The Lepidoptera Artist Book

 

This month I'd like to bring you my 'Moths and Butterflies' handmade journal, prepared from scratch by recycling common materials around the house. Click here to see a process video of how you can also make a junk journal or artist book of your own.

Pages from the Moths and Butterflies journal

In my artist book, I am trying to capture all the pretty Lepidoptera (species of insects) seen around the area I am located in. 

Close up of the hand-painted images

Being in the midst of green open spaces, we are lucky to have a wide variety of beautiful insects not commonly seen in urban settings. There is a wide range of butterflies, right from the tiny grass ones to large beautiful swallowtails and tigers. The moths here are also larger and include hawkmoths, strikingly colourful and positively exotic.

Given the way climate change is creeping upon us, I'd like to capture the beauty of these Lepidoptera for posterity so that future generations aren't deprived of the pleasure of knowing about them.

Nature Journal 2020: November-December

 

January often gets to see some spillover projects from the previous year, and this year is no different. The Nature Journal 2020 project that I started last year, is finally complete. Here's a glimpse of the double spread for November-December.

November-December pages

Also, here's a quick look at the front and back covers of the Nature Journal 2020.

The front and back covers

That brings another year of nature journaling to a close. The next one will now happen in 2025! That seems so far away.... Meanwhile, hope you all enjoyed this edition. 

Click on the 'nature journal' label in the right scroll bar to see all the journal pages together (both this edition and the previous one). You can see a flip-through of Nature Journal 2020 on my Instagram.

#naturejournal2020

Nature Journal 2020: October

 

Since the Inktober challenge (see my last post) and other random things kept me occupied through last month, I had to put together the Nature Journal page for October in a rush at the end of the month.

October is the changeover season, when the summer staples are on their way out and winter seasonals are planted. In the midst of this, Shiuli or night-flowering jasmine stands out as the autumn staple.

I'm planning to do a double spread for the November-December pages of the Nature Journal. Let's see how that works out!

#naturejournal2020

Valentine Heart Inchies

Since February is the month of love, I had to post a Valentine special!

So here's a glimpse of the challenge I set up.... To fill up an entire page with little heart inchies, thinking up myriad ways of representation using the ❤️ symbol. Now if that doesn't spell love!

I had a whole lot of fun doing this challenge, and got ideas from the kiddos to help me along. The aim is not to repeat patterns or colour schemes. Go on, try it out yourself with your Valentine and loved ones.

Happy 2019

As another old year winds to a close, here is my mantra for the glittery, shiny, joyous new year that is just round the corner.

Hope I can live by this mantra in the coming months, with hope guiding my path with its light, as I savour each moment of the journey.

Wishing all my readers, followers, friends, and well-wishers a creatively fulfilling 2019, with many new beginnings.

Bottles Revisited

Though I hardly work on bottles any more, such exceptions always bring me happiness.

The yellow one was a personal commission and is already displayed in its new home in Kolkata, the City of Joy, hopefully bringing joy to all those who see it.

While this pink beauty adorns my work table, holding crafty knick-knacks for my mixed media projects. I love this yummilicious one sitting on my desk! 😊

I do miss my avid bottle painting days.... when each piece conjured up a new story in my head, that my hands would then transfer on to the bottles. After all, my handpainted bottles played a huge role in my incredible creative journey! Hope I manage to make some more soon...

Let Go

I wanted to post this to coincide with Easter last month but a paint job at home upset my working and posting schedules completely.

One of the most important of life's learnings is to let go and move on. Remember that time and tide​ wait for none. If you choose to remain stuck at a point, life is simply going to pass you by.

So loosen up and let go of that which serves no purpose or brings no good. For only then will new vistas unfold....

For high-resolution prints of this lovely poster, write in to me at creativerumblings@gmail.com to place your orders.

Handpainted Keds

Sonny has lately been on a growing spree, standing taller than his mommy already. So no wonder he outgrew his school keds (white canvas shoes) in a span of a few months. The shoes were in fairly decent shape despite his using and thankfully, at that point of time, our shoe sizes matched. So thrifty mommy carefully put away the keds, planning to refurbish them at a later date. And now the results are for all to see... TaDa!!!! (drumroll please)

Some freehand drawing with pens, some dabbing of acrylic paint, and some final outlining to highlight parts.... and we were done.

It is such a simple project that just about anyone can give it a try.

And keds are by far the most inexpensive variety of canvas shoes available in the market. So even if you goof up, you won't have much to lose.

I loved painting in the flowers and the birds, especially the cute lil' owl. Here are a few tips from my first-hand shoe painting experience:

• Use pens with permanent ink for the outlining. You don't want those lines getting all runny.
• Do not mix too much water with the acrylic paints else you'll land up with faint coloured water spill-over marks the way I did in places.
• Again, final highlights are done best with permanent markers or pens.

Hope these tips and pictures encourage you to try your hand at handpainting canvas shoes. I can't wait to wear mine!
 

The Making of a Flower Girl

As I shared in an earlier post, I have taken to working on mini paintings and my theme this year is 'Faces and Figures'. Despite having a busy month, I managed to make five of these 10 by 10 (cm) pieces. They are great fun to make - since the process involves multiple layers, and yet it takes me just a day or two from start to finish, as the size is small. So this post presents the story of how my current favourite piece emerged.

