Annual Recap & HNY

It is that time of the year again. Time to sit back and mull over the year gone by, and make wishlists for the coming year.

This past year, 2011, has been a mixed bag. But most of all, it has been a year of immense learning. On a number of fronts. And that is what is the most important takeaway for me. So even while I have not been able to paint as often, or finish as many pieces as I'd like to, the fact that I have grown through my random experiences (good and bad) is what I'd like to remember this year for.


As for 2012, I'll use these much-loved lines from Robert Frost:

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep."

Wish you all a colourful and creative new year!!!

p.s. - The kids start their vacations tomorrow, so the artist takes a backseat for the next couple of weeks. Just an alert, that the posting may get a lil' sparse till the mommy is kept busy! :)

Poppy Fiesta

It is too early for the poppies to sprout. They only show up when the chill recedes a little, and the days start to get longer. But their deep red colour is so evocative of the holiday season, of X-mas cheer and year-end happiness.

So I thought it appropriate to share with you all this piece I had painted sometime in spring this year. A wave of red poppies dancing merrily through the swirling fog as I drove down for my groceries every morning is one sight I'll always remember. Much like Wordsworth's Daffodils! :)

Merry Christmas to all my readers. Catch you next week with the last post of this year. Phew, another one gone!

City Lights

Painted a smaller piece (8" x 11") after a long time. Came across a picture in the papers that caught my eye, especially the juxtapostion of the brightly lit buildings against a deep blue sky. And that is how this painting came about.

Probably one of the last pieces of this year. Wish I could paint more frequently and quickly, but try as I might I never seem to paint as often as I want to. Hope the next year changes that a little!

By the way, have you all noticed that the Creative Rumblings Facebook page gets some extra art-related posts while this blog continues to focus on my personal journey in the world of colours. Well, to catch up on those additional updates, visit the page and click on the Like button now. That'll ensure you never miss out on any of the news!

Sending Some Winter Warmth

The best way to enjoy a foggy winter day? A mug of steaming hot strong coffee... ...and blobs of bright paint on my brushes.

Always brings a warm fuzzy glow to my heart.

Enjoy this bunch of flowers that are part of a painting I finished last month. And have a great weekend, everyone!

Portrait Trials

Last weekend I tried my hand at portraits despite having zero training on this. Just picked up a newspaper, opened a random page, and attempted a few mugshots from it.

Managed to get some degree of likeness with the actual pictures but eyes do seem to be a tough area. It is not for nothing that they say that eyes define a person's face. You get them right, and almost everything else will fall in place.

As my dear hubby rightly says, portraiture is all about lines. You have to know which ones to use and which ones to skip.

With one of my favourite Bollywood icons, the inimitable Dev Anand passing on last weekend, I just have to try sketching him now.

Beat The Gloomy Greys

Winters are here, and so are the blooms. So what are you waiting for? Follow these quick steps to add some colour to your rooms in this grey weather.

1. Pluck a bunch of hardy flowers (chrysanthemums, gladioli, gerberas and tuberoses work very well), or pick a bunch from the florist. Needn't be a huge number; just a couple of sticks work fine.


2. Fill a matching bottle vase with water, and pop the flowers right in.


3. Display and enjoy.

And take a bow when the room looks all perked up, and the compliments come your way! The button chrysanthemums in the orange hibiscus bottle fetched me quite a few. :)

The Process

Thought today I'd share with you a glimpse of the process.... that whole journey of turning my imagination into reality.

First I doodle around on a paper till I finally have a design I am satisfied with.

Then I translate the design into reality with paints, making changes along the way depending on the shape and size of the bottle.

Currently working on this fun bottle that tells a story.... Got any owl stories to share yourselves? :)

New Warli On The Block

Had to move on with my work despite the unpleasantness of the plagiarism episode. So there is a fresh Warli motif bottle hot off the studio table....

And it goes very well with the books at the bedside. What say?

Love the flying bird on this one!

Plagiarised!!

Yes, dear readers, I discovered earlier this month that my work (that you have been seeing on this blog for the last 3 years) is now actually good enough to be copied! What a shocker it was to unearth this.

A certain lady from the southern parts of our dear nation has lifted ideas, terms, and phrases right off my pages and created her own little virtual space. Of course, she came into being (I mean her online presence) only recently.... as recently as July 2011. And not just my blog, I can see stuff she has used from other popular art and design blogs too. Combining all stolen ideas, she thinks she is creating some magic masala!! It sucks, really.

