Playful Art

A Day in the Life -sketchbook project page 21 color pencils

I always wonder how and who came up with original recipes and cooking methods for various dishes.  How and who concocted the very first delicacies? or the herbal remedies? The cough syrup herbal remedy that my aunt made for me was a wonderfully powerful one that relieved me of my incessant hacking  during my trip to India in January.  I do hope that these recipes and knowledge don't get lost as the world moves towards new and improved technology.

Speaking of innovations and creations, I watched  TED fellow Aparana Rao talk about her unique interactive art projects that are steeped in surprising, playful and humorous ideas.  Check it out and see why I want one of her high tech art installation 'shy pygmies' ! I am totally fascinated by her mix of art and technology - her fun 'uncle phone',   delightful 'drunken man', the intimidating expanding cube, and cute tired oil blob. Actually I am in awe of her imagination and innovation! What a wonderful way to infuse art with 'humanity' that begs one to respond and interact. 

Stash and Search

A Day in the Life - Page 20 Sketchbook Project Color Pencils  

"The great question is not whether you have the best nut, but whether you are content with your nut." (Bill Squirrelspeare)  

I hoard  quotes and am so ecstatic when I can pull out a perfect one from my stash :) I also have over 15,000 photos in my newest laptop, similar amounts an older  desk top and too many prints from 'film' years. With a digital camera I take way too many photographs with abandon and am very hesitant to delete the so-so ones.  Quite often I know I have a reference photo I have clicked for what I want to paint. But when the best cataloging system I have is  'I know I took a picture....' ,  I think I am like the squirrel who finds something wherever she looks :) Usually, in my photo-album searches, I stumble across something else I like and the next thing I know I am off with a new idea.

By the way, check here and here  if you are curious about squirrels and nuts  :) 

Dancing in the Light

Dancing in the Light  digital photography

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

 -Albert Einstein

Making Waves

Making Waves watercolor 4"x4"

Unruffled watercolor 4x4"

Splash of color watercolor 4x4"

These ducks were entertaining a toddler who was shrieking with joy as the birds swam gracefully in circles in a small fountain early last spring.  I watched the birds and the child for a long time and took many photographs. Later, it was pure joy for me to paint the colorful ducks and the water using watercolors. The challenge in the paintings was to capture the different textures of the birds, the fluidity of the water and a hint of reflection. My aim was to make the ducks sparkle with color. Each painting was a unique discovery of beauty of nature, of colors and patterns.  

These are miniature paintings and the top two - "Unruffled" & "Making Waves" were selected for "Small Works" exhibit at the Charles Taylor Art Center in Hampton, VA along with my other miniature "Slow Sunny Day. The show opened today and will run through December 4.  

Bobbing colors and Shadows

A Day in the Life - Sketchbook Project page 19 color pencils 5x7"

I see this little shed with these colorful buoys behind a high fence everyday as I drive or walk by it near the end of our street.  The arrangement and number  of buoys keeps changing - yesterday there were only a few but this past winter when I was on my walk, the sun was at just the right angle on the full display of vivid objects.  Through the seasons, I observed how the number of buoys, angle of light, the time of day changes the shadows making for exciting shapes and colors. All this helped me change the arrangement the way I felt comfortable with as I sketched. 

I had an 'ah-ha' moment when I realized that I 'draw' outlines of the objects  but I have to 'paint' shapes and values! Shapes in right color & value with lost and found edges essentially complete a painting save for a few accents! So now I know to focus my efforts in future paintings on the refinement of interlocking shapes in my composition, making highlights blend, anchoring the shadows so objects pop out.  Most of writing and painting is observing and thinking and seeing the relationships :) 

The Surreptitious Scion of Summer

Mushrooms Digital Photography

These gorgeous mushrooms are some of the specimens I photographed a few days ago on my walk.  I was trying to ID them and was sidetracked when I came across two wonderful TED talk videos on mushrooms, their usefulness and their new role in the modern technological developments.  Paul Stamet holds numerous patents and in his TED talk, outlines six ways mushrooms can save the world. He has fine tuned cleaning polluted soil, making insecticides, treating smallpox, ridding carpenter ants and termites etc. using mushrooms.  His 'Life Boxes' are a surprising way to renew the soil! He 'seeks to rescue the study of mushrooms from forest gourmets and psychedelic warlords.'  It is a treat to watch his talk . I am amazed by the potential that is hidden in these life forms! I also found out that 400 million years ago they were giant three feet tall mushrooms called Prototaxitis  and their fossil can be found in Saudi Arabia!

"Are the mushrooms the new plastic?" is the title of the TED Talk by Eben Bayer. ' Eben Bayer is a product designer and he 'reveals his recipe for a new, fungus-based packaging material that protects fragile stuff like furniture, plasma screens — and the environment.'  I have new respect for these nature's wonders and recycling system.  

And if you can name these mushrooms, please leave a comment and let me know  :) 

Bursting Colors

Bursting colors watercolor on Yupo  5x7"

For the past few days,  after  the relentless rains finally stopped, my walks on the trail have been especially  delightful with mushrooms of all sizes, colors and variety popping up just about everywhere! These colorful ones were peeking out through a mess of twigs, grass blades and rotting leaves. I put my small camera below the mushrooms close to the ground to capture the colorful specimens!  I am grateful that I slip my little camera with me whenever I get out.  I did not want to disturb them or pluck them out even though I would have liked to sketch them from life. Upon a bit of research I think they are a variety of Hygrocybe punicea  and probably not poisonous. 

I was not planning on filling up the paper with color but somehow got carried away! I loaded my brush with transparent colors, and used, brushstrokes, crushed paper tissue, and misting for texture. 

Poetry of Lines of Shapes

A Day in The Life.... Sketchbook Project page 18 Color pencils 

Our little town still has above ground telephone and electric lines and there are always mourning doves or purple matins etc. sitting on the wires - quite often a conference of them! I love to watch them as they fly away and come back following some private code of their own.  I was very pleased to draw a simple sketch of those birds and incorporate them into my Art House Co-Op Sketchbook-Fiction project narrative.  While working on the project  I really learned the poetry of lines, forms, shapes and colors in sketches. And I realized that to be a true artist I need to follow Irwin Greenberg's advice, " Draw everywhere and all the time. An artist is a sketchbook with a person attached. "   :) 

Different Perspectives

Hanging Beauties  6x4" watercolor

Delicate Beauty  4x4" watercolor

Lately I have been hearing again and again how we should shut off all the technological distractions like cell phones, computers, iPads, television etc and concentrate only creating. But is artistic creativity only confined to the traditional platforms? In today's society, what is the artist's responsibility for showing different perspectives; for using various newer media in creative ways for making a statement; for helping the world learn to empathize?  A TED Talk by Artist Raghava  KK    "Shake Up Your Story" shows off  his children's book idea for iPad. The brilliant creativity he displays  showcases how to expose children to various perspectives on morality, culture, religion etc in a playful, kid-friendly way.  What a wonderful way as an artist to open minds.  

First Light of the Day

Sunrise By The Water Digital Photography

“He who is here in the human being, and he, who is there in the sun, are one and the same.” (sa yas-cayam purushe, yas-chasavaditye, sa ekah).

Taittireeya Upanishad