Heartlight, My Mind Weeps

My very last post for the year! Were off on holiday (Yay!) tomorrow and back only in the new year!

A few weeks ago, I was feeling rather lost about life and wondering where it would take me next. A friend spoke to me with inspiring words, and I had time to think it over in a long train journey alone. I love feeling inspired, it is such a high and I feel so alive. And this sketch just happened while on the train, a bunch of doodles, and in it I say- Heartlight, my mind weeps for I follow my heart.

For no matter how much reasoning is done, in the end the heart has the final word, and only then do I find peace and happiness in my decision. Had a wonderful year of good decisions and I cross my fingers and hope that the next year only gets better and more exciting :)

This is an amazing time of the year, gifts and smiles and love all around. Big hugs, have a wonderful christmas and a beautiful, happy happy new year!

Magic Monks and a Ruby

a slightly closer look

I just about finished this illustration, which is going as the header of a website..would love to show you how its going to look but I do believe my client might not be happy if I launched their site before they did :) so lets call this a sneak preview! I'll let you know when it launches!

Sketching a Dream World

Another sample (my sample portfolio is growing). The story here is about a child reading a book and entering different worlds. This one still needs work, but then I decided to sketch it from another angle.

I really liked the way this sketch was going.. it seemed to involve the viewer more, and had a lot more breathing space around it. The magical world is the biggest thing in the picture as well..so I start to colour it in

The final sketch . colours and all :) The whole thing is done with pastels and colour pencils. I really love using chalk pastels, they are the nicest medium. Ive got a whole lot of little sketches waiting for me to work on them and finish them so I can share them with you, especially my deadly ego series which havent seen the light of day in absolutely ages. So im making solemn vows to do some of these before the year comes to an end! 

This work by amrita is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Smile for a Story

Im finally introducing you to the kids at Santhosha Nanban!(In tamil, this means''happy friend'').  They are incredibly smart, happy and sweet and I loooove my time with them, its great fun and hugely inspiring. I took tons of pictures from todays session, where Kanchana ( their full time teacher) and I told them the story of "The Thirsty Crow" and they excitedly started to illustrate the story! Ive just picked 10 pictures to share with you but if you want to see more let me know :)

the cutest crow

 Collage work from last weeks session, they absolutely floored me with their creativity!

We have about 20 kids in open school where Kanchana preps them for admission into a goverment school.

These are kids that have been found recently, in the middle of school year so theyre getting a good basic learning here! Almost all of them stay in the orphanage, and just a few go back to their homes in the evenings.

I mentioned before about what a lovely place Santhosha Nanban is, its an orphanage and they also educate street children and these kids are really well looked after, its been really heartwarming working with them. You can read more about them at www.sathoshananban.org.

Turn on your Heartlight

A friend of mine is doing something incredibly exciting. She is taking part in The Mongol Rally. They are going to be driving a car all the way from Italy to Mongolia!! 10,000 miles , mountain ranges, rivers, deserts and proceeds go to charity! They are also going to be putting up a website. And she asked me to create a map for their site that would reflect a feeling of adventure! So I created this map, inspired from the Gond style of painting from Madhya Pradesh, with a rather contemporary twist to it :) The sun, moon, stars, forests, rivers, mountains, whirling dervishes. I wish I was doing something as beautiful as this !

Neil Diamond once said, 
Turn on your heartlight

let it shine wherever you go

let it make a happy glow

for all the world to see.

So thats what we have to do :) Travel the world and spread the joy ! I could do that. Sometimes I think all i want to do is travel, just keep going. that might be the ideal life. Have a good week !

This work by amrita is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

A Little Bit of Hope!

In retrospect, things with my plan to do a chiildren's book are actually going well. I lost hope last week, but I am in conversation with a lot of good publishing houses and they all seem very interested! So hopefully I will have good news to jump around about soon. Meanwhile, I continue to make samples ! :) The illustration for this story is about an old Kashmiri man and his cricket bat workshop set in Kashmir.


The other little bit of excitement right now is that today is my first day working with a sort of Orphanage here in Pondicherry. They are called Santhoshananban and they take in street children and educate them, and also provide a home for orphans! Wonderful people and a beautiful idea. I am planning to work with the kids on art and stories! Lets see how it goes :) They seem like a very bright and happy bunch! I just hope I do them justice. Wish me luck!!


This work by amrita is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

A World With a Story

The sky, the sea, carved stones that don't realise they are old, but know that they are special.
The shore temple has been eroded by the waves from the sea, and the heavy sea winds. But that's what makes it so beautiful, almost soulful. While walking through it, I could sense the many secrets held within its walls. The carvings are almost not there. a figment of your imagination. Surrounded by the sea as it once was, how mystical it would have been. I haven't looked enough, but have to leave.      Mahaballipuram '11

Little Bits of Spooky Paper

I know I'm very late with Halloween pictures, but the Halloween party at my home happened over the weekend, so its really just been a few days since then! I spent a lot of time last week making up little decorations so people would get into the spirit, and Id like to show you around a bit :) with some not-so-great pictures! Somehow everything glittered and looked a lot better to me in person and its not translating as well in the pictures! So the trick or treat sign is something im proud of ! Made using red handmade paper, a cutting knife, and some paint for the eyeball in ''OR''. and the spider hanging from the web is made out of newspaper by Ishita - our paper guru. and I also stuck little red eyes on it! 

oh and tons of glitter all around, that you can barely see here!

