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.

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.

Divided By God

Headline Prompt:  Divided by God:  What does "God" mean to you?  How do you access"God" or the divine or the sacred in your life?
Color Prompt: Metallics - gold, silver, copper, bronze, or all of them!
Quote Prompt: "This is my simple religion.  There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy.  Our own brain, our own heart, is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."  The Dalai Lama

I believe. I believe in the super power - the omnipotent and the omnipresent! It's our - each person's(believer or non believer) - faith  that helps and guides us to move forward in life. I feel His presence whenever I am in dire need of it...it could be in the form of a friend, a neighbour, an incident or even a statement from someone or somewhere. It could come from anywhere...the right thing at the right time; we just need to be open to it. 

I believe that heaven and hell are right here and whatever we sow we reap before we make our final exit. So be aware of one's Karma. I just love to feel the light...I believe that there is that light in everyone of us; a tiny bit of energy that connects us with the cosmic power and we all are connected with invisible strings attached. Some see through it and some are unaware of it - but it's there all the same! So it is so awfully terrible when people trick, argue, cheat, fight and above all kill people so heartlessly just like some twigs or grass in the name of colour, caste, race, customs, cultures, religion and God.

I hope and pray that all the negative energies, negative forces, negative thoughts is shifted to positive ones and the world just becomes a better and peaceful place to live in harmony.

Acrylics (Only metallics - silver, copper, bronze and silver) and Pen - 7x5 inches

Close up

I have chosen one of the famous temples in South India which is also the capital city, Thiruvananthapuram, of the state, Kerala, I hail from. Thiruvananthapuram - Thiru, Anantha, Puram - The sacred abode of Lord Anantha Padmanabha, was in the news recently for the riches(would be a tiny word...as its billions of dollars worth making it to be the richest temple in the world perhaps after the final estimate of its inventory) it contained for centuries. It stands as a symbol of the treasures hidden in it for years and I take that metaphorically just as we, humans, fail to understand or neglect the treasures hidden in us...It is said that all the answers lie within, one just has to SEE it. That is where meditation helps according to our scriptures. So delve within, spend time with yourself and you will get to know the answer to the most poignant question of all times - 'Who am I?'

Linking it to Artists in Blogland and Paint Party Friday. 

To know more about the temple referred here, click Temple.

ps: You can always join me in my creative journey by Joining this site :) Thanks!

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

Lifelong Fan

Headline Prompt:  Lifelong Fan:  What or who have you consistently valued or looked up to in your life?  What lessons have you learned from people you admire?
Color Prompt:  Your favorite color now or from childhood or both!
Quote Prompt: "Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator; but among those whom I love, I can:  all of them make me laugh."  W.H.Auden

Actually I couldn't make any new one so I am posting a picture I had done before. I have been a life long fan of my mom. Whatever I am today is my mom's love and prayers. I know she had envisioned something more than this but name it on circumstances or something else I haven't reached there yet and I would like to some day! I think almost everything has been said about my feeling for my mom in my last post :)

I also would like to add that Friends have also been an integral part of my life. Its difficult to name one but there have been many who in some way or the other have influenced and inspired me, sometimes even the hard way. I am extremely sincere to them and fond of each one of them. I stand with them in their hour of need and along the way I expect that in return.

Teachers, they are my greatest ideals! Each one of them, their words of wisdom and their classes have all inspired me immensely. I am still in touch even with my Primary school teachers. Their influence has been great!

There are other important matters in life I have been fan about...like babies, kittens, puppies, granmas n granpas...  :) Perhaps my list would just continue....

Linking it to Fall Fearless & Fly Challenge in Artists in Blogland and Paint Party Friday

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

Security - FFF Challenge 4

Fall Fearless & Fly Challenge 4

Headline Prompt:  Security:  What makes you feel safe and secure?  What rattles your sense of security?  Where do you go for comfort and refuge?
Color Prompt:  Cool colors (blues, greens, violets, etc.) 

Quote Prompt: You can't make a place for yourself in the sun if you keep taking refuge under the family tree.  Helen Keller

 Security - Come to think of it there's a lot that can be said about it! Lot of factors!

For me, as for any lady/girl, a sense of security is part and parcel of life....perhaps one of the most important criteria. It could be from a smallest thing to one of the biggest in life... I feel my home, my place, my family especially my mom gives a firm sense of security. Speaking about my mom, she is a simple person who has spent all her life for her family which not only includes my dad, bro and me but also her parents, her siblings and the everyone else. She is one of the self-less persons I have seen in my entire life! She can identify and sense a person with her intuition, and whatever she has said has always come true. All the same she never expresses any negative feeling or harbour any grudge against anyone. It is only when she reaches the tip of her endurance does she react (which I have felt has it's disadvantages too!) I am very close to her and I think I am following that tradition with my daughter as well. The mother-daughter relationship has a strong foothold in my life; we are very close knit. So my inspiration, my comfort, my refuge has always been my mom. Similarly I have come across a lot of people who feel that they feel more secure where they reside. I have been here in Dubai for 11 years now but it's always my town, my place that gives me a sense of stability and security. I can not state the reason but that is just so. As soon as I reach there, it's like 'MY PLACE'! 

