End of Something is the Beginning of Something Else

 

Ganesha  Mixed Media by Meera Rao

Ganesha  Mixed Media 2x2x3/4" by Meera Rao

I have been experimenting with using empty mint boxes, used up metro cards etc…in my art explorations.  Here I upcycled an empty Trader Joe's mint box into a travel altar with the image of God Ganesha using watercolor, color pens, washi tape(for the sides). The challenge was to draw a 2x2" miniature Ganesha to fit in the box and that required a few tries! In the end it was a wonderful feeling to recycle the box into a meaningful work of art. As I was starting the project, I was reminded of a quote by Fred Rogers of Children's  Educational TV shows : 

"Often when you think you are at the end of something,

You are at the beginning of something else " 

Eco Art Art Box : Celebrations

Sri Rama-Sita Kalyana by Meera Rao 

8x6x1.5cm

I made this box as a 50th Wedding anniversary gift recycling an empty mouth freshener mint box :)  I used watercolors, micron pen,  markers and Pitt pens to draw and decorate the Sri Rama Sita Kalyana (wedding) portrait.  I used different Japanese washi tape with gold accents for front and side covers as it was for a golden wedding anniversary! Back cover was a simpler Japanese washi tape. It was a challenging yet fun project that I did past December but forgot to post it. 

Eco Art Box Front Cover

Eco Art Box Side

Eco Art Box Back Cover

I found this beautiful quote on love said to be from Ramayana. But I could not find the original. I will grateful if anyone can enlighten me about it and please put it in the comments. 

 Blow O Wind, to where my loved one is.

Touch him and come touch me soon.

I'll feel his gentle touch through you 

and meet his beauty in the moon.

These things are much for the one who loves.

One can live by them alone:

that he and I breathe the same air

and the Earth we tread is one.

~Ramayana~

Regret & Meltdown!

Regret Mixed media By Meera Rao

I am very excited that Regret was one of 29 works selected for the Capitol Hill Art league show 'Meltdown' by Juror John Coppola, former Director of the Office of Exhibits Central at the Smithsonian Institution. 

Juror John Coppola’s Statement: “Edgar Degas pointedly said, Art isn’t what you see. It’s what you make others see.  In selecting works for this exhibition, I focused on submissions that made me–and I hope, those who see the exhibition online–look at our current state of affairs in all its complexity and uncertainty from differing points of view. Hats off to the CHAL artists who pushed through the pandemic and social unrest to create art.  Frankly, it was better than I did: My drafting table is cluttered with notes and sketches for work I never quite got to. Thanks both to the Capitol Hill Art League for inviting me to jury “Meltdown,” and to the participating artists who got me to re-engage with art!”

I attended (my first ever) Zoom Art Reception for the show on June 27th ! The paintings can be seen on the online gallery Capitol Hill Art league website. There is also a short video clip of Juror's statement at the reception. Interestingly, the theme for the show was chosen over a year ago before all the pandemic chaos!  

Perspective

Trapped mixed media on wood panel 6"x6" By Meera Rao

A big thank you to Clint Mansell of Principle Gallery for selecting my painting Trapped to be included in the Capitol Hill Art League Open call show "Perspectives".  I am pleased to be one of 25 artists whose work was chosen. The show now of course will be on line :)  Capitol Hill Art League Perspectives Online show   has a video of the Juror's statement and digital copies of the all the selected works.  Seeing them like that gives a different perspective to the show! 

It has been a interesting few weeks when social distancing, sheltering in place and lockdown have become the new normal. The silver lining has been reading stories to my grandchildren couple of hours a day. These daily meetings are wonderful and remind me constantly that we have the heavy responsibility to make things right for them.

We have also moved our shopping online. I enrolled in an Natural History Illustration course -online of course! The backyard is a sanctuary as always and the flowers, buds and 'weeds' have been great specimens for my homework for the course! In-between I have been slowly sewing a few masks and making time to connect with friends and family all the while hoping and praying all this corona virus pandemic ends well and soon.

I guess it is a wake up call for all of us to look deeply inwards as well as outwards - globally, make some important changes for the better for all life on this fragile earth.