Now copying is not right, whichever way you look at it. And the only reason I'm treating this issue with a dash of humour is because my anger won't hurt the plagiarist at all. Rather it would wreak havoc on my sense of well-being and balance, upset my flow of ideas, and obstruct my imagination.

So, dear sneaky lady (since you will come back to read this), thanks for the left-handed compliment. You have only proved with your actions that my work is good enough to be copied! And you perhaps kick yourself for not having such inspired thoughts yourself.

So while I'm looking for how best to deal with Ms. Plagiarist, you better make sure you get your stuff (especially the bottles) right here. Else you'll only land up with a second-hand imitation, and that too at higher prices!

Childrens' Day Gift

November 14 is celebrated as Children's Day in India as the date marks the birthday of our first prime minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. He was known to be extremely fond of kids, and was fondly called Chacha Nehru (an informal reference, much like Uncle Sam). Children's Day is celebrated across most schools, with cultural functions and other shows for kids.

This year I decided to give my kids a surprise by making them a painting for the occasion. It hangs right across their bed so that they see it first thing in the morning when they wake up.

I know the kids love the theme of the painting. Especially how the caterpillar reaches out to peer at the butterfly. And the glittery lining of the clouds.

I hung it over the weekend so that the hubby and I could share in their pleasure when they first set eyes on it. I call this the simple joys of parenthood. Watching the expression of joy on your childrens' faces on such occasions is priceless!

Pretty Pansies

Made a real, formal glass painting after ages. Only because a stray piece of cut glass couldn't be wasted, of course! So I gave it a new avatar...

Good I chose to mix acrylics with glass paints for this piece. That explains the different shades of purple. Using colours of the same family help make the flowers closer to their real counterparts. Now to get this framed, and it'll be all ready to hang.

What are your views on this one?

A Second Autumn

My newest ode to the gorgeous colours of Fall.... worked on another Autumn-themed bottle sometime back. This is one theme that never seems to lose its freshness and appeal.

The profusion of dried leaves that softly crunch and crackle as you walk on them. The myriad shapes, sizes, colours and patterns on the leaves makes it ever so interesting to paint them.

I love how these bottles help bring a slice of Fall colours right into our homes. Especially here in India where such changing colours are hard to find.

Don't hesitate to drop me a line if you want to own one!

Festive Hangover

Still recovering from the festive hangover, hence the paucity of posts. Promise to buckle up in November, and bring you more creative fodder.

Here are a few images of our handmade and hand-painted efforts during Diwali. Wish people could keep things simple and traditional instead of the mindless blitzkrieg it is made out to be nowadays.

Diya painted by yours truly.

Little urns painted by my kiddies (aged 6 and 8).

Candle and diya drawings made by the kids to add to the Diwali decor.

Finally, a festive tablescape using my hand-painted tealight holders.

Hope all my readers had a cheerful festive season with their loved ones. Enjoy the afterglow and I shall see you next month! :)

Diwali Greetings

Diwali greetings to all my dear readers!

I'll be painting and decorating diyas with my kids, making a rangoli and torans, preparing a feast for the family, and gorging on sweets.

And in this age of crass commercialisation, trying to keep things simple and traditional.

Hope we all celebrate the festival of lights.... not one of noise and pollution.

Hope you all too have a fabulous Diwali!

Festive Offer - Diwali Sale!!!

October, the month of festivities in India. Dusshera has just gone by, which means Diwali is round the corner!

Deck up your homes this Deepawali with Creative Rumblings tealight holders.

Limited edition hand painted tea-light holders specially available for the festive season. The tealight holders come in two designs - Peacock Feather and Paisley & Flora.

Paisley & Flora / Peacock Feather

Paisley & Flora

Peacock Feather

Price: Rs. 50 apiece (without tealight) ; Size: 3" x 2"(approx.)

Can be couriered to anywhere in India. Shipping chargeable extra, based on actuals. To order, send me a mail at creativerumblings@gmail.com

Spread the word around and send me a mail quickly.... before someone else grabs the goodies.Hope you all enjoy the festive season, and happy shopping! :)

Durga Puja & Dusshera Greetings

The festive season is upon us, the season of feasting and fasting. While the east Indians, decked in their finery, get into celebratory mode and tuck into visual and gastronomic feasts, the north Indians turn pious and fast through the Navratras to express their devotion to the Mother Goddess.


