Showing posts with label daily sketching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label daily sketching. Show all posts

Monday, December 27, 2021

What Bird is that ?

Owl sketch in Mixed Media by Meera Rao 

I have not seen an Owl in our backyard but I hear its calls late at night and early mornings.  Recently the app  Merlin Bird ID from the The Cornell Lab added a feature to record the bird calls. The app then helps you identify the bird using its sound bank! How cool is that?  That's how I learned that it is a Great Horned Owl that is in our backyard! I have been using the app on my walks(Identified Cooper's Hawk call just yesterday), in the backyard, or anywhere else I hear a bird call that I can not recognize (which is 99% of the time!) 

I sketched this owl (Screech owl?) during a draw and paint along with Jack (John) Muir Laws  about a month ago. His website, You Tube channel, and books are  treasure troves of information on nature and nature journaling. I used pencil, pen and ink, watercolor, and my new Derwent Grahitint  paint pans set. Sketching often has definitely helped me improve my 'seeing' and drawing skills. 
 

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Osprey watching

Nature Journal page on Osprey graphite and color pencils by Meera Rao 

I think he will be to Rome
as is the osprey to the fish, who takes it
by sovereignty of nature 

~Shakespear  Act 4 scene 7 Coriolanus~

I love watching the ospreys that frequent our backyard.   They were already back from their winter migration by the time we returned on March 1 from our trip to India and London.

Their nest (called aeries) on a platform in the river with a 'no wake' sign looks like haphazardly arranged sticks. It has to be well constructed though as it has withstood many hurricanes and storms!  They have been coming back to the same spot for many years now. I do not know if these are the same birds. I read that they mate for life and their lifespan is anywhere from 7-20 years.  Only recently I read about how to tell apart a male and female but in practice though, I can't! Two days ago I saw one chick - I had been hearing the persistent  cries for food for a few days now. I wonder how many will hatch.  One of the parents always eats the fish (she/he catches by diving into the river- a wondrous feat to watch.) on the same branch of a pine tree in the yard. I see the fish fluttering for a few minutes under the sharp hooked talons as the bird tears into the head! A pair of fish crows always appear as soon the osprey catches the fish.  They follow the raptor to a nearby branch cawing and being a nuisance. The fish crows watch carefully for any scraps that fall to the ground and swoop down to dine. There is usually no trace of any leftovers anywhere near the tree :)  

sketches of osprey from my sketch book 

I watched and sketched the ospreys over the past two months before I committed to devote a page in my journal. I added a sketch as my idea for the page evolved. Meanwhile, I learned that it is the second most widely distributed raptor species after Peregrine falcon. All ospreys around the world are part of single species except Eastern Osprey which is native to Australia. These migratory birds are found everywhere except in Antarctica. The Genus name Pandion derives from mythical Greek King of Athens, Grandfather of Theseus, Pandion 11. The species name comes from ancient Greek haliaietos:  hali -sea aetos - eagle. 

I read that the sexes appear fairly similar, but the adult male can be distinguished from the female by its slimmer body and narrower wings. The breast band of the male is also weaker than that of the female, or is non-existent, and the underwing coverts of the male are more uniformly pale. The explanation said it is straightforward to determine the sex in a breeding pair, but harder with individual birds. I will have to watch them even more closely paying special attention to the markings to make some progress on id-ing them! I am looking forward to find out how many chicks hatch and seeing the family flying around in about a month or so :)

Monday, July 30, 2018

Ni Hao Part 13 Shanghai By Night

Shanghai Skyline Financial District At Night View from the River  Watercolor&Ink by Meera Rao  

 
Bund Old Shanghai Skyline Night view from River  Watercolor and Ink by Meera Rao

The 2-page spread of Night View 

The Night River Cruise was a wonderful light show! Our guide informed us that all the buildings are required to participate and show their loyalty. It is a big tourist draw and thousands fill hundreds of  lavishly decorated cruise boats.  The ride started at dusk and lasted close to two hours. We oohed and ahed at the magic of millions of colored blinking and dancing lights that changed and morphed every other second ! 

Buddhist monks checking their  phones at the Financial district  Sketch by Meera Rao 

Earlier in the evening we walked around the area where I saw many buddhist monks enjoying the city lights and scenes just like us.  A couple of chefs taking a break down an alley near the Food Mall caught my eye as we were searching for a place to eat. 