Nature of Mind

Nature of Mind  mixed media on wood 15x11" by Meera Rao

nature of mind

swirling dancing racing thoughts

standing still lingering 

doubts playing hide and seek

 sometimes blue darkest black 

sunshine yellow with crimson temptations

colliding gliding

 thousand fleeting feelings 

holding tight letting go

searching

white bright sparks 

seeking

that elusive clarity

~Meera Rao~

Fury of Fire, Wind and Water

Fury of Fire, Wind and Water  20x16" Mixed media by Meera Rao 

This painting titled Fury of Fire Wind and Water  is a visceral response to the fires, tornadoes, and hurricanes in the recent past.  I am acutely aware of the awe inspiring, fear inducing chaos,  destruction and surprising beauty in the fury of the moment as the elements go about altering the landscapes and lives. Nature is demanding we pay attention to the delicate balance and vulnerability all around.  Are we? 

Fury of Fire, Wind and Water  20x16" Mixed media by Meera Rao Mixed Media Pebeo paints. 

Enchanting Alchemy of Art

Enchanted City  mixed media on wood 6x6" by Meera Rao 

Trapped mixed media on wood 6x6" by Meera Rao 

Color is the keyboard,

the eyes are the harmonies,

the soul is the piano with many strings.

Artist is the hand that purposefully plays

touching one key or another

and sets the soul vibrating.

~Wassily Kandinsky~

It is always a lot of fun painting with the  mixed media Pebeo oil based liquid alkyd colors.  I continue to be amazed  at how 'Prisme' gives honeycomb effects that reveals itself only while drying -so to be patient and give it time to divulge its' secret.  I am still astonished when the hammered effects of 'Moon' with textured pearl finish is unveiled instantly.  I love the glossy transparent and luminous 'vitrail' colors; and the smooth enamel effect with lacquer finish of the 'ceramic' paints. And mostly, I am totally enamored by the exciting mix of art and science: using the chemistry of these liquids to paint, to bring about different effects and looks.  I wish the photographs showed even more clearly the wonderful textures and dimension of the art works. 

Enchanted City and Trapped were done on wood panels by pouring paint and deliberating on when and how much to manipulate the paints by keeping in mind their reaction styles and times.   On the whole,  it has been exhilarating to attempt to conquer the fear of the uncertainty and abstraction :) 

Distance From Origin

A Stone of Hope watercolor and Ink 5x8 by Meera Rao

It is funny how I have inventory anxiety and then feel pangs of separation as I let go a painting that finds a new home!  I am a jumble of emotions feeling grateful and excited that someone else liked the painting enough to want it and a twinge of apprehension that I might never see it again :) Last month, A Stone of Hope, a sketch of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial at Washington DC  was auctioned off at a fundraiser for my granddaughter's school PTA.  I am grateful to be able to give back to the community in my own small way. 

Distance From Origin  colorpencils  by Meera Rao

I was honored to be invited by Katherine Thomas, an artist friend by way of the cyber world, to participate in doing a page in the Sketchbook Project "Distance From Origin"  via the Brooklyn Art Library. The sketchbook had already traveled to :Ohio, USA; Kent, England; Colorado, USA; and Nasum, Sweden.  I used color pencils to sketch a view of the NASA Langley (Lunar)Landing Impact Structure from my backyard.  It was my interpretation of the theme 'Distance From Origin' -man exploring the universe, the light and heat from Distant Sun burning up the early morning fog. And all this captured by me, who was of course quite a distance from my origins :) I wished the sketchbook happy travels and sent it back. Check out talented Katherine Thomas's FaceBook page and also the special page she created for the project 'Distance from Origin' to see where in the world that sketchbook traveling to!  

Altered States TAA Portfolio show Mixed Media By Meera Rao

My mixed media paintings on photographs have been juried into the TAA Portfolio show at the Suffolk Art Gallery in Virginia.  The theme of my portfolio is "Altered States."  The  show will be up from April 29-June 4.  At the opening, I was pleasantly surprised to see that two paintings already had red dots :) My wish for all my paintings is for them to give happiness and pleasure from whatever walls they grace ! 

