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.

Trial and Error

India Sketch Journal 2013  Page 32 by Meera Rao 

"Perspective is the rein and rudder of painting" said Leonardo da Vince. I think I lost both in these two sketches. I was really tempted to tear out the page and start over but had to remind myself that it is only a sketch book! 

India Sketch Journal 2013  Aug 8 by Meera Rao 

This father was a worker in a team of people fixing water pipes along the road by our building. He and his wife were both working and the kid was playing & running around near them for a while. Later, when the  child started fussing, the father checked with the house owner by the street and tied a cradle from their roof by the porch. The baby was settled inside the cradle and Dad swung it a few times - until the baby fell asleep and then he was back at work! I only had a a few minutes to sketch the father as he stood there. The rest of the sketch was done leisurely as the baby slept for a while. 

India Sketch Journal 2013  Aug 9 by Meera Rao 

There are always at least a couple of cows by this traffic circle and I watched them every day when I went on my errands. Cars, buses, bicycles, trucks just go around them.  I was so engrossed in getting the cows right, I did not realized in the end that the vehicle was a bit too small :) Sketching with pen means the lines cannot be erased and I leaned to a lesson I won't forget!