Friday, February 23, 2018

From my sketchbook

Today I am sharing a couple of works from my sketchbook. I am not someone who draws religiously in sketchbooks but I do draw in random papers and stack it. But recently, probably, with Inktober I have started drawing in sketchbook since it's easy to keep it organized that way. The first picture reminds me so much of Mexico, haven't been to the place yet. I would someday since it's the place of one of the most inspiring artists, Frida Kahlo. Sadly, I have come across sneers (particularly from men) when artists, particularly females, mention Frida as their favourite. "It's kind of cliche!" they say, but personally I feel that female artists tend to connect with the struggles, sufferings and the undying spirit Frida still carries in her. It's a struggle of love, loss, pain and overcoming them with her awe-inspiring, exalting and unabashed art.

The-Orange-Wall-HuesnShades


As I have mentioned previously, I am fond of making portraits these days. This is a portrait (with her due permission) of Eiko Hara, a Japanese model, whom I came across on Instagram. In case you would like me to do your portrait, please email me with a picture of yours to mail(dot)huesnshades(at)gmail(dot)com...just for fun!


Eiko-Hara-HuesnShades


A couple of months back I had gone to Paathirakunnumana around one and half hours from my place. It's a serene and beautiful place with Sarppakkavu, the sacred abode of snakes with snake deities in a traditional and natural setting. It was part of the traditional homes in South India and is almost extinct except in a very few, rare abodes. The air and the vibe there is so different and unique! This is a quick illustration during our visit.


Paathirakunnumana-HuesnShades


Another quick hand at a flower picture.


Arali-HuesnShades

Linking it to PPF and the gorgeous ladies there! They are awesome!!!


Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Top Ten Art Kisses

“See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea -
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me? ” 

Percy Bysshe Shelly, Love's Philosophy



Since it's "that time of the year", why not revisit some artworks that would inspire some more love? This is my Top Ten Art Kisses, not entirely in this order though. 


Rodin himself described the subject of The Kiss as: 
"... a theme frequently treated in the academic tradition, a subject complete in itself and artificially isolated from the world surrounding it; it is a big ornament sculpted according to the usual formula and which focuses attention on the two personages instead of opening up wide horizons to daydreams."


“Make me immortal with a kiss.” 
Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus


Gustav Klimt painted "The Kiss" (1907-1908) at a time when his career was on the down slide. But with this painting, he achieved fame and success like never before. It was bought even before it was finished by the Beldevere Museum. It's one of the most reproduced paintings which portrays lovers completely oblivious to the world immersed in their kiss, it beams with tenderness. It's probably the first time where the woman becomes the protagonist rather than an object of sexual desire in Klimt's paintings which were often accused of being pornographic. It is also one of his most conservative as well as they are fully robed. The fact that most caught my attention is that the painting has 9 kinds of gold leaves used in it and it does invoke awe in every person who actually stands before it. It is around 6x6 feet. Klimt was said to have been inspired by the gilded Byzantine mosaics of  Basilica of San Vitale when he visited Ravenna, Italy.


“Kiss me, and you will see how important I am.” 
Sylvia PlathThe Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath



What seems to attract me to Edvard Munch's "The Kiss" (these are two versions - 1897 and 1892) is that the lovers seem to fuse here. The faces melt into each other and one cannot be distinguished from the other. It is a matter of total surrender pushing aside all the ego...moments perhaps that is rare. One could also feel the movement - around the lovers in the left and the wind-blown curtain in the right. One could feel the air if one closely observes. Munch has a couple of versions of The Kiss and these were actually woodcuts.


“No one has imagined us. We want to live like trees,
sycamores blazing through the sulfuric air,
dappled with scars, still exuberantly budding,
our animal passion rooted in the city.” 
Adrienne RichThe Dream of a Common Language


The strokes in warm colours merged with the strokes in cool are scintillating in this painting, In Bed: The Kiss (1892) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Another aspect that makes it unique is the provocative and unconventional subject matter of Lesbian love. Again, there is this tenderness portrayed here by Toulouse who was constantly visiting brothels for his subject-matter and who was commissioned to make Moulin Rouge paintings. He has portrayed the genuine depth of universal love without making a judgment or being reduced to a voyeur. "I paint things as they are, I don't comment." Toulouse had once mentioned.