 My spooky tree had lots of thread hanging around it like spider webs, and one giant paper spider !

 This is something that is going to remain as permanent decoration me thinks. I love my starry chandelier!

The string of skull lights in the Kitchen which was our Buffet area.

       Look carefully to see more threads hanging- more spider webs :D

 And on all the surfaces, the absolute halloween must-haves. Tons of pretty candles and lots of sequins! It was great fun and all our costumed friends were the last bit of decoration. it really did look lovely :) 

Magical Children's Worlds

The beginning of another week - Time seems to be flying away from me these days, and its going off faster now that the year is coming to an end. With so much planned, it feels like a prank being played. sigh.


I had mentioned to you about my desire to illustrate for childrens books, I got a few calls since then and though so far only one has worked out, Its been so so much fun making samples for these lovely stories.


I cant tell you too much about the story, (that would be wrong since its not mine) but its about a puppy whose parents are trying to put to bed, so in this illustration shes being given a bath in the hope that she will feel sleepy! :) I loved doing it, its my first foray into the children's book world and fingers crossed, I'm going to get my chance at doing a book soon!


Had a great weekend, and a halloween party - lots of decorations and crafts for that one - so youll be seeing some pictures soon !! Have a lovely week ! Much love !!



This work by amrita is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Long Neck of Pride

Third in my 'deadly ego' series of character sketches. Pride is the fairy that is trapped by her own obsession with self. She is beautiful but the flowers that grow on her are prickly and the mushrooms that grow alongside poisonous. She uses her third eye to admire herself in her mirror. Maybe there could be more to this artwork, im still staring. But I like the way it's coming along so far.

On another note, Ive got myself a new book, Ive been reading Sri M's - A Yogi's Autobiography,

which is a good read and he suggests a lot of other books in it which sound interesting. But im really excited about the one I bought yesterday. Its by Devdutt Patnaik, one of my favourites right now. Its called the 7 secrets of Vishnu. If you like reading about Indian mythoglogy, its looks like a great book! Will tell you more as I get further along.

We had a really great weekend, very peaceful. And visited the canyon in Auroville. Its beautiful. I really should start carrying my camera with me everywhere. A friend also had some gorgeous documentaries which we watched (lots more to go) But do check out http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/planet-earth/ and try to get hold of these. The world really is so beautiful and so much bigger than us.

This work by amrita is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Glittery and Starry Diwali !

Diwali is around the corner!!! Twinkling lights and bursts of magic and glitter in the skies. Its one of my favourite festivals because i love love love lights and twinkly glittery things. My home is full of it and it is so wonderful to see everybody go all out for this day! Its also raining in Pondicherry now, the skies are falling and im listening to beautiful music and in love with the world and weather and everything and everyone!! joy joy!


So what you see in the picture above is the Hidesign flagship store in Pondicherry. Its huge, gorgeous and full of beautiful bags and also has little things designed or drawn by ME :) What I would like to bring your eyes to here is the display window which features Diwali!

Dressing in gorgeous patterns and colours, big chandelier earrings , a dance in the step and a beautiful Hidesign bag. Fireworks in the background. Diwalii is here! Have a wonderful and safe Diwali and think of our beautiful planet and keep her safe too! MUch Love and Joy to you!!

Floating with the Stars

                                                     

The earth withers

the moon crumbles

one by one

stars flutter into dust

Another paper collage, actually this is the first one I tried. It looks so beautiful on the white paper, but sigh Im just not able to replicate it and get the shadows on camera, so this picture will have to do for now. But I love the way it brings everything to life, making it so dreamy. 

I have also made it my dream to illustrate a childrens book- a magical story I wants. So if any of you know of any fantastic writers or any such opportunities do think of me!

Much love, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

The Tree of Wisdom & Life

 I was in Bangalore for the weekend, and found myself at a theatre one evening for a sort of musical. One of the most soul stirring performances I've seen in a while . Maybe because they were asking the same questions I am these days. But I had to pull out my sketchbook and start doodling while the music intoxicated my soul. I was deeply moved and this is the result.

A friend of mine who is some sort of genius with paper came over last week and showed me how to make 3d collages with paper.Thank you Ishita! I love this, and love the way it brings my ' Tree of Wisdom ' to life.
With the root above and branches below the tree stands for all that is pure, that is Brahman, that is immortal. In it the world rests and no one goes beyond it. The upside down Tree of Life has roots in Brahman. Brahman is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe, and a person who has realised the self is said to have realised Brahman. 


To find out more, take a peek at www.sunaad.org

Death- Teardrops from the tree of life.

This work by amrita is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Wild Oceans of Lust

Lust is the second part of my 'deadly ego' series of character sketches. I somehow envisioned lust to take the form of a seductive mermaid. And then I discover that in Greek mythology Siren's were

seductresses of the sea (mermaid-like creatures) who lured sailors with their beautiful voices and music to shipwreck on the rocks. A beautiful, inspiring concidence. 

The sea adds energy and wild force. The type is literally dripping with desire. And the second mermaid is swept in the throes of passion. Unknown hands reach out from the sea to hold the mermaid's fin. 

I'm excited about finally getting to show this one to you, and I've just started working on the next one- 'Pride'! Have a lovely weekend, I'll be seeing you soon :)

This work by amrita is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Painting with the Skies

                                               

A wind has blown the rain away and the sky away and all the leaves away.

And all that stands is me, painting with the skies

staring with awe at the gloriousness of it all.