Kashmir

Kashmir,

Such a fascinating place, kindest people on earth and a gem of a place on earth. It took me this long to be here. For the past few years, as December approached, Kashmir was always on my mind. I never spoke about it out loud because it would scare the bejesus out of my parents.

Although its been a month since I went and came back from Kashmir, I just happened to make time to write and post this blog. Thanks to the constant reminders on Instagram as i saw a bunch of people visit Kashmir a week after we got back.

I hope we inspired them in some way (kidding).

From the ghats of Dal Lake in the early hours as we waited for our boatsmen.

I had a different perspective when we left to Kashmir, I was hoping for beautiful blue skies and abundance of colour and green around the Dal Lake. But it turned out the opposite when we reached. Rains followed us til Kashmir and the experience was one of a kind and so was the beauty of this place.

It started raining after we entered the villages on the Dal Lake and this is how it looked.

But then this is what amused me the most, it is the beauty of these people of Kashmir I guess, not that I planned to look for a familiar face but I could simply recognise them in one look and I know he sold me Kaakha tea ,he sold me flower seeds, he offered to sell vegetables to me and so on.

I’m not much of writer you see, same old story nothing new there. I just want you to see the beauty of this place and the people through my lens.

Women overlooking at the market from the Boat houses on Dal Lake.

Clouds clearing after the rainfall on the Dal Lake.

Also I believe you’ve read all my rants about my husbands Steve McCurry adventures and stunts.

It’s hard to get over a few places, Kashmir will be one such place, I want to keep going back here.

Wabi Sabi

Wabi-Sabi: The Japanese Art of Finding Beauty in Imperfect Ceramics

Pottery and collecting ceramics is another hobby of mine that has been slowly garnering as I feed more into it. I have learned that artists do this thing where they explore their creative sides through different artsy activities and I guess that includes me. In the very last few days of my trip to London, the flame had been reignited as I stumbled upon a pottery workshop that I could attend and the experience was unlike any other before. The yearning I had to try it hands-on and learn had been fulfilled and the style of the workshop keenly reminded me of my own set of them. I had documented my wholesome experience in the following series of photographs shot on my Fujifilm Xa5 with a XF 35mm f1.4 Fujinon lens.

mastering the cylinders by a fellow participant

Watercolour Connect

2016:

Life is no more the same after getting married, at least with being a self-employed graphic designer who is also a painter. It took me a while (quite a lot of time actually) to get into a work routine.

The biggest battle for me was having my ideal work space, which I still don’t happen to have yet but managed to make it work so far. Then came water colors, I started showing a keen interest in them unlike I ever had before. I have never been a fan of water colors from the time I started pursuing my career as an artist. For me water colors was always a medium for beginners who are yet to learn and understand color theory. But given my new change in schedule and responsibilities, water colors happen to be my go to medium.

Unlike before, where I would spend good long hours on a bigger piece of art, I started creating smaller, more concise pieces after digging through my old water color paintings and materials that I used almost a decade ago.

2018:

What happened through the next few years was purely unplanned, from painting quick water color art in my free time and painting while traveling to teaching every little detail I know about this medium and exploring it completely. I posted pictures and videos of little tips and tricks of my newfound water color obsession on Instagram, which got a lot of attention that I wasn’t expecting. People were interested in learning more about the medium and I realized I had something to offer regarding this. My workshops came to the forefront again. I wanted people to realize the same thing I had, that water colors were not a limited medium but rather a limitless one. Through different techniques and trying different subjects, the versatility of the medium stretched far and wide. The workshops required me to paint different pieces frequently to show the students, which I began enjoying. I found my love for water colors and it became one of my absolute favorite mediums to work with. Students willing to learn more about it was an added bonus.

