Daily Chore watercolor and ink by Meera Rao
India Art Journal 2015
This is the story of many women all around the world - gathering water is a daily chore. The technological advances are in the background but have not fully touched the daily life yet for these two girls. They are part of migrant worker families that lived by the street in illegally propped up tents. To get a candid shot I photographed this from a distance when I happened on the scene while out on my daily errands. I liked how the streaming light and bright colors highlight the beauty in this mundane activity. I loved the movement of the fabric billowing in the wind, the motorcycles zooming away as ladies carefully made their way across the street.
I got curious as to how much water do we need to survive and how much water we actually use. Here are some facts I discovered in my search :
From www.waterinfo.org : Three-quarters of the Earth's surface is covered with water, yet 98 percent is salt water and not fit for consumption.
Less than one percent of all the water on Earth is freshwater available for human consumption.
The human body is more than 60 percent water. Blood is 92 percent water, the brain and muscles are 75 percent water, and bones are about 22 percent water.
A human can survive for a month or more without eating food, but only a week or so without drinking water.
From http://water.usgs.gov/edu/qa-home-percapita.html : An average person in US uses about 80-100 gallons a day, largest use is for flushing the toilets! On average a bath can use around 36 gallons while showers need 2-5 gallons/minute. So showers are better only if you take short ones! Please check out the table in the link to see the water consumption for daily chores like brushing teeth, washing dishes, clothes, and watering lawns etc and tips for water conservation.
http://wecalc.org/calc/# This website WECalc, has a Water-Energy-Climate Calculator that you can check out to estimate your average consumption.
Daily Chores 5.5x8" watercolor and ink on 140 lb Strathmore visual Journal
4 comments:
Hi Meera, lovely painting. I bet seeing the bright fabrics and the movement would catch my eye also. It is amazing how much water we actually need to survive and so many places in the world do not have quality water. Thank you for the information. I hope you have a wonderful day.
Thank you Carol! Looking up the information opened my eyes too ! and I really appreciate your visits and comments to my blog :)
Came across your blog today while I was browsing Padmaja's Blog. Great works done by you. I am presently into
Soft pastels and charcoals but would love to get into watercolours again. Water colours is an amazing medium but
very challenging too. Lovely blog and thanks for sharing your works.
Manju Panchal, Thank you very much for stopping by and for taking the time to leave a comment --really appreciate it. I will visit your website -- I am always in awe of pastel and charcoal works and will look forward to seeing yours!
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