In a Gallery

My painting 'Orchids', which was selected in an International Contest Confluence and exhibited in Lalit Kala Akademi ( A prestigious gallery of India) , is now in the collection of a gallery and will get to hobnob with artworks of big artists! Am excited to be able to have my artwork in a place which matters. This painting is as such dear to me. When I called the person who had sent me the original flowers as a token from his farm, ( as he had done to many who had visited his farm that day) he was quite dazed and found it difficult to connect the dots. An innocent gesture of sending flowers from his farm and having them get on to my canvas and finally travel to Delhi and now being part of a collection!

Meanwhile, I am rejoicing in my heart. Where your art goes is as important as where your art hangs!

Index 2015 Mumbai

My panel in Index 2015, Mumbai, an international interiors fair. It's been a different experience hobnobbing with architects and interior designers. Also had a chance to catch up with my artist friends. What is heartening to know is that many of them are managing to do art as a serious passion inspite of a mainstream profession. Inspiration and a signal saying carry on...there are more out there!

Confluence 2015

Two of my artworks got selected in an international contest Confluence 2015 organised by Galerie Art Eterne and the winning entries were exhibited in Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi.
It was a big honour to have exhibited in such a prestigious gallery and also Was wonderful interacting with artists and art connoisseurs from across the world.

Charisma

Oil on ceramics.
I picked up a single rose on my morning walk. The florist is now my friend. He has seen his flowers on my canvas, from a picture on my cellphone and has decided to be cordial to me. I painted this yellow beauty with simple but bold charisma and filled up the sides witha lively border.

People often ask me why my motifs have asymmetry as a recurring feature. I ask them, " Have you ever seen complete, geometrical symmetry in nature? Leave it loose; enigmatic, flattering, waiting to be enhanced. "

Gerbera

OIL ON CERAMIC. SOLD.
Painted from a flower off a huge bouquet of blazing red Gerberas got for my birtthday,  this is now going to adorn another friend's cabinet!

Bageshri

Another one in the series I decided to call 'Ragini', a female Raga.
Am hoping to exhibit a few of these in an upcoming show. Another reason is that I bought a dozen plates so I either paint them or use them as dishes!!:)

Sohini

A plate yet again. For those who came in late, I've been having an affair with plates of late. For those who were already here, hark! Do not assume am doing them as they are an easy solution to my creative urges. Believe me you, a plate is quite an act of bravado. I have backpain everytime I finish one, as doing one entails too much detailed working and I usually have a loose style of working. It's an even bigger hassle to pack off sold plates as they are highly breakable and need careful carriage and transportation. All said and done here is my nth plate and the reason why I call it Sohini is because that's the Indian Raga I have humming of late!

Creme de la Creme

10 x10"

Oil on canvas with palette knives

The good life starts with an apple in the morning so that you are fit enough to end it with an indulgent chocolate crème drink! So much for balance! The model is attached below for reference!





Dianthus Vincifera-

Got these carnations from my regular florist who is never excited to see me as I spend a lot of time and take only a small bunch, that too after repeated requests to add extra flowers. He does not identify with my need to paint flowers and says he only wants the price. He has big customers who order huge bouquets so am not really a big person for him, even though I may be his most consistent customer.
My maid suggested the addition of the wine bottle as I was setting up the ensemble.
Wine and flowers. What more does a woman want! A photo of the model for reference as well as one from the work in progress!

Hues - filled plates.

 Siennna

Syringa



 

 Valencia

 

A few more plates. These plates look good but do not fulfill my artistic cravings fully. The delight of applying colour to canvas and sliding the knife up and down is a different experience and has its own beauty!  However, they are good for a quick fix craving! Can be compared safely to a small cube of chocolate as opposed to a chocolate mousse pastry!

 

How many of us actually give vent to creativity. Do we not fill our time with television, movies and empty chatter. How beautiful instead to pen afew lines or draw a few things. Try it! Meanwhile, a poem penned by me few days back :       

 

 

Dystopian Heaven

 

The empty coffers were painted gold
The hollowed heart was filled with bold
The ugly town was lived with beauty...
The broken cottage filled with bounty.

The hopeless corridor hailed for the walls
The dark room praised for its black calls
The box of coins treated as the chest
The worst kings thought to be the best.

A trail of horror lived without tremor
A life of sorrow lived with humour
With Hell lived as the daily haven
Made into an enviable Heaven.

Adonia

 

Oil on Ceramic
SOLD

 

 

Beauty is the deadliest thing that makes one alive! But is beauty in art about aesthetics? I think not. Ugly is most often beautiful, when presented artfully. I have gone through a lot of thinking. Representing reality in abstract form is an intervention. It needs intellectual stimulation. Thankfully, inspite of defined borders, art can be seamless. What is it that is striking in an artwork. It is the differentiating element. Something that intrigues, disturbs and needles the mind. Art is not about aesthetics but maybe the reason behind the lack of it in an artwork

Here's a poem I wrote about the duality of life using my life as a metaphor:

 

Die chotomy

 

She who lives everyday
She who dies everyday
She who laughs everyday...
She who cries everyday.

