Friends - Gond Painting

Nature is always an inspiration, one just needs a little bit of time and eye to look around and savour it. I feel closely connected to nature around me; nothing much here though when you are living in a concrete jungle. Still whenever we steal a tiny bit of time we try to spend some quality time enjoying what is left of nature, lately. My husband is not much of a travel person, he has however complied to my earnest appeals after a long time :)

Birds and blooms are very close to my heart; by late last year I had painted this picture after the Gond style.

Gond paintings belong to India's largest indigenous tribal community situated in the heart part of India in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The Gonds are of Dravidian origin and can be traced back to Pre-Aryan era. The word Gond comes from Kond which means green mountains in the Dravidian idiom. Their art is supposed be an expression of their everyday quest for life. They decorated their houses and floors with traditional tatoos and motifs.The fine lines, dots and dashes of traditional Gond Pradhan motifs were introduced to the world by the late painter J.Swaminathan, who discovered a talented seventeen year old Jangarh Singh Shyam decorating the huts of Patangarh in Madhya Pradesh. Jangarh's meteoric rise to fame was marked by his acclaimed exhibitions in Paris and Tokyo and ended on a tragic note with his suicide.

The legacy of Jangarh is captured in the artistic brilliance and creativity of his family who he had mentored in this traditional art form, and thus came about the resurgence of a whole new generation of Shyam.

This is my interpretation of the style;I haven't exactly followed the Gond style though.

   Friends - Acrylics and pen

 Close up

So what do you think about this? Do leave your views and opinions, would love to read them :) 

ps: Linking it to illustration friday after a very long time... The topic is 'Wings'...I thought birds are synonymous with wings for they being the free spirits...and here though they aren't projecting the wings they do intend to take the sky sooner or later :)

Linking it to Paint Party Friday, Show and Tell Saturday@ Artists in Blogland and Illustration Friday

Ref: http://ignca.nic.in/tribal_art_intro_gonds_mp.htm
             http://www.gondtribalart.com/

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.
 

Neon Blooms

Headline prompt:  Radical to Mundane and to Radical Again:  What once seemed new that now feels old and boring?  How can you see it as new again?  How do you "jump charge" creativity when you're feeling stuck?
Color:  black & neons - bold contrasts
Quote:  Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.  Bill Moyers

This week's prompt is by Nathalie Kalbach...

Drawing and painting flowers is something I love and never tire of. There was a time when I was so obsessed with them that I drew only blooms for a very long time. It was something radical for me trying out different blooms which was termed as 'mundane' by my husband and then I travelled and tried something different which actually helped me to develop a few other areas and now again I am trying out flowers in a variant light. I haven't used neon colours as far as I remember in my paintings....just neon!

Neon Blooms - 6x4 postcard, Watercolour and felt pens

This card is actually for the post card swap happening at Artists in Blogland... I hope to join them. The last date for joining is tomorrow and I have to make one more. 

Linking it to Fall Fearless and Fly Challenge 8 (last challenge) in Artists in Blogland.

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.

Look Beyond; Look Into My Soul

Mixed Media - Acrylics, pen and crystals

Look into my eyes
For they are the doors to my soul.
You will find me deep within
With ties and knots
Buried in despair
Looking for you,
To unfetter me.
Look beyond…look into my eyes!

-Deepa G S

From my Parineeta series...the others can be seen here, here, here, here and here.

Linking it to Paint Party Friday and Show and Tell Saturday @Artists in Blogland ..to see more of amazing art, visit the link :)

Jessica's watercolour that I won in the first Fall Fearless and Fly Challenge.

Thanks Jessica, I Loved it :)

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.

Future Imperfect - Pink Dawn

Headline Prompt:  Future Imperfect: What is different about your life now than what you once expected it to be?  How is the way it turned out perfect or imperfect.  If your future turns out differently than you imagined in the first prompt, could it still be perfect?
Color Prompt: Yellow
Quote Prompt: "Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present."  Friedrich Nietsche

When I think of this prompt the first thing that comes to mind is the Life of a Woman. I am unable to relate to nothing else than what's happening right now in my country; there is no better explanation! 