Interlude

Interlude Mixed media on photograph 5x7 by Meera Rao

Playing with mixed media presents plenty of dramatic entertainment! Here I used Pebeo black ceramic, alcohol inks, and white gel pen to transform the photograph. As always some paintings come with an obvious title.  Even though I did not work on the photograph in this orientation I liked it this way when I was through with it.  Who knows, another day I might find it speaking to me in a different way altogether :)  

WIP and the Photograph before altering. 

Turmoil Inside And Out

Turmoil  mixed media on photograph 5x7" by Meera Rao

turmoil 

inside and out 

colorful demons

churning 

twisting

draining 

fueling dark rage

choking

flecks of hope

pushing through

~Meera Rao~

W I P  and original photograph before altered

I am enjoying exploring further Pebeo mixed media paints Prisme, Moon, Vitrail, ceramic and Alcohol Inks on photographs.  It has been fun watching and learning how the paints interact with each other which is always an exciting surprise! And I am learning patience to give the paints time to to  interact as they dry.  

Turmoil mixed media 5x7  

Swirilng Ideas

Swirling Ideas mixed media 5x7 by Meera Rao

I have discovered it is truly exciting to explore patterns, textures, colors, and line by poring and manipulating the different paints and mediums.  It is almost like making music -conjuring rhythm and melody.  Google gives this definition of abstract art that I really liked :  'art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, forms, colors, and textures.'  

Thank you all for the wonderful support you have showered on me this year and I wish everyone a very happy and peaceful 2017.  

Swirling Ideas mixed media Prisme (buttercup), ceramic(black) and Vitrail (crimson) paints on 5x7photograph. 

Magical Metamorphosis

Magical Metamorphosis mixed media 5x7 by Meera Rao

magical metamorphosis

inevitable

sparking unexpected notes

 to dance

a whirling imagination

 stirring textures

to fold 

jewel bright colors 

 into a song

inciting 

beauty

 inevitable  

~Meera Rao~

More experiments on photograph with Prisme, Moon, Vitrail, ceramic paints and alcohol inks.

Metamorphis mixed media 5x7 by Meera Rao 

Mixing Up Media

Exuberance mixed media 7x5" by Meera Rao

A couple of months ago, I was the lucky recipient of a book giveaway from a fellow artist, author and blogger Paula Guhin at Mixed Media Manic . The book "Painting with Mixed Media"  by Paula Guhin and Geri Greenman is filled with ideas, step by step techniques and full color Portfolios of art. It has chapters on working with different media -acrylics, watercolors, oil paints, pastels and Tempera. Each chapter highlights a different painting medium, exploring the 'funky ways' it can be combined with other materials, and ends with 'Float your boat further' suggestions that challenges the artist to continue experimenting. The pages are sprinkled with 'Painting Pointers' -artistic advice and helpful hints,  'Savvy Substitutions'  - exactly that  and 'Green scene' - Eco friendly recommendations. 

I decided I needed to try out Alcohol inks with my watercolors and made a trip to the art store to buy a couple of small bottles.  Needless to say, I got lost in the aisles, and ended up buying a Pebeo Mixed media Discovery kit with Fantasy Prisme, Moon and Vitrail paints (6 bottles)  along with Pinata alcohol inks in 3 colors. The Pebeo kit promised "opalescent reactive paints that create an array of infinite designs and textured finishes." and I was seduced :) 

Back home I did a marathon session of You tube videos on Pebeo paints as I had never heard of them before.  Between the videos and the book I had receved, I was full of ideas but no plan. That meant I went off in a completely different and a totally experimental path :) I decided to use old out of focus photographs (double prints!) from long ago (when cameras used film and did not have digital previews) that I had saved because I could not bear to throw away something I had paid good money for. 

I used white gel pen, Pebeo Moon and Prisme paints for wonderful textures to paint on a photo of poinsettias.  Not a drastic change but enough with  more texture  and personality. I have the before and after shots below. 

Fire and Ice  Mixed media  5x7" by Meera Rao

poinsettia photo before 

'Exuberance'  on the very top of the blog is transformation of the photo below.  Here I used  Pebeo Prisme, Moon, and Ceramic paints, Pinata Alcohol Inks, and casein paint.  Pebeo recommends one to pour large quantities of Moon and Prisme (I am yet to try Vitrail) but I used droppers and toothpicks for what I wanted to do. I will use Krylon sealer when the piece is completely dry.  I am very pleased with my experimenting and  really like the results !  

