Tangled Shadows

Tangled shadows Photography by Meera Rao 

“Art does not in fact prove anything. What it does do is record one of those brief times, such as we each have and then each forget, when we are allowed to understand that the Creation is whole.”

Robert Adams

There is a Crack in Everything

Light Gets In  photography by Meera Rao      

"There is a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in"

Leonard Cohen, Selected Poems, 1956-68

Play of Light

Play of light  digital photography by Meera Rao 

Art has a double face, of expression and illusion, just like science has a double face: the reality of error and the phantom of truth.

Publilius Syrus

Bobbing colors and Shadows

A Day in the Life - Sketchbook Project page 19 color pencils 5x7"

I see this little shed with these colorful buoys behind a high fence everyday as I drive or walk by it near the end of our street.  The arrangement and number  of buoys keeps changing - yesterday there were only a few but this past winter when I was on my walk, the sun was at just the right angle on the full display of vivid objects.  Through the seasons, I observed how the number of buoys, angle of light, the time of day changes the shadows making for exciting shapes and colors. All this helped me change the arrangement the way I felt comfortable with as I sketched. 

I had an 'ah-ha' moment when I realized that I 'draw' outlines of the objects  but I have to 'paint' shapes and values! Shapes in right color & value with lost and found edges essentially complete a painting save for a few accents! So now I know to focus my efforts in future paintings on the refinement of interlocking shapes in my composition, making highlights blend, anchoring the shadows so objects pop out.  Most of writing and painting is observing and thinking and seeing the relationships :) 

Beauty, Shadow and Reflection

Beauty, Shadow and Reflection  watercolor 9x12

I saw this tiny colorful beauty drinking from a puddle on a cold January morning when I was out on a walk.  I stopped to admire. I am  also drawn to shadows and reflections and  I was immediately attracted by the three shapes that intersected as the bird cautiously watched my movements.  I, as cautiously and slowly, took out my camera and managed to capture the moment as he/she continued to survey the scene.  Finally this week I painted this as a reminder of that wonderful encounter.  I used my favorite Canson Montval cold press watercolor paper, a small brush along with lots of patience to complete the painting :)

Shadow Play

A Day in the Life   page 10 color pencils

At the rate I am posting the sketchbook pages from my book A Day In The Life  for The Fiction Project, I will have fodder for my blog for a couple months :)  As with the reflections, shadows also intrigue me.  A Conrad Hall quote says it eloquently: There are infinite shadings of light and shadows and colors... it's an extraordinarily subtle language. Figuring out how to speak that language is a lifetime job. 

I came across some beautiful shadows that were artistically created by manipulating various objects and light.  The creativity behind these shadows is mindbogging! These are a long way from the wall shadows my brother and I did as  children with flashlight and fingers on our hands on rainy mansoon nights when  there was no electricity and we were looking for entertainment! 

Lines or Forms?

Skylight at National Gallery of Art  Washington D.C. digital photography

Always lines, never forms! But where do they find these lines in Nature? For my part I see only forms that are lit up and forms that are not. There is only light and shadow.

- Francisco de Goya 

Shadow Ladders

Shadow ladder  digital photography

Between the idea 

And the reality

Between the motion 

And the act 

Falls the shadow 

-T. S. Eliot

Shadow Patterns

In the right light,

At the right time,

Everything is extraordinary

- Aaron Rose

The morning sun hits the sheer curtains of our bedroom in a different angle in spring. I love the pattern of light and shadows cast by a pyracantha bush right outside the window.

digital photography

Music in Unlikely Places

Sketching this musician from an old black and white 33 1/2 rpm record cover was  my yesterday's art exercise.  I am trying to get a likeness of objects in my sketching with minimal erasing and measuring. The goal is to get comfortable sketching in public - right now I prefer to draw in the privacy of my home.  I read about an exercise to just sketch only the shadows and decided to simplify the process and and start by using a black and white photograph - besides it was around 10PM  by the time I even got around to my sketch book last night.  

Speaking of musicians,  I heard on NPR about a research that shows the female mosquito's tone is a surprisingly perfect 400-Hz note -'G'.  The male's buzz is 'D' and together they bring about near perfect duet to create an overtone -a third fainter overtone of 1200-Hz - only then will they mate. Check out the link to read and hear the mosquito love song.  Poquoson, where we live, whose name means 'the great marsh' is also home for lots of mosquitos in summer. From now on, I will remember to listen mindfully to the perfect 'G' before brushing those pesky insects away. 

Hot Shadows

Yesterday I read a review in New York Times about a photography exhibit: Eudora Welty in New York: Photographs of the early 1930s, Portraits Taken by a Writer as a Young Woman (in Hard Times.) There is a slide show that goes along with the article that highlights the exquisite black and white photos taken in early 193os. They tell wonderful stories and focus on beautiful shadows, expressive faces of the people enduring difficult times, and taken from some unique angles. The show will be up until feb 6 at the Museum of The City of New York. I am so grateful for the internet that I am able to read about it and get a taste of the the photographs in the slide show right here from the comfort of my living room.

Hot Shadows is a miniature painting (3"x3") done in color pencils on watercolor paper. I wanted to show the texture of the gravel on the road and the watercolor paper did the trick. I also discovered that coloring and then erasing with an electric eraser left enough color on the paper because of its texture. This technique gave me the desired look of the gravel along with some depth. I was happy to leave a few jewels of color embedded in the shadows. I took the photographs of my bicycle and its shadows one saturday morning in September a few years ago waiting along the road side to cheer my daughter as she ran her first 5k. I played around a lot with the composition and finally settled on just the shadows.

Lace and shadow

One of my goals this year is to sketch something everyday.  Two days ago, as I was removing my shoes after my daily walk, decided it was as good subject as any and set to work.  But what I liked was how the sunlight created the shadows of the metal rings in the spiral bound sketch book this morning when I came to pick up the book for today's sketch.  

Mid-day Shadows

These past couple of days, the horrific incidents unfolding in Mumbai have cast long dark shadows on the day of Thanksgiving here in the US -far away yet very close with our blaring radios and TV. In art, play of light and dark makes for some beautiful art.  But these terrorist shadows bring us only tears, despair, anger and frustration. I pray for peace. 

I am not sure its in good taste to post any painting but here it is anyway -one of my attempts at capturing the beauty the Universe so generously offers us always.  Mid-day Shadows  in watercolors and color pencils 7 1/2 x 91/2 "