Water Break

Water Break watercolor and ink by Meera Rao

India Art Journal 2015 

Selling fresh betel leaves directly to the customers at the street market, this lady seems to have a good business sense for displaying her goods and controlling her expenses. All she needed was a small blue stool to sit on and a big basket  of fresh leaves stacked in neat piles! Behind her were clay pots balanced carefully and the rickety table held small clay pots etc. The Betel leaves are important in Hindu religious ceremonies, a main ingredient in 'pan' for chewing pleasure, and also used for medicinal purposes. So the business is usually brisk for leaves and the pots as it’s much simpler to stop by a stand while commuting to work or running errands than to plan a special trip to the store.   

Water Break  5.5x8" watercolor and ink on 140 lb Strathmore visual Journal

Dance of Life

She Moved Like A Dancer watercolor and ink by Meera Rao

India Art Journal 2015 

She was a vegetable vendor.  Everyday she sat by the roadside with a few crates of produce. She always dressed in simple though beautiful sarees with matching stylish blouses, bangles,  flowers in her hair, and eyes rimmed with kohl. She also had a ready smile for her customers.  This particular evening she was moving her crates to a storage area near by before calling it a day.  As she lifted and carried her crates she moved like a dancer, light bouncing off the folds of her saree, face and body. I was captivated by the beauty and grace of her movements.    

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way 

- things I had no words for. "

~Georgia O'Keeffe~

She Moved Like a Dancer 5.5x8" watercolor and ink on 140 lb Strathmore visual Journal

Sketching Every Day

2013 India Sketch Journal: At Dulles Airport June 7 by Meera Rao

I started another journal this year as I do my turn at my M-i-L's place in India till end of August. As always the journal starts with sketches at the airport and this time I challenged myself to choose vignettes showing something different :)  While waiting at Dulles, DC I sketched the wide corridor with huge black board gate info etc and various colorful national flags hanging from the high ceilings.  It was late night and our flight was delayed and there were few passengers wandering around and even fewer shops or restaurants that were still open. 

2013 India Sketches: At London Airport June 8 by Meera Rao

At Heathrow in London, I sat in the lounge waiting for the gate to be announced. I had a perfect to place to watch and sketch people as they came by to check the Departure board with the 'time planner.'  It was a challenge to get the moving people down on the paper! But the positive was that almost everyone slowed down or paused near the gates and boards long enough for me to notice and commit a part of a gesture, a limb, a slant of the head, a pose or piece of clothing on to the page :)  So mostly, the people are composites of a few passengers!

2013 India Sketches : Page 1 by Meera Rao

 Above is the first page from my journal with both sketches showing. I am using 8.5x6" Strathmore Mixed Media Vellum Surface 300 series 90lb  sketchbook with 40 sheets of paper.  I have my trusty Koi watercolor pocket Field sketch box,  3 waterbrush pens, a 3B pencil, and a ball point pen for sketching. I also have a few color pens, sketch pens but not in my carry on. I intend to use them once I am unpacked! So far I am excited about my second journal and am looking forward to sketching about 80-90 sketches this time, one a day, two to a page mostly and every now and then one or four :)  Now to make sure I am able to sketch every day at least for 30 minutes!