Home For the Holidays

Home For the Holidays  watercolor on Yupo 14x11"

And the rug was vacuumed just in time :) Our suitcases all have a red ribbon to make it easy to identify them.  So, for me it is really very appropriate: any time we go home to India to visit our family there, return from India to our home here and when our kids come home - thats all a  precious gift!  This holiday season I wish everyone a happy, healthy, prosperous and peace filled times with your family and friends! 

Grand Spaces

Sketches from a lunch time concert in Chicago

 The Tiffany Dome at Chicago cultural Center

Chicago Cultural Center interior

I had ducked into the Chicago Cultural Center to warm myself up on my way to the Chicago Art Institute from my hotel on that bitterly cold morning last month but ended up spending most of the day there exploring the art that hung in the galleries and corridors and stayed on to listen to a lunch time concert of Jazz songs. The impressive building completed in 1897 was originally the public library as well as a memorial to Civil War Union Army Veterans. The rare imported marbles, polished brass, gorgeous hardwoods, and sparkling mosaics of Favrile glass, mother of pearl, gold leaf, and colored precious stones bring to mind palaces but themes relating to books, printing and authors in various vast light filled spacious rooms remind you that this was really built as a temple of knowledge! I was also dazzled by the third floor - most dramatic place with walls covered by sparkling mosaics and topped with the world's largest  Tiffany Dome of 30,000 pieces of glass! 

The exhibits that were showcased there for December were impressive too. Polaridad Complementaria: Recent works from Cuba had cutting edge paintings, drawings, sculptures, video etc from Cuba's contemporary artscene. Another exhibit by Chicago artist  Jeff Zimmermann : God particle   was large scale murals of pop culture and dramatic portraits. The artist had spent a month publicly painting the murals on the walls of the Gallery!   

It doesn't take much for me to plunge into existential angst about my art and after seeing all the creativity there I had a hard time opening my sketch book but I did and filled a few pages with my humble drawings.

Science, Math and Art

Mirror #10 Sketch Mirror

 Snow Mirror 2006 

Darwinian Straw Mirror 2010

Each of the above photograph is my portrait -amazing interactive imagery with custom software, video camera projector and silk screen courtesy of    "Contrast: Interactive Work by Daniel Rozin"  - an installation at the Chrysler Museum of Art at Norfolk, VA.   The museum web site explains : "Daniel Rozin's work combines art, technology — and the viewer — to create a distinctive artistic experience. Though computers and machinery play a key role in his digital interactive installations, the science behind the work is seldom visible. The idea is to create works that not only incorporate change and movement, but that also respond to viewers in real time. Thanks to the use of video projection and sophisticated programming, visitors can become part of the art, or the art can change based on the movements or perspective of the viewer. Part sculpture, part mirror, part screen, his works often defy easy categorization,"  It was truly a surreal experience to see my image emerge, change, and dissolve and emerge again as I moved about.  And there was so much laughter, excitement and child like sheer pleasure at the gallery  as each of us -viewers- discovered we were the ones creating 'art' in there :) 

Speaking of science and math and art, two days ago I watched a Nova program on PBS on Fractals and once again mesmerized by the beauty in math, science and nature.  I have been googling Fractals to learn more about it - I had come across it a few years ago and continue to be fascinated by the phenomenon and the designs they create :)

And one more link : check out some wonderful quirky artsy math doodling of Vi Hart and explore her website.

So, naturalists observe, a flea

Has smaller fleas that on him prey;

And these have smaller still to bite 'em,

And so proceed ad infinitum.

—Jonathan Swift, from "On Poetry: A Rhapsody"

Drawing on the Go

view from the bus pencil sketch 

Foot-rest   pencil sketch 

Sleeping Passenger pencil sketch

Trips - planned as well as unexpected ones left me with not much time to paint. I managed a few sketches here and there. I sketched a few sleeping passengers on train and on planes -but, was excited when I found an empty seat right behind the driver on my way back home! Finally a different view to  draw :) Other than the cars on the road and the wind shield wiper, things stayed the same long enough for me to put it down on the paper. The sketch looks darker on the right hand corner because of the creases caused when I tried to rescue the small sketch book that was slipping off my lap as the bus bounced along!  The lady in the next row shook her shoes off and kept her feet on her suitcase just long enough for me to draw them. I am pleased that I found some different things to sketch this time. 

Negative Drawing

sketch of a sculpture;  white prismacolor pencil on black paper

In the sculpture galleries at the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk,  I came across a drawing station that had a supply of black paper on a clip boards, a box full of white prismacolor pencils and an open invitation to draw the the sculptures.  I couldn't resist it. So here is my rendition of Little Peasant or First Grief   a sculpture by Erastus Dow Palmer (1817-1904). I loved the beautiful girl and the haunting expression on her face.  I was curious as to why the sculpture was titled First Grief and research revealed that : This statue, also known as Little Peasant, depicts an incident in the life of one of the sculptor's daughters, who had avidly followed the hatching and rearing of a nest of birds, only to be overcome with grief when the fledglings departed. Palmer, who was self-taught, was among the first American sculptors to break with the prevailing neoclassical style and adopt a more naturalistic approach.  Here is an article on the Erastus Dow Palmer that appeared in New York Times in 1896 when he was seventy nine years old. 

It was pretty challenging to draw with white pencil on black paper and I had to make a conscious effort to reverse the normal way of drawing, remembering to draw the light and highlights and leave the shadow areas black :) I enjoyed the impromptu exercise very much and  hope to go back and sketch more of the sculptures.

