Saturday, June 6, 2009

Gift of Vision

I encountered these goats on our last trip to India while visiting my Uncle in the countryside. We had to wait for the herd to cross a very country road. It was a hot summer day with the sun blazing in full glory. In this painting  I have tried to simplify the scene and show the heat, sun and the docile goats on their daily walk. Now it is framed and stays leaning against other paintings in my dining room waiting for a chance to hang somewhere. 

I need a still life set up, a photograph or two, a landscape or a model to look at so I can draw or paint. I do an abstract every now and then but mostly I use some kind of physical reference to paint from. None of my paintings are larger than 40" though most are much smaller.  I still have most of the paintings I have created.  When I was younger, many mornings we did a  fresh  but simple 'rangoli' on the front yard by the door with the rice flour or chalk. I didn't think twice about sweeping it off the next morning. Every 'navaratri' festival, my grandmother had us all help her make a big rangoli with colorful flower petals. We were a bit more attached to these elaborate creations wanting it to last longer. Now, every August, I admire the Buddhist monks diligently paint a sand mandala slowly, taking a full week to finish it- only to deconstruct it couple of hours later. Check this link to watch Peter Donnaly in Christ Church, New Zealand create beautiful masterpiece on sand every  day by the beach and and offer it to the ocean as tide comes in.  All this has me reflecting - what does it mean to create, share, hold on or let go? 

8 comments:

thiliMy said...

wow, the sand art is impressive, nice post :)

Meera Rao said...

yes-- Donnaly is some awesome artist, isn't he?

cathyswatercolors said...

Really great texture in your painting. lovely.

Meera Rao said...

Thank you Cat and Kishore. I found out that it is difficult to figure out what to leave out to simplify!

Kathy said...

Nice use of color.

Meera Rao said...

Thank you--its always satisfying when the colors come out o.k.

arvin said...

i really like this as well. beautiful composition, moment, and use of light.

Meera Rao said...

Thank you very much Arvin:) I am glad you like it. I really enjoyed painting it.

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