Nocturne Series - studying the celestial sky.

Nocturnes or Nightscapes have always fascinated me. There was a time when I used to think I could probably study Astronomy or celestial mechanics, as a girl. But then soon I found Literature and arts interested me more in terms of studies. But even now I simply love gazing at the sky - day and night; particularly night I guess. The sky, vast and expansive, with so many happenings occurring probably all the while and yet looks so serene and tranquil. Though the skies I have painted are not what I see in my region, I do love watching skies where such wonders happen... now that it’s available at our fingertips and within the comfort of our own room! I am like Jodie Foster in "Contact" in total awe when I look up (though that's a different storyline about extraterrestrial life)! So it's no surprise that at some point in time I would end up painting them or at intervals, if I may say. As a personal project that I started at the wake of this year, it was perhaps Whistler’s “Nocturne” that nudged me to make some of my own. 

*Click on the images to view it big*

This is the first of my Nocturne series and this is definitely inspired by Whistler while the rest are my own interpretations of some photographs mixed with creative liberty! 

 "Shooting up"

 “When the skies turned deep-blue

The Moon bloomed,

The earth shone,

The spell fell

And the magic happened!”

 Grey sky in showers

 It was when the Super blood moon happened early this year.

It was from the picture above I cropped the Moon and used it in my SuperBloodMoon (click to read) post if you remember. I edited it in Photoshop. These were the stages of my painting the Moon.

And finally the last of the series for now...I am still adding to the collection.

Which one is your favourite?? Would love to know.

Linking it to the Awesome PPF and the Incredible ladies there!!!

Animal Sketches - Photo Challenge

Trying different mediums is something that interests me the most just as trying different themes. We all talk about signature style, for me, it does change with each medium (acrylics, watercolour, pen and ink, charcoal, mixed media) that I use and I believe that's perhaps the beauty of it. When I saw Fonda Clark Haight's Animal Photo Challenge and the quirky, humorous and adorable pictures of the animals up for the challenge, I wanted to join in and decided 'impromptu' to use charcoal. I was blown away by the works of the talented ladies! They were pretty inspiring! Thanks to Fonda and the ladies there for such a creatively-fun-'workout'. The one thing I gained from this is to use charcoal with much more confidence and to draw freehand without a sketch and it was all spontaneous!

I have noticed and heard that unless one loves animals truly, the ones you try to portray wouldn't come out well- with true sentiment. What do you think?

So here I am sharing the endearing beings that I made from those pictures. I have used willow charcoal and a fixative. The paper is Derwent Academy sketchbook. Edited it with some quotes (a couple of them my own if it's not credited) in Photoshop.

Here're the images from the challenge:

Linking it to PPF and the awesome ladies there!

The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran - Illustrations (a study) - Part 2

Kahlil Gibran's poetry is soulful as you can see from the excerpts and his illustrations are Blake-like, having that eerie sensuousness to it. Continuing my illustration journey of Gibran's "The Prophet," you can see the final six. In case you missed the first, read PART 1.

Thanks to every one of you who visits, takes time to read, absorb and analyse and leaves their thoughts and comments. It's hugely appreciated!

The next six:

"Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world.

But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,

So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also."

"The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs ride and run murmuring to the sea;

And the treasure of your infinte depths would be revealed to your eyes.

But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;

And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.

For self is a sea boundless and measureless."

"When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very hour, and whom save in prayer you may not meet.

Therefore let your visit to that temple invisible be for naught but ecstacy and sweet communion."

"For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

And what is it to cease breathing but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing,

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb,

And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance."

"The mist that drifts away at dawn, leaving but dew in the fields, shall rise and gather into a cloud and then fall down in rain.

And not unlike the mist have I been.

In the stillness of the night, I have walked in your streets, and my spirit has entered your houses, 

And your heart-beats were in my heart, and your breath was upon my face, and I knew you all.

Ay, I knew your joy and your pain, and in your sleep your dreams were my dreams."

"It was but yesterday we met in a dream.

You have sung to me in my aloneness, and I of your longings have built a tower in the sky.

But now our sleep has fled and our dream is over, and it is no longer dawn.

The noontide is upon us and our half waking has turned to fuller day, and we must part.

If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.

And if our hands should meet in another dream we shall build another tower in the sky."

"A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me."

So saying "The Prophet" concludes.

Hope you enjoyed "The Prophet". Would love to hear from you.

Linking it to the PPF and the immensely talented ladies out there!