A Burst of Colors in a Feather

We wandered into the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas in August (no, I did not add an extra 0 by mistake, it was 10,000 Buddhas and it was the most serene place ever!) and the campus was filled with peacocks. It is said Buddhists associate "openness" with peacocks since the birds display their entire plummage with pride and openness!! The beauty lingered in the mind and a few days back, a friend suggested an idea of Krishna and I wanted to do more of a symbolism rather than paint the Lord Himself. The peacock came back strutting into the mind and dropped a feather :)

I painted the peacock feather in bright hues with turquoises, cerulean blues, phthalo greens, violets and burnt sienna. Each stroke of the acrylic made the feather brilliant and vibrant and I completed it in 3 hours. The effect is beautiful from far and when one ventures closer, the squiggliness of the brush strokes are quite evident. I wondered later if the strokes could have been sharper and defined perhaps in oil or even with oil pastels; but acrylics have always been my first love in paints.

And then Krishna wanted to be obviously visually present there on the feather. Aditi suggested painting Him on the stem of the feather or inside the eye of the feather. But I added a 3D version by painting Him in black on cardstock, cutting the image out and you can see Him perched on top of the painting. To give you a sense of dimensions, the Krishna cutout is about 6 inches from toe to his peacock feather) I love this painting even more now with him playing His flute and it adorns our mantlepiece. May His flute music fill our lives...

Checkerboard of Birds

Viggy says I am obsessed with this kind of checkerboards (remember the Ganeshas?) and with silhouttes (uh.hmm like the Krishna Lila tree). Something about chickening out of working on details but I loved the end result of my endeavour in these birds. Whats it about birds that is so alluring - the freedom, the ability to fly...At some point of time in childhood (which now seems so far away in the past!) I wished I could be reborn as a bird! Now after my dive into philosophy, nope, no more births!!

I got the canvass board (24 by 30) from Michaels on a sale and set to work with my acrylics. I painted the background of 20 squares - giving them special effects - like the green - second from top left and so on. Based on my resolve to paint seagulls, I painted the seagull first on the top left and did 2 more - the second on the second row standing on still water and the fifth on the second row . But the crow took over my imagination at the bottom left. The swan is also a favorite second on the bottom row and then the hummingbird on top right. The birds on the electric lines has been another of my cherished subjects though in such a small space I could not do much justice. Maybe on another canvass, another day! This painting just flew with my imagination hopefully in the right direction.

Pachydermed my tee

I had purchased these fabric paint pens (5 colors) sometime back but hardly use them (other than the Eagle theme tee shirt for Gau and Suchi's "I Love Taco" for which she used my pens) And then again I had purchased some white tees with an idea to paint sea-gulls (which is still the idea for future) and today I got the jutka to sketch an elephant. As usual this was no mammoth effort or anything, saw this kind of design by googling and a quick sketch in 15 minutes and I was done. If only I pay attention to detail :(
But I am actually proud of the end result - the dots around the design add to a nice effect. I gave it to Vijay though Viggy kept admonishing me that I should give choice to people and not thrust it on them :( Vijay liked it though!!

A Playful Krishna

This one was easy and the effect is stunning. He is identified by a flute, a peacock feather and an attitude!! Vignesh may differ with this opinion as he questions me why I let people wonder what I paint! I would rather they wonder at what I paint :) Got it?

I cut Krishna's silhoutte in the black foam board (similar to what I used for my other Krishnas) and glued it to a Red Poster Board on which I used oil pastels to create a semblance of sunset ;)

Music in Painting

The mother made way for her son :) that is a riddle only someone who knows what is "behind" this painting would understand!


In an earlier blog I had mentioned about wanting to attempt multiple Ganeshas on one canvas http://pushyram.blogspot.com/2009/08/phase-of-ganeshjis.html
I worked over these "ashta Ganapathis" playing different musical instruments using acrylic paints over canvas. 2 of the Ganeshas - the flute and veena are inspired from pics off the internet; the guitar and the Nadaswaram were concocted from my imagination; while the rest are inspired from statues. I enjoyed painting the backgrounds in various textures and patterns and at one point Ram thought that, that was it. It was tempting to leave it like that in vivid colors but Ganesha had already removed the obstacle and made up my mind :)

An attempt of Taco's portrait

This sketch of Taco - a cavalier king spaniel was not that successful :(
I should have spent more effort on this project esp. since I had set Suchi's expectations and then her face fell when she saw the sketches.
Lets see, I had for reference, couple of his pictures on facebook and then I googled cavalier kings online. I managed a combo of all pictures and used a combo of pencil and charcoal mediums. Taco has this energy and enthusiasm in his eyes when he wants us to throw his toy and he will run to fetch it. The intention in both the sketches was to capture exactly that.

A Zentangled attempt

Patience has never been my virtue (ask Ram!) but when I read about this art form, I was tangled into doing it. Zentangle is described as a form of meditation and a light-hearted way of relaxing, and basically repetitive patterns creating beautiful images! I had this huge thermocol board lying in the garage and I ambitiously started the project with a sharpie pen. After 10 minutes, I was bored and wanted to inroduce an element of interest to keep me on the project. So you will see Ganeshas (the Elephant God representing removal of obstacles) interspersed in between. It is almost a game of "Can you see Him?" for one needs to know how to look for him in every pattern just like we search for the absolute Truth in everything.

