Always Reflecting

 Reflecting watercolor on Yupo 7"x11"

I, like countless others, have a fascination for photographing reflections.  I am intrigued how the reflections are sometimes mirror images and other times diffused and forming beautiful abstracts. To me, the play of light, color, patterns echoing the reality in its own terms - when an object is reflected off glass, mirror, water or any other shiny surface - is a mystery and miracle at the same time. Fortunately or unfortunately,  quite often I  find I become aware of the beauty of the surroundings as I catch the reflections. 

I enjoyed working on the yupo and now I want to explore this same image on a larger size regular paper soon!

Growing Art

A Day in The Life. Page 9 color pencils

One of the things that fascinates me is how ideas and creativity come about. I especially like the instances where science and art collide to produce the most wonderful discoveries and artwork.  More than ever this illustrates that we can all learn techniques- be it scientific methodology or how to lay down paint but to have a breakthrough, to make big discoveries seems to require something almost magical! I came across three  different stories about Alexander Fleming and his discovery of penicillin. There is much more there than simply happenstance. 

A Smithsonian article explained that long before Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotics, he was a painter, a member of the Chelsea Arts Club. He used watercolors, but that was not his favored medium.  He painted ballerinas, houses, stick figures fighting and other subjects by using bacteria! The  article says :"He produced these paintings by growing microbes with different natural pigments in the places where he wanted different colors. He would fill a petri dish with agar, a gelatin-like substance, and then use a wire lab tool called a loop to inoculate sections of the plate with different species. The paintings were technically very difficult to make. Fleming had to find microbes with different pigments and then time his inoculations such that the different species all matured at the same time. These works existed only as long as it took one species to grow into the others. When that happened, the lines between, say, a hat and a face were blurred; so too were the lines between art and science."  Further down the article is the revelation :"On that fateful morning, what Fleming actually discovered was, in a way, a version of one of his paintings. Each of the colonies of Staphylococci bacteria that he had inoculated on the plate had grown into a small shape resembling a planet or a star in a night sky. But there among his wild planets was something else, a larger, lighter body at the top of the dish, the Penicillin fungus. Around it the sky was dark, where the bacteria were dying. It was his masterpiece, his “rising sun,” the painting that would save more lives than any other discovery."

Read the Smithsonian article: Painting with Penicillin: Alexander Fleming's Germ Art  and then listen to PRI's Studio 360 story : Godfather of Bacteria.  On PRI's link Painting with E.Coli,  there is also a photo of one of Flemings paintings :) 

A blog Growing Impressions-Gulden/Baldwin records the collaboration between artist Amy Gulden and scientist Dr. Kristin Baldwin :"...we have enlisted a natural organism, E. coli bacteria, to generate images that resemble paintings or prints, but that have a unique set of patterns that could not be generated using non living materials. We hoped that by letting nature generate its own patterns we would trigger the interest of the eye and the visual brain, which has evolved to pay attention to the irregular patterns generated by natural growing objects."  There is an amazing collection of 'paintings' in that site!

This goes to show that we definitely need to nurture curiosity. Arts and science is a very artificial seperation of  knowledge!

In Search of Beauty

A Day In The Life - page 8 color pencils

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." Ralph Waldo Emerson's words ring in my mind quite often, especially when my wants and needs rear up their heads! This past week in Chicago was no exception. These days though, finally, more often than not, I use my camera to bring home the beauty. (The airline luggage restrictions help too!) And, more importantly, I understand what he meant. 

In the past couple of days there have been two stories on NPR about art, beauty and collecting-  'World's  Richest Man Opens Flashy Museum in Mexico' and 'Chasing Aphrodite and Other Dirty Art World Deals.'  The stories mentioned 'object lust', 'because they wanted it', 'they lose reason', 'minor and mediocre pieces by big name artists.'  When I finished listening, I was quite disillusioned by the elitist  mindset of some of the museum directors, curators, professors and one reporter whose tone I definitely did not care for.  I realized how easy it is to judge another or lose one's way when dealing with issues of ethics, art, culture, and greed.   I love going to the museums, admire the collections, but, I was once again wondering about the ethics, pros and cons of collecting, standards of beauty, value of art pieces etc.  