Pause In The Day #DirectWatercolor #nosketching by Meera Rao 

Below is a straggler sketch of an Incense burner from Imperial city at Beijing- one of our very first stops during this china trip. I painted it much later as a part of the #30x30directwatercolor challenge and therefore got left out of the earlier post on Beijing. I decided to include it in this last post on my  travel sketchbook.  

Incense Burner At The Imperial city, Beijing #30x30directwatercolor #nosketching By Meera Rao 

I had a couple of really beautiful ticket stubs that I decided were the just the right thing to grace the front and back covers of my sketchbook.  The front cover is the part of the ticket to the silk museum in Shanghai.  I used gold gel pen to write the title. 

Cover of China Travel Sketchbook Journal By Meera Rao 

The outside back cover is the ticket stub from the Sun Moon Temple at Guillin. 

Back Cover of China Travel Sketchbook Journal  by Meera Rao 

I decorated the back  inside cover with the business card for the resturant where we enjoyed delicious fresh hot Dim sums and a couple of beautiful wrappers from some chocolates I bought and enjoyed :)  

Inside Back Cover of Sketchbook Journal.  By Meera Rao 

Thats the end of my journal sketches but I hope to paint a few more full scale paintings in the next few months :) 

再見中國  Zaijian zhongguo- bye bye China  for now!!

Thursday, March 8, 2018

#OneWeek100People

Lady Water Bugs  #oneweek100people Day 3  3-7-2018

I am trying to squeeze in time to sketch people this week.  Yesterday was day 3.  I returned from helping out with the water testing and did a quick sketch of my fellow volunteers :) 

International Women's Day #oneweek100people Day 4  3-8-2018

As today is International Women's day I decided to do a quick sketch of some notable women for day 4.  Hoping I will get some time later today to do more. 

At a Book Talk #oneweek100people Day 2  3-6-2018

At a Book Talk #oneweek100people Day 2  3-6-2018

On Day 2, I was at a Book Talk and sketched a few people from the audience.  The room was quite dark and it was challenge to see what I was sketching! 

At the Dentist Office  #oneweek100people Day 2  3-6-2018

At the Dentist's I tried to memorize the scene as I my teeth were being cleaned :) I surreptitiously took a photo in the waiting room and did the sketches at home from blurry pic -- and took my liberties with the colors ! 
  
At the Gym  #oneweek100people Day 1  3-6-2018
  
At the Gym  #oneweek100people Day 1  3-6-2018

As I worked out at the gym on day 1, I watched intensly and tried to commit to memory the scene before me. Again, I had a blurry photo to help out with some details as I sketched later at home. 

Watching Oscars -warm up for #oneweek100people   3-6-2018

So far I only have 29 sketches plus five I did as warm up watching the Oscars for an hour or so.  So this year it has been slow and I might have to take a few extra days to sketch 100 people! Anyway, I am sketching something every day :) 

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Cool Inspirations

Jan 7-12 2018 Sketchbook by Meera Rao

The cold, the snow, the ice and more bone chilling cold! There was a huge cascading ice that formed from a water leak in one of the faucets from the school across our house.  For a week I watched it form and grow so I had to put it on my sketchbook. I escaped one day to the National Gallery of Art and next day to the National Postal Museum - best way to get color on gray days ! The mango from the grocery store supplied the taste of summer and lifted the spirits.  The squirrels were busy in the backyard and I caught one enjoying the snow to quench the thirst, I suppose.  

I finally discovered what that Victorian looking 'post' by the Lincoln Park was - the Police and Fire call Boxes from long ago.  Apparently this particular call box had missed its chance to become a "Art on Call" box in 2000.   Do check out the article and the videos on these 'call boxes'.  There is history in every corner in DC! 

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Taking Chances in the New Year

Collage of sketches Jan 1 -6 2018 

The first week of drawings followed the "not every drawing needs to be a finished work of art" tip. So I filled the pages with bits and pieces of things in my day forcing me to be mindful about my surroundings and experiences. 

Sketch book page by Meera Rao

The excitement of a new sketchbook and trying to figure out how I wanted to sketch each day had me experimenting this first week with a visual journal model. I tried mini sketches the first three days - but soon discovered that was not easily sustainable over long term !

Sketch book page by Meera Rao

I also discovered this book takes only very light watercolor washes -- so I soon resorted to graphites, Prismacolor and brush pens.


