A mother's wait

Done today .Graphite on paper.

Still Life.

Done today.Graphite on paper.

Chandranandan's Art Exhibition.

Went to the inaugeration of the painting exhibition of Chandranandan at museum art gallery.Here are a few of his acrylic paintings.The show was inaugerated by the Leader of Opposition in Kerala legislature Mr Ooman Chandi.

Ice Cream seller.

Watercolor on paper.

Best part of a holiday outing.

Mother and child.

Done today.Watercolor wash and pencil on paper.

Run,run, again.

Beast of burden on the run.

"Run" redone in color wash.

Bath Time.

A work done in graphite.

Imagine.

A work mostly in black ink.

Abstract impressionism.

Why is ma late today ?

Completed today.Watercolors and ink.

Mom Look At Me.

Done today.Wash and pen.

Do you see what I see?

Done today.Lead on yellow drawing paper.

Overwhelmed

Done on paper in the year of" tsunami" .

Looking into the dark.

Again done today.Wash.

'Bearing The Gravity of Being'

Done today in watercolors.

The opposite of "unbearable lightness of being".

Adrift.

Done in water colors and Lumograph. This is a muslim girl of malabar with her girl child waiting for her arab 'mapila'. There are many unfortunate girls like her among this community-forced to marry old,arabs who come down to Kerala coast to do bussiness or just for fun.The poor girls who are not even literate have no other way to live but'marry' these men -their own mothers being women who were divorced or widowed and living in utter poverty. These poor girls are married off and abandoned like their own mothers to live once again their mothers lives!

The Next Logical Step (after the auction houses)

This is very interesting-from The Gaurdian Arts Blog. The news that investors are seeking to speculate on the art market following the creation of a new art hedge fund, betting on an art movement or an individual artist's rise in value without actually buying a painting, certainly appears to be an ominous idea. What exactly would it be they are planning to speculate on? Would Tracey Emin's stock go up if she announced she was pregnant, her art being so inextricably linked to that predicament? Would Grayson Perry's go down if he gave up drag?

Story Time.

Done today.

Oil crayons ,pencil,brush and oil paint on paper.

"representations"by Triva Contemporary.

Went to see an exhibition of works by some

'Indian contemporary artists' at Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan ,Trivandrum named'representation' by Triva Contemporaray -a new initiative in art field at Trivandrum started by Walter,Krishnan and Balachandran.

A good effort I must say.

Here are some snap shots from the gallery.

The works here are by

Santosh TV

Babu Xavier

Bose Krishnamachari

Rajan krishnan

Sosa Joseph

"Le Kozhi"

1

(1)Joan Miro's "Le Coq' struting about .

(2)

(2) My kozhi.Done today.Watercolors.

Unbounded

3 1. 2 (1)The instalation by famous contemporary artist Racheal Whiteread. (2)One of Rajeev's photographs which he took at Mumbai --clean lines and play of light and shade -really good. (3)a recent crayons on paper by me .

Back to Hearth

Two women of fishing community of Trivandrum, walking back home after selling the days catch of their husbands. Done today,crayons,pen ,diluted oil colors.

Robert Cottingham ,the 'photo realist artist'

http://americanart.si.edu/collections/exhibits/cottingham/tour-index.html Some thing I would like to go back and read again :)

Sparkling nights ,here and there and everywhere :-)

1.

2

3

When Rajeev,my son showed these photographs (2 and 3) which he had shot at Mumbai ,I was reminded of the picture of a painting I saw some time back.I have added that painting "Nocturne in Black and Gold The falling Rocket" by James Abbot McNeill Whistler,the American artist(1872-77) of the fireworks he saw in London.

Rajeev's photos are two views of the 'deepavali glitter' reflected in the open gutter. :-).Both look lovely.

God of Wisdom.

This little Ganesha did learn a trick or two from his father

Nataraja. :-)

'Gana' means -'of the multitudes'. As the name denotes Ganapathy is the most popular of the Hindu deities -invoked before starting any important social ceremony or official function.His help is saught for the unhindered progress in life and everything we do.

May Ganesha be with us always. :-).

'Snehitha'.

On the TV again talking about my works.

Run-run

Here is a painting in oil .Done ten years back :) . Everyday hundreds of cattle are brought from Tamil Naadu into Kerala for slaughtering.They are most cruelly treated and made to walk the whole distance most of the time. I wished some of them atleast could escape. An 'escapist' dream :( .

Rains again.

This is a painting done today inspired by the continuous rains we have been having for the past couple of days.Done on paper oil colours and pen Here we have the group watching Venu painting at the workshop.:)

The one day camp-'rain drops.'

Took part in the one day artists camp at 'Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan.Here are some photos taken on the day . Sangeetha Unnithan interviews Mathew . Varghese Punalur The beautifully painted' Thumba Poov' by Varghese Punalur. Notice the rain drops? :) Link to an article on the camp in Indian Express is given here.http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEO20070618012455&Page=O&Title=Thiruvananthapuram&Topic=0&

My Sita

Here is a painting done in 1975 by me.

I had 'Sita' in mind when I painted this.

What is outstanding about Sita is her all-round strength.She proved herself many times stronger than her husband.That is what I felt as I started on this work.

Pushed beyond endurance, persevering in the face demeaning insensitivity from the people who should have been her source of strength.She has all the qualities of "mother".She came from 'lap of the earth'. I feel she must be the 'mother earth' the ecologists talk so much about now :).

I have used angular lines and cubist technics to give a feel of strength to the figure.

The birth of Kaali in a column of flame.

This is a pencil drawing done by me today.

Tried to imagine how 'the birth of Kaali ' would be .:)

Kaali is one of the ancient deities of India particularly East and South India.

I have a temple dedicated to this Godess right next door to my home.

If Parvathy or Gowri the consort of Siva is a motherly figure,giver of boons and personification of beauty, kaali who is another form of hers is 'terrible and fearsome,naked-with matted hair and skin colored black ,adorns herself with skulls and body parts of the people she slayed and is blood thirsty.Could you have a more gruesome picture?

Legend has it that Kaali was created by Parvathy from her forehead when her son Skanda who was engaged in a terrible battle with a demon Rakthabheeja, sought her help .

Rakthabeeja could not be slayed for if his blood droped to the ground it would turn into another demon.---a new demon from each droplet.So Kaali drank up all the blood that was split as she slayed him and became so intoxicated with all the blood she drank that she ran amuck killing and destroying everything in her way.

So to bring her to her senses Siva ,her husband pretended to be dead and lay on her path .When her feet collided on the 'body' of Siva she regained her equilibrium .

Another story has Siva challenging Kaali to a dance with him and and who ever wins will give in to the other.So we have both of them dancing and Siva lifting up his left leg I think, to adjust his ear ornaments while dancing and Kaali not being able to match that move accepts defeat.:).

So here we have my work in pencil-