2019:

My workshops have been divided into two kinds to focus on different levels of teaching, one is a basic workshop which teaches beginners how to work with watercolors and the other is an advanced workshop which takes on more detailed techniques of watercolor painting. The students are required to have good knowledge of color theory and basic watercolor techniques to attend the advanced ones. I, personally, hand-pick students for the advanced workshops in order to gauge their level of art and teach from that. Teaching has been a rewarding experience for me. On that note, here’s the third Basic Watercolor workshop of 2019 to be conducted soon (click below to sign up and learn more) in my new office space. It is crazy how one little thing you were experimenting with a few years ago, can become a huge part of your life.

watercolor workshop - Fall 2019

Kolam Prints

“Kolam” is a Tamil word that defines an age-old tradition of drawing intricate patterns using coloured powders in front of our Indian houses. The word perfectly represented the hand block-printing venture I had started. The idea behind it was to create beautiful Indian designs and block-print them in vibrant colours on different fabrics. I started this to try my hand at yet another form of art and to introduce unique pieces of fashion to people’s wardrobes. My experience with art led me to have a sense of appreciation for flattering designs and colour combinations. After watching a lot of videos and research, I finally made it come alive. It started from picking the right material, followed by dyeing them into tasteful colours and then finally having the prints adorn them. Each piece of clothing had been taken care with utmost attention to detail. I loved the creative side of it all, it was my personal playground. But trickily enough, that isn’t the only side of a business and safe to say, I wasn’t the best in the rest of it.

The troubles started right from the landlord who disliked the excess usage of water in the place we rented out, water used for the colours of the print and dyeing fabrics, etc. Then it was the craftsmen who were so used to working with bulk orders that the concept of exclusive pieces and spending more time on each garment was foreign to them. I had a hard time explaining my designs and making them work harmoniously with my ideas.

Finding a tailor was as difficult of a task as it was for any other Indian woman, someone who didn’t turn crop tops into blouses and disappear into the sunset. Meanwhile, the sales and marketing side of the job was a very demanding one. It was 24 hours hustle for orders from everywhere around the globe. And I, being a one-woman army, did not help. Even during break-times and mini-vacations, I would still respond to the customers and take their orders. I didn’t want all the effort and hard work put into this project go futile. Yet I had reached my breaking point, I couldn’t go on doing it all alone and took a month off from it. That pause continues to this day, I only offer the stock that remains and have temporarily stopped the production. At least till I find a proper management team, a key component that seems to have lacked in this dreamy project I started.

To all the requests for garments that still reach me to this day on Instagram and such, I feel pleased to have sparked your interest and hope to get back to you soon. To all the management majors and firms looking to adopt me and this baby of mine, feel free to drop me a mail. I wish to go back to creating and designing more without the burden of managing workers and taking care of sales and all the other no-name jobs that go into play in a design-house.

Images shot by Kishor Krishnamoorthi

Assisted by Suri Vasireddy

Styling by Mandakini Rao

Model - Dheera Pisat

Make up by Smink Up

Source: https://www.kolamprints.com

100 Days Finale: Pastels

The end is here, just like the last season of Game of Thrones (no, I don’t watch the show but I’ve been hearing the buzz), the 100 Days have finally come to an end. But not without one last jolt of art, the final subject in this tedious-but-fun series is Pastels. Yes, how can I forget these opaquely pigmented crayons? Smudging them using my fingers, creating gradients, all of it takes me back to my childhood. There’s something really satisfying from getting my hands dirty in creating something, quite an obvious from an artist I suppose.

Inspiration can hit you from anywhere and everywhere, which is why I always try to capture it through my camera. Pictures from my office window or my home or places I visit during the day, all the photographs I take or collect, act as a guide for me to recreate that moment of inspiration and awe I felt then. I’ve applied the same concept using pastels this time around. One of my favourite pastel work I did during the series, has to be the coconut tree swaying with the wind. I had shot this moment around the time when the monsoons were yet to begin, about a few months back. But the memory of it was still so strong in my head that I had to recreate it. And it had to be pastels because the colours happened to be oh so beautiful.