Misunderstandings rattles me...you, with all your goodwill and sense of positivity work on any relationship, any situation and when it backfires without any rhyme or reason, it bewilders me. I believe in the positivity of people...the energy that we speak of...but even after all your deepest, sincere and heartfelt actions people mistake you; that is beyond endurance. I think people often mistake tolerance for cowardice. It's just that we are tolerating; it is not out of cowardice. It's just that we don't wish to hurt the feelings of our near and dear ones. It's said that once the stone is thrown it can never be taken back or it's like the nail, once nailed it leaves a scar. 

If you have read it so far, then thanks...I am usually not the one for long posts! But this topic opened me up, I should say! 

So here's my interpretation of Security:

Security - 12x9inches, Mixed Media

 Please do leave a comment on your views...would love to read them :)

So until next time, adieu.

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

Triumphs and Defeats - FFF Challenge

Headline Prompt:  Triumphs and Defeats:  What do you see as your greatest triumphs or defeats?  What have they taught you?  Which have you learned more from?
Color Prompt:  Black and white
Quote Prompt: Not in the clamor of the crowded street, not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

This has been a great challenge to evaluate and assess ourselves. Perhaps my greatest is yet to come all the same I have had my moments where I have felt both.  Defeats, I have always found my way out and being a self inspiring and positive person I have worked it out even if I have taken some extra time at times! Triumphs I have had and yet I haven't let that affect me more than it should (may be I haven't had it BIG enough :) )  I personally feel whether it's triumph or defeat everyone has their share and one should never allow it to overpower us. Each experience is a Lesson from which one gains innumerably! 

You can see my interpretation here:
Flowers for triumph and tears for defeat...one could have a phase of triumph or defeat alone and/or a mix of both. The circles are the opportunities and chances that we grab and miss as they slide away while the blocks are the physical/mental blocks which could be circumstances, people, drained out period etc. The eye is the all seeing, all realizing, omnipresent eye that helps you to see yourself and others at the same time. It helps one to be the judge of the situation and learn from the experience. In a blink the situation could change and everything depends on one's perception - positive or negative, triumph or defeat!

As I am a lover of colours, it was difficult not to paint! But all the same I loved to see how it comes out putting aside my limitations and inhibitions.

Please do leave your valuable comments so that I can have an 'eye' it :)

Triumphs and Defeats - A5(5.9x8.3 inches), 

140lbs, Acid Free, Daler and Rowney Acrylic paper

Linking it to Fall Fearless and Fly - Third Challenge

Lingking it to PPF - Paint Party Friday

Have a Great Day!

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

Taking a Chance

First of all, thank you my dear friends and visitors for taking time and leaving a comment. It means a lot to me! I appreciate it a lot :) Also, to all my new followers a big welcome and a thank you. Hope you will like and love visiting Hues n Shades :)

This week's prompt is:

Headline Prompt: Taking a Chance: When did you take a chance or a leap of faith? How did it turn out? What did you learn?
Color Prompt: What color do you like least? Use it!
Quote Prompt: "Don't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase -- that's what wild geese are for." Anonymous
I had to do this last minute as I have lot of things going on right now. But surely I didn't want to miss this as well. So here's my interpretation.

Its always a dilemma to take a risk. When I had to leave a full time job because of few health issues I was totally frustrated. I had my downs and as they say when there’s none to help…we have to help ourselves… I had to do exactly that. I took to my hobby, my passion and turned it to a full time job. I am happy about it. I dream and aspire to secure a fulfilling space in the art world. My focus remains that but there are those troubled times when you wish for an anchor and just remain calm and still which most of the times, I struggle with.

As for the colours, as my blog name suggests I love each and every hue…I just can’t choose one from the other. But there are a few colours which I tend to use less…like shades of brown, purple, violet and maroon …so they are my choice here.

A5, Acrylics 

For more of Fall Fearless Fly Challenge submissions, visit Artists in Blogland
I am linking it to Paint Party Friday as well.

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

Inventing The Future (FFF Challenge)

Fall Fearless and Fly is an Art cleanse challenge happening in Artists in Blogland led by Jessica Sporn and Carolyn Dube.

Headline Prompt: Inventing the Future: Where do you want to be 5, 10, 15 years from now. What's holding you back? What's propelling you forward? What do you need to do or stop doing to create your future?

Color Prompt: Warm colors (reds, oranges, pinks, yellows)

Quote Prompt: "The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time." Abraham Lincoln.

Here's my version to it...



Mixed Media - acrylics, face paints, pitt pen and paper alphebets



Hope you like it :) 

Linking it Mandarin Orange@ Lorikart as well.

PS: As part of the art cleanse, I have decided to try a new template for my blog...I have gone for something simpler :)

What do you think about it??? Pls do let me know.

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