Lockdown turns this doodler into leaf artist

KUMBAKONAM: While a large peepal tree made Buddha discover the seven truths of life, for this college student a small peepal plant shooting out of a crack in the wall led him to discover his niche talent -- leaf art.

Ahamed Thasleem (20) said that it was the peepal plant shooting out of a crack in the wall and videos on social media that made him try his hand at leaf art. Now, he cannot be spotted without peepal leaves and a pen knife. The final-year engineering college student said he was attending online classes from his house in Thirumangalakudi village near Aaduthurai in Kumbakonam when he first tried the art.

"When I was in college, I used to doodle small drawings on the back of my notebook. During online classes, I saw some leaf art while scrolling through a social media site on my phone. I wanted to try it for fun," Thasleem said.

Thasleem said seeing the peepal leaves in the crack of the wall led him to try it once. He plucked a few large leaves and tried to cut out small portions on the leaf veins to depict the face of a close friend on the leaf. "It was not accurate, but my friend appreciated it. So, I started out trying the faces of celebrities, relatives and friends," he said.

"I have received more than 50 orders for leaf art since September. I also post my work on my Instagram account. During the lockdown, I watched some videos on leaf art, which made me a proper artist."

Thasleem presents three versions of leaf art. One is just the leaf with the art on it. Apart, from this, one may ask for it to be pressed inside a wooden frame or coated with resin. For names and simple symbols he uses jackfruit and mango leaves. For faces and other intricate art he sticks to peepal leaves. The price of the leaf art starts at Rs 500.