Catching up

 I travel so much and as a result I have collected so many reference pictures, with a thought of creating a painting. Since there is a need to paint again I have started working on them again. 

We had a wonderful visit to Hampi…. The seat of the ancient Vijaynagar kingdom. A magical place full of amazingly well preserved monuments. The caves at Pattadakal filled me with a sense of wonder at how these were built, dug into the huge rock faces with detailed and perfectly carved statues and carved roofs. It was worth the challenge of climbing up 100 steps with creaking knees! The rocks were magnificent  

Painting again!

 I have picked up my brushes again after a really long hiatus. I have also totally ignored this blog. So much has happened in the last few years….the Pandemic, that totally changed our lives plummeting us into a new and often frightening reality. It’s almost as though the human race is on a path to destroying itself. But through it all the sun still shines, the trees grow, the flowers bloom, the birds fly………………!!!! And my need to ‘capture moments’ remains strong, be this with thread or whatever! 

I discovered the joy of expanding my skills in quilting and needle work, of crocheting of writing, so the painting fell by the wayside. But now I’m back and hopefully will stay focused! 

We are visiting Naeeda in The Phillipines. She lives in a perfect little ‘village’ as gated communities are called here.  Dasmarinas is in the middle of Makati in Manila, and an amazing oasis of green, old homes and stunning trees, some really ancient, but all well cared for. My early morning walks are a joy! 

A year later!

A year later and I decided to reconnect with my blog, and then ignored it again! Have a Facebook page now and that seems so much quicker! But I feel I neèd to try and  rejuvenate it again!
I haven't painted much this year! Just that life takes over and the mood doesn't arise. Settling into a brand new city and our own home took all my time. Some sketches happened, but not with the same fervour!
In the past year, Sketch Book Skool was a great inspiration! I learnt a lot and seemed to have been able to get rid if some of my inhibitions while painting.
An incredible  holiday in Paris! It's a city that totally inspires one to sketch. The highlight was meeting up with the Urban sketchers in Paris! 

A recent holiday to magical Kashmir! What a fantastic trip, rich with experience and emotion. There is so much in this State and  yet it seems to have been left behind! The people are incredibly warm and friendly, opening their homes to us and sharing their food. The nomad shepherds seemed to be filled with generosity and genuine hospitality while the women made us hot bread and tea in their simple stone homes! 

Connecting with my blog again!

It's been such a long time since I posted something on my blog....shifting and settling into our new home, also doing a lot of sewing and crochet has taken up a lot of my time.....not the the painter in me has really rested....have been doing bits and pieces. I joined a wonderful course called sketchbook skool ( www.sketchbookskool.com ) and have been motivated to keep a visual journal. So these are some of the sketches done

Sketching in Bangkok

I am now in Bangkok with Naeeda and David. They have just had their first baby and I am being doting grandmother again! So there is a lot of time to sketch, and of course I am using the iPad. The Bamboo paper app is really great as it has a water colour and charcoal options as well. I use my finger and a stylus! Just love the fluidity and ease. The colours are rather restricting though! 

Painting on the ipad!

Its been 6 months since I posted anything here. Its been such a chaotic time and I have just not been in the mood for painting. Re locating from Kolkata to Bangalore after 40 odd years, and hoping to settle into our new home was a challenging, but exciting decision...But of course nothing goes according to schedule so here we are into May with little hopes of moving into our own home till July!!!
Anyway a recent trip to Matheran, in a wonderful house in the middle of an un spoilt forest, surrounded by wonderfully old trees, brought on the urge to paint. Since I didn't have my paints, decided to use the APP on my iPad. I am hooked!

Rickshaws!

I have done this for a friend, a farewell present since we are relocating to Bangalore. Rickshaws are so symbolic of Kolkata, and what most people associate almost as a symbol of this city! This was done from a photograph I took while on an early morning walk into the old parts of the city in North Kolkata!
As we get ready to leave this city after almost 40 years, there is some sadness and a lot of nostalgia!

Beautiful ruins!

Finally I have broken the hiatus of not having touched any paints for the last 2 months....becoming a grandmother is certainly full time business!
So this is from reference pictures of a church I saw in the Ukraine a very very long time ago. Its a painting for Sujoy's 40th birthday. I have used a handmade paper, which was difficult to work on, but well worth the effort! Lets hope Suj likes it!

Sketching in Ko Lanta!