Now that the 100 days are over, I feel relieved and relaxed like I’ve just completed running a marathon. Many thoughts have taken over my head, like how it would’ve been impossible without the support and push from my friends and family. Especially two people very close to me, at every turn of the way, they were guiding and comforting me. Times when I felt like I couldn’t go on anymore or when I was completely burnt out, these two reminded me of my artistic thirst and that whatever I created, it had to come from within, that that was what was very important at the end. They had even planned my schedule and made excel sheets and calendars and I couldn’t have been anymore grateful. The seriousness they attributed helped me take my work more seriously than ever, ignoring all the societal taunts and pressures.

I feel a tad bit bittersweet about the subjects that I have chosen as they could’ve been simple and easy, and a lot less time-taking which could have resulted in a more successful 100 days and a lot less stress. But because of all the ups and downs I went through in creating intricate and close-to-my-heart art, it feels really special and satisfying that I put myself through this. I plan on finishing discontinued pieces of the project and work on remaining subjects sans the restraint of time.

Lastly, the overwhelming response from people who followed this project closely, I’m thankful for their feedback. It made me look forward to sharing my works with all of you.

100 Days – Fin.

Gouache

Gouache happens to be the third subject in my series. And it is not necessarily an actual subject but a medium used to paint. Unlike watercolours, gouache comes in paste form in tubes. The opaqueness of it is not found in watercolours although it can be watered down to make it seem alike. Gouache is a painter’s friend. The flexibility that comes with it is observed in the wide range of paintings using gouache. I had encountered gouache paints when I was just starting out. I loved the easy-going medium and how it gave my paintings the effect and finish that I wanted.

Enter impressionism and Monet, where I found a lot of my inspiration from. The works of Monet held a subtle character to it that when looked closely, it seemed gibberish while ironically, moving further away the whole picture made sense and had a certain depth to it. I discovered that water lilies are of common appeal to Monet and I. Almost all of my doodles throughout my childhood happen to be either water lilies or lotuses. This intrigued me to find more about this man, this painter who created magic with the two things I loved; impressionism and water lilies. As I learnt more, I wanted to create more.

Some of my favourite paintings that I recreated in this project happen to be The Marina at Argenteuil, Water Lilies (Harmony in Blue) 1914-17, and Chrysanthemums circa 1897 by Claude Monet. These works of his can be found in the public domain and do not come under the copyright act, therefore they are open to interpretation. (Not copying like some might assume.)

While these paintings that I’ve finished make me happy that I’ve done them, I do think I might’ve been a little too ambitious with this medium given the time crunch. I was really looking forward to gouache, so much so, that I happened to skip two different subjects in between. Originally, there were more paintings planned in this genre but I didn’t want to create them halfheartedly. The lesson that I’m taking back from this is not to create certain subjects or works or techniques within a time frame. I plan to come back to this subject later and enjoy the whole process without speeding things up.

Hyderabad Vintage

Wherever I go, my heart always stays with Hyderabad. With that emotion, this came about to be my second subject in my 100 days project. I grew up in one of the oldest residential locality of Hyderabad. I have seen beautiful old houses disappear and new apartments replacing them ever so often. Back then, it had never occurred to me how much history and culture those limestone walls held. Through the time lapse of change, one day in the middle of all the fresh concrete, I was surprised to find a beautiful little house of old world charm snuggled in between apartments. My love for them grew as I started realising that all these beautiful houses were vanishing in the name of development and metro construction in the recent years. I was fortunate enough to grow up in one of them and now my husband and I share the same love for such Art Deco houses. We would like to have one for ourselves before we are old and grey.

Exploring this subject furthermore, I wanted to focus on these buildings’ specific features. Like what made them stand out from the rest, was it their balconies? Or was it the patterns? Was it the shape itself or how worn out they were yet still standing strong to this day? These were my thoughts during the making of them. Although I wouldn’t happen to know the knick-knacks that an architecture student would know about drawing these structures, I tried to bring them to the canvas as realistically as possible in my perspective.