Exuberance mixed media 7x5" by Meera Rao

the photo for "Exuberance"

Exuberance  Mixed media 7x5" by Meera Rao

Fire and Ice  Mixed media 5x7" by Meera Rao 

Growing an Idea

Cabbage Concerto in Red Again  mixed media 10x15" by Meera Rao 

Sometime in the past few years, I had started a painting - there was some watercolor and a collage of rice paper (see below). Until earlier this year it was buried in my pile of unfinished paintings.  Even after staring at it for too long, I could not remember my plans for it.  By then it did not really matter anyway! 

watercolor background with rice paper collage 

The colorful lettuce growing in our garden gave me an idea and reminded me of a painting I had done many years ago. After mulling over for a few more days I thoroughly enjoyed painting a much smaller more colorful version of that painting 'Cabbage Concerto in Red' which has found a home with a friend. Exploring the same subject and coming to it from a different place was a fun exercise.  The title for the first painting was courtesy of my son who was in high-school then! I wrote about it here.

Colorful lettuce in my garden

”I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.” -- Picasso.

Sin or Crime?

Garland weaver in Reverie mixed media by Meera Rao 

The fear of messing up so often means I think a painting is complete before it really is!  Couple of months ago I was surveying my paintings to pick one to submit to the local art league members open show.  One of the paintings  that I had thought was finished, signed, framed and blogged  about suddenly felt incomplete.  I pulled it out of the frame, and added some darks here and there. Satisfied, happily I put it back in the frame and took it to the show.  And here it is on my blog once again. 

Since then I have been mulling  over  how to know when a painting is finished?  Is it "A painting is always finished before the artist thinks it is" (Harley Brown) ? Or is Eugene Delacroix right  when he whispers in my ears :" One always has to spoil a picture a little bit in order to finish it."  Alas there is much truth in what D.H . Harding had to say : " The important thing is not what the author, or any artist, had in mind to begin with but at what point he decided to stop."  Then there is Claude Monet who proclaimed : "I say that whoever claims to have finished a canvas is terribly arrogant."  What did Picasso have to say about all this? : "Woe to you the day it is said that you are finished! To finish a work? To finish a picture? What nonsense! To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul – to give it its final blow; the most unfortunate one for the painter as well as for the picture." 

May be it is as Ted Goodwin says: "A painting is finished when to have done less would be considered a sin and more a crime!  "  The trouble is I am not a good judge when it comes to sin or crime ;)

Daily Vignettes

India Art Journal June 30-July 2 by Meera Rao

"Do not fail, as you go on, to draw something every day,  for no matter how little it is, it will be well worthwhile, and it will do you a world of good."

~ Cennini

I am in India for next several months to take care of my M-I-L. I have decided to keep an art journal of sorts doing a vignette a day of my impressions/experience/observation etc during my time in India to force myself to set aside some painting/sketching time every day.

I have a Stathmore mixed media 5.5x8"  34 page 90 lb spiral bound visual journal. I am using Koi water color pocket field sketch box with a waterbrush, prismacolor fine line 8 marker set, pilot G-2 07 black pen and a #2 pencil for my sketching.  Dividing the paper into 4 sections and using a section a day (painting on one side only) has worked well for the past fifteen days. This way, if I keep up with my sketching I should have atleast one hundred little sketches  :)  I already feel a sense of freedom in my sketching. I am not going for perection, finished compositions, nor worry much about values.  The idea is to have a simple record of my time here, get some sketching practice and develop some discipline to sketch, draw and paint each day atleast for fifteen minutes! I hope to be able to do a few larger pieces too --please, wish me luck :)

The first page documents our dinner at the airport - vegetarian sushi, different documents used, an air line employee and finally our first happy purchase soon after reaching our destination - Fresh divine Mangoes :) I have to relearn the PC here and hope to post better photographs soon!

Textured Story

Reverie  mixed media 15x13" by Meera Rao

"Only this: if you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer. It means you are so busy keeping one eye on the commercial market, or one ear peeled for the avant-garde coterie, that you are not being yourself. You don't even know yourself. For the first thing a writer should be is—excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health."  These words are by one of my favorite authors, Ray Bradbury from his :"Zen in the Art of Writing"   'Writer', I think, can be easily substituted by 'painter.'    