On a much simpler note, having just completed my sketchbook Fiction Project for Art House Co-op, A day in the Life, I was also very excited to see on display,  "Color and Rhythm: Henri Matisse's Jazz " at the Art institute of Chicago. 

  

As I had mentioned before, working on my book has given me a new appreciation for others' efforts and I marvel at the end results! 

Completing the Circle

Poquoson Public Library Artist of the Month May 2011 

I am always excited to exhibit my paintings at our city's Public Library.  It is a wonderful opportunity to display a collection of my paintings. I get a sense of  how all my paintings look framed and next to each other.  I am really grateful to have a venue to just show my work and  for a very compelling reason to keep painting, knowing there is one place once a year I may have my month of  audience :) Please swing by the library if you are in the area.  I would love any feed back!

This my 200th blog post and my heartfelt thank you to all who visit my blog.  Your interactions have helped me grow and evolve! As the artist Anish Kapoor said: There's something imminent in the work, but the circle is only completed by the viewer.

Comfort or Boredom?

A Day In the Life.. Page 7 The Fiction Project color pencils

I completed the fiction project last week and mailed it off to Art House Co-op in Brooklyn, NY. In the end I filled 30 pages with sketches and writing - that includes an author page, and two pages of tid-bits and explanations. I had initially torn off two pages to experiment on, and another three pages when I had difficulty with the page with the rangoli. I scanned the pages to my computer so I will be posting them slowly on my blog :) I sprayed the completed pages with Krylon acrylic clear coating so the color pencils will hold up and not smudge on the remote chance that it will be handled and looked at a number of times!

The project was exciting, fun and stressful all at the same time. I was sketching, drawing and thinking about  the book every single day and I felt daily practice definitely improved my skills. I am looking into another project to keep up the daily practice :). Giving my best and not being hung up on perfection freed me to enjoy the process. The project pushed me to sketch things I would have overlooked or afraid to tackle. I hope to give some of the sketches full treatment in larger versions.  I was excited to see the end product - a book authored and illustrated by me - not perfect or amazing, but a small accomplishment! Strangely, I did not mind mailing it off.  

Now, about  page 7: on a daily basis, I do not care for chores - will gladly by-pass them whenever I can!  Over the years I have noticed how my elderly or unwell relatives and friends have fiercely insisted on doing the daily little chores as they negotiated their days, and that made a great impression on me. I wonder, why, when, how or if, the perspective  will change for me. 

Circles on Wheels

digital photography 

To understand is to perceive patterns.

-Isaiah Berlin

Drawing Fire

Delicate Dance  watercolor on Yupo

Last summer we enjoyed many Calla Lily blooms in our garden. This past week, I finally got around to painting one on yupo sheet many times before I was satisfied.  It was a tremendous learning experience to try out different colors and varying backgrounds simply by repeatedly painting and washing  off  until I settled on this rendition.  I am experimenting using only washes and water for texture. 

I borrowed the title of the post from a series of articles in New York Times  by Michael D. Fay. On June 6 2010, in the introduction to the series, NYT explains:  'In 2005, then Chief Warrant Officer Michael D. Fay traveled to Iraq in his capacity as official Marine Corps artist. There he fought with Marines engaged in Operation Steel Curtain against insurgents along the Euphrates River, and documented the events in sketches, photographs and audio recordings. Mr. Fay describes that experience here in “Drawing Fire,” to be published in five consecutive parts this week in Home Fires. It is based on material from his memoir, “The War Artist,” (earlier drafts appeared on his blog in January), and includes artwork and photographs from his time with Marine units in Operation Steel Curtain.'  His accounts of the war and the accompanying sketches paint the horrors that is deeply riveting and moving. Check out his blog 'Fire and Ice' and also the Joe Bonham Project, where you will find more sketches by 'group of illustrators dedicated to recording the faces and experiences of America's returning wounded warriors.'  Kandhahar Journal  has sketches and accounts by war artists in Afghanistan.  The artist soldiers give a different picture of the war. 

Happy Vishu

A Day in the Life-page 6 color pencils and pen

Happy Vishu - New Year to all. Today is New Year for most of the people in southern India. I did this page in my sketchbook for the Fiction project 'A day in the Life - in Blue Jeans with Gold Embroidery' a few weeks ago and waited to post :) The entry describes a ceremony from most Hindu households in the south on Vishu-Ugady day.