Naeeda and David's present for Viveck's retirement has been this amazing week in Ko Lanta in Thailand, a wonderful sea side resort. We had our own little self catering cottage over looking the sea, from a cliff! Of course a painters paradise! The interesting thing was that every day the colours of the sea and the sky, the lights of the sun, changed, possibly because the rainy season is starting and the storms were so dramatic! Just a few photographs.....

And my sketches. Wonderful to paint plain aire too....I get so little opportunity normally! These are of Kantiang bay, the bay that was 'ours'! Our cottage overlooked the bay and I loved painting the views! The black rocks are basalt rocks according to my geologist daughter!

A fallen leaf on a clump of bamboos!

Vegetables!

We have done a HUGE shop for a dinner party we are hosting....the tray of vegetables were just crying out to be painted!!! A quick picture before Nishka decided she wanted to start cooking them!

My First Art Exhibition1

What an amazing experience....my first art exhibition!
https://picasaweb.google.com/brinda.crishna/CapturingMomentsInWaterColour?authkey=Gv1sRgCLvj9r68m6K76gE
I don't know how to hyperlink this, so please copy the link onto your browser if you want to see my paintings.
My friend Jyoti and I had a joint exhibition of our water colours. Its been a learning process for the 2  odd years we have been painting together, and finally we felt it was time we 'showed our work' to the public. The exhibition was for three days and we decided to donate the funds we raised to the NGO I work with, VAANI, Deaf Children's Foundation, www.vaani.in.
Here are the paintings all displayed in my sitting room, the night before I put them up in the gallery!

Hanging the pictures took a lot of time, as we tried to group them so that they complemented each other specially since I had a variety of subjects. My daughter Nafisa said, 'Mom you have some great pieces, and since they are all linked to some sort of personal memory, do you think you will let them go?' Yes I did let them go....and am glad that my special favorites went to people I know....

 The Blue Bottle, a picture I loved doing as painting glass was such a challange!

 Bamboo scaffolding outside my room, knots so amazingly tied that builders climbed up and down with such ease!

 Boats in the backwaters of Kerala! I manged the lights and darks well here!

A doorway in Wan....besides the beauty, it was taken during my firs long trek in the Himalayas, an experience I will never forget!

3 days later I am feeling delighted as I sold 23 out of 30 pictures, and VAANI will be able to start its early intervention programme!

A First!!!!

This is the first picture I have done from memory! This was a tree I came across on my trek to Roopkund. It stayed in my mind, such a very clear picture! I think what struck me was that in spite of the huge hole in the root caused by a fire, tiny leaves had again begun to sprout on the trunk. The tree was huge and so awe inspiring! I did a sketch while waiting for a break from walking. 4 years later it is still so vivid in my mind. I decided to paint a picture of it....and am delighted with the result.
This picture also shows how far I have come in my painting....I used a 'difficult to use' hand made paper, really rough, but terrific, quite a wet style, a thick brush, a very small palette of ultramarine blue, burnt umber, paynes grey and sap green....shut my eyes,didn't think too much, imagined the picture and tried to recreate it!

In the Sun...Gujarat

I did a sketch of this picture soon after I took it. I am now getting ready for my first ever exhibition, and so have done a bigger version of it. I loved the moment it captured....a group of women jumping out of a over stuffed jeep, which came a halt in front of my car during a field visit in rural Gujarat last year! The memory remains, the laughter, the bright colours of their clothes, and a sense of lightness and freedom, almost, as they jumped out and sat under the tree, chattering all the time!

Early morning mist

At present, the early mornings in Kolkata are shrouded in ground mist, which remains well into late morning when a weak sun tries to show itself! This doesn't deter the early morning walker! I tried to capture the mist and the greys and pinks that make a unique light, the shadows under the trees and the light ahead! Viveck says that this picture is 'bleak', but I think its come out well !

The last Puri sketch!

The boganvilla bush were in abundance, full of bright pink flowers! The old blue gate that leads to the sea, all caught in a really bright sunlight made a nice picture!

More glimpses of Puri!

Its calm and peaceful in Puri. The kids and Viveck are out swimming in the sea, its a cool and balmy day and I am sitting on the Varandah and painting....there are no schedules to keep, as time lazily moves on.

This tree has been here since I first started coming to Puri over 30 years ago. It has withstood all the many storms that hit the Puri coast during the Monsoons!