An A3 sheet (29.7 X 42cm) is too small for him to “fit his imagination,” says a 21-year-old painter who is fighting a rare disease.

Ansh Metharamani, who was diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome, a genetic disorder when he was nine months old, joins sheets of paper when his mother or teacher is not looking, to make one large sheet.

His latest is a painting of London City on a page as long as 4ft.

His prized possession from an art store in Bandra was a 2ft long drawing book.

“He does not listen to instructions but follows his own heart,” said his mother Shikha Metharamani.

The result: Bright, colourful paintings with an eye for intricate details. But it does not happen easily.

Ansh despite his condition would sit for hours, sometimes for as long as eight hours, head bent down, to complete his painting.

It would have to be followed up by physiotherapy sessions for “back pain” but the young adult does not mind, said his mother.

Currently, he is making paintings, some of which will be used for an exhibition after Durga Puja.

The paintings are scanned and printed on various products that will be put up for the exhibition.

“We are using these pictures for personalised cards, gift bags, tote bags, travel pouches, trays, wooden pen stands, diaries, mugs, and cushion covers,” said his mother.

Recently, he has also made a painting of Goddess Durga with weapons in her hands who has come to destroy the evil on the earth.

“He has been following the news on the rape and murder of a 31-year-old junior doctor and through his painting he has tried to show that Goddess Durga has come to punish the evil doers,” said Shikha.

During Puja his mother and he would visit pandals and Ansh would speak to the organisers about the theme, his mother said.

Ansh also has a mild intellectual disability.

“I want to make a career out of painting but don’t know how to go about it,” Ansh told Metro.

It was during his schooling at Akshar when he was 10 years old when a teacher noticed his drawing which was “of soldiers coming out of a tunnel”.

“The teacher was impressed with his concept and had put up his drawing on the school board,” said Shikha.

His mother let him continue and it is only in the last four years that he is training under an artist. But he has to be allowed to do his way, his mother said.

“His proportion might not always be exact but his concept is clear and he knows how to put that on paper with extreme detailing. His dedication sets him apart from others,”
said art teacher Monojit Sarkar.

Ansh mostly uses crayons because his fine motor skills are not as developed to help him understand how much pressure he has to put on a paint brush, his mother said.

“He is very particular about his paintings. He was recently gifted brush pens and I told him that he could use those for the finer portions of his drawing but he refused saying he does not want any colour variation in his drawing,” said Shikha.