Hyderabad Vintage has been highlighted as one of my subjects to create awareness around these history-clad constructions and to urge that they need to be preserved. Whenever we visit another country, we always rave about their architecture filled with culture and heritage yet we turn blind eye to all the demolition that has been happening around the city. It is high time we preserve what we have and renovate them from time to time without losing their essence.

Moreover, Hyderabad is my home, my identity. It is diverse and everyone is accepted here. Hence, working on this subject was my personal agenda to showcase the beauty of these good old architecture of my city. Hope you enjoy looking through them!

Art Direction

Trying my hand in different areas of art had always been my thing. One of them happen to be Art Direction. Art direction is what you don’t see explicitly on the screen but is an important process of film-making. It is something that sets the whole mood of the movie, specifically the time frame of the incidents that takes place. Watching movies with the perspective of a professional artist makes you delve deeper into the movie in regards to the sets, lighting, etc. I had always been curious to know the behind-the-scenes of it all. When the opportunity presented itself, I was delighted. The first project I worked on, as a costume designer, was called Contrast. It was a photo documentary showcasing the contrast of a foreign woman in a very local setting of Hyderabad such as in a crowded bus or a butcher shop. The wild idea needed equally wild outfits and I was ready to throw in my two cents. Another project which gave me the most exposure was a short film called Lipi. It happened to be a time-travel movie hence the sets played a major role as they had to be consistent with every scene. The film revolved around an Indian post office and an empty room had to be transformed into one from scratch. I remember vividly working on a shoot, how the perception of the whole film could be changed based off of art direction.

Art direction is not just for home movies but also very significant in documentary-making. Documentation of photographs, although similar to art direction, the work environment of both differed largely. While photo documentation took place more on-schedule and less spontaneous, movie-making was a new schedule everyday as it had to be in collaborative efforts with other departments such as audio, camera crew, etc.

As much fun as art direction can be, it can also be very grueling at the same time. It requires a lot of physical effort such as being present for outdoor shoots, etc. In a way I prefer documentaries over films, if I had to choose, given my schedule as of now. In fact, I would love to have my own production and create certain sets to document different areas of art and life in the near future. I love challenging myself to new endeavors. Here’s a list of few films/documentaries I’ve worked on if you are interested:

1) Contrast by Kishor Krishnamoorthi

2) Lipi by Harikanth Gunamagari

3) Hide n Seek by Deepak Redddy

4) Ranga Veda by Harikanth Gunamagari

Wall Paintings

There is something so gratifying about having a large space to paint over. During my childhood, I was always found to be painting walls of my bedroom and really enjoying it. Later, when I had established myself as a professional, people started to approach me to decorate their business households with my art. There had been a phase when it wasn’t a trend yet but I really had wished then to explore that side of the trade. So when it finally had come to me, I was excited to do it!

The first place I had wall painted for was Chai Kahani, a café centered around chai or tea instead of the traditional coffee culture. It felt more authentic to Hyderabad as a renowned chai city. A friend of mine had been designing the interior of the café and had asked me for some suggestions on the colour palette. In return, I asked if I could paint one of the walls, and both my friend and the owners agreed upon it. I added a touch of flora to the earthy tones of the café and it resulted in a bright yet cosy place.

Camlin Acrylic Paints that come in 500ml jars and multiple large sized brushes were used.

Conçu was another place which had been following my work for a while and approached me for it. The famous patisserie had asked me to paint some foliage over the walls to give it a garden-fresh look, a contrast from the heavenly sweet desserts. The style and theme of the paintings have always depended on the interiors of the café and the mood board of it. Communication with the café owners and interior designers is key for getting the art right. Luckily, the work done at both the cafés pleased the owners and the customers. It’s delightful to look at the pictures of the visitors along the walls.