"You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly."
Sam Keen


Rene Magritte's "The Lovers II" (1928) is one of mystery, isolation and probably frustration which goes more with the modern times. The room one can notice is insignificant, nothing interesting happening there while the focus is on the lovers who are veiled. The intimacy and passion are disrupted by the veil and that is what is the most intriguing here.


“O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!”
William ShakespeareRomeo and Juliet


The most famous star-crossed lovers sharing a kiss on their wedding night which was supposed to be their last painted by Frank Bernard Dicksee in 1884 was voted as the most romantic artwork in Britain. This Shakespearean story is so popular that it is ingrained in the hearts of the young (and old lovers alike) worldwide. Perhaps that makes it enticing all the more. I particularly love Juliet's flowing garb, the foliage and the distant perspective of the mountains and the sky, not to mention the grey-golden-yellow arch.


"A kiss can be a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation point."
Mistinguett


"The Kiss of the Sphinx" (1895) by Franz von Stuck is one where he portrays a femme fatale who grabs a man with her lion's talons while she ardently kisses him. It's eerie in the atmosphere it creates, bold and raw in colours to the point of engulfing the viewer and almost demonic and brutal its adherence. 


“Now a soft kiss - Aye, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss.” 
John Keats


Tamara de Lempicka, "The Baroness with a Brush", was the queen of glamour and art deco. Her "The Kiss" (1922) is an amalgamation of cubism and neo-classicism. We are left to assume whether they are about to kiss or it had already happened. The only "colour", here, I feel are the faces of the lovers and the lady's crimson lips. They stand amid the bleak and grey surroundings that don't inspire love and yet they seem to be totally immersed in each other.


The kiss itself is immortal. It travels from lip to lip, century to century, from age to age. Men and women garner these kisses, offer them to others and then die in turn. 
Guy de Maupassant, The Complete Short Stories


Amor and Psyche by Antonio Canova (1787-1793) is an "amor-dripping" work in sculpture which resides in Louvre, France. It depicts the just awakened Psyche supported by Cupid, the God of Love. Psyche who had passed into a fatal sleep was woken by Cupid's gentle prick of the arrow. Here, she languorously lies in Cupid's arms in a tender embrace most possibly followed by a kiss. The legend ends in their marriage with Psyche made immortal and assigned as the Goddess of the Soul. There is an interplay of textures here - the skin, the fabric, the hair, the rock, the wings, the quiver and so on. The sculpture can be viewed from different angles, there's no one perspective.


 ‘Alas, that love, so gentle in his view, Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof’
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet


The passion, the romance, the total embrace was a forbidden one. Originally called Paolo and Francesca, Auguste Rodin's "The Kiss", 1884 sculpture was based on Dante's "Divine Comedy". It captures the moment of the first kiss by the "adulterous" couple who are brutally murdered, soon after, by Francesca's husband. They are trapped in the second circle of Hell. There's teeming energy here while the lovers' are unaware of their approaching fatal fate. This sculpture is a masterpiece as well and plays with different textures and can be viewed in 360 degrees.


“You and I, it's as though we have been taught to kiss in heaven and sent down to earth together, to see if we know what we were taught.” 
 Boris PasternakDoctor Zhivago


At one look it could be passed on as a comic strip but it is Roy Lichtenstein's "Kiss-V" of 1964 which is a hallmark of his innovative pop art with primary colours and Ben-Day dots. It is ambiguous as to whether the lovers are breaking up or reuniting but I would go with the latter! It's quite melodramatic a scene with eye-striking colours and intense display of emotion. The dramatic effect is distinct.