The copy reads:

I light the lamp on my altar. A mirror is the latest addition -a reminder of a special kind. In southern India where I grew up, the New Year is ushered in with a ceremony many centuries old. The night before, a special shrine is assembled in prayer room/corner with season's first fresh vegetables and ripe fruits, arranged around a mirror draped with fresh flowers and gold jewelry. The next morning, each family member is led to the shrine with the eyes closed. We open our eyes in front of the shrine looking into the mirror, now surrounded by lit lamps. shining in the midst of this beauty and abundance is our own face in the mirror. It is a beautiful reminder of the divinity in each of us. The same divinity that pervades all. I wanted to have that reminder everyday of my life.

I did assemble the special 'kani' shrine last night and looked in the mirror  this morning :) And a mirror has been a permanent addition in my altar since January 1 - the new year in the western calendar.

Lines or Forms?

Skylight at National Gallery of Art  Washington D.C. digital photography

Always lines, never forms! But where do they find these lines in Nature? For my part I see only forms that are lit up and forms that are not. There is only light and shadow.

- Francisco de Goya 

Ideas and Doubts

A Day in the Life - Swirl of Doubts page 5 color pencils

Generating ideas for the sketch book has been an interesting process.  The challenge has been to have  continuity in the theme and connecting one page to the next. Frustration with the paper has translated into not looking for perfection in my sketches or in the writing.  Letting go of the fear of failure is very liberating and I am somewhat enjoying the process of filling up the sketch book.  I read somewhere that Pablo Picasso once said "You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea."  Seems like I have taken that to heart. I have completed fifteen pages so far and have a few more to go. I am looking forward to see what I will come up with next :)  

Patience and Possibilities

Patient Pelican  Watercolors 6"x7"

I have been rereading  (or rather re-looking at the illustrations/paintings from) Jeanne Dobie's Making Color Sing. This was my very first purchase when I started painting in watercolors many years ago. Two days ago, her chapter on 'Mouse Power - achieving luminous grays' prompted me to finally paint the photograph of this pelican I had taken a while back. According to her 'mouse colors are like the bit players who support the stars.' 

I didn't quite follow her instructions or do the exercises,  but selected a transparent red, aureolin yellow, cobalt blue and viridian to make my grays, and used the grays to paint everything but the little yellow and orange patches on the bird :) A smaller brush than I normally use and waiting patiently for the paint to dry between the layers helped too.

Reading parts of the chapter while waiting for the paint to dry showed me the weakness in my  usual method of studying only the pictures in an art book rather than reading the chapters in detail!  I guess I need to change my ways a bit and not try to reinvent the wheel on my own!

I had moved away from her suggested rose madder genuine a few years ago since it had been rated poorly for color fastness in "The Wilcox Guide to the Best Watercolor Paints."   While linking her book to amazon.com, I noticed that there is a newer edition of her book- hope  she has replacements for the fugitive colors in the new version.

Meandering Lines

A Day in The Life - Rangoli doodle pilot G-2 pen

I am not sure  cleaning up my doodle when I transfered it to the Fiction Project sketchbook was a good idea.  After tearing off a couple of pages (now I have fewer pages to fill!) because my freehand doodle was not going the way I wanted, I realised forced doodling is not going to have a free flowing feeling to it!!! I have a weakness for rangoli doodles so I can free hand a rangoli when I have to and not check any rangoli design books.  Rangoli with these continuous lines are my favorite - I try to see how long I can go on with the line before it meets the starting point.  Some traditional rangoli start with even or odd numbered dots and you weave the lines around it. How you place the dots, how many  dots  in each subsequent rows, and how many rows of dots all lead to different designs. With regard to the sketchbook, I have decided to draw only on the right hand side of the book, not fight the thin papers and just accept imperfections.

Did you know Google has special doodles of its logo to celebrate important dates in a calender year. Check out their Google doodle art! 

Spring Signature

Dandelion digital photography

"It's  not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. "

Henry David Thoreau.

Magic of Coffee

A Day in the Life - First Sip colorpencils 

South Indian Kaapi is very special and a matter of pride in that region. I had never known coffee was not native to India until I came across its origins in the menu-card in  an Ethiopian Restaurant in New York many years ago. Imagine my surprise-especially since my grandparents are from Coorg, the coffee capital of India :) I spent many a vacation with them and trips are all full of memories of fragrant white coffee flowers and red berries under a canopy of rubber trees. I often wondered about the coffee's debut in India since then but never pursued it.

