Dreamcatcher

Ojibwa Indians believe that a dream catcher changes a person's dreams.  There must be some truth in that. Since painting the  Crab Pot Dream Catcher, I have had a deep desire to not only paint more but to also to share my art.  Here I am a few months later with my blog :) .  The view through the crab pot  was a challenge to paint -rust and all.  I took plenty of artistic liberties and am pleased with the results. 

Crab Pot Dream Catcher, watercolor  18 x 14 1/2"

Blessings

Going to Temple is a daily ritual for many in India. You can see the gopuram of the temple round the corner in most neighborhoods and if you don't have the time to go inside and offer a prayer, its not a problem. Often you see cars and bikes stop in front of the temple gates just for second or two and after quick bowing of the head, they scoot off to their daily chores. I did that fairly regularly during my college days :).

For the past year I have had the ritual of visiting a special website freerice.com  and I start my day by giving rice. Actually  I test my vocabulary or art knowledge and for every correct answer I click on, they donate 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. It feels pretty close to visiting a temple - I feel blessed to be able to share in a small way every day.

 

Temple is done in watercolors and color pencils on masa paper.  15x 11"

Daily Walk

I love to go on walks and I try put at least ten thousand steps on my pedometer everyday.  Where I live its a celebration when it snows and that happens only a few times each winter. I don't know if I could walk outside on a regular basis like this lady was doing at Grant Park, Chicago. The red canopy on the stroller, the little dog,  bare trees, white snow and long shadows made a wonderful winter scene. This was a fast, loose painting with no sketching. 

Daily Walk  - in watercolor on masa paper.  8x10"  

Mix and Match

This is a mixed media piece. I used collage, acrylics, watercolors and crayons and made up things as I went along. size: 11x13"  Even though I mix watercolors, color pencils and graphite very regularly, and love the effect of crayons with watercolors, adding collage and mixing them all up was a good experiment for me. I had to stop and let things dry, and settle every so often so was able to tackle laundry and cleaning in between! 

I am grateful that I am able to upload images again --never did find out why it refused earlier. Another mystery to add spice to my life  :). 

Problem!

 Past two days I have spent more time trying to figure out why my images are not uploading than on my paintings.  Its been frustrating because its been next to impossible to reach blogger help.  Anyone  know what error message bX-rezyks means? An art blog without pictures is just sad.  Hope to be back soon. 

Honoring Life

Above is a photograph I took at the Spertus museum in Chicago. The museum showcases Jewish culture, heritage etc. As I walked through the corridors of the various museums this week, I realized the issue of  'Ethics' looms large in the museum world.  But then I read about the disappearing Buddhas at Taxila Pakistan, through a friend. Now, I wonder how do we all go about honoring the lives, the cultures and heritages the world over and not just in museums.       

Highlights from the Art Institute

Two  lions stand guard at the steps of the Art Institute of Chicago. I loved the way the morning sun was shining on one of the statues. 

 I spent my last day in Chicago exploring a small part of their vast collection.  Special exhibition on Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Art and Photography of Paris was celebrating the centenary of the birth of the famous photographer.   Drawn to Drawings is a peek into the sketch books and preparatory drawings of Italian artists of Renaissance and Baroque periods. I also was able to see an hourlong  performance  Voices- what artists have to say.  Salvodore Dali was portrayed by an actor - offering insight into his art through readings from Dali's  letters, journals, documents etc..  along with the a slide show of his art.  I think on the whole, it was worth putting up with the famous bitter cold and the gusty winds of Chicago. 

Beauty and Wonder

Another day in the City and my senses are in a state of surrender..  The beauty of the snow flurries, reflections in the puddles, the  science and intelligence in the CT, MRI images of the inside of the body at RSNA, dancing waters at the McCormick Place, Space-Time show on the elegance and wisdom of the Universe  at the Adler Planetarium, feast for the eyes, tongue and stomach at the Green Zebra with 'old' friends all attest to the fact that we are all spiritual beings in a material world and the whole of life is art.  I feel totally overwhelmed, utterly inadequate, deeply satisfied and completely spiritual.  I sound sappy but I hope I can hold on to this feeling of wonder for a while. 

Stark Beauty

The dark long shadows are so beautiful on the sparkling white snow.  I walked across the road to the Grant Park and spent a good part of the morning trying to capture the beautiful shapes. Above is one of my attempts. 

Chicago is also famous for public art -  Agora   by Magdalena Abakanowicz is a sight to see and I trekked on the snow to take a few more photographs.   By then, having been gloveless for a while for the sake of art, I had to escape from the cold! I spent the rest of the day at Spertus Museum. The museum building is unique and has won awards for its architecture. They had a special commisioned art Consider by Ranbir Kaleka. Its a very untraditional and hauntingly beautiful 'video painting' memorial on the holocaust.  On their changing gallery Twisted Into Recognition Cliches of Jews and Others explores the ways images, expressions and objects depict stereotypes. Its a multimedia exhibit by various artists - on the whole very powerful.  Now I have one more book to read - a memoir  The Girl From Foreign by Sadia Shepard.  It promises to be an interesting story about mingling of religions and cultures. 

Looking and Learning

I flew in to Chicago last night and am looking forward to visiting the Art Institute of Chicago and a couple of other museums while my husband is busy attending a conference.  Its bitter cold here and there is a beautiful blanket of snow covering everything. The photograph is the view from our hotel room this morning.