Our country praises, upholds, respects and reveres all the Goddesses in the name of Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Parvathi and the rest of them as Goddess of Wealth, Wisdom and Strength. I have always heard people ridicule their own religion and the aspects of it without ever understanding what it all actually meant. The number of gods and goddesses depict the different aspects or symbols for a better understanding of the common man of the ancient times. If you observe closely into the above said Goddess aspect one can understand that it just points out the role of each and every woman in the household. A lady who manages the finance of her home and sensibly saves for the future acts as Lakshmi, a woman wise enough to bring the family together and raise her children with the right values and morals acts as Saraswathi and a woman even against all odds manages to hold the family and lend strength to them takes up the role of Parvathi or Shakti.  It is all a concept for the layman and woman to understand the power and strength that each one held. (Anyways women are expected to be super humans!!!!) All this just remained bound in the scriptures and though every household respected and revered the well decorated, bejeweled photos of the goddess...they forgot to do the same with the women in the household. The atrocities against women is the result of such an upbringing. Not only do the men treat women as mere house keepers but also pass it on to their sons to do the same if they need to have an edge or control on the other. They also ingrain it in their daughters that they are the weaker section and they ultimate duty is to get married, raise kids, look after the household and die dutifully. To think of oneself is the greatest sin a woman could engage in.(This, I would mention, does not happen in every home in India!) Even women adhere to it closely (there are exceptions though!) and girls are killed in the womb (maybe many women have no say to their own child but there are many who perform it willingly)

I don't say this happens in each and every home in India but it does happen. I was born into an extremely lucky family where my parents never discriminated between my brother and I. We are great companions and we respect one another's views. My opinion was always sought whenever there was an important issue in the family affairs. I always feel wanted and important in my family. I am raising a daughter and we always make her feel the same. I could also vouch for many of my friends and their families.

Our country is going through a difficult 'imperfect' phase...our women need to stand together and opine. I am worried about it's future! It's not 'Somebody else's' matter...tomorrow it could be our own. We need to raise beautiful human beings not smart sons and timid daughters. Any atrocity against any woman should be dealt with in a much more stricter and stringent manner. Hasty stay put to all the culprits and offenders with rigid rules that has no loopholes for them to escape is a MUST!!! We are a Democracy and it is We, the people, who need to bring about a change and make the Govt to execute it. We vote so that our country reaches it's heights not the depths! All the same I am glad to see so many of our brothers joining in and fighting for the common cause in Delhi and the rest of India. It shows that all is not lost and we still have our menfolk who stride a coherant and tolerant path.

Joanne, Jessica, Carolyn and Marcia...from a subjective prompt, it has become a largely objective one but I just can't help it! Hope you don't mind :)

 Acrylics - 18x24 inches

 

 Close up

Side view

Pink Dawn : Pink represents all that is feminine, beautiful, romantic, intuitive, compassion, unconditional love and nurturing. Dawn as you know is the day break and here it means the ray of hope.

Plumeria/Frangipani has two aspects - a negative and positive.

Plumeria represents the grave and the ghost or the death and the funeral which is the assault she always has to endure.

The positive aspect is the birth, life, creation and recreation, dedication and devotion and above all a status of all those who struggle, suffer, succumb and yet rise to the occasion and try to tread the path of determination and life by not just existing but by living it.

The lady in here just encompasses all these aspects. The hues represent the same and the glint in her eyes is the hope and faith to live her life with all her might. The smile is the hope afloat amid her struggles even when her future is imperfectly perfect!

I had submitted Pink Dawn to Pink Polo Art which was basically for cancer awareness organized by Tashkeel Hub.

Linking it to FFF Challenge 7 in Artists in Blogland and Paint Party Friday.

Disclaimer : These are my very own personal views and observations. I do not subscribe to any political views and is never intended to hurt or harm the views of the general public. I also wish to mention that every man is not a demon and every woman is not an angel and every home in India does not witness offense or crime against women. This is just an  unleashing of my pent up feelings for Amanats/Daminis/Nirbhayas and what is happening to the human race in general and my country in particular.  This is just 'my voice' being in a Democracy and please ignore it if you don't agree to it.

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.