Sketch book page by Meera Rao

I tried to add a quote some days to jump start an idea for the page-- as William Faulkner said " Take chances. It may be the only way you can do anything really good."   Looking at these pages, I feel I should give more thought to how to compose each page, to the writings and penmanship as well. But right now I am just sketching and hoping to keep up with it every day!

Sketch book page by Meera Rao

The past three days, I experimented with just one sketch each day to capture the essence of the day.  The 'Bomb cyclone' has meant very frigid temperatures but fortunately there was only an inch of snow in DC where we spent the week with our grandchildren. I sketched them doing a fashion show,  their art work,  toy etc.. Cooped up indoors with them, my husband and I supervised their melted crayon art, sketched with them.  I also was a scribe for their illustrated books :) 

Finally, this post is a start on my ambition of more regular posting on the blog.

Monday, July 31, 2017

A Tree for Life

Week 2 India 2017  sketches by Meera Rao

It was an exercise in seeing things with fresh eyes as I tried to think of things that my grandchildren might find interesting and different.  I note this as week 2 - but halfway through week-, I was sketching on different pages  trying for some organization.  So this page has mostly things coconut :) - the tree in the front yard and various things I encountered in daily life. We mainly know coconut used in cooking as coconut milk, coconut water, and coconut oil but coconut tree is a goldmine -every part of the tree is versatile and useful -- roots used as dyes,  leaves woven and used as thatching and awnings,  for brooms, trunks for buildings, in parquet flooring, coir from husks for ropes, mats; shells for various implements, as kindling, in arts and crafts etc etc. I sketched only a small fraction of those things.  






Monday, April 10, 2017

Fingers At Play


Sitar Artist sketch by Meera Rao 3.5x5.5


Tabla Artist sketch by Meera Rao 3.5x5.5

A milestone for me yesterday. I loved watching, listening and sketching the two artists live at a concert.  I am really pleased with the results. I used just pencil and no eraser- I knew I had two hours to practice my sketching! The lighting was a bit of a challenge- but I did not mind. These two are the last and the best of 2-3 sketches I tried of each musician. The hands were the hardest as they were flying ! I tried multiple sketches of hands only before I could get them somewhat ok. I wanted to capture the joy and intensity I saw in the artists -I think I managed that along with the likeness :) The wonderful concert by Kushal Das and Ramdas Pulsule so nourished my soul! They really played their heart out. 

Sitar Artist sketch by Meera Rao 3.5x5.5 graphite
Tabla Artist sketch by Meera Rao 3.5x5.5 graphite

Thursday, March 16, 2017

#OneWeek100sketches2017

Day 1-sketches 1-7/100 by Meera Rao

I took up the challenge #Oneweek100sketches2017 organized by Marc Taro Holmes  who blogs as 'citizensketcher' and Liz Steel.  Sketches 1-32 were from my own photographs - photos that I wanted to paint and saw this as an opportunity to practice sketching before I attempted to paint them.  I could not go out and sketch people live because of lots of other things I was busy with.  These sketches were breaks I was taking from doing those other things - mostly unpacking and getting things in order after a long trip to India.  The sketching also was an opportunity for me to put my feet up and rest the slowly healing ankles from a bad fall back in October of last year!!! I also felt safe working in the privacy of my home while working on improving people sketching skills. 

Day 1-sketches 8-14/100 by Meera Rao

Day 2-sketches 15-23/100 by Meera Rao
These 9 sketches were of scenes that I had seen during my trips to India begging to be sketched! I encountered them during my daily errands and had not yet sketched them out.  

Day 2-sketches 24-32/100 by Meera Rao
Lots of people in India take public transportation --buses mainly and can be seen waiting at the bus-stand. Bus stops are like airports these days where passengers are mostly waiting, some people watching or chatting or on their digital devices :)  

Day 3-sketches 33-63/100 by Meera Rao

On this day, I received a poster in the mail from the UN Refugee agency. I was reminded of the devastation facing so many families around the world and the chances they take for a chance at safer, better life. This particular boat load had only men filled to capacity. I know for sure there are other boats filled with women and children making similar perilous journeys. Sketching them was emotionally draining making me wonder what it was like to be fleeing like that! And I stopped at 100 unable to sketch the rest of the people in the boat.