The Goddess has arrived.... the vanquisher of all evil. Let us celebrate her coming, and hope for a better tomorrow with her blessings.

Wish all my readers a happy Durga Puja, Dusshera and Vijaya Dashami.

Abstraction!

I've just discovered the abstract, and I love it! While blog hopping one morning I landed on one that discussed the process of creating abstracts. And that was it.... had to try it out myself.

And while I worked on it, I realized what sheer fun I was having. No pressures of how the painting turns out, whether it resembles the model, and so on. Just splash paint wherever you feel and enjoy the unpredictable. For even you don't know what you'll end up with! And therein lies the beauty of this process - it is totally intuitive and liberating.

If you take due care to not mix the colours while they are wet, you end up with something that looks bright and happy, whichever way you turn it.

Now I'm itching to make more of these, and hang some up in the kids' room. Imagine the cheer they would bring into any room for that matter.

Votive/Tealight Holder

Gifted myself a new votive holder recently. Just a detour from my usual love affair with the bottles! This one works as a decor piece by day... and transforms into a tea-light holder by night.

I placed it near a window during the day, and loved how the sunlight played off the flower petals.

At night I put a candle in it.... and Voila! The delightful ambience that it created was something else....

The kids loved the warm glow it spread around the room while the hubby appreciated the transformation of the everyday and mundane to something dreamy and romantic. :)

With the festive season just around the corner, this would make just the right piece to perk up special occasions.

A limited edition of Creative Rumblings votive holders for Diwali seems like a good idea to me!! What do you say, dear readers?

The Melody Makers

Painting is a strange process; I find myself falling into phases every few days. Like sometime back I was taken over by still life representations, and now suddenly I find myself going figurative. This is one of my such attempts at painting human figures.

Curiously, this painting was triggerred off by two different pictures I saw in the papers. I mentally fused the two, cutting out extra elements to come up with this composition of the trio on stage.

Though this particular piece is one of my smaller paintings (7"x11" approx.), I currently am drawn to a larger size (15"x11" approx.) for my latest works.

Also, I'm painting more from personal experience now rather than relying on some pictorial impulse.

Feels better and freer this way!

Monsoon Skies

After a deluge of bottle-related posts, here is one that goes back to my paintings on paper. This one was inspired by the picturesque monsoon skies awash with colour, especially in the evenings.

What I painted here is the sight I get to see from my terrace in the evenings. Painting after a long gap was a bit challenging though. And especially capturing those colours melting into each other all over the sky.

Beer-y Flowery

Turning coloured beer bottles into flowery bottle vases...

With a dash of bling.

A fun outing with my brushes and colours.

Hope you enjoyed the outcome!

Cosmos Cluster

Longish absence from the blog.... blame it all on the kids' school. I've had my hands full with the school time activities of the kids, along with their exams. So for a fortnight or more, all my creative activities are in no-go mode.

The approaching festive long weekend only makes it worse. Can't see any work getting done before next week.

But for you I have a cluster of cosmos flowers blooming on a bottle.

Pretty pink heads with sparkly centres! Hope they brighten up your days. :)

Bottle Art Now At Creativegarh

The start of a new month, and the festive season round the corner; this calls for something new from my end too! So here is the good news...

Creative Rumblings Bottle Art is now available at the Creativegarh store. You can check out their Facebook page here.

Visit their cute little shop to get hold of some gorgeousness in time for the festive season!

Store address: 37A Shahpurjat, New Delhi 110049, New Delhi, India

Happy bottle shopping! :)

Gazenias

The gazenia flowers in my garden...


And then some on a bottle...



Gazenias sure make a pretty picture, they are so cheery and bright! :)

Two Of A Kind

Just a fun post to show you how I have been playing around...

With shape and size...

While keeping the basic design intact.

So many bottles now have pairs that look similar...

But are not identical.

So what do we call this? Bottle cloning! :)

Out In The Garden

The last of the stills that had me preoccupied most of last month. Again an amagamation of random things at a certain moment in time.

So two leafy models from the garden, coupled with a jar and some peaches made up this one.

Somehow the camera doesn't capture the blues too well... but the warm colour of the peaches amidst the cool shades in the rest of the painting does make for an interesting combo.