Grace Under Pressure

India Sketch Journal 2013 Aug 12 by Meera Rao 

Speedy delivery by motorcycle of various things is nothing out of the ordinary  in India. I came upon this fellow with bags of flowers hanging off the motorcycle handle bars. The motorcycles weave through the heavy traffic and guarantee dropping off  of parcels faster than in a car or van! I saw his bike with flowers parked by the road and started taking a few pics when he returned from his delivery and posed for me for a quick second. He did have an helmet which he wore soon after and then drove off to the next stop. 

India Sketch Journal 2013 Aug 13 by Meera Rao 

Some days I have time only for a simple sketch -- but then, here it is the trusty pressure cooker - the most important equipment in a household in India! I used one everyday  for cooking - it is an art and a science to master!  At least three pots are stacked inside each cooker with dal/lentil/bean in one, rice in the second and a vegetable or two in the third :) This  saves time, cooking gas (which is very expensive) and is super efficient.  These come in many brands, sizes  and varieties. I had to constantly consult my Mom and sisters-in-law over the phone on the finer points of using a pressure cooker - so I would not end up with either mush or under-cooked food! I really appreciated the cooker when I could not use it for a day - somehow I had miscalculated the amount of water/time needed and the valve blew due to lack of liquid.  But no worries, just down the street, in a tiny tiny shop, it was fixed in no time at all :) 

Here is a short history lesson on pressure cooker :" In 1679, the French mathematician and physicist Denis Papin invented the first pressure cooker or steam digester as he called it. The story is whilst he was presenting his new steam digester to the Royal Society it exploded, leading him to invent the safety valve. Three years later he represented it to the Royal society and gained positive reviews.

The pressure cooker title was first seen in print in 1915. In 1927, the first pressure cookers were sold in Germany and in 1939 the world’s first commercial pressure cooker made by National Presto Industries was exhibited at the New York World’s Fair.

In these early days, there are accounts of people thinking pressure cookers were the results of witchcraft because of their continued hissing."

In my home in US I now have a electric pressure cooker with a timer which I absolutely love, along with a much used stove top cooker that I have had for over three decades. 

India Sketch Journal 2013 Page34 by Meera Rao 

Stacks of Creativity

India Sketch Journal 2013 Page 33 by Meera Rao 

India Sketch Journal 2013 Aug 11 by Meera Rao 

India Sketch Journal 2013 Aug 10 by Meera Rao 

As always, I am surprised how even if I have paid no attention to have a theme for each page when I sketched them in India earlier in the summer, as I start blogging about a page, I see the connection very clearly!!!

It never amazes me to see the many innovative ways things are stacked - like the bright blue rain water harvest barrels being transported here in a little tempo or the white eggs in colorful crates at the local provisions store. I love the designs and shapes I see in the ingenious solutions people come up with - sometimes even defying common sense and gravity ;)

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! 

A New Year!

Red Berries Watercolor on Yupo by Meera Rao  6x8.5" 

"Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one" 

~Brad Paisley

Season's Greetings to All!

Christmas Cactus Photography by Meera Rao

Fronds and Frames

India Sketch Journal 2013 Aug 6 by Meera Rao

During my childhood I used to love to weave the palm fronds into little snakes, bracelets, finger rings, boxes etc.. Growing up in coastal Karnataka, it was normal to see screens and mats made with the palm fronds used on buildings for temporary shade or protection from elements. Tents made with these mats are common when there is a celebration or gathering happening. I saw this fellow weaving a number of these on a side street a few days before the Goddess Chamundi festival.  Below is a photograph I clicked of the screen in use -- normally even the roof is made with these screens even though here a tin sheet is being used.  I sketched an ornate tent 'Mantapa' last year - check it out here.  I also found a flicker group that has a collection of photographs of objects made from weaving the palm fronds the world over!  - much more sophisticated than my humble efforts as a kid!

Woven Palm Frond Mats Photograph By Meera Rao

Below is the sketch of an ornate door frame of an old building in a narrow street in Mysore city center with a 'wicket' door within it. The open small door gave me a glimpse of a couple sitting in a small shaft of sunlight and chatting.  The teal blue paint against the massive carved wooden door made quite an impression.  I wondered about the secrets and stories this ancient structure was hiding!  

