creativity is being overshadowed by the need to stay connected to others via the digitized world. Weekender is always on the lookout to feature artists who have something new to bring to the platform and we are glad we ran into Riddhi Sarkar. Meet an artist who likes to use the smallest of medium to represent her artistry. Her nail-art and rice writing skills are impeccable. Read on to know more:
W. When did you realise this is something you want to do?
Riddhi: As a hobbyist, I was always pulled towards art but getting into nail arts happened when I chanced upon some fancy nail polishes and started to learn techniques of applying polishes and painting the nails. It was very exciting to spend endless days, trying to master the skills of applying a simple polish into an aesthetic way. From there on, I started to display my artwork and slowly found appreciation among friends and family who encouraged me to venture further into it, creating work with more refined details, designs and colours. I also took up rice-writing which required precision and patience.
W. How soon in your life did you start working on it?
Riddhi: I got engaged to the techniques quite fast and in no time I started to show my works on Instagram and Facebook. I found huge appreciation for my work and began winning competitions on nail arts. By 2012, I was very popular in the nail art circuits where my work got published in international magazines, including “Nail It” which featured a full- fledged interview of mine. I realized the potential is huge in global market and I kept improvising my skills. I also won the first “International Nail Art Day” competition held and judged by master nail artists from the US.I never looked back as opportunities kept pouring from nail salons here, Qatar and Kuwait. But being a full-time homemaker, I refused all offers and continued nail art as a hobbyist.
W. How much time does it take to master the technique for rice writing?
Riddhi: Well, rice is another canvas for me and recently I posted a video showing doodling on rice and it went to the home page of Instagram with more than 15000 views in a day!
Rice art was something I have been doing in fairs and festivals in India. I remember visiting a fair in Delhi in 2013 and I met this amazing rice artist who showed me his brush and gifted me one after seeing my nail arts. It was so kind of him to acknowledge another artist and I felt very honoured. But, until this year I had no idea I will be ever writing names on rice grains or doodling on them. It just happened a day before the school fest where I was partaking in activities representing my native country. So I came up with this idea to write names on grains for the children, parents and teachers interested. I got orders of 127 names! I practised just couple of hours on few grains and had no problem doing miniature work, that’s because I was very seasoned on doing small tiny arts on nails.
W .What has received more appreciation and interest from the audience?
Riddhi: Well, my Instagram nail art account is at about 28k now and my Facebook page has 3.5K likes. My biggest compliments till date were those coming From Bollywood superstars, ShahRukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. I absolutely idolize them and have painted their portraits on my nails. The appreciations are huge motivational factors for me. And definitely nail arts hold the reins stronger, because I am more passionate about it, however my rice writing is slowly getting the exposure too. Miniature artwork requires loads of patience, minute detailing and above all perseverance. Skills improve with practice and time. I am followed by the biggest names in nail art across the world and this made me even more responsible towards my talent yet I remain a humble person. I want to continue doing nail art as long as I can and I have about 600 plus polishes in my collection which promise more alluring presentation in the future.
