Art-a-Day Challenge. DAY 13

This one needed me to paint a cabin. It immediately bought to mind not a cabin, but an old wooden house that I saw somewhere in Shimla.

I remember, we were on our way to Jhaku Temple and were standing here waiting for our designated driver to arrive...(the temple is quite some distance away from The Mall, else we'd surely have walked) As we stood there, I looked around and was immediately drawn to this old house. At some points it looked almost crooked as if it were leaning forward to look down the hillside. The sunlight bathed the wood in a warm gold and only added to the charm of the house. the greens, browns, yellows and gold.....what a beautiful picture they painted!

The picture I painted lacks some of the light. I'm still struggling with grading of light and shadows, but I think it's turned out quite nice. Not much like the original, but pretty nonetheless. 

Art-a-day Challenge, day 13.......completed!

Art-a-Day Challenge. DAY 12

Draw anything that's metal.

I picked up the metal object closest to my hand. My bunch of keys. The chhalla (key ring) was a wedding gift by an aunt. It's silver and had this little hook that enables me to hook the keys on to the waistband of my sari or jeans. That's how most Indian women used to carry them around. The ring at the back usually holds many keys and opens a number of doors...the main door of the house, the cupboards, the safe, the storeroom etc. Thus, the chhalla was very important and the one holding it was without doubt the boss of the house. 

But that was then. In our house, we women each have our own 'chhallas'. Mum has a simple one comprising of just a silver hook and a ring for the keys. Mine is a little more elaborate and it jingles merrily when moved. The men do not carry around these fancy bits of what can be considered ornaments. They're more than happy with simple, solid leather key rings.

Although I am super fond of it, my chhalla  gives me great grief as I'm quite famous for not remembering where I've placed it. Very often you will find me grumbling to myself as I go a-hunting for my keys. To make things easier for myself, I have now added a little blue clip to the bunch as well. Now, wherever I go, I just clip the entire chhalla to a hook in the bag. That way, they'll stay in one place and not go a-wandering. 

Here's my key-ring......using just waterproof ink and three colours......

Art-a-Day Challenge. Day 12.......done!

Art-a-Day Challenge. DAY 11

Today's Art-a-Day Challenge was fun. It needed me to draw myself as a cartoon.....

My first cartoon of myself

I'd already created a little cartoon me a couple of months ago, but decided to work on another one as

 it doesn't seem fair to post an old pic in response to a fresh challenge. So, out came my sketchbook & just as I was working on this challenge, a friend of mine inquired about the photographs of my brother's wedding (which was two weeks ago) as she wanted to see how I looked in a sari.

Now, she's seen me draped in a sari often enough, but this one was special as she had helped me choose it. Since Lime & Lemon was the wedding theme, this sari was a beautiful piece in fresh lime green net bordered with a soft gold. To make the green stand out, we chose a dark copper fabric for the blouse. 

Considering that it was my brother's wedding, I went all out and bought myself a neat pair of shimmery, copper heels and tipped my toes with a matching shade of nail paint. On the day of the wedding, I slipped my twinkling toes into my brand new shoes, draped the pretty sari as neatly as I could, ensured that my hair was neatly combed, applied a little make-up carefully and was ready to go.

In my head I was walking the ramp with these models gliding around gracefully, with their beautiful sari 'pallus' trailing behind them, their hips swaying from side-to-side. By the time I got through the ceremony, most of those models had left the ramp. It's the middle of summer here and it's terribly hot and humid. The pallu I'd pinned neatly on my shoulder got shrugged higher and higher until it stayed off my arm and hung like a thick rope across my left shoulder. 

By the time we entered the reception hall, the hemline was about 3 inches above my ankle and, in some places,  Sunday was longer than Monday (I trust you know what the phrase means). 

The make-up was long gone and my hair looked like it was inspired by Ari from the Planet of the Apes...and I was stomping around like an ape as well. Absolutely not a pretty sight! 

But I had fun.

And this is me at the wedding........

Not model material at all......just happy and that's all that matters!

Art-a-day Challenge, day 11......all wrapped up!

Art-a-Day Challenge DAY 10

Will coincidences never cease?!!

Just last evening, NatGeo posted this beautiful pic of a fishing boat on Instagram and this morning's topic for the Art-a-Day Challenge was a boat. A sailboat, actually, but I'm not sure if there's any difference between a fishing boat and a sailboat...and since the boat in the pic' does have a sail, to me it was a sailboat.

What appealed to me about this photograph was the sense of calm and serenity. It's not very loud and speaks of the simple things of life.  

