Welcome to Jagannath Puri Fine Arts!

Born in Australia devotee artist Colin Greenwood has been working in India for past seven years with traditional art; he has been associated with several artists around Orissa for a long period of time. In the year 2006 he made a research on traditional art. Realizing the fact that the quality of traditional painting is continuously declining, Colin established an organization – Puri fine arts. The organization deals exclusively with traditional art. In the past few years it has produced some of the best temple arts by its consistent endeavor. Most of the paintings have been donated to Sri Sri Radha Giridhari Temple, New Zealand. Some of them have been auctioned to the public.

One of the reasons behind formation of Puri fine Arts is to keep the traditional art alive. The objective is to participate, preserve and enhance this very old form of art. Several studies and research works have laid down their inferences that the original temple art is dying out in an alarming rate. Most of these artists are switching over to another profession due to lack of financial support. The young artists are reluctant to stick to the same inherited profession. Whatever the small number of artists are left, for the sake of money they are induced to create paintings that are virtually devoid of expression. In the wake of this crisis, Puri Fine Arts is committed to extract the best of traditional art augmented by quality.

The founder Colin Greenwood is a renowned stainglass artist. Over 30 years of experience in stained glass art, Colin is considered to be one of the best stain glass artists in Australasia. Currently Colin is working in the stained glass windows for Radha Giridhari Temple (New Varshana Farm, 1229 Coatesville-Riverhead Highway 28, Riverhead, Auckland, New Zealand) which is a long term project. This is the 5th year of project and will be continued. The drawings for these stainglass windows are done in Puri fine arts. This ongoing project is being done by a joint effort. Ramesh, a master artist of Jagannath Puri Orissa and Colin the renowned stain glass artist from the west. For the first time these two unique art forms have been combined together and presented in modern day stainglass windows. These windows are some of the best currently made in the Southern Sphere of the world. And are guaranteed to be around for hundreds of years to come thus preserving these two very old art forms.

Apart from this, Puri Fine Arts Group constructed a beautiful little temple at Jagannath Puri situated close by the Jagannath temple in Orissa. In 2002 Colin initiated the project. This temple was opened on 11th of March 2007. The opportunity to work in a temple environment always has a sublime effect on the morale of artists. This helps in boosting their enthusiasm and interest for the work.

Material, tools and technique

The works produced at Puri Fine Art are done using the best materials. All the paintings are done on best canvas. Unlike the traditional watercolours, for painting, Puri fine arts use fabric and acrylic colours that last longer than any other type of color. Some of the colors are brought from the west. For the 1st time ever Puri fine arts has initiated the use of golden and silver colors to give the paintings a natural look. The paintings are washable and will last hundreds of years. All the paintings are done in three stages. In the 1st stage the drawing of the subject matter is done. After it is transferred to the canvas the primary colors are given. In the final stage the actual colors are painted.