Appropriate Subject for Work of Art

The Stacks digital photography

I went to the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA to see "London Calling: Victorian Paintings from the Royal Holloway Collection."  It was a wonderful treat to see the paintings in the collection -most by painters who were unfamiliar to me.  Here is what the website said:  "The collection on display at the Chrysler ranges from wall-spanning masterpieces to contemporary street life scenes; from landscapes or marine studies to great historical events. It's an exhibition of great depth and scope, and it's the first time it has been on display outside of England."  

Some of the sixty or so paintings touched my heart more than the others.  'Applicants for Admission to casual Ward ' 1874 -(oil  95.8" x 53.9")  by Sir Luke Fildes is about  poverty that was the result of Industrial Revolution in Britain. I was taken aback when I read the curator's notes next to the painting : "Although Filde's painting created a popular sensation at the Royal Academy in 1874, critics were divided as to whether so direct a confrontation with human misery was an appropriate subject for work of Art."  I am glad artists don't think so and Goya, Picasso and many many others felt a moral obligation to record the atrocities big and small.  Paintings by Sir John Everett Millais of  very young princes and princess caught in the middle of fierce politics or of the young girl being punished in Sympathy by Briton Riverie are indeed gems that evoke a strong reaction from the viewer.

I also became aware of the dark periods in history that I had not come  across in my readings until now: in John Baghold Burgess's  Licensing of Beggars in Spain, Edwin Longsden Long's The Supplicants: Expulsion of Gypsies from Spain  and other paintings by various artists about prison life, of Babylonian marriage market, of kidnappings of young males for the army etc.! It was interesting to read about another painting An Anxious Moment  that critics of Briton Riverie accused him of 'anthropomorphizing' the animals in his works! There were a also few stunning landscapes and marine paintings. I wish I could write about each of sixty paintings in the show because of how they opened my eyes to history, hardships, beauty and nature. My knowledge about artists and critics is surely much broader than before.

On lighter note, as I was leaving the museum just before closing, the Court area near the entrance was being transformed to host a wedding. The setting sun was streaming over the chairs stacked up high ready to be taken down and lined up for the guests. Of course, I couldn't resist whipping out my camera.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Aspen on Asphalt  color pencils sketch

Giving thanks for the moment is the only way to glimpse eternity.

-Meditation from Seville, Spain

Moral Function of Art

                                  Last off the Vine  watermedia sketch

Artists make pictorial records of events, emotions, feelings. Some of us try to sketch the simple beauty of mundane, everyday things. But today, I read an article and saw a slide show of something that moved me beyond words. "When he was only in his 20s Ernest Cole, a black photographer who stood barely five feet tall, created one of the most harrowing pictorial records of what it was like to be black in apartheid South Africa. He went into exile in 1966, and the next year his work was published in the United States in a book, “House of Bondage,” but his photographs were banned in his homeland where he and his work have remained little known." Thus began a article in New York Times :  Homecoming For Stark Record of Apartheid.  The accompanying slide show of Mr. Cole's black and white photographs are so very powerful- they  shock, anger  and deeply distress the viewer.  And as the author Celia W Dugger writes, 'Mr. Cole’s captions and photographs are imbued with wrenching emotions.'  On checking his biography I discovered that he  dedicated his life to record and show the world the injustices and exploitation of segregation. But he paid a heavy price for his work and died young, a homeless man and in exile.  

If and when there is an American tour of Cole's photographs, I hope to be able to view it in person.    Coincidentally, over at Katherine A Cartwright's blog, there is a lively debate going on the 'moral function of art.'  She has been reviewing John Dewey's 1934 book "Art as Experience."  She writes that 'it all began with a statement by John Dewey: the moral function of art itself is to remove prejudice, do away with the scales that keep the eye from seeing, tear away the veils due to wont and custom, and perfect the power to perceive.'  I think Ernest Cole's photographs do all that and much more.  

Giving Thanks

To Friendship Digital Photography

On Nov 18, I will mark the second anniversary of my blog - two years of sharing my art.  Posting my art this way has forced me to paint & sketch more often and much more regularly than before. But the unexpected benefit has been the friendships I have formed. A big heartfelt  'Thank you' to all who have visited the blog, to all who have taken the time to leave comments, to everyone for giving me encouragement, support and inspiration :) - I am grateful!

And a special thanks to Patricia Torres, who today has featured my artwork in her blog Colours Dekor.  I am happy to be a small part of her wonderful efforts. I was truly flattered when she asked :) Please click on her name or the blog for a look at how she seeks out color, beauty and creativity from all corners of the world.

"I can no other answer make, but thanks and thanks! " -William Shakespeare 

What Matters Next

Color Burst watercolor 12x9"

Last thursday was TEDxNASA at Newport News, VA which I attended- thanks to good friends who helped us get the tickets. It was  such an inspiration to hear speaker after speaker with all the wonderful ideas. I came back charged with enthusiasm and motivation.  But, having not painted for close to a month because of trips, Deepavali Celebrations, mundane catch-ups, etc.. I realized my painting muscle memory was missing! This is my third attempt at painting the same flower in one day - the flower that had graced our garden this summer and gave me so much pleasure.  I was frustrated by the difficulty I was having in moving paint. The montval paper I usually enjoy painting on was not behaving in its usual way - I found the paper tearing very easily. I am wondering if it is the temperature fluctuations in my over the garage studio or if I had purchased a bad lot.  At the end of the day I was glad to have persevered and put in a few solid hours of playing with my brushes, paint and water. In a way, the theme of the TEDxNASA - 'What matters Next'  seemed to  resonate- what matters is that I keep painting, sketching and doing art :)