Day 4&5-sketches 64-100/100 by Meera Rao


Boat People 2-Page spread by Meera Rao

I only sketched using a #4B pencil.  I had planned on using watercolor but liked the sketches as they were. I did not time myself but did not spend more than 45 minutes at a time each day. My sketch book was 12x16" and the two page spread was 12x33" .  I am pleased with the sketches and felt sure of my lines and marks the more I drew.  I quickly learned less is more! My goal was to draw 100 people, draw without overthinking every line like I seem to do while I sketch people. I wanted to work on getting the proportions and perspectives correct, and draw people in all different angles, sitting, standing, walking, crawling, front, back and sides :) 

This was a challenge I really relished by the time I was done with 100 people! 


Monday, January 9, 2017

Starting A Journey

Main Street Station watercolor and ink  5.5x8" by Meera Rao

At the start of a new year I always wonder if I should give myself any goals.  Over the years I have had a mixed record of keeping my resolutions.  This year giving myself wiggle room, I have decided to sketch 'something' everyday and post it on "sketch-today sketches 2017"   on Tumbler. 

The idea is to make it easy for me to post a photo of the day's sketch everyday and have all the sketches for the year in one place - to track and see the efforts of each day thru the year :)  This first week, couple of days I barely managed a simple sketch and then on other days I managed to pull out my watercolor set and spent a good deal of time on the day's creation. I really enjoyed keeping a art journal/sketchbook during my stays in India over the past five years, but somehow have not been disciplined about maintaining it rest of the year.  I hope this year is different :) 

While surfing the internet last week, I came across an article  on choosing  a word for the year. I liked the idea and decided my word is “present” — as in be present in the ‘studio’ (i.e anywhere to sketch or paint) – everyday as much as possible; 'be in the present’ while doing art – not worry about how something will turn out or not; to remember that whatever talent I have been fortunate to be blessed with is a ‘present’ to be fully enjoyed and be grateful for :) 

'present' my word for 2017

I really have to push myself to not procrastinate, not to be afraid of failure or rejection, and accept whatever shows up on the paper and celebrate everyday. Hoping the word will be a daily reminder to hold up my end of bargain and keep up with my goal of sketching everyday.

I came across a obituary in New York Times for artist  Tyrus Wong - aged 106.  He was an incredibly accomplished painter, illustrator, calligrapher and Hollywood studio artistan.  He was the artist  for Walt Disney’s 1942 animated classic, “Bambi.”  His  is a story of  talented  hard working immigrant artist who remained largely unknown to the public. He faced much discrimination and marginalization  but remained a true artist - creative till the end. 

I was really moved and inspired reading Wong's obituary and an article about his work -I hope sketching everyday will help me as he said : ‘If you can do a painting with five strokes instead of 10, you can make your painting sing.’

So Happy New Year to all!  What word will help you be inspired and create in 2017?  Please do share your goals and your 'word'  for the year :) 

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Moved by Compassion

Bodhisatva  sketched at the Chicago Institute of Art by Meera Rao 

calm
 peace 
grace
on the path 
to Awakening
a merciful guide
moved by compassion
~Meera Rao~


Information about the statue of Bodhisatva 

I have badly sprained my ankles and on my trip to Chicago in a way it was a blessing in disguise. Normally I spend hours in various galleries trying to catch a glimpse of all the wonderful art. But this time I did not walk around the museum ( I know I missed some fabulous exhibits).  I decided instead to sit and sketch something at the museum. 

I had always been attracted to this statue which is close to the entrance of the museum leading to the exhibits on art from India, Tibet, Korea, Japan and China etc.  I slowly hobbled over and sat on a bench across the statue and took my time sketching with pencil and eraser.  The guard came around a few times to ask if I was ok and if he could help me find anything - I am sure he was checking my progress and making sure I was doing what I said I was doing! None of the visitors stopped and chatted though I noticed some paused close and long enough to satisfy their curiosity :)   

While I sketched it sitting down, the photo of the statue was taken standing up just before I left.  I gave the red wash to the background later - did not dare take my water brush or the small watercolor box in the museum. 

Bodhisatva sketch in pencil and watercolor 5x5" by  Meera Rao

Monday, June 20, 2016

Passage of Time

Whiling the Morning Away watercolor and ink by Meera Rao
India Art Journal 2015

Under the shades of huge trees in parks or elsewhere there are always elderly men mostly in crisp white shirts, wearing traditional white "Dhoti" (click on link for simple version) or western style pants sitting and whiling away their time - keeping up with friendships, resting after their daily walks, discussing world affairs and may be just fighting off loneliness. I saw this group daily while out on my errands and had to record it :)  

I feel a pang as I post this last sketch from my 2015 summer journal from India. The past four summers I went to India to take care of my Mother-in-law and started sketching daily as a way to keep up with my art. I compulsively sketched almost every single day when I was in India - something sadly I don't seem to be able to do now. As my Mother-in-law passed away late last year I won't be staying for extended period in Mysuru this summer. 

