The 'Karela' Tales

 

'Karela' is the Hindi name for the bitter gourd.

2016

In the summer of 2016, I think my mother planted a few karela seeds as her friend encouraged her to try growing these at home. Or maybe because as she always threw the vegetable peels into her pots to make manure, a few seeds invariably made their way into the mix, sprouting with the rains. Anyhow, a couple of karelas came but were quickly infested. Mom was disappointed with her maiden attempt at veggie growing and threw away the spoilt produce. But the vine remained...

Then in autumn she suddenly went away. In my grief, I preserved a leaf from the karela vine planted by her. It was one of my ways of paying tribute to her green fingers while creating a tangible memory for posterity.

Karela Leaf - 2016

2023

On a whim, I planted some karela seeds in summer and numerous vines came up. Only this time, though the initial produce was not very encouraging, I persisted. Once the rains subsided, the plants picked up and gave us continuous produce right through autumn. Incidentally, the karela vine has very pretty shaped leaves. So I decided to incorporate some into my artwork this year too.

Karela leaf prints - 2023

Managing to grow the karela successfully was a strangely inexplicable experience, as if I was completing a task left halfway by my mother. Seven years later, life had finally come full circle! Now when I place the two pieces of art together, it gives me a sense of continuity.

From one generation to another, life flows on...

Blue Heart Mosaic

 

Earlier this year, we created a blue mosaic heart on a stone slab to commemorate 2020, the year of the nasty pandemic that has taken the world by storm. Covid-19 has affected countless people globally, impacting individuals, their means of livelihood, and their families adversely.

This blue heart mosaic stands in our front garden as a mark of thankfulness to all the frontline workers in the middle of these unprecedented times. Those that left behind their loved ones at home to venture out to the call of duty, risking their lives for ours.

We wish for a better, kinder world in the coming year. A world where people are not afraid to meet, to hug and hold hands, and most importantly, a world that does not place restrictions on our freedom. Hope our wish for a happier, healthier world comes true soon.

Deepavali Greetings

Creative Rumblings wishes you and your loved ones a happy, healthy, and safe Diwali!

We humbly request that given the already worsening air quality, do celebrate creatively without destroying the environment. 

Let the light within shine with all its might!

Revisiting Exhibition Memories

Five years back, today was a day of such excitement - my 3 day exhibition was to start, and I was literally living my dream. Presenting my handiwork in a large public forum at a prestigious mall; simply loved the experience and the exposure.

You can read in detail about the exhibition here, while these pictures are a happy reminder of the event.

Now given our present circumstances and the new normal that the virus has imposed on us, such events seem rather distant. No one can really predict how and when things will get normalized in the future. In the meantime, you can connect with us at creativerumblings@gmail.com for any related decor requirements. We will be happy to serve you via courier.

Creative Rumblings Now on Instagram

As June is our birthday month, we decided to gift ourselves an Instagram account.

Yes... yippee!! we are finally on Insta and loving it already. Now help us make our birthday more fun by following our Insta feed right away.

You'll find our feed to be a mixed bag - some old some new, some familiar some forgotten, some fresh and some faded. But isn't that what life is about!

So go on.... show us some love on Instagram. Our handle is 'creativerumblings' of course, as shown in the above screen grab!

Look forward to connecting with you all on this new platform.

Journal Jaunt

Almost 2 months since my last visit here, and a lot of changes have happened in my world. Mostly positive, thankfully! Though I haven't started working on creative projects actively yet but now they are seeming more doable. So hopefully you'll see me around more often...

In the meanwhile, here is a peep into a journal page that I started a few months back but couldn't finish. Glad to finally fix it and put it all together.

Working on this journal helped me deal with a period of transition that may have otherwise been overwhelming. Now that I'm in a happier space, hope to fill up the pages faster.

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.

On Turning 10

Yes, today is the day when 10 years back I tentatively published my first post on this blog, starting off a magical journey. A journey after my heart...

So here is wishing Creative Rumblings a happy 10th birthday, and many more creative years ahead.

Thank you to all my readers, followers, patrons, clients, friends and well-wishers. This amazing journey would not have been possible without your support.

Virtual cake and champagne, anyone??

Jest Like That

This is a fun post to celebrate that most important annual event in a school mom's life - the summer break. Never mind that it gets shorter every year and the brats get more difficult to handle. Just that freedom from the daily routine, without any stresses of daily homework, are enough to pep up this mom!

So here comes a doodle bird to cheer you all up, and wish you wonderful vacations. How I wish we could go back to those times when we would let our kids just be themselves during the holidays instead of rushing them off to some camp or class all summer. Or let them do as they please around the house.