Today  I finally went sniffing the coffee trail. I came upon the story of Baba Budan, a Sufi Muslim from India who brought back seven seeds as a souvenir from his trip to Mecca in  1720 and planted them outside his cave in the hills now known as Baba Budan Giri.  The coffee plants and the drink took a foothold in the area. The Coffee plantations soon became an industry under the British. 

I brought with me from India the traditional coffee filter to make the 'kaapi' and for many many years now my day has started with the ritual of drinking coffee in the special stainless steel 'lote'.  My hubby grinds the coffee beans fresh every time just before making the 'decoction' and that adds to the flavor :)  For the curious, check here for  recipe and ritual of south Indian kaapi.

Meditation on Light

A Day In the Life  colorpencils

The Fiction Project, A Day in the Life is slowly taking shape.  I am learning as I sketch and the most important lesson seems to be to keep it simple which obviously is not as easy as it sounds!  The quote in this sketch is an ancient chant "Gayatri mantra" from the Sanskrit Rig Veda to the Sun diety, the giver of light and life. Whenever I see a sunrise, I am moved by the beauty and reminded of this chant.  The English translation reads: We meditate on the beautiful light - may it guide and inspire our intellect in the right direction."  

In Blue Jeans with Gold Embroidery

A day in the life- In blue jeans with Gold Embroidery

color pencils 8"x10"

I have been nervously working on The Fiction Project and it is taking me a lot lot longer to complete each page than I anticipated. When I was testing the paper I was mainly concerned with how much of the work was going to show through on the  reverse side of each (thin) page. I discovered it is much more than  my experiments showed -especially since I find myself  coloring in layers. To my dismay, the colors tend to smudge on this paper and I am spending more time than I care to, cleaning up the mess.  But, as I struggle with the  narration and the illustrations, I have developed an enormous respect for writer-illustrators. What was I thinking when I signed up?  

On a much happier note, I have been tagged by  Sanctified Spaces  with an award and I am deeply touched.  I extend my  heartfelt 'thank you' for the honor :)

The rules of this award consist of revealing 7 things about myself and then passing the award on to seven others.

1. I think I already reveal too much about myself in my blog :)

2. My list of books to read is too long and the stack by my bedside is too high. I know I will never catch up!

3. I have way too many art and craft supplies (and books).

4. I am always in awe of all musicians, artists and dancers.

5. And athletes! 

6. I like to go on walks.

7. Chocolate rules!

And my nominees are :

1. Green is My Valley

2. Katherine Thomas Pencil Painting

3. Katsart

4. Of Peacocks and Paisley

5.Photography Shutter Bees

6. Rice N Spice

7.Wading through Words

Memory in the Raw

First Glimpse Digital photography

Long Day  Digital photography

A good snapshot stops a moment from running away. 

 ~Eudora Welty

Last month, while visiting family in Coorg in southern India, I stopped by to see the Golden Temple at Namdroling Monastery, a Tibetan Refugee Settlement in Bylakuppe.  Its been impressive to see how the settlement has grown and thriving over the years as they have added buildings and expanded.  I was glad to capture a few more moments in the monastery with my camera and add to my collection from previous visits :). 

A Day In The Life

A Day in the Life- Sketchbook Fiction Project 2011 cover w-i-p

I signed up for the Fiction Project/sketchbook project by the Art House Co-op in Brooklyn, NY.  My moleskine cahier journal arrived about two months ago but my travels, the big bad flu and of course my worries of 'how am I going to fill the book with some kind of  an illustrated story?'- kept me from working on it. I spent a few days researching and experimenting on the paper with different mediums, pens and pencils and have decided color pencils work the best for me. I am not brave enough to change the look of book or papers completely, so will have to contend challenging myself with filling up book with some drawings and words. The theme I chose is "A Day in the Life"  and I have the first few pages percolating in my imagination. I finally started on the front cover today working with color pencils.  Wish me luck --I  have to fill up a book of 40 pages. 

