Small Works at Charles Taylor Visual Arts Center

Central Park  acrylic on NYC-MTA card by Meera Rao 

Grand Central Station acrylic on NYC-MTA card by Meera Rao 

Central Park, Grand Central Station - both acrylics on New York Metro cards and Figure 2, watercolor on Yupo will be on exhibit at the Charles Taylor Visual Arts Center Small works Exhibition in Hampton,  December 10 2019 to January18, 2020.  Holland Wentz Etheridge is judging the show and a big thank you to her for selecting three of my art works. 

I continue to  use the expired MTA cards as canvases for tiny paintings.  This is my way of  bringing awareness and curtail environmental damage by upcycling the plastic cards that would otherwise end up in trash and landfill. Painting on tiny cards in acrylics is a daunting task and has pushed me out of my comfort zone but has been a very satisfying experience. These days I always leave some visual markers to draw attention to the card's previous life. 

I am aware that the MTA by the end of 2019 is planning to test the next generation fare-payment cards, phasing out these cards that have  expiration dates. That makes these NYC MTA paintings my special small contribution to environmental conservation. 

Figure 2 Watercolor on Yupo

I am happy to have this painting also included in the show ! Painting watercolor on the slick non-porous, acid-free, pH neutral  synthetic polypropylene  'paper' Yupo is always challenging and fun. It stretches my skills and challenges my creativity as I manipulate the paint that is not absorbed by the paper and sits on top of the surface. The surface calls for experimentation and fresh directions, building up nuances that are unique to Yupo. The translucency of the Yupo gave the Figure that particular aesthetic I was looking for. I think it helped tell the story yet keep her secret. 

If you are in Hampton do stop by and visit the Small Works Exhibit - you will find 450 wonderful art works by 140 artists :)  

Shaping that Artwork

Strewn watercolor and ink on Yupo 8x8 by Meera Rao 

See with one eye 

Feel with the other 

~Paul Klee~

I am always amazed how often during the painting process I feel my work is on the brink of collapse. And that often gives me the freedom to try out new possibilities. I feel I have nothing to loose.  I take on the challenge of seeing if there is a way out of the hole I have painted myself into ! In Art and Fear the authors David Bayles and Ted Orland write: "Look at your art and it tells you how it is when you hold back or when you embrace. When you are lazy, your art is lazy; when you hold back, it holds back; when you hesitate, it stands there staring, hands in its pockets. But when you commit, it comes on like blazes"  

Of course, I have a long way to go! Meanwhile, with brush in hand I explore - balancing my feelings of competency and inadequacy, fear and courage, passion and desire. It is a special moment indeed when I discover a different ending.

Off Season

Off Season  watercolor on Yupo 8x8" by Meera Rao 

During crabbing season, I see watermen in small boats cruising the waterways in our little town during the early part of the day pulling up crab pots and placing empty ones in their place. When a pickup truck stacked with crab pots passes me while driving, I often hope for  traffic light to turn red so that I may stop right behind that truck to snap a photo :).  I have known about their hard lives, seen photographs and read wonderful articles in our local paper.  This time when I passed this stack of crab pots in a yard, I had to paint it. My other painting of a crab pot can be found here

I had not thought much about crabbing as such until I came across this stack. Turns out, this year the season was from March 17 to November 30.  There is a "Chapter: Pertaining to Crabbing " in the website for Virginia Marine Resources Commission.  It covers in detail  license requirements and "daily individual, vessel and harvest and possession limits, time limits, season limits, peeler pot limits and peeler and softshell crab minimum size limits for commercial and recreational crabbing in Virginia."  My research showed that Chesapeake crabbers already supply up to a third of the blue crabs eaten in the U.S, but issues of overcrabing and climate change looms large in their future.  I read that last year the season was shortened by 16 days and bushel limits for the entire month of November was also reduced. This is a huge reminder how interconnected our whole world is !!

10th Blog Anniversary!!!

