PONDICHERRY: Imagine a trip to Europe, the art capital of the world! Wouldn't it just be wonderful to visit the Louvre, the Picasso Museum and Madame Tussauds; see wonders such as the London Tower, the Buckingham Palace and the Eiffel Tower? T. Padmanaban, a 24-year-old artist from Pondicherry, has been invited to take part in the Euro Art Tour 2005 by Camlin Art Foundation and he will be visiting all these places in June.

"I am so excited. I will be able to learn a lot from the masters and also from established artists," says Padmanaban. He face lights up as he thinks of all the new things that he can learn during the trip.

This son of a farmer, however, is no novice and has been working with artist K.K. Raghava from Bangalore, who on seeing Padmanaban's paintings asked the latter to join him. He is the only south Indian to be selected this year for the trip and this is the first time that a student (he has just finished his Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Bharathiyar Palkalai Koodam) from Pondicherry has been selected.

He has won the award for the best painting in the Camlin Art Foundation's southern regional level exhibition twice. The painting that won him the Euro tour is titled `Memories'. "The painting shows a person [representing the artist himself] looking into his past, with the past depicted as a garden where monkeys and butterflies flit from him to the flowers and plants around," he says.

The painting done in oil gives a simmering effect. He likes working with watercolours best. "I like to draw landscapes and crowded subjects. Market places, bus stands, fairs and the like: such paintings are challenging because you have to balance several colours," says this youngster, who had sold a large number of paintings even as a student at frequent exhibitions. "When my father, Thandavarayan, saw that my paintings were being bought he used to get me colours and frame my paintings. My father, mother and three sisters are quite proud of my achievements."

"I didn't think that I would ever become an artist. It was by chance that I joined the Bharathiyar Palkalai Koodam (BPK). I had joined an ITI, but my father was enthusiastic about my learning art so I took it up. I owe my success to my lecturers at BPK. They encouraged me a lot. I am also very lucky to be working with Mr. Raghava. He told me that he would send me to the US and organise my art exhibition there. He also told me to retain my style and not get influenced by that of others."