Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Food For Thought

Jam jar watercolor on yupo 6x4 " by Meera Rao

Presimmons watercolor on Yupo 4x6" by Meera Rao

I painted these two small paintings on YUPO  two weeks ago. They were both donated to a fundraiser for Akshaya Patra a non-profit organization in India that aims to make sure "no child shall be deprived of education because of hunger."  Their website www.foodforeducation.org explains: "A public-private partnership, Akshaya Patra combines good management, innovative technology and smart engineering to deliver school lunch at a fraction of the cost of similar programs in other parts of the world. The program started in 2000 by feeding 1,500 children from a temporary kitchen in Bangalore, India. Currently, we distribute freshly cooked, healthy meals daily to 1.3 million underprivileged children in 8,000 government schools through 19 kitchens in eight states in India." Recently, the organization's wonderful work was highlighted by PBS, NPR in their news programs.   

Speaking of education, I came across an article in Huffington Post: Drawing Ability Has Psychological Basis In Perception And Memory, Researchers Say  by Natalie Wolchover.  She highlights research on 'What separates the drawers from the drawer-nots?'  Of course, lots of practice is way up there along with some very interesting observations : Based on their research, the psychologists recommended the following techniques for getting better at drawing: Focus on scaling a drawing to fit the size of the paper; anchor an object in its surroundings by showing how it sits in space; focus on the distance between elements of the object and on their relative sizes; and focus on the size and shape of "negative space," or the empty space between parts of the object. Lastly, they recommend thinking of "lines" as what they really are -- boundaries between light and dark areas. I would love to read the original study in detail but then I should just go and practice sketching :) 

PS : If you have time to kill go on and watch the videos on creativity in the same link under "Also on Huffpost."  

11 comments:

Crystal Cook said...

Those are both so beautiful Meera. :) I love the colors. And how generous of you to donate them too. :)

Meera Rao said...

Thanks Crystal -purely co-incidental that it apricot jam and persimmon fruit both are vibrant orange :) And It was easy to donate since I believe in the cause !

padmaja said...

Yes, I have known about this cause before and it is a lovely feeling when you can be a part of it. I liked both the paintings Meera!

Anonymous said...

Beautifully painted...

my big salute to akshaya pathra

thanks for sharing

Meera Rao said...

Padmaja, thank you! I had painted similar subjects on watercolor paper -but yupo painting was fun!

Meera Rao said...

Thanks Krishna! Thought I would give a shout out to the organization on my blog...

Teresa said...

LOVE those color drenched paintings!! Wonderful.

Meera Rao said...

Teresa, thank you! When I was painting - the jam jar and persimmon sitting on the table felt like they were storing the sunlight in them :)

★MaRiBeL★ said...

Paz y mucho cariño para ti, muchas gracias por todo eres un Sol!!!
★MaRiBeL★

Meera Rao said...

*MaRiBel* gracias! Me encanta cómo se expresa su sentimientos :)

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...