Silence Isn't Empty watercolor and Ink 4.5x4.5" by Meera Rao 

Today is the 10th anniversary of my blog!!!  498 posts to date :) What a wonderful adventure it has been.  My art and blog have nurtured each other. I have basked in the warm support of all who have taken the time to read my blogs, to leave comments or to follow/subscribe - for that I am ever grateful.  As I have indicated on my comment form,  it is the viewers who complete the circle of creating art :) As the Thanksgiving Day approaches, I am reminded of my privilege to share my art and I am extremely grateful for this opportunity.  Thank you all :) 

"Silence isn't empty" - It is full of answers is a small painting 4.4x4.4" (framed 9x9)  I am excited that it, along with Haiku in Red  and Thinly Veiled has been selected by Juror Carolyn Thompson Dudley for the Charles Taylor Art Center, Hampton,  Miniatures and Small works by Tidewater Artists Exhibition.  The exhibition dates are Dec 8th 2018 - January 20th 2019 

Thinly Veiled watercolor on Yupo 4.5x4.5" By Meera Rao 

Haiku in Red  watercolor 6x9.5" by Meera Rao 

Beautiful Beginnings!

Sunrise watercolor on Yupo 8x10"  by Meera Rao

I will never forget this scene. The bright orb rising behind the dark line of trees drenching the sky and water in shades of glowing yellow gold, deep orange with touches of juicy crimson leaving no traces of the last night around.  Once again, a perfect new beginning !

When I come across glorious natural scenes, I soak it in and often don't dare even try to paint it. How can I ever capture the beauty and the feeling of spirituality that I sense? Should I even attempt? I slowly added colors and shapes willing my impressions on to the paper.  I photograph the sunrises often but I was pleasantly surprised that I really 'felt' this sunrise when I started to paint!  The colors, the scene, the mood may have changed in fractions of seconds as the dawn emerged but the essence has stayed on in my minds eye.  

Sunrise watercolor on Yupo 8x10"  by Meera Rao

Rock Paper Paint!

Abstract Landscape watercolor on Mitz Terraskin Stone Paper by Meera Rao 

I was given a sample of Mitz Terraskine stone paper by an artist friend and I set out eagerly to experiment on it  knowing very little about how paint behaved on the paper and not researching its unique qualities beforehand. I did not sketch anything on it and had a vague idea of a landscape design for composition. I discovered the paint floats on the paper like on Yupo, takes time to dry and is therefore a bit unstable and easy to get mud if I was not careful. The surface is not quite as smooth and slick as Yupo and has a faint tooth to it. Painting wet on wet, tilting paper to blend the colors gave layered effects and some unexpected results when the paint dried. Spritzing with water and alcohol in the sky area brought on wonderful texture. Paint can also be scratched off without ruining the paper. I found the paint texture on the Mitz terraskine stone paper had a bit of matt finish to it on drying.

After completing the piece, I found a great source of information on Cheap Joe's web site  on their product information page. In the manufacture of this environmentally friendly paper no water or bleach is used and it is therefore acid free and archival quality.  It is made from rock and resin, very tough, cannot be torn or creased and does not damage easily- though I did not test it! It is a multimedia paper and can be used with oil, acrylics or watercolor. The paper can bend nicely and can be stretched like a canvas on stretchers. Pencil and graphite marks do not erase well.  Joe Miller used 'paint-erase rejuvinating sponge' to take some paint and watercolor pencil marks off the paper in his video demonstration. In another demonstration by D.D. Gadjanski, granulation medium was used with watercolor paints to get some beautiful texture.  So watching those videos, I learned about two products I was not aware of before :)  On the whole painting on Mitz Terraskin stone paper was a bit of a fun challenge and I hope to work on it in the future. 

Abstract Landscape watercolor on Mitz Terraskin Stone Paper 5x7" by Meera Rao 

http://www.cheapjoes.com/mitz-terraskin-multimedia-art-paper.html

More or Less

Window Reflections 2  watercolor on Yupo by Meera Rao 

Last month I was deciding on which paintings to select for my library show.  When I saw Window Reflections I felt it needed some more reflections and enjoyed added more shapes and deepened some shadows!  Below is the 'before'.  I am hoping my new touches were worth it ! It is always fun to experiment and try out 'what if I...' and its so much easier on Yupo to keep fiddling :) 

Window Reflections  watercolor on Yupo by Meera Rao 

What color is a happy cat?