Like my son, whose idea of getting creative meant giving the dashing Irrfan (a popular actor) these googly eyes! Kids will be kids after all.... hahaha!!

Happy New Year 2016

Creative Rumblings wishes its readers, followers and fans a very happy and creative 2016!

 

 

Thanks for being with us on this colourful journey.... looking forward to new adventures in the new year. :)

Thanks!

A big Thank You to all those who made our outing at Artivity, Select Citywalk a grand success!

Pictures and details coming soon.... stay tuned.

July Snippets

Those of you wondering about my disappearing act for the past few weeks.... well, I have news. But first things first. July seemed to have gone by mostly in a blur, for various reasons.

The kids are back to school, which means a fresh flurry of projects and activities to do with them. Like this tile painting that had to be submitted to commemorate the school's golden jubilee. Sonny and I chose to paint five different types of flowers, each flower representing each decade. These tiles will be put up on the school walls to make a colourful collage of sorts.

The rains have been playing spoiler with my walks pretty often. And as a result, till date I have no sample in place for the July page of my nature journal. This isn't quite stressing me out but I like to be on top of things, and my July page is running woefully late.

I have also been working non-stop at a feverish pace through the month. The reason why time seems to be flying extra fast! There is something very exciting round the corner.... yes, it is BIG NEWS!!! All the slogging away of the past few weeks is in preparation of that 'something', but I cannot reveal details till things are formally finalized. For me, it is a pretty big outing and I am super excited. But phew! I have been killing myself trying to finish up before D-day hits.

So, stay tuned and I'll be back with the details soon. And yes, wish me luck!! Hope the next post will make up for the rather plain one this time!

Doodle Mania - Part 2

Just a quick post to tell you how seriously I'm taking my doodling. Last weekend I met up with a dear friend amidst running household errands. Now these meet-ups are something I really look forward to because they help throw up new ideas and clear your head. And since my friend is also creatively inclined, we give each other a much-needed boost to follow our hearts and our dreams.

So as we sat chatting our hearts out at the cafe, and I was telling her how difficult it is for me to find time for my creative pursuits, it suddenly dawned on me that I could use some of this relaxing time to draw out something. And yes, bang in the middle of our conversations, I went so far as to doodle behind the coffee bill. Go figure!!!! :)

Thankfully, my friend is a sport and was rather amused by my antics.And I loved that I could capture her smile so well.... Just look at the picture; don't the smiles match perfectly? :)

It is not for nothing that we are told to value our friendships. Not only do friends love us despite our quirks, they even help stir creative sparks in us!

Tete-a tete with Doodles

Hello there! Enjoying your Sunday, I hope.... I am sure most of my regular readers would have noticed that the blog has been operating in snooze mode for a while. No post in over a month!!! 

While I started the year with a lot of aplomb, the only creative output so far seems to have been the Nature Journal. Every month I diligently post a picture of the completed page from my journal.... and return to snoozing. Okay, let us not be so harsh.... so most of the last 3 months have seen at least two blog posts in a month and hey, that is not so bad. But it isn't as good as I want!

What I am trying to say here is that despite all my goal setting at the start of the year, I haven't been able to achieve the creative output I was wanting. Part of the reason is my having picked up a full-time day job, and that too miles away from where I live. The commute and work pressure leave me feeling tired and listless, unable to focus on anything creative. And of course, where is the time? Weekends are packed with household to-do lists and even before I know, I am staring at Monday and a new work week.

But the other day, the clouds parted and I saw some sun. As I was surfing through some arty blogs, I came upon folks mentioning doodling. And I decided to doodle.... as often as I can, wherever, whenever, and on whatever I could lay my hands on!! Who knows, maybe this process will help me get back on my feet creatively. If nothing else, I'll have a bunch of doodles to play around with..... like this one below. Guess what it is?

Yes, it is me waiting for my Eureka! moment. :D Don't they say art and creativity is all about attitude? 

Expect to see more doodles on my April page when I post it along with the March page (I missed that one) soon. I'm also working on a couple of other paintings that I'll share in the coming weeks. 

In the meanwhile, happy doodling! Do leave a link in the comments so I can see some of your doodles.

Seasons Greetings

Paper Snowflakes

It has been a slow December this time. Or let me reword it... Fact is that December is always a slow month, as the onset of winters and grey days seem to dull my creative juices. The lack of sunshine takes a toll every winter. And then, as too many happenings on the personal side spill over this year, it means work-wise things have taken a backseat.