The piece is bigger than the photo insert. I may never do this again but I must say the end result is rewarding!

Tulasi Madam

Diwali Samashti Puja comes every year and there is such a joy in setting up the stage. Last 2 years, though the decor has been simple by just draping saris, it was labor intensive. And so this year, I had ruled out saris from the plan. Armed with Natana's idea of a Tulasi Madam and lamps around it, I went about the execution of the idea. I had 2 helpers in Rasika who helped cut the lamps and leaves and Viggy who stuck the leaves. I was skeptic about the wet chalk on paper but boy, it was amazing to see it coming so beautifully against the red and black poster boards! It is almost addictive that I could not stop once I got started! Kavitha and Sujatha helped me put them up with tack pins.

Krishna's consort Tulasi is the most sacred and aromatic plant for Hindus and I hope the backdrop did justice to her!

The tree of Lilas

This series of paintings was a spiritual journey for me which I may not be able to explain in a blog or in conversation.








The painting with Radha on a swing was the second after the Kaliya-Mardana and it sparked an idea to use the tree as a continuing theme to connect the different Lilas of Bhagwan. So I followed it up with Krishna playing the flute with a cow lovingly curled around his feet. The tree was coming to the ground.




The other side of the tree is where Mother Yashoda tried to tie Him. It was a joy for me also to try tying Him. But as the story goes, it works when He permits and for those brief moments, it worked.




This painting of the peacock on top of the tree was a highlight as I played with the subject. Spot Krishna if you can on this painting :) I just could not resist it and that night I hardly slept with the thought of Him being there and only I knew it.

The entire series is on the wall- photo below. The paintings are on black foam with acrylics taped to the wall with painter's tape. So simple yet effective.

The tree will continue with more paintings added as days go by if He gives me the inspiration.

Backdrop for graduation dance

Give me a bunch of spray paints and an idea for graffiti and I can go berserk.

And this was proved during Vignesh's 8th grade graduation dance. The theme was "House of Gaga" and the committee wanted the lettering in
graffiti style. I taped the paper (which I had procured from my work-place!) to the garage floor and started spraying away. The spray leaves a lovely effect on the edges. I enjoyed the freedom of going with the flow without any template!! what if I had messed - cannot procure another similar paper another time!! But it worked :)

Krishna's lilas

After Krishna defeated the serpent Kaliya which had poisoned the waters of the Yamuna river, He danced on it's heads. What a dance that must have been!

I used a black foam board and acrylic paints to draw the Kaliya Mardana dance. I had outlined the drawing with pencil and as I proceeded, I decided not to paint Krishna's face and body. It is left to the imagination of the devotee. Close your eyes and you can see Krishna :)

This I hope is a beginning of a series. I already have a idea to paint on the similar black foam board, Krishna and Radha on a Swing, then Yashoda chasing Krishna....

Jai Maa Kali

Aditi and gang were dancing at ICC for a competition on the song "Jai Maa Kali". They needed an extra prop of Mother Kali's picture and tried enlarging a picture from the net at Costco but the resolution did not render correctly. So when Shilpa asked me to paint a poster of Mother Kali, I was so excited. She sent me couple of pictures to refer to and they were elaborate pictures of the angry mother. But in my own search, I liked a close up of the Mother's picture, just her face. So I used both sides of the poster board and on one side I painted just her face (above) and on the other side the entire Mother (below). Much as I tried I could not get anger in her eyes and I got a softer look. Secretly I am happy. All in 4 hours of work and some acrylics - esp orange, red and blue!

After I started this picture, I felt I should have tried just 4 hands pose rather than 10 but she had destined it already :) I left out the detail of Lord Shiva at her feet as I have to understand the legend behind the pose.


Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, one of Kali's greatest devotee who saw her as ever compassionate mother said:


"You know I am a fool. I know nothing.Then who is it that says all these things? I say to the Divine Mother: 'O Mother, I am the machine and Thou art the Operator.I am the house and Thou art the indweller. I am the chariot and Thou art the Charioteer.I do as Thou makest me do. I speak as Thou makest me speak; I move as Thou makest me move. It is not I ! It is all Thou ! It is all Thou !'Hers is the glory; we are only Her instruments."

Art in my cube

Haha! I would not call this exactly doodling at my workplace but not serious drawings as well. 2 weeks back, I had wound up 2 projects, completed the documentation and then I had some time to kill before the next round of work! After browsing some websites, and catching up with facebook, writing a blog, I saw the cube wall opposite me! Hmmm.. inspiration comes from strange places.

I googled "Elephants" and got started. 3 pencils and 1 sharpie art ;)

Interestingly the current topic in our Chinmaya study group is "Mind" and it is such a intense topic that is constantly on my mind. Mind is nothing but a flow of thoughts; it exists when the thoughts exist; where do they come from; how we pick it depending on our vasanas; how the intellect should introspect them; and why it is so important! In Buddhism, a grey elephant represents a mad wild elephant just like our restless mind, completely out of control. And then there is the white elephant which means the calm mind completely under control! Are my elephants grey or white?