Purr Ball  watercolor on Yupo By Meera Rao 6x8.5"

I have many photographs of cats but actually have never painted one until now :) Past couple of months I have been reading "Cats -Drawing and Painting in Watercolor"  by Lesley Fotherby.  Since I don't have a real live cat in the house, I practiced by sketching the cats from her book, learning their curves and their anatomy as I recovered from my encounter with shingles.  Most interesting was studying and sketching their head from various angles, learning how their pupils behaved. I now know that in bright sunlight the pupil will be a narrow slit, in the dark or when a cat is concentrating on its prey or if it is excited or angry, it can open to a circle! I decided I wanted to concentrate on the eyes and the head, not worry much about the body or the legs.  I lightly sketched the eyes, and the rest of the head.  Yupo is wonderful to play around to bring out the softness and texture when painting wet on wet with loaded brushes and then when the surface is dry go with the script brush to define the eyes, nose and mouth. I used a very limited palette and loved patterns the colors brought about. 

So what color is a happy cat? Purrple of  course :) 

Have a purrfect day! 

Pecking Away A Painting

Woodpecker, watercolor on Yupo By Meera Rao

Woodpecker 2, watercolor on Yupo By Meera Rao

I heard and then saw the woodpecker rat-tat-tating away a few days ago while on my walk at the trail. I needed to sketch a woodpecker for a personal project and was pleased with my luck!  I watched him for a while trying to notice all the details and then took a picture with my phone as I had forgotten to carry my camera. Two days later we saw him again on our walk and managed a couple more photographs. 

For the top painting I lightly sketched the outline and did controlled painting. I layered wet paint, let it dry and the added more layers! I liberally used the spray bottle with just water and a tooth brush to splatter paint to  get the texture of the tree. 

No sketching for Woodpecker 2 - just free flowing watercolors on Yupo :) For texture I sprinkled some salt, sprayed a hint of rubbing alcohol and splattered with toothbrush.

As the quote by Coleman Cox states,  "Even the woodpecker owes his success to the fact that he uses his head and keeps pecking away until he finishes the job he starts,”  I played with the paints trying not to overwork yet pecking away till I was satisfied! Now to decide which one I prefer! Or I may yet paint one more ;)

A New Year!

Red Berries Watercolor on Yupo by Meera Rao  6x8.5" 

"Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one" 

~Brad Paisley

Art is Not What You See

Laundry  Watercolor on Yupo 3.4"x4.7" By Meera Rao 

Break time from Shoe Shine Watercolor on Yupo  5"x2.3" by Meera Rao 

Beverage Service Watercolor on Yupo 3.5"x4.3" by Meera Rao

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see"

~Edgar Degas~

I have three small paintings on Yupo in "Small Works: Miniatures by Hampton Roads Artists "  The show will run from October 12-December 1, 2013 at the Charles Taylor Arts Center in Hampton, VA. All the pieces had to be 20 square inches or under and it was fun to once again paint on yupo after months of only sketching in my sketchbook/journal! I am always amazed how vibrant and brilliant colors remain on the yupo unlike regular watercolor paper where the colors dry lighter than what goes on. I also love how the differently the textures and details show on the yupo. 

All three pieces are composites of my sketches, photographs and my imagination. So when I came across the quote by Edgar Degas, I chuckled and knew I had to include it here! Laundry is of course a scene from India, Break time from Shoe Shine is a scene I still see in some airports in USA and the  Beverage Service is from one of my airplane trips :) I was pleasantly surprised and pleased when all three were accepted for the show.  It is a beautifully curated exhibit with many wonderful pieces in all media.  If you are in that neck of woods do drop in and enjoy the creativity on display. 

