Gita Upadesh

When Uma and Srini asked me to complete this painting on a 4ft by 3ft wooden plank depicting the Gita Upadesh, it was a conflict inside of me - it was a seemingly daunting project but... The Painting was the brainchild of Srini's cousin who had painted the wheels of the chariot and penciled in the details of the chariot, Arjuna and the Lord. She had used some kind of 3d paints to border the heavy lines and the effect was stunning. It took me some hunting in Michaels to finally discover the fabric dimensional paints that worked perfect. I used acrylics for filling in colors and paint-pens for the minute details of the avatars on the chariot and ofcourse Hanumanji on the flag. I changed Krishna from what the original was penciled in to my Krishna and fell in love with His smile. The horses and the Sun was an after-thought and hope it fits it without overcrowding.

This painting was a humbling journey... the original artist had a beautiful vision that was hopefully carried forward, Uma and Srini trusted me to complete it, the painting will soon go where it belongs, I was just an instrument in Krishna's hands....
"You have a right to perform your prescribed action, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities and never be attached to not doing your duty" Ch. 2, 47 Bhagavad Gita

Roar or mew!

When I saw the original painting, I fell in love with it and my hands (or brushes) itched to try it. Armed with a photo from a friend's iphone (ofcourse with the original artist permission) my friend (yes...Roopa!) and I decided to paint the subject together. While mine started looking more like a kitten, hers looked older and mean. I tried hard to make it look older - narrowed the eyes, shortened the forehead, gave more 'beard' and what not but I guess thats how my heart is - young ;)

So roar or mew, this is one of my favorite oil.

Lesson on Painting or Patience

Oil Painting came as a suggestion or hint from a friend - she felt I needed to not only learn a new medium which will give me more satisfaction than the usual acrylics I dabble with but it would teach me patience. Well, I took her advice and after spending few dollars on the oil tubes, the turp, the palette, the easel (heheh!!) the canvass (wait I am not done yet!) the brushes, I started my first painting. Yes, I had to pick the tough one! Remember the lady with her wet back that Dad had painted (blogged in earlier posts), she was my first subject. Very soon, I learnt this was not an overnight job. I had to wait for the paint to dry!! What?? For someone like me who is like an instant gratification person finishing super-quick projects - sigh and double sigh! And after 2 months with a vacation in between, I am willing to call this painting "done"! I have a new-found respect to those who paint with oils!

I did try other smaller paintings like a fall scene. I had observed someone paint with oil paint and facial tissues are dabbed to give a bumpy popcorn ceiling effect (i am sure there is a technical name!)

Then the 2 storks silhoutted against the moon was more finger painting than with brush ;)



I am liking this medium more and more as I experiment more. This "Monk" is a gift to Ram because he is the Monk Wisdom Unlimited http://monkwisdomunlimited.blogspot.com/. I have an order from him to paint more Monks!! Well that is encouraging :) Is it because he too feels that oil painting teaches me patience???

zentangled Ganeshas

This zentangle with sharpies was a complete timepass and a superquick project. I had the foam board lying around in the garage and I outlined the Ganeshas by pencil roughly from memory (based on the other musical Ganeshas I had painted and gifted away) After that one just has to let oneself loose with the sharpies. It is a therapy as the repetitive designs can mesmerize one. I did outline the some parts with a red sharpie as an after-thought.

A gift of Flowers from a friend

It is a honor and joy to have artist friends to discuss mediums, techniques, critique artwork and better still when they gift you a painting! Roopa is one such friend who has treated me to many cups of coffee and listened to my chatter as we mulled and talked over artwork. She promised me this oil painting for my birthday, "flowers for my Krishna", she said!  I absolutely love this painting for the radiant color, for the concept and for the friendship! Thanks Roopa :)

From the oven to my ears!

This project was a discovery and then an addiction. After buying couple of terracotta earrings, I was curious to try baking my very own. I purchased the oven-bake clay, earring hoops and 'finding' rings and set about my experimentations. After burning a few, breaking some more, forgetting to bake with rings etc, I had the process nailed down! Well, the colors came from my acrylics.

Now I sport elephants on my ears ;) Well, mostly elephants, couple of jumkis (labor-intensive!), a pair of white birds and then some random shapes.

More to come - hot from my oven!

Fetching water.. just an excuse to see Him

Indian Ink used to be my favorite medium for the longest time in my childhood and Appa handmade the pens for me to use with the ink(which I still have and treasure) I recently discovered the ink pot sitting there incognito with my paints!

I used a wash with the ink for most of the painting of Radha and Krishna except for the finer details when I used my fine brush and the handmade pen-nib. It was interesting to note that I resisted the temptation to use a Sharpie. I have come to realise that 1. Sharpie drawings have this kind of metallic shine when viewed from an angle and 2. One cannot use a wash over a sharpie. 3. There is a charm in using Indian Ink! No it is not the same as Black Paint - acrylics or poster or oil :) You will know once you use it!

Radha is fetching water just as an excuse to see Krishna. For me, painting Him is just an excuse to experience Him also :)

Resting in Silence

I have always seen Buddha in meditation or walking in grace but then I saw him resting... and felt rested. The original photograph of this resting Buddha is a statue and I have attempted to give it a similar feel in the pencil sketch. On retrospect I figured that a Banyan tree in the background would have been apt. Hmm.

Ram and Sita?

Ram and Sita? I dont know!! Maybe yes, maybe just a man and woman...the truth is as interpretted by the perceiver. This was a request from Meena which tickled my ego very much :) 

I painted this in grey, black and white acrylics on a 36 by 12 canvas. Infact this canvas warranted a trip to Dickblick shop in Oakland which opened my eyes (and credit card) to many other art supplies. 

Caught in His grace!

'O Arunachala, the moment I thought of Arunai [the holy town of Arunachala] I was caught in the trap of your grace. Can the net of your grace ever fail?'

The trip to this temple town is imprinted in my mind and I hope and pray that many more such visits will follow (The travel blog about my Tiruvannamalai trip is in my Sulekha blog) I started the above "painting" with acrylics and then added pastels to it. It is in 3 tones and the foothills with the town of Tiruvannamalai and the 4 Gopurams of Arunachaleswar Temple are in silhoutte. The sketch of Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi was my introduction to Him. When a friend asked me to draw Bhagawan, I did so attracted to those eyes in every stroke. The sketch is with her now but the devotion remained.



Feeling the Blues!

As you may have noticed in my previous blogs, He allures me in different ways and painting Him is a joy and I can smile for days afterwards. Again He came as a friend asking me to paint Him and it was almost like He painted Himself.

Blue hues remind me of only one - Krishna. A teacher told me once why Krishna is symbolised in a blue color - the sky is blue - why... The sky is infinite and so is Krishna. Infinite..

I painted just His hands playing the flute on one side of the board and nothing more (see below). But the mind said that it was not enough and so on the other side I painted Him playing the flute. I know you will question me why I could not take another board and start fresh but sometimes I just dont think too much :( For a change, I did paint His eyes, His lips, His nose, His hair....I close my eyes and I see His serene face.

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.