Reflection

May 2004… Long summer holidays and we decided to visit Delhi. Delhi was beautiful. Hot but Beautiful. Now when I try to recall that trip, first few things that come across my mind are Chhoti masi’s welcome hug, pic of mine admiring Rashtrapti Bhawan, in my new Red Ghaghra Skirt- Gifted by Dee…that me and my brother had played “Chiriya urdh” game on the train to Delhi and all the fellow passengers’ staring at our madness.

And I remember a painting on the wall of Chhote mama’s drawing Room.

Again during my On-job training 2005 and Dee’s wedding 2008, I had all the time to admire the painting…it was a painting of a European home (I guess) and its shadow in water.

What I really liked about the painting was how the reflection in water was portrayed so superbly in vivid colors. In natural paintings, closer to reality this kind of depiction is unreal….but just the splash of all green colours and the castle kind of home in between was so inspiring that if I had time then I would have copied it then and there.

Last year when I thought of painting something in portrait page set up, I thought of this painting. To add to the vividness of colours I thought of painting all the houses in different colours. This painting is just inspired and It is nowhere close to the original. May be next time when I visit Delhi I would carry my colours and canvas just to capture that magic on my paper.

This painting however May be an Indianised Version of my European Dream with my trademark Jhopras.

Papa's pen and my Painting

There is no story behind this sketch….

However, it does remind me of my last vacation…. Jan-Feb 2006 during my MSc…when I started this sketch…I was home...relaxed and lots of time to kill. One evening, I was practicing my signature and I started this sketch with my papa’s signature pen…a gel pen…

Two houses on top right, then two on left bottom…and it was my time to head back to B’lore…I tried looking for the same pen…couldn’t’ find it.

Few days back… I was on a spree to complete all my paintings…and thanks to my roomy (who brought me the pen)….

the sketch is complete…

Honestly, there is a huge mistake in this sketch. The distance-size factor is not proportional. The houses on the other side of the river are supposed to be much smaller. But I had started my painting from top right of the page and with a gel pen…so there is no scope for error correction…it was fun though to give depth and shadow effect with a gel pen…

With pencil, one can manipulate the darkness of the strokes with pressure and can always erase it if anything goes wrong…but with a pen...

I love this picture in spite of the mistake…and would try something again with the pen ….soon!!!

Sailing in the Sky

When I saw this photo in a newspaper…promoting some tourism, I thought its Heaven and… Photoshop. It was almost like the boat was sailing in the sky and it was so unreal.

Yet, I loved every pixel of it…

I started this painting in 2008…and left it in between…for a lot of reasons.

That I could not paint it as good as it was on the promo,
I couldn’t get that dark green-just a hint away from black, in water colour…
My painting was not shining like it did on a glossy paper…

but above all, i felt repulsive because I couldn't read the romance in my painting.

“A couple embracing each other while sailing in the sky amidst palm trees” - is supposed to be romantic. It was probably the most romantic picture I would have seen but it was not real and I found it so difficult relating to that unreal part of it while painting.

When I see a picture its different... I may like the picture a lot but i don't really relate to it. When I paint something I undergo a different set of feeling. Being my creation its almost like a part of me. My creation, my baby. So, i couldn't stand my baby being any less than the original. I wanted my painting to be exactly like it was on that glossy promotion picture… but the truth is I couldn't create that magic…and I just couldn’t complete it….

Two weeks back when I saw the incomplete painting and there was no original to compare with… I saw my painting for the first time without being prejudice may be.

...and then I found it appealing…just couldn’t control myself to finish it. I was taught in Rabindra Society (in whatever few classes that I attended), never to use black colour in water-colour paintings…but heck, who follows rules,when you are painting from your heart?

It still appears like a dream on the paper…so romantic... but haven’t I learnt that my dreams are real… than the reality!!! So, I am still happily dreaming!!!

Disclaimer:my blogs are not literary work, but just the voice behind my paintings!!!

From the Top of C-Block Meghdoot

Back then it looked so beautiful from my terrace. It gave me a sense of freedom…gave wings to my imagination. Looking at it from across the river Kharkai, was so fulfilling that I would simply sit on the stairs of water-tank, wondering…how it could look so perfect…so picture perfect!!!

Yes, back then I used to dream of being a photographer…teaching myself techniques, required to become a photographer.

I used to watch Discovery a lot…probably it was my only connection to the world outside my house as I was literally in house-arrest. Somewhere, on Discovery I had heard that nature has a lot to offer …all you need is to learn to frame your picture. I would simply walk on the terrace trying to capture it between two trees, from different angles.

And, down stairs, in the kitchen, my mother would ponder over the thoughts yelling in her head. Thoughts that her daughter was half crazy…which I accept with grace now. Yes it was crazy to stare at the Chimneys every day…for minutes…I would have stared at it for hours if I wasn’t scared of my mother. I knew it very well that she would scold me if I stayed just about a bit longer, so I would give it about 15-20 mins everyday.

Well my mother was just scared… scared for me, that I would loose all my sanity. That I dream and dream some more…and she had no clue what was I dreaming of.

I was scared too. I was scared to tell her my dreams. Well, there were so many dreams and so many ideas that I myself was unsure of which one to follow.

Now that I have accepted the cruelty of life that you can’t expect all the dreams to come true, I am so much in sync with myself and ready to share my dreams with people I know.

Yes it was my dream to become a photographer and capture that beautiful Brick-chimney, between the two trees, at the edges of the frame, against Kharkai and sun just about to melt into the water of Kharkai river.

So, in this painting I’ve put the same Chimney in the center…its not the same frame…its just an imagination…