The Laughter of Pomegranates

Pomegranate  watercolor on Yupo by Meera Rao  9x8.5"

We have a small pomegranate plant in our back yard.  The flowers and fruits are bright red and beautiful. Unfortunately, the fruit from our tree though is not sweet and last year I juiced some and froze them in ice cubes. I use a cube or two when I want to add some sourness to dishes. The juice is a beautiful red but when cooked doesn't retain the luscious color turning rather drab. We don't put any pesticides on the plant and  the fruits ripen naturally so have lots of texture on them! 

Pomegranate is considered to have lots of medicinal values. Everyone knows it to be an anti-oxidant. I am most familiar with a preparation of the dried skin cooked, and ground into a paste with a little bit of coconut and buttermilk used as remedy for diarrhea and other stomach ailments.  Of course Grenadine syrup used in cocktails is from pomegranate :)  Check here for more on the wonderful fruit. 

The references in art and literature are plenty too, full of symbolism as well -- one quick Google search for images in art came up with wonderful selection too! 

Its not pomegranate season yet -- the plant is only now slowly and barely coming back to life after a long cold winter.  I used a few photographs from last season and my memory of handling them while juicing.  Also I buy the fruits often - love peeling the it slowly, loosening the seeds with its juicy red pulps and eating them fresh or using them in salads etc. I Love the red stains on my hand from the squirting juice too :)

I was happy to see that Yupo was the right surface to bring out the textured red on the fruit. I really enjoyed painting the sun dappled fruit free and loose, full of texture :) 

Here is a poem by Rumi to savor:

The Laughter of the Pomegranates:

If you buy a pomegranate,

buy one whose ripeness 

has caused it to be cleft open

with a seed-revealing smile.

Its laughter is a blessing,

for through its wide open mouth

it shows its heart,

like a pearl in the jewel box of spirit.

The red anemone laughs, too

but through its mouth you glimpse a blackness.

A laughing pomegranate 

brings the whole garden to life.

keeping the company of the holy

makes you one of them

Whether you are stone or marble

you will become a jewel

when you reach a human being of heart.

Plant the love of the holy ones within your spirit;

don't give your hear to anything

but the love of those whose hearts are glad.

don't go to the neighborhood of despair:

there is hope.

Don't go in the direction of darkness:

suns exist.

The heart guides you to the neighborhood of the

saints;

the body takes you to the prison of water and earth.

Give your heart the food of holy friends;

Seek maturity from those who have matured.

~Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi 

Graceful Changes

Fall Fire watercolor on Yupo  5x7" by Meera Rao

Season is changing again - we turned our clocks forward and of course love the signs of spring  everywhere.  I was doing the spring ritual of cleaning my studio, moving my paintings around and realized I never did post this painting of the firey bushes from my backyard.  They greeted me when I got back from my trip to India and I was taken away by their beauty.  The bushes are now once again showing signs of greeting the spring after the cold winter. 

I came across a slide show from NASA Jet Propulsion Lab about Change of Seasons- view from space. Check out the slides for an enlightening view of changing seasons as seen from satellite pictures.

When I Gaze at Orchids

  Orchids watercolor on Yupo 8"x8" by Meera Rao 

Even though the world is filled with 

confusion 

When I gaze at one orchid

I can forget 

all my problems. 

~ 

Song Sunam

The Orchid flowers blooming on the plant on my coffee table give a sense of floating in the air as they  hang tall on a long stem! They come up to my eye-level (I am not that tall !) and I feel like they are  watching my every move! Painting them on yupo was delicious fun but it took me forever to correct the colors in the photo and make them match my painting! The colors and details are much more subtle, vibrant and delicate in the painting - some day I hope there won't be such a steep learning curve with using the camera and computer.  But today's achievement is that I learned how to work with layers in Photoshop.  I hope I will remember how the next time I want to use it! Tomorrow I should spend as much time in the studio painting!

Happy New Year!

Robin watercolor on Yupo by Meera Rao

 

Wishing all a wonderful 2013 !

