Frangipani and The Magical Letter!

My book has a name! and a cover! and its finally going out of my hands and into the press this weekend.

I think im going to miss Samina and Skinny terribly, they were such good company these past few weeks!

Ive discovered ( through a dear friend) some pretty lovely indian blogs and been poring through them - feeling completely overwhelmed, and now I think I really need to stop being so lazy and do more! People can be so awesomely creative.

This here is my very very own frangi pani plant. Ive never owned a plant before and its soo beautiful and is flowering so beautifully (touchwood) that Im absolutely in love with it. My green thumb is anything but, so im really hoping it stays happy ! The other plant i bought, a beautiful bird of paradise one, has gone through a hard time and looks like a corpse. But its magically reopened one leaf ! So i have hopes for that one too, Ive been trying to talk it out of its gloom.. maybe it worked :)

Fish And Eyes

This would be sloth version 2 :) I just couldnt feel very warmly towards the earlier sketch. This one though, is wicked enough me thinks ! *gleeful* Ive already said what I had to about how I feel about Sloth, im not going to repeat myself - how i feel hasnt changed- but i just see it differently now, a bit like a kaleidoscope.

Same colours, different sights. 

A lot of rather interesting things are rearing their heads, I shall tell you of them when things are more certain !But life continues to be good. Im settling down a bit in chennai though my heart sobs for pondicherry. But I love the house here. though its far from pretty and im really not done with it, its surrounded by green goodness and flowers and two happy barking dogs and big big windows so i can feast my eyes on leafy wonders all day. So its good for my mind and soul. Pouring all my love into this house is going to drain me completely i think. Its just so big, its going to be one slow process. 

Maybe after im done, i put up pictures for you to see!

Have a beautiful happy week and weekend! Lots of love.

Close your Eyes

 music, all day and all night long -  freedom from your own thoughts.

 If you desire me

give up all desire

Become like me

and all joy is yours

-kabir

Its hard to talk about a trip like this. I think that I was hoping for inspiration, but found something else.
Maybe I realise now that you dont need to search too far to find answers, and they lie within you. When your two mind-hearts meet, its magic that takes over. who needs reason?

Parvathy Baul, during a beautiful satsang one afternoon quoted from a song :

mind, go home.
a world where you roam travelling
why waste your time being a traveller?

Starbursts

Its been soo long since I last sat in front of my laptop. Since then, Ive had an incredible trip to Bikaner,and a very hectic move to Chennai ( which still goes on)  I shall share more about my trip in my next post - need to collect my thoughts :)

But for now, I want to share yet another sin from my series. Wrath. Consumed by its own fury, bigger than itself, and bursting with sheer power. Wrath is greater than a sin, its greater than the ego, It becomes unselfish in its extreme emotion. Somebody once asked me why so many of my characters in this series are skeletal. When I close my eyes and imagine the force of the character, most of the time its no longer human. Its what remains.

The creative juices are really flowing now, after being soaked in music and yes, sufi wisdom :) And thank you everyone for the awesome response to Skinny Scribbles! That was really heartening.
Another piece of good news, my Deadly Ego series has been bought :D by Hidesign nonethless. Its going to adorn the walls of its Flagship store which houses beautiful art pieces ! yay :)

Skinny Scribbles!

I've really had a hard time keeping this leetle bit of excitement from all of you, but Im doing a childrens book with Scholastic :D And as you know, I have reallly been wanting to do one, so Im thrilled to bits to be covered in ink and paint drowning in a gorgeous story about a little girl called Samina and an envelope child called Skinny Scribbles and their whole adventure. Its funny, it makes you go aww sometimes and I love how dreamy the whole story is. It goes into production in April me thinks, I will let you know when its out!

So yes, I love it  and I love illustrating it. Its also in black and white! Im so used to spending hours with my colours that its a refreshing change to play with black and white again. I hope you like it !! Here are a few illustrations from the book :)

Im also off for a very exciting sounding trip to Bikaner, to be part of the Kabir yatra ! check out kabiryatra.org. Hoping to be filled with Sufi wisdom and all the love they sing about. So Ill see you next in March! much love.

Unknown Possibilities

Im stepping into the unknown once again, it really is a giant black hole and I have no idea what is

going to happen in the next few months. For someone who loves to be in control this is pretty horrifying.

(Were moving to chennai :) 

But I read a book recently, that spoke about our subconcious and it leading us to the right path. I call it my instinct, and Ive learned to trust it and not fight it. But it inevitably means that I sometimes have no real reason for doing what Im doing. Except that it feels right. After all this time, living in Pondicherry I never did read aurobindos work, and I rather like what he says below. 

Our soul from its mysterious chamber acts

Its influence pressing on our heart and mind

Pushes them to exceed their mortal selves.

It seeks for Good and Beauty. 

We see beyond self's walls our limitless self,

We gaze through our world's glass at half seen vasts,

We hunt for the truth behind apparent things.

Our inner mind dwells in a larger light,

Its brightness looks at us through hidden doors

Our members luminous grow and Wisdom's face

Appears in the doorway of the mystic ward

When she enters into our house of outward sense

Then we look up and see, above, her sun

Strangely enough, this sketch is something I did months ago, I came across it yesterday and it seemed to fit how I was feeling right now. Incase you noticed my absence last week, its because I was trudging through chennai looking for the right house, which we did find :) Its beautiful, with a garden and terrace! Something to look forward to.

When Time Stands Still

quaint little doors and yellow houses 

lake in the middle of nowhere - auroville    

Living in Pondicherry is so inspiring, Im surrounded by a quaint beauty that is unique to most towns in India.

And its not just the place, its got some incredibly interesting people living in it too- creating the most exciting things. Sometimes I go around with my sketchbook and scribble away, something to look at and drown in someday when im far away in a horrible noisy city. This morning I was in auroville at a gorgeous lake. There were birds chirping and I think I almost forgot to draw, it was just so peaceful.

And on a sadder note, all the likes from that facebook like button have suddenly been erased and i dont know how ! it makes me a bit sad. So do leave your comments as well as clicking on like, I really would love to hear from you !

Sloth

Though mankind persuades itself that every weed's a rose.

Roses, you feel certain, will only smile.

Beautiful words by Ee cummings. And how true they ring. We twist the good to be the bad and the bad to be something better than what it is. But in the end, who is to say what is a sin and what isnt? Which is really good or bad? And what is good or bad?
Questions exist to muddle the mind, what would we do without them.
Wikipedia defines sloth as " a wasting due to lack of use'' . Sloth to me is green goo. that sticks to the bottom of a drain slimy, sleepy and lazy. worms make their homes in it and cockroaches feed on it.
To me it is a trait to be despised, but maybe Im wrong here.