 

The world which admires her
The world which abhors her
The world which seeks her
The world which shuns her.

 

Where is she going
Where is she stopping
Where is her light
Where is her flight.

 

Is she a good angel
Is she a conniving witch
Is her heart of gold
Or is it steely cold. 

Plates

A reluctant foray into painting on plates of a friend at her insistence, led me into a new found love- painting on plates! These two series are on glass quarter plates. Ceramics are to follow:

Series 1: The Feelings Series: Oil on glass plates

Desire

Passion

Hope

                                                                                                          

                                                                                                 
Series 2:  Fragrance . Oil on Glass plates

Helianthus

Petalon

           

Rosa

                                                                       
                                                                           

Art for Change

My article "Art for Change" was published in the IIMA Alumnus magazine in the Feb 2015 issue. I have written about using art as a behavioral intervention tool in training and engagement in organisations, to help facilitate organisational change.The article draws an analogy between the Plein air tevhnique of painting to the Out Bound Learning 

technique of training , touching upon how art  fosters team spirit and helps build perspectives.

Easter Roundel

Oil on Canvas with palette knives

4" radius approx

This round canvas caught my attention last time I went to buy art stock. Worked on this piece from imagination, which I completed on Easter Sunday. Mean to find an ornate frame for it. 

Flowers have now become so a part of me that they are slowly falling into the rhythm of my life. Do they represent chaos , beauty or diversity I wonder.

Amber

Oil on Canvas with palette knives

10 x 1 inches

A commissioned work, to match an earlier work from my colour series that a friend of mine has on her wall.I quite did this almost in robotic motions. However, I had to make a quick trip to her place to measure the earlier dimensions , so they match this one for sure. 

Antiquity

Art on a plate - an experiment I did at the request of a friend. She almost had to cajole me into doing this. She had these old plates given by her grandmother which she thought she would preserve in artistic memory. After I finally did it- Oil on Ceramic, am mighty pleased with what I have. The shrieks of delight from her made my day. I quite like what I did and maybe can toy with the idea more!

Orchids

12x24"

Painted out of some orchids specially sent to me from a friend's farm, where I'd gone for a weekend visit. The farm had a special section just on flowers and I couldn't stop my admiration at the rows and rows of flowers! It was by a lake in Kamshet and I spent the whole day there.  There were chikoo yards, goats, cows and pig farms. There were huge vegetable patches and sugarcane fields. The farm also had a huge dormitory and a small guest house with nice rooms. The lunch comprised fresh food made deliciously unforgettable by the chef's special touch. After I came away I received a beautiful surprise the next day when I received a bouquet of orchids and I had to paint this inspite of a hectic week. This vase is very old and the only one I have as all others have broken. Have to buy one soon!

What I learnt about art from 2014

2014 has been very staid as far as my indulgence with art is concerned. However, I exhibited twice in small steps but learnt big lessons from them. I also connected to a new band of urban sketchers and learnt several perspectives from them.

I learnt from my exhibitions that:

1) No one size fits all and no one taste appeals to all buyers. Just when a viewer gushes and gurgles over your painting, another one walks in just five minutes later and looks distastefully at it. Again, just when someone tells you that the size of a painting is just perfect and you should stick to it, another comes along and says it is either too small or too big. If someone likes horizontal, another likes vertical. It is a difficult matter and you cannot please anyone. The only thing which makes sense is paint your own thing. The world is a wide one.

2) Framing is important. If you want to make it elaborate, your artwork should be strong enough to stand out. A simple frame is good enough if the artwork is good.

3) Please stick to your style no matter what. If you have your signature and people recognize and buy for that, then you have arrived!

I Learnt from my sketching sessions that :

1) Sketching with people better than you is important so that you learn more.

2) Try to build in depth in your sketches by adding values. You can use a lighter and darker filler pen for this.

3) Always carry a sketchbook, no matter what.

4) Beware of catching on someone else's style.

 
 

Boxed

My Painting on a Jewelry Box

 

My art has gone from the walls to the tables! A painting I gifted to a close friend about a year back has now found itself adorning a jewelry box. It does look exquisite.

 

2015 is here and am still writing this blog, still painting and talking of art and also exhibiting. I think art is really here to stay in my life. In bits and pieces or in overdoses.

 

The year has been steady in terms of art, though not passionate and prolific. I seem to have accepted the presence of art in my being and the crazy energy is giving way to mature observation and understanding.  This year I look forward to drawing - shapes, structures and figures! Happy 2015 all of you!