During those stays, I filled five sketchbooks with around 250 sketches - the first year I had done 124 sketches -small 2.7x4" in Strathmore 5.5x8" Visual Journal watercolor 140lbs- one for every day of my stay. It was easy to keep up with daily sketching as my only concern was to sketch every day! 

The second year feeling ambitious, instead of four sketches on the page like the past year, I decided to draw bigger 5"x4" sketches. I ended up with half as many sketches as most could not be completed in the allotted time each day. I had to resort to sketch one day and finish water-coloring them the next. 

The year after, I was a bit more adventurous filling in two Japanese style moleskine accordion sketchbooks - not restricting myself to any particular size within the sketchbook. I still finished around 40 vignettes. 

It was harder to sketch everyday in 2015 - I managed about 22- 5.5x8" sketches taking two to three days to finish each  - even working on the last few after my return as I unable to sketch on many days during my stay. On the whole, keeping the sketchbooks was definitely one of the best decisions I made.It helped see a bigger picture of life. I noticed and experienced things differently and the many fast disappearing vignettes of daily life are now not just only in my sketchbook but are etched in my memory.   

The past few months though I have spent more time reading and looking at art than picking up a pencil or paintbrush. Now finally I am beginning to feel an urgency and renewed enthusiasm to shake off my lethargy, to get back to sketching and painting every day. 

Artists don't get to work
Until the pain of working is exceeded 
by the pain of not working 
~Stephen DeStaebler~ 


Whiling the Morning Away 5.5x8" watercolor and ink on 140 lb Strathmore visual Journal

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Simple Times

A Tire, A Street and A Buddy watercolor and ink by Meera Rao
India Art Journal 2015

Simple times and carefree days.  I watched them roll the tire back and forth down a quiet lane, laugh and squeal in delight. Pretty soon they had mastered the art of keeping the tire rolling without a break. I was a witness to a sealing of friendship, memories in the making and developing skills and imagination :) Definitely 'just playing' is really a lot of 'work' as well! 


You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." 
Plato


 A Tire, A Street and A Buddy 5.5x8" watercolor and ink on 140 lb Strathmore visual Journal

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Under the Mid-day Sun

Under the Mid-day Sun watercolor and ink by Meera Rao
India Art Journal 2015

To work under hot mid day sun is just plain hard work.  These two ladies were making plaster cast and clay statues for sale by a busy road side. They are migrants who traveled from northern states  to south in search for a better living. They had taken over the sidewalk, set up tents and a business. It is a difficult ethical problem - shouldn't the city evict them for blocking the roads for pedestrians like me who now have to walk on the edge of the road  with traffic whizzing by or do you applaud them because they are entrepreneurs  trying to make a decent wage by working and producing. For now, the only solution I saw was to capture them in my sketchbook.


Under the Mid-day sun 5.5x8" watercolor and ink on 140 lb Strathmore visual Journal



    

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Water for Today

Water for Today watercolor and ink by Meera Rao
India Art Journal 2015


When you see water in a stream
you say: oh, this is stream
water; 
When you see water in the river
you say: oh, this is water
of the river; 
When you see ocean
water
you say: This is the ocean's
water! 
But actually water is always
only itself
and does not belong
to any of these containers
though it creates them.
And so it is with you. 

Alice Walker

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

Sunday, May 22, 2016

A Colorful Cover-up

A Colorful Cover-up watercolor and ink by Meera Rao
India Art Journal 2015

It looked like a giant colorful caterpillar from a distance making me stop in my tracks. A long multicolored striped cotton floor mat (jamkane in local Kannada language) covering a vehicle protecting it from the hot sun and any mess dropped by birds sitting in the near by tree! It was by the front door of a school and my guess is that the car belonged to some 'important' visitor.  A dog was happily lying down by it too. 

I had sketched those mats a few times before - it was covering the stage platform and risers in a 'Yakshagana' performance  where the musicians were seated. Those mats come in different sizes and are workhorses - spread on the floor at functions for people to sit on, at many homes and on most train journeys they are the base layer for bedding for people to sleep on, for covering a pile of boxes or suitcases to keep dust away in some homes, as yoga mats etc.. 



