Red Farm

For years people have asked me if there’s a connection between Physics and art. I wish I knew the answer. Lately I came up with a semi intelligent answer.

My analytical side (left brain) helps me to learn and teach art techniques. My right brain helps me put my soul into the art work. When painting I think I use both parts of my brain. There are times that I think analytically on how to get a likeness to an object. In my portraits or landscapes the under-painting, blocking out shapes, is done almost scientifically.  But towards the end, I want my analytical side to be absolutely silent.  This is when I am putting my heart and soul into it and get totally absorbed in the painting.  People have told me that I look like a dancer with a paint brush when this happens. I go back and forth putting splashes of color and the world is shut down for me then, it’s only me and the painting.

Visit me at the AVArstfest, June 6th 2009, in Mountain View for a large selection of my jewelry. http://AVArtfest.org

Vesak Lanterns

Vesak is the Full moon day in the month of May. This is the day that Buddha was born, attained enlightenment and passed away. We celebrate this special day by lighting colorful lanterns and tiny lamps in the gardens. When I was little I looked forward to this day. I just can’t explain how magical it was in the eyes of a little one. I remember enjoying it every year. When we were small my dad or mom lighted up the candles and stuck them to the bottom of the waxed paper lanterns. They let us have the honor of hanging them in the bushes and trees. Purple ones were my favorite. Of course there were all the colors in the rainbow. I grew up with five brothers and sisters and we would go round the garden figuring which colors go where. By the end of it I remember sitting in the verandah watching these magical lights. They were absolutely gorgeous. My mom would light up a row of tiny clay lamps along the wall in the garden. I enjoyed the sweet smell of the coconut oil from the burning lamps. When we were older we built “Vesak Koodu”. These were bigger lanterns built with hand shaped bamboo skewers tied together. Pretty colored tissue paper was glued on. Some of these were so elaborate and bigger than us! The ones I made were simpler star shaped or hexagonal box shaped ones. I usually used red and white. The whole family contributed to these more elaborate lanterns. These were lighted up with a lot of pride because they were handmade.

The thing that I enjoyed most is, after hanging all our lanterns we would go for a walk around the neighborhood to see the pretty lights in other homes. I loved this tradition. After we came back from the walk my dad would pack us all in the car and drive around town where there were huge pandols (lighted structures) with a million light bulbs in each. They all had a story about the life of Buddha. There were street plays, puppet shows, free food. The whole town was a carnival for everyone.

I have not celebrated Vesak for 20 years now. I still remember the joy, the smell and the calm content feeling of Vesak as if it were yesterday. I tell my daughter about this special day and how we celebrated it. Now she wants to celebrate it too. It’s today and there’s hardly any time to make a lantern and find anything that resembles the colorful wax paper lanterns I love. But we’ll make it happen. My little girl and my little boy will get to enjoy the joy of Vesak too.

Here’s a little glimpse of Vesak in one of my encaustic paintings.

Vidharshi2

I like to paint plein air. The peacefulness of being out in the open doing what I love is just heaven. For me it’s like having my favorite cup of coffee, something that I really enjoy doing. In the past few weeks I did this quite a lot. I made quite a few paintings and they came out good, but every one of them gives the same message: “I feel so peaceful when I am out there”. Since my quest is capturing feelings, I feel as if I am repeating the same one over and over again.

 I’ve come to a point where I want to paint something different now, like the emotions that come up from living a day to day life. These are the ones that I try to get away from when I go out painting. Now that I think about it, these are the ones that make up my life. They are much harder to understand let alone capture.  But that’s what I want to do now. It’s going to be a challenge but I am ready for the journey. Please come and join me

I have been creating art for years now. I get passionate about different media and different styles all the time. I want to try it all. While I was doing jewelry I was so excited about it. While I was painting encaustics: the same story. Now I am back to oils. This has been my story again and again. I think I’ve taken all the workshops I need for a long while. I am at a point where I am thinking “now what?” That’s going to be my journey from now on. Here are some of my jewelry.

I am overwhelmed! I learnt to paint oils in more different ways recently and now I am lost. I know one day I’ll combine them into my one-way-of-painting but till then ….? I love abstracts but they have to portray something that I am feeling. I also like to paint plein air and I love the glowing colors of the still life. What do you think? Help!!!!

Visit me at Silicon Valley Open Studios 2009 the first two weekends in May 2009.

All pictures in this blog are copyrighted.

Shaft of Light

I was reading Connie William’s Blog. She’s a wonderful Painter who’s so meticulous. I am amazed at painters who has this much patience. I wish I had one hundredth of it. I am like an express train trying to put everything I feel for a subject right then and there. With oils I get so impatient because that darn medium doesn’t dry fast enough. I usually get it muddy to the point I want to throw it away. Then I get back to it after a few days and forgive it and start working again. For me I’ve noticed if I try to control it, it goes GRRRRR…. at me. So eventually I let the painting control me.