Thursday, July 28, 2011

Unexpected Pleasures!

A Day In The Life... sketchbook project  page 14 color pencil

I had a pleasant surprise last week when the talented artist Crystal Cook tagged me in her post The Seven Links Project , which is "to unite bloggers from all sectors in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve the light of the day."  As a result, my Seven Links Project - which is in the making right now - will be revealed in my next post :) In the mean time, please do check out her project  and admire her beautiful sensitive paintings!

Regarding page 14 of my Art House Co-op's Sketchbook project "A Day In the Life - in Blue Jeans with Gold Embroidery" :  it is the first time I had sketched a heron in color.  I always hesitated to paint the big beautiful birds because I didn't think I could do justice to their grace and elegance.  The surprising reward of the sketch book project is that it has been wonderful for my skills and self confidence. It forced me to tackle subject matters that I kept putting aside and pushed me beyond my comfort zone just so I could fill the book up!! Now, my newest resolve is to just sketch everyday without regard to subject matter and to paint some of those sketches from my book "A Day in the Life -in Blue Jeans with Gold Embroidery " on bigger sheets of watercolor paper :)

12 comments:

Sonia said...

I came across your blog recently and found it really interesting..Your paintings are amazing,even I love to paint but I am not as good as you... :)

Meera Rao said...

@Pocket full of dreams, Thank you so very much - you made my day! I don't know about being good or not --I think every artist is unique and good in their own way :) I really appreciate your visit to my blog!

Kathy Staicer said...

I think that is wonderful that you stepped outside your comfort zone and have opened up to new places to go.

padmaja said...

I loved the line work on your heron..I am trying to learn using my pen now a days,, Thanks for Crystal's link, will check that out!

Meera Rao said...

Thank you Kathy. Yes, coming up with close to 30 different ideas and executing them was a very valuable learning exercise!

Meera Rao said...

Padmaja, Thank you :) Good luck with your pen ! They are lots of fun to use.

Unknown said...

I had the same experience with the sketchbook project! It helped me to grow too, because I had to come up with ideas to fill the sketchbook within the allotted time frame. I love your heron. I have a special affection for the Great Blue Heron on Lake Erie, where I grew up. Your guy here reminds me of that. You did a great job!

Meera Rao said...

Thank You, Katherine :) Funny how we all need some push from different places to realize what we are capable of doing, isn't it? So easy to coast on comfort zone!

Crystal Cook said...

I love your sketchbook project, love seeing your work which seems freer and more uninhibited (as does most sketchbook work in my opinion, no matter who the artist is) and reading your thoughts along with it. You are a talented artist and I love reading your introspective thoughts here on your blog. I can't wait to see what you pick for 7 links. :D

And thank you my good friend for the kind things you said about me. :)))

Meera Rao said...

Crystal, thank you very much! You are right about sketchbooks freeing up the drawing process :) --it took me a while to be comfortable with the idea of just sketching and not worrying so much about composition/ perfection etc --just capturing the ideas!

Yes, the 7 Project should be up in a day :)

Sadami said...

Dear Meere,
Your lovely work and interesting posts make readers think of many things. Please keep up!! I heartly hope the project will go well.
Cheers,Sadami

Meera Rao said...

Thanks Sadami! Blogs posts are wonderful that way --to think out loud and get a conversation going!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...