Shirish Deshpande uses a simple ballpoint pen to make paintings that hold scores of layers, millions of pen strokes and some serious patience

At first glance Belgaum-based artist Shirish Deshpande's paintings may not strike you as radically different from regular watercolour or oil paintings. But a closer look reveals millions of lines juxtaposed by using colourful ballpens. For Deshpande, these pens are a tool to depict scenes from everyday life such as a sunlit doorway, the chiseled features of a woman's face, landscapes or even abstracts.