The Great Chomper

In these last couple of months of lockdown and staying in, one has hardly had any human visitors. Just occasional interaction with the neighbours from a distance.

But one summer day we discovered someone new roaming in the neighbourhood. She came straight towards our giloy plant, plucking off all the fresh leaves at one go. After finishing chomping on the giloy, she made a beeline for the red hibiscus.

And thereby hangs the tale of how this painting was created and named. Our bovine visitor now comes by occasionally, and is always seen chomping on new varieties. Though the giloy remains her favourite.

Indian Summer Series

As the cuckoos return to herald summer, enchanting us with their dulcet calls, here is bringing you my second series of paintings.... inspired by and named after, the Indian Summer.

This series celebrates the associations I have made with the summer season over the years - a riot of red gulmohars, competing with the bright yellow of perfumed laburnums; a flurry of activity amongst all our avian friends as they woo their mates, build new nests, and raise a brood; occasional dark clouds overhead as sudden gusts of wind bring in some much needed rain to soak the parched earth. These are the images I have tried to capture in this series.

My daily walks in the park made me observe the little details - like the cuckoos and crows chasing each other all over during the nesting season, the sudden appearance of the grey hornbills as their shrill calls caught our attention. Since all these activities came alive right before my eyes, so naturally they flowed out on to my artwork.

The series is still a work-in-progress, as I add more pieces to the story. However, since my pace is slow, I thought of sharing the outcomes midway.

Right now I'm finishing up the cuckoos and gulmohars, and plan to move to the hornbills and laburnums. So do keep checking back for the updated artworks.

By God's grace, two of my pieces from the series are already adorning a dear client's walls.

In sharing this series with you, I am also celebrating another achievement - of marking 10 years of this blog - a huge personal milestone for me. When I tentatively started writing Creative Rumblings, it was only meant to be an online journal of the teeny-weeny arty efforts I made around the house. But it is with nothing less than amazement that I see how it has grown over all these years.... Not only has it turned me into an artist, but it has given me the wings and the confidence to display, showcase, and sell my artwork.

So a big Thank You to all my readers, followers, and well-wishers. Your encouragement has brought me this far, and I know your good wishes will take me further. If anything from the Indian Summer series interests you, or you would like to commission something special, write to me at  creativerumblings@gmail.com and we can work up some magic together!

Happy Thanksgiving

India has been making news globally but not always for good things. Earlier this month, the episode of the horrendous Delhi pollution that left us choked and coughing, covered in a blanket of yellow-grey smog, really made me worried about the planet we are leaving behind for the generations to come.

This is not the Earth we inherited.... then why are we ruining and vandalizing it? Do we have no responsibility towards our children; how will they survive when the very air they breathe is poisonous! 

On this Thanksgiving Day, I am grateful for we still have much to be thankful for - the rising sun, the spells of rain, the growing greens, the chirping birds, and everything else that is bestowed upon us by Mother Nature.

Only, we have to learn to respect, preserve and nurture these gifts. Especially in a day and age when our kids are getting pollution holidays....

Hope you liked this gratitude postcard. You can see some of my earlier ones here.

Nature Journal: Back Cover

This final post under the 'Nature Journal 2015' series is to showcase the back cover of the journal. The back cover appropriately aims to capture forms of nature across different elements - air, land and water. It brings together three diverse microcosms.... read on to see how.

The thought process for the back cover started with the Tree of Life, since it represents different life forms living together harmoniously, and also since it was something I was hoping to try my hand at for a while. However, once I started making the tree, these other ecosystems evolved on their own... as though the artwork for the back cover had suddenly come alive with its own interpretations, that forced me to realize the limited vision of my tree of life. Why present only one ecosystem when I could present three together? And that is how each element got its due representation....

The birds and animals that made the tree their home, thriving on its bounties and the fresh air it produced.

The foliage and flora that got their sustenance from the earth. I could have added more to this section but lack of space made me keep things at a more representational level.

And finally the water-world with its flowers and other creatures. Here I love the turtle silhouette the most.

I am happy with the way the back cover finally turned out - combining multiple techniques of painting, small sketches, some impasto and lots of collaging. That it represents nature in all its forms only makes it perfect for my Nature Journal 2015.

Nature Journal: October Observations

Bringing you the much-delayed October page of the Nature Journal. The changing season, the clamour of festivals, and a general lassitude kept me from finishing the page on time. Not that there has been any dearth of experiences to document....

That is the thing about Nature, I guess - there is never a day when you don't have moments to cherish. Sharing some of my October observations with you all....

Now that this year is drawing to a close, with just 2 more months left to document about in the Nature Journal, it seems like such a wondrous journey. Me and the kids love flipping through the previous months' pages, reading on our (often shared) experiences, and touching and feeling the specimens stuck in there.

As another year is soon to start, I again exhort you all to make a Nature Journal of your own. Not only will it discipline you to observe your natural surroundings, it will bring you immense pleasure once you have completed a whole year of recording your observations. Go ahead, try it! You will surely thank me if you do. :)