What does it mean to be open to the mystery of the universe?
This is a question I’ve been contemplating since a while. And as usual, when I have a question that requires deep contemplation, I take it to my art table. Through writing, throwing down layers of paint, playing with stencils and different mediums without any end goal in mind, I work through the question in my mind.
My answer comes through the marks I make on the page.Continue reading
I believe that what we focus on, grows. Where we focus our time and energy determines what shows up in our lives. The more we think about a particular thing, the more laser focused our energy and time and effort is on a particular endeavor, the higher the chances that it will manifest in our lives.Continue reading
For today’s Write Tribe Festival of Words #6, I invited a very special young lady to share her thoughts about what it takes to live a creative life. Enjoy!
I was really excited when Shinjini asked me to write about living creativity. It’s something that’s really close to my heart. And though it is a wide and broad topic, there are three key things that I want to focus on today.Continue reading
Fear of paint, of art, of creativity is something I’ve come across over and over again. People constantly say they can’t paint, or they can’t draw. But I say that everyone can paint. Yes, everyone.
Think back to your childhood – chances are that painting and drawing were your favorite pastimes. But as you grew older, you suddenly started thinking that you cannot paint.
Why?Continue reading
This simple, small little spread took me three days to finish, largely due to the lack of time.
I’ve been using my daily Tarot pulls as inspiration to create a small spread in my tiny art journal {almost} every day. The goal was to finish a page a day; however, I’ve come to realize that isn’t always possible, even though I am working small. And that’s OK.
The biggest point of the Pocket Full of Art initiative is to create some art everyday, in the pockets of time that we have available to us. To come each day to the table, open to the possibilities and the emotions. To express ourselves with paint and paper, or origami folds, or with a cross-stitch or any other form of art. Continue reading
I’m not talking about the Harry Potter kind of magic. I’m talking about the magic that shows up in our life – through synchronicity. Which is simply being in the right place at the right time, meeting the right people at the right time, hearing a message or a piece of music at the right time.
Before I started on my art journey, I often wondered how artists came up with ideas for their paintings. What sort of research did they do? What techniques did they study? How did they prepare for a session? I never found any satisfactory answers – or maybe I didn’t look hard enough. So I thought I’d share my process for brainstorming and researching ideas and techniques for a canvas that I’m about to start.
In the middle of busy work loads and hectic commitments, I’ve been squeezing in some reading time. My Pocket feed is filled with articles on color theory and symbolism, color meanings and associations, the meaning and significance of color in different cultures, color color, and more color.Continue reading
There’s something magical that I’ve been noticing in my life recently. It his to do with art. With learning, teaching, and living an artistic life.
When I started down this path, I was quite a babe in the woods – clueless about where I was going, what I was doing, and why I was doing it. All I recognized was a calling… a yearning to create – to pick paints and paper, glue and pictures, with no idea of what to do with them, how to mold them into something that was pleasing to the eye.
I stumbled upon a few teachers – wonderful people who shared their art, tips, and techniques online for free on YouTube. I picked up a few tips here, an idea for a technique there. But very often, these free videos were disappointing. They were either timelapsed and so fast that I had no idea what or how the person was doing what they were doing. Often, they were product demonstrations – and said products were not necessarily available in India. But I persevered.Continue reading
“Adult coloring book? Really?” I asked, somewhat aghast. “Why don’t you try painting instead? Keep it abstract if you like. I can teach you the basics and you’re good to go!”
“No darling, I’m not good at all that.”
A quick face painted with acrylics
How do you deal with fear? A lot of people will tell you it’s only by moving into whatever it is that you fear that you can overcome it. But how do you move into what you fear? How do you go boldly (or not so boldly) ahead into a situation that gives you the shivers? I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t have a clue.
Then, I took up painting. And as I tried and experimented and failed and tried again, I realized – this is how you move into fear!
You move into fear by sticking with something even when you’re scared and have no idea what the hell you’re doing. It means taking a piece you don’t like and working it until you do. And if you still don’t like it, chalking it up to experimenting and experience, and then cutting it up to use as the base of another piece, so you can reframe and redo.Continue reading