With work crawling through most of this month, I am now staring at a bunch of half-finished things on my table. Unfinished painting collages, just started bottles, and half-done mosaic projects. Definitely not a good place to be in.... especially for any creator. But I was reading through a newly discovered blog of a fellow artist and I realised that all of us go through such cycles. Sometimes we work in a frenzy, and then sometimes nothing quite gets done.

Anyhow, in a bid to move on, I tried making some paper snowflakes yesterday with this super tutorial from instructables.com : http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-6-Pointed-Paper-Snowflakes/?ALLSTEPS. The first one was a bit of a dampener but the second one turned out real neat and pretty.

Suggest you give them a try and add some Christmas cheer to your windows. I will be travelling with family over the Xmas weekend; so here is wishing you all merry times with family, friends, food and of course, Santa! :)

Approaching Milestone Alert

Hey readers, have something exciting to share with you!!.....  In just about two months from now, I will be hitting another milestone. Yippee!!!

My journey with the paintbrush started way back in July 2009, and I just realized that I have now been painting for 5 years at a stretch.... and that surely is something to celebrate! Never thought I'd last 5 weeks when I started. :)

I was flipping through the blog archives when I remembered that though the blog and my passion for bottle painting started much earlier, it took me a while to work up the courage to put brush to paper. A quick scroll down the dates revealed my hunch was right - I created my first painting much after my other experiments. So while the blog is into its sixth year, my foray into painting will complete five years this July!

 

My first painting - The Lotus Ganesha

(Acrylic on paper)

Isn't that a real good reason to celebrate? So here is where you, dear readers, have a part to play. I want your help to decide how best to celebrate this milestone? - Plan a sale, hold a giveaway, or hold a blog party? What would excite you the most?

Go on, give me those ideas. Or at least tell me which idea of mine appeals to you the most. We have just about two months to set this up.... so hurry up and fire away the comments!

Experiments and Trials

Last week has been one of experiments and trials. Primarily a prepping up for trying my hand at something new, and a tad bigger in size.

Thought I'd give you all a glimpse into the results.... I'm hoping the actual piece will look far more dramatic as it will involve more techniques and textures!

Five Already!

The blog quietly turned five over the weekend. Quietly because unlike a lot of other bloggers, I'm not having a blog party or give-aways to celebrate.

Rather, I'm taken back to thinking of why I started the blog in the first place..... Five years back, as a tired but happy mommy I knew I had the creative bug in me, but with two small kids, managing a home and a full-time job, my hands were too full to indulge my creative self. Then I thought this blog could act as a catalyst to make we want to make new things, share my creative endeavours with the world, and create a repository for my kids (and other interested readers) in the process. That was the humble start.... Little did I know that as the kids grew, so would my hunger to create. With more time on my hands, I turned to painting bottles, and found appreciative patrons. I could never imagine folks actually wanted to buy my creations, but I made some fabulous new friends and shared wonderful experiences in the process.

Today, I feel thankful that I've come such a long way. I have had a wonderful journey.... And I know that this is one journey that won't end anytime soon. Every year I move on to a new bend in the road, a new vantage point, and more vistas open up. What can be better than such a satisfying trip!

Today, dear readers, let me share with you that I did have my periods of self-doubt. Low phases, down-in-the-dumps moments when I saw others steal ideas and forge ahead....but then creativity cannot be learnt or copied; it comes from within. Many promises were made and broken, many talks got stuck in paperwork and red tape, many a times deals with online shopping portals fell through..... but what is most important is that none of it made my creative outpourings stop. Or the appreciation of friends and patrons.... So, any of you out there looking for a steal on an original artwork for your home or office, or wanting a few quirky bottles to spice up the décor, just drop me a line at creativerumblings@gmail.com. And in the meanwhile, I'll just get back to doing what I love best.... making the world a little more colourful! :)

Snooze Mode Musings

Yes, the blog has been running on snooze mode for a while. Post-exam holidays for the kids, new session madness, and a hundred other things on my to-do list meant very little time for any creative endeavours. Also, the change of seasons somehow meant more photography and less painting. So while I have some fabulous shots from our garden, I have very little painted stuff up for the walls....

Even then I have started working on some very interesting pieces of glass that a family friend brought along. He got the glass pieces shaped and cut because he wanted a particular look, especially with the larger piece. To take a look at my work in progress, check out my Facebook page.

In the meanwhile, the Facebook page itself has thrown up some pleasant surprises. It reached a 100 Likes at an excruciatingly slow pace but it has amazingly crossed 200 Likes in a little over a month. I'm ecstatic, of course!

I have a thousand ideas in my head but don't know how I'll squeeze out the time to convert them all into reality. Hang in there, dear readers.... the pace may have slowed but as long as there is progress there is nothing to worry about! Leaving you all with one of my photo compositions for a change.....