Ganesha thanks those helped the cause!

More Zentangles of Ganesha and this time I doodled them as thank yous for those who helped with our 5th year of RFL! This is an addiction now, as I can sit with Sharpies and my sketch book and go on for days. I have more in the works....

Varanasi Ghats

"Benaras" is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together". Mark Twain.

".. crammed perspective of platforms, soaring stairways, sculptured temples, majestic palaces, softening away from the distances and there is movement, motion, human life everywhere and brilliantly costumed - streaming in rainbows up and down the lofty stairways..". Mark Twain

Varanasi is a magical place with a ambiance that Mark Twain describes so well in his words. Well, I finally picked up the guts to paint it with Oil. I wanted to use my palette knife for the entire painting but used it for the sky and the water and brush for the rest!! The painting is very colorful predominantly with cerulean blues, barium oranges and chrome yellows.

Inspired by Keshav

Keshav is an AMAZING artist who I follow on facebook (obviously so does my beloved sister-in-law! as this request came from her to paint a similar Krishna like his!)


Both of these Krishnas are my adaptations from Keshav with a different touch :) One is with watercolor pencils and the second (Egyptian-like Krishna) is with acrylics and sharpies for the zentangle.





If you want to explore more of Keshav's work, please check out:  http://www.kamadenu.blogspot.in/

And the Artist reveals Himself..

"All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea,
My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that,
And I intend to end up there." - Rumi

Ravi made a comment once that Krishna is the sketcher and the sketch and whatever is the outcome is complete and beautiful in itself. That triggered this concept. Felt like exploding when i drew it.

Lost in Krishna with Rumi as companion

"In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest, where no one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art." - Rumi

The moment i read this quote, i knew that one day it will come back to me when i draw Lord Krishna. And then when i sketched Krishna's lotus feet in a bed of flowers, there was a ecstatic feeling when the quote came back to me. Rumi's poetry then started me off on this journey of sketches. It was so amazing how each poem just blended so beautifully with each sketch.







"I once had a thousand desires.But in my one desire to know you, all else melted away" - Rumi

The concept of the Lord's hand alone reaching to take butter from pots of butter was mind boggling. This is by far, my favorite in the series.I had another view.. how jealous the other pots must have felt when He took pot from that specific special pot and not the others!

 "Love calls - everywhere and always.
We're sky bound.
Are you coming?" - Rumi

The flute represents being hollow and empty so that He can play His beautiful music through us. When the sketch of His hands playing the flute was done, i wanted to fill the empty white space around it. i went freehand with paisleys and swirls and went berserk with colors. Like dreams --- drifting.

 "I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take me home." - Rumi

The peacock feather - a symbol of integrity and beauty showing what we can achieve when we truly endeavor and show our true colors. And end up adorning His head. The colors were enchanting. To think I had 12 color pencils and still looks so colorful!

"You think you are alive
because you breathe air?
Shame on you,
that you are alive in such a limited way.
Don't be without Love,
so you wont feel dead.
Die in Love and stay alive forever." - Rumi

This was a simple fun sketch. His tiny dancing feet trampling our senses which sometimes go haywire without control was a joy to put in paper.

 "This is how I would die
into the Love I have for you:
As pieces of cloud
dissolve in sunlight." - Rumi

With rains pounding outside the windows, i could not but think of His little finger holding the Govardhan mountain protecting the Brijwasis from the great deluge.

"You are not a drop in the ocean.
You are the entire ocean in a drop." - Rumi

Ras lila - the dance that symbolizes the soul's unceasing struggle to break clear of the constraints of the body, to make contact with the supreme reality. And this abstraction is symbolized by the supreme reality personifying and dancing with everyone and everywhere where there is this intense longing for Him. The thought behind the sketch started with Radha's and Krishna's feet.and then the reflection with the multiple Krishnas with Gopis came with a spark.

Taking a break from tangling Ganesha

After 8 days of ZenGaneshas on Facebook and the expectations built around it, i had to force myself to a break. While my creativity was tickled, i was under pressure to come with a fresh idea everyday. Showering and Driving are 2 best times in a day for me to get brainwaves and this idea of Ganesha escaping from a tangle appeared at the latter instance. And so the 9th night after dinner, sat with my sketch book and sharpies and drew him escaping with mooshika and then resting. It could work the other way around that Ganesha is dreaming that he was tangled at some point in time. It is all in perspective.

ZenGaneshas - a New Year resolution!

It has been a long time since I last drew or blogged. It was a dry 2014. While i continued to admire Keshav's daily sketches of Krishna and Abhishek Singh's drawings of Lord Siva on facebook and i asked myself why i cannot do the same. i challenged myself to zentangle Ganesha year-round but after 8 i decided to take a break :) i got a lot of love for these and the comments on facebook have been very encouraging.