Figures in Color

Figure in watercolor on Yupo by Meera Rao

Figure in watercolor on YUPO by Meera Rao

For almost three weeks now I have been practicing drawing the human figure.  Painting on Yupo was perfect for practicing with watercolors since I could easily rectify any mistakes by wiping off! I drew with watercolor pencils for the top one and graphite pencil for the bottom one before picking up transparent watercolors and had fun with it. It has been very exciting and challenging.  

Last year I volunteered to be a model for a portrait painting demo at our watercolor society meeting.  The one thing I noticed was that the artist constantly looked at me --as much or more than looking down at the paper.  Her rapid fire glances, constant measuring and checking the angles was my takeaway from the session --since I couldn't see what she was drawing only how she was looking at the model! 

I came across this quote by Leonardo da Vinci : "Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works."  So off to more practice :) 

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."  

Art is a Verb

Memories of a bloom 3 watercolor on Yupo 7x5"by Meera Rao 

Memories of a bloom 2 watercolor on Yupo 5x7" by Meera Rao

Memories of a Bloom  watercolor on Yupo  7x5" by Meera Rao

Three paintings so far with the theme: 'Memories of a Bloom.'  I posted all three here just to see how they look as a group. It felt strange to paint #3 just as fresh spring blooms were popping up in the yard! Memories of a Bloom  and Memories of a Bloom2 were painted earlier. Yupo as I have mentioned so many times before, is a great medium to play with to see how to work out compositions, color and values without much hesitation - it is so easy to wipe off part or all of the painting and start over when things don't quite work out!  And as I rework my paintings I see that there is much truth in the quote from one of my favorite books - Art and Fear - Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland : “To the critic, art is a noun. To the artist, art is a verb.”  

As promised in an earlier post, it is time to tag blogs for the Liebester Award which Aparna from Warli Soul generously passed on to me. Liebster is German for dearest, beloved or favorite. This award is bestowed on blogs with less than 200 followers but deserve more attention :) Please check out these wonderful artists! : 

Rajeev Mohan's Spalsh of Color  

Lisa Graham's Lisa Graham Art

Kathy Staicer at Katsart

Nanas - Excellent Fruit

Pineapple watercolor on yupo 6x8" by Meera Rao

I bought a pineapple last week and it sat on the counter for a few days ripening slowly.  I sketched it in graphite first and then in watercolors. It took a lot longer to do the detailed pencil sketching than the paintings as I didn't do any pencil drawing of the fruit for either of the watercolor pineapple paintings.  I used waterbrush pens for the smaller pineapple. I think sketching them in pencil and then with the waterbrush pen was definitely good practice- by the time I painted it on yupo I was familiar enough with the fruit. But I guess no sketching ahead may also explain why it is a little plumper in this version :)  I also experimented by misting the yupo painting with alcohol to get the texture. 

watercolor sketch with waterbrush pen 5x3" 

We call pineapple as ananas in my mother tongue Kannada.  I just found out that "In the scientific binomial Ananas comosus, ananas, the original name of the fruit, comes from the Tupi word nanas, meaning "excellent fruit",[8] as recorded by André Thevet in 1555, and comosus, "tufted", refers to the stem of the fruit."  Tupi is one of the languages from South America and the pineapple plant is indigenous to that area.  I am sure, even though I am not aware of it, there is an interesting story as to how the fruit with it's name came to be a familiar crop all the way in southern India :) 

graphite sketches 5x3"

Drama of Color and Texture

Mushrooms 2 watercolor on Yupo 5x7"

I loved painting the drama of color and texture of these mushrooms.  I had painted these mushrooms before  - ( reproduced also below) but I wanted to experiment and play with them again from a slightly different angle.  I tried more stylized repetition of shapes  and more intense hues.  Colors on Yupo dry deeper than on regular watercolor papers when the brush is loaded with straight color but not much water. Pressing with crumpled up tissue, misting with water and letting each layer of paint dry thoroughly before coming back with another layer of transparent paints resulted in the different textures. 

Bursting Colors watercolor on Yupo 5x7"

Last fall finding these mushrooms on one of my walks I had held my small camera close to the ground and taken a few photographs.  It was really fun to dramatically transform the already colorful mushrooms even further :)  

Mushrooms digital photography