Melody Central

Today being Earth Day, I had to share with you all my second painting from my new illustration series, appropriately called Lockdown Freedom. This series features a creature (my signature bird/s in this case) who is free from the global lockdown, and leading a life doing what they please. Like singing their hearts out to their own tunes.

Have you tuned in to this new music channel - Melody Central? Listen closely.... and you'll find it playing across most cities around the world. As multiple news reports have confirmed, birdsong has returned to our cities and lives, ever since the lockdown started. Well, we can also equally participate in the joy of the bird. Even in lockdown. Tune in to the nearest tree and you'll find Melody Central playing.... sometimes solo, and sometimes in orchestra!

Music being food for the soul, why not indulge in our favourite melodies during these depressing days. What better way to transport ourselves to a sweet and soothing state of mind. Since the lockdown is also about frugal living and using only the basics, this series has been painted using only the primary colours (red, blue and yellow) and their various combinations, along with just black and white.

Watch out for subsequent paintings from the series in the coming weeks. Stay home, stay safe....and stay happy! We might just be on the verge of a brand new Earth.

#lockdownart

Spring Vibes

Bringing you all the first painting from my new illustration series, appropriately called Lockdown Freedom. Yes, the name of the series is an oxymoron on purpose. This series will feature a creature (my signature bird/s in this case) who is free from the global lockdown, and leading a life doing what they please. Also, now that humans are under lockdown, these creatures definitely have more freedom.

But look carefully.... and you'll find that we can also equally participate in the joy of the bird. Even in lockdown. By celebrating the beautiful blooms of Spring amidst the clear blue skies, thanks to zero pollution.

Since the lockdown is also about frugal living and using only the basics, this series has been painted using only the primary colours (red, blue and yellow) and their various combinations, along with just black and white. Watch out for subsequent paintings from the series in the coming weeks.

Stay home and stay safe. Participate in the lockdown in the right spirit. C'mon, dear readers, let us choose to focus on the positives during this period of crisis. And yes, turn to creativity to break the monotony of the lockdown.

#lockdownart

Wonderful World

Towards the end of February, as I started doodling and sketching arbitrarily on a pre-stamped journal page (those brown and pink marks are made using a chopped mushroom as a stamp), I ended up with this painting. Depicting life forms from all the habitats - land, sea and sky - the human figure in the centre uniting all to convey gratitude towards the wonderful world we live in.

Little did I know then that in under a month, the world would be battling a global health crisis. A pandemic that has come into existence because the human species refused to let Nature be; because we tried to show our supremacy over other life forms and habitats. How we have been humbled.... confined to our own spaces instead of forever intruding into theirs.

Stay home and stay safe, dear readers and followers. In the meanwhile, you can utilize the lock down to try out some of the creative ideas on this blog. Check out older posts and I'm sure you'll find something that catches your fancy. Happy creating!

Fantasea

Though it has been a while since I've been near the sea, but a bit of the sea is always in me! So I decided to put up a couple of sea-themed abstracts. While the square one is on canvas, the panel is a piece of treated board. 

I created the canvas way back in 2014 but forgot to post about it, and the poor fellow lay ignored along with some other canvases in a corner of my studio. When we moved into a bigger space last year, I decided to pull out these pieces and use them in our home decor. I had lots of fun doing the background for this canvas since it involved some crazy, unpredictable paint drips. One always lands up with interesting pieces of art if one lets go, and eases the control a bit. While the outcome may not always be what you expected, but that is where your artistic imagination is supposed to kick in!

As for the panel, I created it last month, and it features sea shells we collected on our last family vacation to a beach. The glass beads give a sense of sea glass, and the colour scheme matches that of the canvas. They now hang together as an arrangement appropriately named 'Fantasea'.

I have plans to do more panels in the coming days, and will share my experiments with you as always. Meanwhile, here's marching on with our creative pursuits as we near completing a quarter of the new year already....where does time fly, really?

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.

Abstract Portraits

Even though we are well into January, thought I must begin the new year with something special. So here is wishing my readers and followers a wonderful new year and a fulfilling new decade as we start off with 2020. And these wishes come from my family to yours....

Attempted these abstract portraits of the fam; tried to depict some typical individual characteristics in all of them. Hope I have been able to bring those out...

And now that it is 2020, there is yet another project I need to work on - the revival of the Nature Journal. You may remember the month-wise nature journal I created 5 years back in 2015. You can click on the 'nature journal' label to see all related posts. Back then, I had planned to redo the exercise in 2020, simply to capture some interactions with the natural world every month. Over a period of time, these pictorial notes give us a sense of seasonal associations, and point towards changes in patterns that we observe around us. Thereby giving a forecast for bigger changes...

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!