In the past few months, I had worked with various other places in multiple cities. A few of them had already-established concepts which I had to follow along and a few, where I was in charge of the wall painting and the colour palette of the interiors to match with it. Since I’ve worked with all these places, the blank walls of my brand new art studio/office space have been calling my name. I look forward to working on that in the coming weeks. So this has been all about my wall paintings fetish, do have a look at them in person if you ever have the chance to do so!

Chumbak ft. Mandakini

“Chumbak is a brand that I had the chance to work with…”

M. S. Subbulakshmi

Mrs. M. S. Subbulakshmi, an Indian Carnatic singer who was the first lady to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour. But before all of that, she was an artist, not with brushes and paint like me but instead with her beautiful voice. Her passion intrigued me and her voice held a special place in my heart, just like it did to millions of her listeners. Her music remains nostalgic to me as it was a significant part of my childhood. While her soft voice caressed me, her high notes brought a certain high over me that pushed me harder to achieve anything and everything I desired. She made me feel empowered as an artist. As you might have guessed, the first encounter I had with her was at a cassette store, when cassettes were still a thing then. I saw a huge poster of her holding an instrument, displayed on one of the aisles. The picture held an aura of her personality and I really wanted to have one of her portraits in my room. Then the thought of painting it myself occurred which led to the fairly small, 8 x 8cm canvas I had painted of her in one of my previous projects, Art48.

That is how it started, my interest in painting her. I wanted to create a series of her paintings for about 11 years now but unfortunately it hadn’t come about. But when the 100 days project was in the process of being planned, the only thing that was as clear as the sun to me, was to have her as my first subject. It wasn’t just about painting her; it was about knowing her better.

The first few days of this venture, I had trouble with adjusting and planning my day accordingly. Many unexpected things had come up and it left me restless and distracted. But I tried my best to get things under control. There have been many instances where I would paint a certain piece and during the process, I would feel happy and satisfied with it. But a few days later, I would look at it again and not feel the same. It was hard to keep track of my thought process during this time and not lose myself while creating.

The medium I chose to go about with this series was mostly watercolours but a few acrylic and oil paint canvases were thrown in there too. One of the toughest challenges during the project was to transform black and white pictures of her to flesh-toned and/or multi-coloured pieces and make them my own. Finding her pictures turned out to be a difficult task as well, internet wasn’t as much help as I thought it would be. Good resolution pictures happened to be rare.

I realised this project had not been as easy as it sounded at first. The routine of putting all my emotions into painting every day and recovering from that, and coming back the next day with similar vigour as the previous day, had been as exhausting as it had been challenging. Towards the end of series, when I had to do the last two paintings, I had decided to take the canvases home and paint. I painted with one of her songs playing in the background and the result of the last piece really surprised me. Usually, I get the feeling that the last paintings don’t do well, either because I keep being in a rush or the excitement of the project has died down. But I am happy that wasn’t the case this time. I will give it sometime before I release the last 3 paintings images (little suspense does no harm).

However, it has been gratifying to finally be able to fulfil my goals and she has been an inspiration throughout. I aspire to devote myself to my art form just like she had with hers. It is still a long way to go but I’m taking it one canvas at a time. It is Monday now but I’m going to catch up on my weekend sleep before starting on the new subject, so stay tuned!

Advance Watercolour Workshop is here!

The latest workshop details are here! To sign up, click below to fill out the form:

The much-awaited advanced watercolour workshop is finally here and will be held on the July 20 and 21 of 2019. It is for students who want to improve their watercolour skills. Students who have a good knowledge of watercolour basics, sketching and colour theory can enter this workshop. It is a two-day workshop with increased number of teaching hours per day compared to the basics watercolour workshop. Limited seats are available as it is going to be a profound learning experience. Professional grade materials such as the brushes, paper and paints will be provided to the students. You get to watch me paint a piece exclusively which you will replicate later. It is going to be an exhilarating experience and I cannot wait to see you all :)