A Colorful Cover-up, 5.5x8" watercolor and ink on 140 lb Strathmore visual Journal


Monday, May 16, 2016

Evening Shadows

Evening Shadows watercolor and ink by Meera Rao
India Art Journal 2015 

Sunday evenings the roads are relatively empty and I was fortunate to come across this scene on my daily walk.  The beauty of this play of light and shadow will remain etched in my memory even if I may not have done justice to the original scenery.   

I have realized over the years that, my vision is always ahead of what really ends up on the paper ! Here is a story from the book Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland :  More often, though, fears rise in those entirely appropriate (and frequently recurring) moments when vision races ahead of execution. Consider the story of the young student – well, David Bayles, to be exact – who began piano studies with a Master. After a few months’ practice, David lamented to his teacher, “But I can hear the music so much better in my head than I can get out of my fingers.”

To which the Master replied, “What makes you think that ever changes?”

That’s why they’re called Masters. When he raised David’s discovery from an expression of self-doubt to a simple observation of reality, uncertainty became an asset. Lesson for the day: vision is always ahead of execution — and it should be. Vision, Uncertainty, and Knowledge of Materials are inevitabilities that all artists must acknowledge and learn from: vision is always ahead of execution, knowledge of materials is your contact with reality, and uncertainty is a virtue.

To quote Ira Glass about the 'gap' in taste and skill:  It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. 

So on to marching towards my 10,000 sketches...... 

Evening Shadows 5.5x8" watercolor and ink on 140 lb Strathmore visual Journal


Sunday, May 8, 2016

Ironing The Wrinkles Out

Ironing the Wrinkles Out watercolor and ink by Meera Rao
India Art Journal 2015 

I have sketched a neighbourhood ironing lady before in 2013 and a young boy ironing in 2012.  This man had his 'shop' in a tiny little structure with a board to iron on and a shelf to stack up the finished items. There was a small tin box outside the shack where he was tending coals for the iron. All are enterprising people who fill a heavy iron with hot coals and iron out the wrinkles from shirts, pants, kids uniforms and ladies sarees to make a living. They pick up the laundered clothes from their customers and drop them off later crisply ironed, folded and ready to wear. Most of the vendors keep a rotating schedule of certain days and times during the week in a couple different neighborhoods. They have bare bones set up and work diligently. The young lady had proudly told me how careful she is to avoid any burn holes from hot coals in the clothes she is ironing.   

For many among us ironing is a dreaded chore but it is 'work' for these people. And to Pablo Naruda, it is poetry  :

In Praise of Ironing

by Pablo Neruda
translated by Alastair Reid

Poetry is pure white.
It emerges from water covered with drops,
is wrinkled, all in a heap.
It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet,
has to be ironed out, the sea's whiteness;
and the hands keep moving, moving,
the holy surfaces are smoothed out,
and that is how things are accomplished.
Every day, hands are creating the world,
fire is married to steel,
and canvas, linen, and cotton come back
from the skirmishings of the laundries,
and out of light a dove is born -
pure innocence returns out of the swirl.



Ironing the Wrinkles Out 5.5x8" watercolor and ink on 140 lb Strathmore visual Journal


Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Daily Chores

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

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Flying Jewel

White Throated Kingfisher watercolor and ink by Meera Rao
India Art Journal 2015 

Everyday at the same time this kingfisher perched conspicuously on a thick cable wire by my window. With a clear view of the road below and all the neighboring yards, it could look for its pray of small rodents, earthworms, large insects, snakes, fish and frogs, but I never saw it catch anything.  Mostly it looked like the bird stopped to rest for just a few minutes on its way from or to someplace else - probably to the huge Kukkare Halli Lake a few miles away. With its brilliant colors of teal, chestnut, and white body with a red beak it looks like a flying jewel! Here is a link for the Kingfisher calls if you want to listen how it sounds like :) I had hoped to catch a glimpse of the bird flying off so I could see how the teal wings looked like but never managed that :( 

This is one of the subjects I had to sketch more than once - as I was never satisfied with how the colors looked on the paper. The brilliant beautiful shimmering colors of the bird are a sight to behold.  


White Throated Kingfisher 5.5x8" watercolor and ink on 140 lb Strathmore visual Journal

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