Monsoon Skies

The weather is beautiful these days - just the right amount of rain that turns things pleasant instead of throwing life out of gear, a moist and caressing breeze that plays with your hair every time you go out, and green spaces looking misty and welcoming.

The sunsets are awesome too; full of colour and changing every second. Vibrant hues melting into each other and filling your heart with joy at being fortunate enough to witness them.

Perhaps that explains what led to this abstract.... one fine morning I just had to get all the colours of the sky onto the canvas. Loved how the shades intermingled with each other, much like it happened on the bigger canvas up there!

Somehow my camera doesn't catch the hues of purple too well but nevertheless, this is one of those paintings that lift up your spirits instantly, thanks to all those joyous colours. Wishing my Indian readers a fabulous Independence Day!

Shaping The Snapple

Spent most of last week working on a commission, painting Morning Glory flowers all around a Snapple bottle.

Today I thought I'd share with you one of the biggest challenges of working on such bottles that proudly display their product logos. .....Nah, not just display, they have them firmly etched or engraved, in a particularly eye-catching part of the bottle. Just to make our work that much more challenging.... Phew!!! But therein lies the joy of having overcome something formidable.... :)


The following picture shows how the Snapple logo originally looks - a large 'S' bordered on either side by leaves. And it appears on both sides of the bottle.

And now, this is how the bottle looks after I finished working on it. Can you spot the logo anymore?

Now that is a job that is easier said than done. Creating the appropriate design that works around the logo takes a fair amount of thought, and quite a few trials. Sometimes the engraving makes the surface so uneven that it is difficult to make the paint adhere, or behave the way you want.

Remember, the idea here is to recycle; so anybody looking at the bottle should not be able to tell where it came from. So do you think I managed to achieve that? Will look forward to your comments on this one....