Blue Elephants and Pink Whales

Few days back while browsing through Facebook, I came across these lines (you can read them on the left of the collage below). Fabulous expression of how we should let the inner child take over when we are working with colours.

Just reading those words made me want to work with more freedom, without a care about rules. And I simply love the outcomes! ❤💕

These bright, eye-catching drawings will look perfect in a kid's room or a play den. If you are looking for such artwork, write in to me at creativerumblings@gmail.com to discuss options.

So what is stopping you from finding red bears in purple forests? ☺

Monsoon Mornings

Hello July! But what is this....is half the year gone past already. I remember starting summer, and then everything is a blur. Happens to the best of us, I guess, especially when a teen and a pre-teen invade your space all the time! All thanks to the school vacations (exasperated eye roll please).

Anyhow, this month onwards I can reclaim some moments of peace.... And as the skies pour their blessings, my mornings will be enjoyable again.

So here's a mixed media collage that celebrates mornings spent in my garden sipping my favourite morning beverage. Though basically I'm a coffee person but my mornings have to begin with tea! Complicated, no? This was my first attempt at using teabag paper for art. It's a rage globally and works just like fine watercolour paper. Can you recognize where it is placed in the painting? I've also used handmade papers and newsprint to add to the effect.

This collage also reminds me of a sketch I did long back. Isn't it kind of amazing how the same elements crept back into this one too. Perhaps explains how artists tend to repeat their motifs throughout their artistic journey (I'm thinking of Hussain and his iconic horses). Here's looking forward to a creatively satisfying month. Though half my plans never seem to work yet hope is eternal, isn't it? Especially when gorgeous monsoon weather seduces your creative ideas!

Update: Check out the companion collage Evenings.

Bouncing Back with Red and Black

My efforts at jewellery making had to be moved to the back-burner after the challenging turn of life events last year. But perhaps it is time to pick up the threads again.... This beautiful neckpiece, sporting an elegant combination of red-black-grey was promptly lapped up by a friend last month (so quickly, in fact, that I forgot to click a picture and requested this from her).

While I have a thousand ideas swirling in my head, right now it is the paucity of time that is turning out to be my biggest bane. Hope I manage to streamline things soon; am hoping the schools reopening next month should give me more time for my passions.

With the festive season not far away, do spread the word about these customizable neckpieces. And write in to creativerumblings@gmail.com to place orders of your own.

May Lilies

The month of May is always marked by a bunch of these yellow lilies brightening up the garden. But the sweltering heat this year has ensured that there are still no signs of any blossoms. Though lilies do well in hot and dry conditions, but Delhi summers can get to be a bit too much even for these gorgeous blooms.... As the skies sport an occasional cloud cover, hope the May lilies oblige us this year as well in the coming weeks.

From an arty perspective, I am having great fun with my backgrounds these days, using a variety of media to create effects. What do you think of this new stylised background?
 

Ode To Laburnums

Today as I walked in the park, the sweet fragrance of flowering Laburnums (also called Amaltas) filled the air. So many trees, all covered in yellow, swaying in the breeze. That reminded me of a little poem I wrote last year.... and thought I'd share with you today.

Yellow butterflies

Fluttering in the breeze

Land on my lap

For a moment I freeze;

Till  I realise

That the yellow shower

Are but petals

Of the Laburnum flower.

The wind picks up

More petals flutter down;

On the grass, in my hair,

Covering the ground.

For the children who laugh and play

Beside the blooming tree:

Remain like the Laburnum -

Bright, fragrant and carefree!

© Madhurima Mathur

Circa 2016

The accompanying painting was also made last year, around the same time that I wrote the poem. Hope you enjoyed both. Laburnums always remain one of my choicest associations of summer.

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.

Seedpods

As a short spring rapidly turned into summer, the seasonal flowering plants in my garden began to dry up. Pottering around the garden cleaning up one morning, I landed up gathering seeds from the plants and marvelling at the various kinds of seedpods in my palms. That led to documenting some of them for posterity.

Pretty happy with the way the seedpod drawings have turned out.... though I did take some liberties with the colouring shades. Can you identify any of them, as in which plants they come from?