Honey, I shrunk the paintings!

RAJKOT: Portrait paintings are not uncommon in the art circles, but these paintings are sure to make you take a closer look, literally. Rajkot-based jeweller and artist Jayantilal Ranpara creates portraits with minute details on an even minuter surface: vaal or field bean.
Using water colours, Ranpara creates extraordinary portraits and landscapes on a split bean that never cease to amaze art lovers.Actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Nutan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Mina Kumari; personalities like Nelson Mandela, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, Mother Teresa and Anil Ambani; and portraits of gods and goddesses have been painted on the beans with a steady hand and no magnifying lens.
"Being a jeweller, I am used to working on tiny surfaces," said Ranpara, who makes ornaments at Soni Bazaar in Rajkot. "I began painting on vaal beans in 1968 and I chose these particular beans because their surface is larger than most beans and after leveling the surface, it is smooth and easy enough to paint on."
Ranpara takes approximately four to five hours to create a single portrait and with the support of well-wishers, friends and the Lalit Kala Academy, he has put up an exhibition of his paintings at Ravishankar Raval art gallery in Ahmedabad which is on till Tuesday.