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!