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...

Little Miss Sunshine

When the sun plays rookie and the chill freezes your bones, this is how folks like me warm up....

Meet 'Little Miss Sunshine' who is full of beans and frolicking under the warm sun. :)

Hope seeing her warms the cockles of your heart, as creating her warmed up mine!

Monoprint Cards

'Long time no see' is becoming a recurrent theme around here owing to multiple reasons. Due to my inability to get any fresh creative work done, I decided to pull out these monoprints I worked on last summer. I tried out this series of experiments in monoprinting using material lying around the house and the studio. And the results were fascinating....

I finished the pieces with some top-layer freehand painting and added a butterfly made using acrylic skins. Tried out different colour combinations for effect.

Methinks the green-and-blue piece turned out well. Though the brown-and-beige puts a sharper focus on the actual monoprint. But the contrasts on the other one appeal to me more.

This last picture is to give you a sense of the size of these cards....yes, they are smaller than a full-size pencil. Start small and then move on to bigger pieces - that is always my mantra for all new experiments. What is yours?

Many Hands Make Light Work

Sometimes a random quote can set off your imagination, translating into images and ideas in your head. That is exactly what happened the minute I set my eyes on these words — "Many Hands Make Light Work". I could instantly visualize the quote...

Glad that I could transfer the image in my mind's eye on to paper pretty accurately. In fact, it has turned out better than I anticipated. You may want to zoom the picture to see the vegetable prints that have gone into making up the background layers on the palms. Onion, okra, turnip... they are all in there! :D

And yes, the whole family pitched in on this one, giving me their palm prints. :) That was a fun way to work alright!

Birds In The Bush

Remember the painting and printing experiments I was doing a couple of months back? You can read about them here. Well, today I'll share with you the best outcome of those experiments. Something that emerged out of my random printmaking attempts and came together so beautifully. Presenting the birds in the bush...

I love how various techniques of mark-making combined to create a story of their own — right from monoprinting to stamping and masking. Love the dappled look on the bird at the top. Remember that many a times the best art comes out of what initially starts off as a mistake, but with a dash of creativity one can turn it around to something pretty.

I am now tempted to do an entire print series based on this, and already have ideas floating in my head. My instinct says this would make a great series to work on. Watch this space for updates! And write to me at creativerumblings@gmail.com if you want to own this piece or book some upcoming ones.