Chabutro, Bird feeder Ahmedabad

My second time-lapse video, I made it for the promotion of the clay illustration workshop in Tel Aviv, Israel. I saw Chabutro, or bird feeder in Ahmedabad when we visited NID in 2010, while studying at IDC.  

It was nice to see how cities were designed in earlier times, with space designed for the animals and birds to offer them food and water and care for them.

Article in Forbes India

Loving Vincent project gave me the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people who have helped me learn and grow in life. Vaishali Dinakaran and I were introduced by the people at BreakThru Studio, to do this story in Forbes about working experience on Loving Vincent film. And I am happy that we stayed in touch. She writes very well! Hope you like reading the article.

 Index

Cover for the recliner section

First spread

 Second Spread

Dalai Lama Rangoli 2017

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.
~ Dalai Lama

This is my this year's Rangoli with Kalachhand Rangoli group Thane.

Sharing the process and the final image.

Nomi's show

'Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty.. ' - Lousia May Alcott

I made this illustration for my friend Nomi's solo show, next month in Tel Aviv next month. We met in Tel Aviv during the opening of the plasticine art show in April, where our works were selected for a group show. And she hosted me and my friend when we went to Jerusalem. We were there for the Passover week, had Pesach dinner together and I understood a little bit about the history, rituals.

The illustration is made with clay/plasticine and depicts mostly my last decade, a transition from what was expected by the culture to pursuing what I aspired for.

With Nomi and her family in Jerusalem

 

- The hands with henna are symbolic representation for wedding. The use of Henna is considered auspicious, and it is a customary for a bride according to Hindu scriptures. 

- The book with Vedic charts, the planetary position and the stars are symbolic of horoscopes. and is used to predict the life lessons. 

- The camera and the canvas depict my keen interest in visual story telling, film making, drawing and painting. 

- The globe is to signify the people I met, from different culture, who have enriched my life. And gave me a perspective and the courage to look at things differently and to be true to myself.

Process image:

Some portraits I tried before beginning to work with clay.

 

'A significant emotional event can be the catalyst for choosing a direction that serves us more effectively' - Lousia May Alcott

More paper-cut works

The next two in the paper cut series are

Walter Langley and Tatiana Yablonskaya.

 

First I tried making the portrait of Rosa Bonheur(first on the left), it dint turn out as expected so I chose to do a portrait of Tatiana Yablonskaya, a Ukrainian painter.

My fingers hurt and eyes need rest. No more paper-cut works for next few months.

Cant wait to start painting.

New works

Here are a few more of my 'a study a day' pieces. The first one took two days, three to four hours each day.

Found this old brass ink pot at #Chorbazaar, Mumbai. If you are patient enough, you might find something really interesting in antiques there. I liked this ink pot and thought I’d make a still life around it with my diary, a letter and a card I made for my mom when I was away. In the background, is the picture of my mom from the 70s. She kept checking while I was painting to ensure that I made it look like her. She's got a good eye at all things creative. I've inherited all my patience and ability to pursue art and craft from her. I think the overall it looks very busy, and is not something that I would do next time, but well, I learnt a few things and with every study I am becoming more comfortable with the idea of painting big.

Sorolla. I absolutely loved his paintings and bold strokes. and the subjects he chose. His paintings make me happy. So there is one paper craft project I am preparing for, and this portrait was drawn and later on, designed with the paper cut intricate work around it. That you can see below:

 

Demont Breton. 

Another graphite portrait for a paper craft project I'm working on, sketching and making paper cutout with the portrait of the artists whose work inspired me to pursue art when I was unsure of what I wanted to do. I was at a museum and for the first time saw the old masters work up-close. I was in awe of the craftsmanship and the powerful experience it could create. I had not seen anything like that ever before while growing up in Mumbai. And that experience changed a lot of things for me. Since then, I've been making an attempt to learn the craft and about the artists life, whenever possible and trying to be surrounded by art to stay inspired.

Olivia.

This one drawing I made sometime in the end of 2015. It was a friend of Noah, and she came and gladly posed for the students for about an hour and a half I think. I made new border around it, as these days I am heavily influenced, inspired by Mughal art and all things from that era.