Step Into the Magic Realm

"See, this is my opinion: we all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. 

After you go so far away from it, though, you can’t really get it back. You can have seconds of it. Just seconds of knowing and remembering. When people get weepy at movies, it’s because in that dark theater the golden pool of magic is touched, just briefly. Then they come out into the hard sun of logic and reason again and it dries up, and they’re left feeling a little heartsad and not knowing why. When a song stirs a memory, when motes of dust turning in a shaft of light takes your attention from the world, when you listen to a train passing on a track at night in the distance and wonder where it might be going, you step beyond who you are and where you are. For the briefest of instants, you have stepped into the magic realm.

That’s what I believe."

 -Boy's Life

 

 

 It's been six months since I put OLIE out there into the world, and it's been a lot of fun. I've met a lot of people, had a lot of dreams come true (already!) and since I celebrate every single small thing in our journey - it's been a whirlwind of joy and sometimes confusion (and frustration!) . But the magic stays, it's there when I need to call upon it, and it underlines everything I do with OLIE. And when I tell you my tales, the stories behind every cushion, lamp - I see you step away from reality and take a little magic back home with you. And a moment like that keeps me inspired. 

 

Such a beautiful quote from Boy's Life  !

Dreaming a Dream

If I could capture the moon

And paint a sky full of blue

Fight scattered storms

To light the night

If I could skip along clouds

And hear the wind sing out loud

Rewrite the rhyme

And slow down time

I see a world

Where every boy and girl

Has all they need

To live free

Where everyone

Could share the sun

Life is only a dream

Dream with me.

-Jackie Evancho

A storm has been brewing, and I have been killing myself keeping it from you ! But the time has finally come when I can tell you all about what I've been up to the past year .

You know all about my love for Pondicherry. So many of my first posts were written while I lived there and drew inspiration from people and places in that little town.

But before I left Pondi, another thought was born. The simple lifestyle there, the magic in cycling down a cobbled street, the time we all had to appreciate every little thing, the love the people in the town have for the sea and its wild unpredictability - these were what made it beautiful - the little pleasures.
I remember sitting by the sea, with my sketchbook and pencil -scribbling away, wondering how I could turn my illustrations into an experience. Bring this magic and whimsy into peoples lives, maybe their homes.

And so a year later I get to tell you about Olie. Olie meaning light in tamil launches in Bangalore in a few weeks with its first collections of carecrafted accessories and lighting. My inspiration translated into reality. Now a mood, an ethereal beauty for you to experience in your homes and spaces. And I am so excited about it ! The illustration above is a mindmap of sorts, mapping the journey and thought process that led to Olie. But the real journey has been in the learning, and the people I've met and the good and bad experiences I've had the past couple of months. It already is such a long, rich story to tell - and I'm going to tell you all about it, between scribbles and pictures.

More soon !
much love to you !

A Universe of Adventure

A universe of memories and a few favourite things! This illustration was commissioned for someone who wanted to tell his special someone that hes loved their journey together and that the adventure is far from over! Inspired by the lovely tale that is The Little Prince, and pictures from their own life ( like the sleeping cats :) it came together piece by piece to form a beautiful story.


I fell in love with the whole sweet idea the moment I heard it ! The final print is pretty big and so beautiful with the colours as vivid or even more than the original and printed on the most gorgeous paper, called somerset photo - its apparently a hundred percent cotton and just brings it to life most wonderfully.
paper love.

The weather in bangalore is so beautiful right now, all I want to do is sit ouside with a cup of coffee :)

Have a looovely weekend ! much love x

The Yellow Wood

Another workshop at the Valley School, I decided to go this time round because Ive always been curious about chinese painting (more so japanese painting, but I figure theyre similar). It wasnt the most incredible experience, but I really enjoyed trying something new and playing with the lovely inks and papers! 

Here are some pictures from the day!

charcoal sketch of a little bamboo plant

hold your chinese brush upright and make beautiful effortless strokes!

my random and unfortunately rather impatient attempts

tada! I was actually proud to see some tonal variations, sitting up straight with that brush was SO

hard for me! but I think id love to explore this medium. Its very poetic, and each stroke is so beautiful.

and I love love rice paper. I just wanted to swish ink around and watch it sink into the paper.

On a different note, Im reading this fantastic book, its called rich dad, poor dad- and I find that its come into my hands just when I really felt I needed something like it. Theres so much that nobody ever tells you when it comes to financial education, this book talks about making money without selling your soul. Its always been so important to me that I never work for money, but for the love of what I do. In the book, he quotes a Robert Frost poem - one that I havent read in a long time, and as things sometimes do, it suddenly makes such sense to me. Taking the untrodden path is incredibly hard - but I think you will find yourself wealthy at the end of the journey. even if not in riches, in living some incredible experiences.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

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?