Some of my fondest childhood memories are those of me walking to Colva Beach (in Goa, India) and trying to perch myself on one of the many fishing boats moored on the beach. Almost always, these boats were filled with great, tangled heaps of nets, cane baskets and heavy, wooden oars. The wood was rough on account of the layer of sand that stuck to it and it smelled of fish, salt and the wide, open sea. Even now, whenever I visit Goa, I never fail to stop by at the beach and climb onto a fishing boat. I'm no longer a little girl, time has flown by and a lot has changed, but the fishing boats at the beach seem to be stuck in time. They look the same, feel the same and smell the same :-)

So, here's my sketch of a boat.....fishing boat....sailboat.....call it what you will.

Art-a-day challenge, day 10.........done.

Art-a-Day Challenge. DAY 9

My painting material.

This is my little paint box.....it's a Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Color Sketcher's Pocket Box. It comes with 12 assorted Cotman water colour half pans and a pocket brush. It's really compact (fits across my palm) and easy to carry. I'd purchased this one to use when I travel, but I'm so fond of it that it's become my go-to paintbox even when I'm home. 

As you can see, it's fairly well used and the colours are all muddled. The Ultramarine Blue and the Burnt Sienna are almost over while the White and the Viridian have hardly been touched. My favourite colour in this box is the Intense Blue, it's the farthest one on the upper right corner. I happened to see an artist use the W & N Pocket Box on YouTube and immediately signed in to Amazon to see if something similar was available. It was, but it was out of stock. 

A few months later, while out buying some random stuff at Dadar (Mumbai, India), I passed an art shop and was excited to see this Pocket Box on display. I immediately fished out my wallet and the Pocket Box was soon sitting comfortably in my handbag.

On a recent visit to the UK, I did browse through an art store somewhere close to Trafalgar Square and I was amazed at the huge array of art supplies they have for sale. And they do sell individual refills for the Pocket Box....but since my box was almost brand new then, I just assumed I could always buy the half pan refills at a later date from an art store back in Mumbai. Sadly though, refills for the individual pans are not available anywhere here. So if I finish say...an Ultramarine.....I'll just have to make do with buying a separate tube of the colour...or an entire new Pocket Box. 

Since today's challenge needed me to paint my art material, I chose my favorite paint box. Now, I found my paint box and the brushes, but since the sketchbook was nowhere in sight, this little painting is done on a sheet of this morning's newspaper. 

Art-a-Day Challenge, day 9..........done!

Art-a-Day Challenge. DAY 8

This one was tough. I had to replicate my favorite painting. I don't really have any favorites....of anything. I've never been one to go ga-ga over famous actors, funky brands or famous people and I simply fail to understand how anyone can squeal and swoon over stuff. 

Anyway, I browsed through the works of various artists and finally thought I'd try to replicate Van Gogh's 'Starry Night', but then I remembered another artist whose works I often collect.....she's all of ten now, my niece, and draws the cutest of things......

Here's a peek into some of her masterpieces....

I decided to keep Starry Night aside for a later date and replicate one of this little artist's paintings. It's something she sketched on a small scrap of paper while waiting for me to get my tattoo done. Says she saw it printed on her dress. I think it's awfully cute and had a good mind to get it tattooed on my ankle.

This is the great work of art....

I think the bunny is really cute (although how something with such a big head ever got into that tiny car is a mystery) ...and this is what I wanted to work on for today's challenge. I added some colour to my version of 'Bunny in a Car'.....tried making it look as happy as possible.

For this little work of art I made use of watercolor pencils.....not because they're better for small sketches, but because I can't remember where I kept my paints. 

Anyway, Art-a-Day Challenge, day 8......done!

Art-a-Day Challenge. DAY 7

Today, I had to draw a bicycle  but didn't quite like the black one parked downstairs...the only one in our building. It lacks personality, me thinks. So, I turned to the ever helpful Mr. Google and started scanning images for an interesting bicycle. Saw many - simple everyday ones, bicycles bedecked with flowers, vintage bikes on display....but none appealed to me. Feeling a little bored now, I suddenly decided to look for tricycles...... just to see what came up, and that's when I came across this little beauty.

To everyone else, this might seem like a pretty ordinary tricycle, but it spoke to me....of another little red tricycle. 

You see, as kids we had a tricycle just like it and I remember peddling around furiously to make it go as fast as the wind. There was this  boy next door who had a red scooter and he never let any of the other kids near it. I suppose he thought owning a scooter placed him a notch above the rest, and it's likely he wasn't taught how to share with others. As a result, we often left him to play by himself. Who wanted his silly scooter anyway? Our tricycle ensured we always had company since it was meant for two. Although sitting at the back and being driven around made us feel like royalty, it was always a treat to sit up front, steer the bicycle and go 'parrrrp parrp' on the yellow and red horn, a cheap, plastic contraption bought at the fair.

I can almost see myself and my brother scooting around on our little red tricycle. Ah, the memories a simple photograph can evoke!

So, this particular sketch is in fond memory of the joy of childhood...a red tricycle.

Art-a-Day challenge, day 7,  completed!

Paarrrrrp! Paarrrrp!