One way for me to be excited is by experimenting. I played with watercolors, gesso, stencils and collage and the resulting painting is Reverie - conjuring up the image of a serene lady I remembered from many years ago on a rainy day at the foot of a hill near what seemed like a thousand steps leading to a temple at the very top. She was making garlands for the devotees to buy and offer it as a prayer when they get to the temple but was really lost in her own world.  I added textures with gesso, stencils, and collaging torn bits of rangoli designs, tissue and handmade paper.  

As Ray Bradbury said in his essay, "And the stories began to burst, to explode from those memories, hidden in the nouns, lost in the lists." Not as eloquent as his stories, nonetheless, one all my own. 

Transcending Chaos

Transcending Chaos mixed media by Meera Rao 30x22"

"I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration."

Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954)

Even though it looks like a perfect match for Kahlo's quote, I had started this painting almost 18 years ago at a workshop given by Doug Walton. The shapes and various elements were drawn to cues given. The steps also included 'spiritcard' shapes and underpainting. Unfortunately my choices somehow never jelled into a decent composition.  Over the years, I tried to unify and pull something out of the chaos that was on the paper. At one point I added a unifying background color. Most recently, it got a bit of gesso on it in places and some collage as I tried out what I had picked up in Myrna Wacknov's workshop. All I can say is that I learned a lot as I brainstormed and tried out various options.  

Here is a Doug Walton gem from my notes from that first workshop which perhaps sums up my efforts? : "Wrong is right and right is wrong. Allow your 'how' to show- not the 'what.'  Your wrongness is your difference; your difference is your significance. Be consistent. Be decisive even your wrongness. " 

Textured Variations

textures and colors by Meera Rao

The last day of the "Variations" workshop was all about textures. We saw the possibilities with Myrna Wacknov's collection reference photos, her paintings, and use of gesso, stencils, stamps, patterns, tissue for collage, etc and  unlimited imagination :) The day's task was to bring color, texture, value and other design elements together. 

After the van Gogh like textures of my day 3 painting, I decided to tone down go for subtler texture :) and I like my final piece. 

gesso covering old painting

After watching the demo about applying stencils, tissues, and stamping, I proceeded to gesso -not too thickly or carefully- a painting I didn't care for. Applying the textures subtly with stamps and even fingers, and lifting some color with the stencils, I prepared the paper.  When the paper was dry I knew where and how I wanted my drawing to go. It did not really take much time to paint after that and I had to be especially be wary of not overworking it since it was so much fun to paint on the gesso prepped textured paper! Rest of the day I played with experimenting with preparing  paper in all different ways. 

Here is the photo with all my paintings of the week together:

variations by Meera Rao

Cheers to Potential and Possibilities!

Hofbrauhaus at Dusk  watermedia 12x9"

Sixty posts, twenty plus paintings, thirty some pages of color pencil 'sketches' and narrative to go with  them  for my sketchbook-fiction project  "A Day In The Life -In Blue Jeans with Gold Embroidery" and more on-the-go pencil sketches than any previous years makes me content with 2011 art-wise :)  This surely has been a year of experimenting for me with finishing an illustrated sketch/fiction book, yupo, deliberate washes and paint mixing, water brushes, field kits and working on patience! 

I am pleased to post this painting - done mostly with watercolors except the sky part where I used acrylics mixed with watercolor. The watercolor paper  was a 'test-paper' for colors by a young friend of mine who wanted to paint with me sometime ago. I pulled this paper out waiting for washes to dry on couple of Yupo paintings I was working on. I needed to keep my hands busy and away from the wet yupo. Using Masquepen Supernib I sketched free hand and then proceeded to play mostly with transparent watercolors in between the washes on Yupo. The reference was a photograph I took in Munich years ago.  The underpainting worked quite well, and I felt little stress since I was really  only 'playing' around. I am totally ignoring any problem areas in the painting and enjoying the smug feeling of rescuing a good paper :) 

 before

So, here is to a brand New Year full of potential and possibilities !