Nostalgia

Urwa Market  pencil sketch 3 1/2 x5" 

Urwa Market Digital Photography

Last week I made a trip to my home town Mangalore after many years. Parts of the city were changed beyond recognition- gone were the paddy fields that littered the city, the old landmarks, the independent small houses and in their place were high rises, shopping centers and apartment complexes.  Here and there I recognized a building or two from my school days. I was totally lost in the city until we came to my old stomping grounds, where the house I grew up still stood, the small market that served the community, the temple by the house, the little algae filled pond, the fields and the coconut groves beyond that -- here the time had stood still.  I know this pocket will soon be gone too so I got very busy with my camera -- I needed help to tuck it all away in my memory!    

The sketch is of the market that still looks exactly like it did when I was growing up. Even though I had visited my city before, it had been 30 years since I last went to this market and I was tickled to see it looked the same! The only change I noticed was the ad for the cell phone service provider.  I think there were a few more plastic baskets piled high with fresh produce  and fewer cane baskets. Alas, there were also a few plastic bags flying around too. The fish market side is to the right of the camera and I was happy to see the cats were still there enjoying the morsels from the fishmongers :)  Having grown up completely vegetarian, it was my first time going near the fish market -to capture the fishmongers as I remembered seeing them from afar! 

Pink Umbrella

Somewhere between Chennai and Bangaluru  digital photography

Half the fun of travel for me is the unexpected surprises I find as I look of the window of the car, bus, train or plane.  What do you think is the story of this man with the pink umbrella who is sitting on the train tracks?  I couldn't stop my imagination from running wild the rest of my train ride :)

Magical Bloom

Christmas Cactus in Bloom, Digital potography

"Where flowers bloom, so does hope"  wrote Lady Bird Johnson in 'Public Roads:Where Flowers Bloom.'  Last month, as if on cue, soon after christmas, when we were buried in a snow storm,  this plant in our sunroom gave a spectacular display of beautiful deep pink blossoms.  Was nature laughing at her own wonders? No matter -  What a treat for us to see the magic outside as well as indoors! 

Making Art is Discovering

China Town Gate, Washington D.C. 

I have been down with fever.  So, a sketch from a few days ago to the rescue :)  I also want to share a saying that I think fits my feelings about making art:

I have never started a poem yet whose end I knew. Writing a poem is discovering. -Robert Frost, poet (1874-1963)   

Starting Right

Sunrise digital photography

 Airplane Seat back 

Yet Another Sleeping passenger in the Transit lounge

New Year started with a most gorgeous sunrise.  Later in the day more time was spent in the airplanes and airports.  After delays, long flights and missing luggage  everything is back to normal.  Time to get back to more sketching and painting.   

Universal Acceptance

At the Art Institute of Chicago, digital Photography by Meera Rao

Newly opened in May 1893 as the Permanent Art Palace, now known as the Art Institute Chicago was used as the World's Congress during 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The World Parliament of Religions opened on September 11, 1893 with Swami Vivekananda from India giving one of the inaugural addresses in the Hall of Columbus. In the next two weeks Swami Vivekananda drew the largest crowds of the World Congress 's meetings.  108 years later, on September 11, 2001 another key historical moment shook the world.  Jitish Kallat's Public Notice 3  a site specific installation at the Art Institute of Chicago connects the two historical events.  The Art Institute web site explains : With Public Notice 3, Kallat converts Vivekananda’s text to LED displays on each of the 118 risers of the historic Woman’s Board Grand Staircase of the Art Institute of Chicago, adjacent to the site of Vivekananda’s original address. Drawing attention to the great chasm between this speech of tolerance and the very different events of September 11, 2001, the text of the speech will be displayed in the colors of the United States’ Department of Homeland Security alert system. Opening on September 11, Public Notice 3 explores the possibility of revisiting the historical speech as a site of contemplation, symbolically refracting it with threat codes devised by a government to deal with this terror-infected era of religious factionalism and fanaticism. 

I shot the photograph above showing the staircase as I walked away  from it towards the Asian Gallaries -- I loved how the words and statues of Buddha reflected on the glass doors.  Below is Swami Vivekananda's speech that Jitish Kallat converted to LED display on the stairs: 

Sisters and Brothers of America,

It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.

I pray for  peace, tolerance and universal acceptance in 2011 and beyond.  Happy New Year !

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.