Painting a princess

MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Being Women's Month, the dreams and aspirations of women all over South Africa are given centre stage.

Although perhaps a little unrealistic, some women may still cherish a childhood dream of becoming a princess. But how about painting one?

Such an unusual privilege was bestowed on the multi-faceted business woman, Georgia Argyropoulos, an educational psychologist, owner of a Mossel Bay private school and now also an internationally recognised artist.

Georgia, after having painted for the fun and relaxation of it for a number of years, has been commissioned to paint an Indian princess.

Chance meeting
Georgia was cleaning up her Facebook contacts and found a beautiful profile picture of a graceful lady sitting on a chair. "I immediately thought, I'd like to paint this."

Spontaneous as she is, she made a comment that she liked the photo and could she paint it?

After receiving a positive response, Georgia did an internet search and realised that she was actually speaking to royalty. "I had no idea initially that I was speaking to a princess. Had I known it was a member of the royal family, I never would have had such confidence."

Indira Devi Dhanrajgir was born in a traditional family, but her leadership qualities were evident from childhood.

A keen student, she had an interest in poetry which played a key role in her association with the legendary poet Gunturu Seshendra Sarma. He was the first Telugu poet to be nominated for the Nobel prize for literature.

Though they came from different worlds and cultures, their love for literature brought them closer. Indira Devi was actually engaged to a Maharajah, but one day, Seshendra came to her home, the Gyan Bagh Palace and proposed to her.

In shock at first, she realised that he was her soul mate and ended up marrying him. Their life together was not without challenges, but it seems that love in fact does conquer all.

Inspired by the beautiful love story of Indira Devi Dhanrajgir and her poet husband Gunture Seshendra Sarma, Georgia surmised that the princess must have a beautiful heart.

Georgia paints in the style of the Impressionists.

Indira Devi Dhanrajgir.