India Sketch Journal 2013 Aug 7 by Meera Rao

I, of course have to include the shot of the page from my sketch book with both these sketches :)   :

India Sketch Journal 2013 Page31 by Meera Rao

Weaving a Way of Life

India Sketch Journal 2013 Aug 4 by Meera Rao

India Sketch Journal 2013 Aug 5 by Meera Rao

On one of my walks in the city, I came upon this amazing set up of a weaving stand right by the road side in front of a closed store. There was a ditch right there and a couple of bamboo poles were laid across to cross it.  There were bamboo ladders and poles tied around to help with the weaving as the screen/mat that was being woven got bigger! There was even a bright blue tarp for shade. The stones as weights on the weaving 'loom' are quite simple and innovative as well.  This link shows that the technique is an ancient one dating to BC!  I was so taken by the whole scene that I decided to devote two days of sketching and give the loom part with the stones its own little sketch :) 

India Sketch Journal 2013 Page 30by Meera Rao

“A weaver who has to direct and to interweave a great many little threads has no time to philosophize about it, rather, he is so absorbed in his work that he doesn't think, he acts: and it's nothing he can explain, he just feels how things should go.”

 Vincent van Gogh

From A Spider's Web

The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web.

~ Pablo Picasso

Only Different Kinds of Good Weather

India Sketch Journal Page 29 by Meera Rao 

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, 

wind braces us up, 

snow is exhilarating; 

there is really no such thing as bad weather, 

only different kinds of good weather.

John Ruskin

India Sketch Journal Aug 3 by Meera Rao 

The 'windy month' brings out the kites and kids.  The stores stock colorful kites of various sizes. A favorite after school activity for some is making their own kites. Regardless, many spend hours trying to launch their kites- inexperienced as they are-  in hopes of seeing their homemade or store bought kites fly high in the sky. 

India Sketch Journal Aug 2 by Meera Rao 

As the rains continue, and the temperatures dip, the blanket peddlers roam the streets.  I had to peek out of the balcony to figure out what their loud calls were for and what is it that was being sold now! I do appreciate that even now blankets, vegetables, household items, toys are sold by peddlers roaming the street --it is always nice to have the market come to you ! 

For us wind, rain etc are just different kinds of weather but check out this TED talk video on Art made of Storms by Nathalie Miebach   - She  "takes weather data from massive storms and turns it into complex sculptures that embody the forces of nature and time." The talk opens with a sculpture  and musical scores.  It is fascinating to see and hear her explain how science, art and music intersect creatively for her. “Weather is an amalgam of systems that is inherently invisible to most of us, so I use sculpture and music to make it, not just visible, but also tactile and audible.”

Home, Work and Play

India Sketch Journal 2013 Page 28 by Meera Rao

I would have to say this is one of my favorite pages from my sketch book.  The scene from the market and the billowing hammock  cradle made from  a saree hanging off a tree in the park really captures the sense of diligence and the extra mile that parents go for the sake of their children. 

India Sketch Journal 2013 July 31 by Meera Rao

I was tickled to see the three children doing homework under their father's vegetable vending cart in the market. The cart also shaded them from the evening sun. It was interesting to see that as the children worked their father was seriously 'studying' his cell phone :)  Parents know that the only way for the children to overcome poverty is  through good education and as this scene shows they make sure their children do their work. 

Just today I came across a fascinating article on Mumbai's  privately owned circulating libraries -mostly in the center of the city in tiny little shops.  Here is an excerpt from that article"Poor Little Rich Boys: The art of the Mumbai Circulating Library'  in 'The Comic Journal' by Ryan Holmberg : "Online searching turned up more than a dozen scattered across Greater Mumbai, some of which are actually in the heart of the city, near railway stations and major intersections. These latter seem to be mainly older businesses, hanging on since the 1950s and 60s. I am also told that, out in the suburbs, a number of “paper marts” – paper recycling shops – have begun doubling as lending libraries, redirecting not only junk books and magazines that come their way, but also cartons of cheap remainder books. "  What follows is an riveting account of a couple of those libraries.  I also loved the photographs that accompany the story. 

India Sketch Journal  2013 Aug 1  by Meera Rao

One day suddenly out of the blue the park near our flat was taken over by squatters from northern India who had journeyed all the way south obviously looking for work.  For a few days no one else could use the park as they had pitched their tents, and had made themselves completely comfortable! The smell of outdoor cooking wafted through the streets. The neighborhood was in a crisis, police were summoned and as suddenly, they pulled up the tents and departed leaving behind much garbage and a park in shambles.  That is when I found this saree hammock cradle that some parent had made for her baby, empty and billowing in the wind.