I started by pasting a random collage of papers on the base, as seen in picture 1. While pasting the collage pieces, the pink flowers caught my eye. Yes, you know what a sucker for flowers I am! So I decided to retain them in the final painting that emerged out of this chaos of colours. Working around the flowers, I spotted a face, slightly downturned. A hat seemed like the perfect accessory to put on that face.

Picture 2 captures the painting with its basic outlines in place, and the hat, face and hair painted in. I highlighted the pink flowers by adding the white marks and yellow pollen on top. By now I had also spotted the butterfly in the bottom right corner. But the painting wasn't coming together; there was no single train of thought that knit everything.

And then the word 'Freedom' flashed at me.... and it all fell in place (picture 3). I added the stamp mark on the top left, meant to denote the freedom of travel, both literal and metaphorical. The butterfly gained prominence, signifying the freedom from the cocoon phase. The flying birds on the top right completed the picture. Now you know why the girl with the blue hat has a smile on her face! Because she is a free bird....

So, dear readers, what do you think of this process? Creatively, I find it extremely satisfying. You start from zilch, and you end up with not only a mini painting but an interesting story to go with it. Wanna try some?

Nature Journal: August Observations

The August page of the Nature Journal got completed on the last day of the month. But unlike July,  this time there were enough specimens to fill the page.

Two of the August specimens came from my son. He collected the samples while playing basketball in school. The basketball court is adjoining the park, and hence an equally good site for getting hold of interesting stuff.

But what I loved was the fact that my pursuit of nature journaling has begun to have an impact on the kids, making them more aware and enthusiastic about their natural surroundings. Someday I can hope to have at least two nature warriors following my example! :)

And here is ending this post on a happy note - even before we hit mid-September, my journal page for the month is already finished! Yippeee!!!

Nature Journal: Cover Page

The Nature Journal finally has a front cover. One of the first things I made post-exhibition. Was a wonderful break from the bottles, and helped me relax my over-tired body and over-charged brain.

I tweaked the inchie collage technique and came up with this design that features almost all that constitutes nature, and that I come across regularly in my interactions with the natural world. I am pretty pleased with the end result. What do you think, dear readers?

Nature Journal: The April-May Spread

Here is a peep into the April-May spread of my Nature Journal.

 



 As I mentioned in one of my posts last month, the April page features a lot of doodle flowers and sketches done randomly. But the best part of our April experience was getting up close with the blue pansy butterfly.



As for May... since we had been reeling under a severe heatwave, it led to repeated illness and I had to miss my morning walks many days. Moreover, the mornings at the park - my best time to commune with nature - were crowded and chaotic due to ongoing summer vacations. But nature doesn't stop its annual cycle; the Amaltas and the Gulmohar bloomed with as much abandon this year too, though their blooms dried up much faster this time.

My idea of countering the may heat and drying blooms? - I created some paper flowers on the May page.... and they won't dry up ever! Try some yourself; they are great fun!

Nature Journal: Inside Cover

Here is a quick peek into another page from my Nature Journal (read more about it in my last post).

The inside cover of my nature journal is made of slightly thicker, glossy paper. Since it could take more than the usual quantities of paint, so I chose to let myself loose and go wild with it.

First I filled up the sheet in random colour blocks. Then I drew on it with a white paint pen. I filled in the outlines with a black sketch pen, finally blocking out the background with black paint. The result is for all to see…

Going with the charms of spring, couldn't resist the flowers, birds, butterflies and bees! :) Hope you enjoyed these glimpses of the inside cover.

Eternal Spring

A mixed media piece this time that says "In my heart lies eternal spring".... the piece is such an amalgamation of techniques and motifs that I'm not sure the picture will do justice to its varied nuances.

Maybe a list of the techniques I used to create this will help those of you who want to try something similar. So here goes... this piece includes:

1. Paper collaging, acrylic washes and stamping with real leaves for the background effects.
2. Stenciling (with handmade stencils and homemade modelling paste) for the raised effects in the foreground.
3. Then come the special effects that capture the essence of Spring - like the paper-torn sun in the right corner.... representing the life giver, the force that induces life to spring afresh; the butterflies and ladybirds placed strategically around the piece that are so symptomatic of spring blooms; bright coloured flower accents and real pressed flowers placed all over.
4. 3-D outliners to add specific accents like the butterfly feelers.

As a final touch, I pasted the quote in the lower left side, and voila!.... the piece was ready.

The beauty of mixed media lies in its undercoats, things that go into the background and only show up partially in the final scheme of things. They add a sense of mystique and the layered look gives a certain depth to the final piece.

Anyone wanting a similar mixed media piece for brightening up your walls, write to me at creativerumblings@gmail.com and gift your abode some happiness.

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....

Morning Glory Flowers Again

Things have had a slow start this month. First, the exams and then, the flu. School functions added to the chaos. Finally we are limping back to some sanity so I picked up pace by doing another bottle with one of my favourite flowers - morning glory.

Blue-purple hues popping out from between the greens - a sight for sore eyes! Lately, a lot of butterflies have been flitting around our garden, and so I had to add a black one on the bottle.

Sometimes the simplest of things bring us so much pleasure; like chasing butterflies with the kids and then appreciating the brilliant hues translated on to a bottle!

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!