Life happens when...

I am not busy making other plans, but life happens when you are doing your usual things. And then you realise that from tomorrow life is not gonna be the same. People you like move, you move, there are changes in work situations, and so on and so forth. But another name of Life is 'Change'. You take it or you leave it. Was just talking to a friend who is moving to another part of the city. She was my evening walk buddy. We talked how it is difficult to form friendships at our age. But may be, it always was difficult to find someone who has the same vibes. School days are long gone, but may be even then you only liked handful of mates while you sat in a class of 30 kids. That's why friendship is precious.

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Looking back....

Looking back, I don't always feel that I have learnt my lessons. I value that something precious had happened and I am grateful too, but learning from the past? I doubt if I can learn. I have a feeling that I mostly survive because the entire universe is watching out for me and holding my hand when I am trading slippery grounds.

I am not a master of water colors but I want to give it a try.

Silhouettes

Silhouettes were solid, dark and static until I visited Ahmedabad, Gujrath. Here I found something so delicate, light, lyrical and feminine. This silhouette waltzes all over the place in flowing circles. This beauty in stone is Siddi Sayyad Mosque. How ethereal this place must have been once when the city had not grown around it yet and there were no mechanical vehicles zooming by whole day!

Rooster fight series

22x 30 inches, crayons and ink on handmade rag paper

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Animal composite

Is it grotesque? Well then it is supposed to be grotesque. 3 feet x 3 feet mixed media on canvas from my "Power" series.
Thanks for watching,

Eye Candy

This is the envelope I found in my most cluttered art room. These are silkscreen prints with a lot of color variations. How I like

putting colors together and how it changes the mood of the picture. They are 14 inches x 7 inches actual prints with enough margins. The last one does not do a justice with the blue color. It is much more vibrant. Also the grey is not grey, it is silver. Sometimes I do feel that I should design stationary. Thanks for looking.

The doodle blog of mine

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Buddha

The last few days were kind of a roller coaster of good developments, as well as not so good developments. What do you do when that happens? Where do you go? "Be a light unto yourself." says Buddha. And that is damn difficult. He puts a big burden on our seemingly incapable shoulders, by saying that. But may be he has more faith in us, than we have in ourselves.

This is a silkscreen print I made on Somerset paper while I was learning printmaking in 2010. While of moon is not ink, it is paper. It was a kind of collective book project of students.

Book Cover Pictures

Snehalaya is an NGO that works for the children of commercial sex workers as well as slum kids. They have done a groundbreaking work using unique strategies in red light area. The most creditable work they have done is in the field of underage CSWs. They made Ahmednagar district (in the state of Maharashtra) free of underage CSWs by rescuing and rehabilitating the ones that they found here. It was by no means an easy task, seeing a demand for them, antisocial elements involved in this trade, helplessness of victims and apathy of the society. The stories of confronting the evil, rescuing the girls and bringing them back in the society are told in these two books. I am glad to say that the covers are my artwork. The third book is my own thesis, about "Power".
More information about Snehalaya is available here Snehalaya.
Barring from some prestigious projects funded by Central Government and some other agencies, this organisation thrives mostly on individual donations made by people like you and me.
Thank you.

Creativity

This may be the beginning of my bird ladies. An old etching print, drypoint and inks on somerset paper.

I read somewhere that inspiration comes from doing and not the other way round. It makes sense to "do" anyway. While inspiration is something mystical and cannot be mail ordered, 'doing' is totally in our hands. 'Doing' opens doors to unexpected discoveries and happy accidents. And you never know where that will take you. Always main reason given for "not doing" is time. How can you address this problem creatively in your own unique situation? Working small? Working on one small part every day? Doing background work and research when you a small chunk of time? You have to find out.

India is beautiful.

This is wall painting in Madurai at Minakshi temple. Love the colors, though white seems a little unusual for traditional miniature paintings form.

Rann of Kutch

On one of our trips one winter, we had a chance to stay at a very beautiful location in Rann of Kutch, in state of Gujrath. It had a very beautiful interior with mirror work on the walls, hand embroidered curtains, bamboo furniture and cool exterior with leaf impressions. This was a find of our dear friend Sammy.

Work on Paper

These are some quickies, I thought I'd get printed as greeting cards, but never did.

Plastic beads

Me and my daughter had a gala time when we first found these plastic beads. I got this bumper box of happiness from Ikea, but you get it anywhere. Useful art to use as coasters.

Two birds

In Rigveda there is a verse about two birds, one that is watching/ observing and another that is enjoying sweet fruits of a tree. Apparently the one that is enjoying the fruits, is our body and the one who watches over and never leaves the other, is our soul. And it may be, the first time in our spiritual pluralism that the thought of physical presence and indestructible inner principle appears. But my bird ladies are not about that. These are two ladies in close conversation. May be one is the older version of the younger lady who definitely seems to have something to share with her younger self.

While travelling in Karnataka I came across this craftsman who was making stone sculptures in his roadside workshop in a village. I gave him sketches. I already had these two figures in my mind. The craftsman didn't know my mother tongue and I didn't know his. But he was willing to work with it and he did have a big radiating smile. We worked with sketches going to and fro while I returned home 700 km away. We communicated on phone in our Desi English and some broken Hindi that he spoke. And he did better than I had expected.

These are the stones that are locally found. I have not given any name to my sculpture yet, but suggestions are welcome. Does it tell any story to you?

Thank you.

Textile designs?

I just loved to make these marks. I am happy about textures and it was fast and furious. Art that will not take elaborate setting and a lot of time is a priority now a days. Hope you like it.
Thanks,

Blast from the past

Old work of mine.