This list doesn’t show allegiance to any source, it is a potpourri of my own observations with what I have read on many websites of the artists', videos I saw, articles I read and the like. I haven't seen any of the artwork in person but someday I would love to! There are of course many more paintings that could be talked about. These are the ones that forged ahead as I thought about this topic. You could leave me your favourites in the comments. I would love to see them too.


images: google art project, wikipedia, wikimedia, artists' sites.

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Friday, February 9, 2018

Shivalingapoo - And when the fragrance fills the air

I have been in love with this tree (Couroupita guainensis ) for some time now!!! Can’t get over it... there are some other trees too! But Shivalinga poovu or Nagalinga poovu, the flowers of this tree are so mesmerising and captivating that every time I walk by it to the temple nearby, I seem to stand still. The fragrance reaches even before you cross the gate. I inhale it deeply trying to make it linger for long! The hues, the uncommon shape, the texture is all so alluring!! I am always transported to Sree Raghavendra temple in Bengaluru. That was where I first fell in love with these divinely fragrant blossoms!!! I was 8 years old then.

I still remember the lush green garden with low hanging branches with fragrance in the air (not only of the flowers but also the incense from the temple) that each time I entered it, it would get me into a dream-like existence with prayers in the background. That vast expanse (or so I imagine) that I left many years back is still fresh in memory maybe with the romantic, the nostalgic adage that very often evolves and gets attached to it with passing years particularly with something from childhood. The strong-hued colors, the rich texture, the exceptional shape, the intoxicating fragrance are all so engraved, to stay forever with me. I was afraid to touch it though, as a kid, as it was considered that there would be a lot of serpents around the tree and to vouch for that the exotic flower did have a serpent-head-like form in its center.



Couroupita-guainensis-HuesnShades
Couroupita guainensis
from the nearby ashram compound where is situated a temple



Shivalingapoo-or-Nagalingapoo-HuesnShades
Shivalingapoo or Nagalingapoo

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shivalingapoo
...this is nowhere near its true self



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shivalingapoo-sketch-HuesnShades


Here, the colours aren’t true, I have tried a variation in colours. I haven’t been able to quite catch the exact beauty of the flower. I think it’s a "lesson" again...but hey, I will keep trying! I feel it's unfinished too...will work a little more on it.

Linking to the gorgeous ladies in PPF...thanks Eva and Kristin for hosting it.

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Friday, February 2, 2018

Super Blue Blood Moon - Unto You


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31 Jan was our Super Blue Blood Moon day! None would have missed it. In fact, the whole world was over it. This takes me to the question, Are you a moon person? A moon-gazer? I am one. Even when it's uneventful I keep peeping at the moon. So it's no surprise if I watch the whole episode of the Lunar Eclipse, my daughter was with me too...I think almost everyone must have done it. After all, such events happen once-in-a-blue-moon, right? 


In our part of the world, it wasn’t blue or Super! However, the Super Blue Blood Moon day did have its effect on me... Almost during the whole event, I was on my balcony watching the different phases the universe was playing with! I couldn’t capture a single picture properly!! So here's  how I Played with the Blood Moon! Yesterday I experienced my own science and magic of the Universe! In the second picture, you would see a much red moon as I was trying to see that effect. They bent into a curve, lined up... all for my sake! 😊😊😊


Couldn't help writing this...just a few thoughts.

Unto You

You rose in the eastern sky
With a silver crescent of a ring and a blood red hue
Was it anger or passion that you wore
Couldn’t decide for it could be both.
Night after night you rose above
Spread a silver blanket across
Urban and rustic dwellings alike
But did it matter to sapiens at all!
You are taken for granted, O nimbus One!
The world has bulbs, lights and all it needs
To light up this realm...
Yet, there are a few who miss you
When you don’t make your appearance
Who keenly watch the ever-changing phases
That you seem to be a master after all...
Is that inconstancy that you speak for?
Or is it the change that you vouch for?
The ebb and flow of life that you offer?
Anything that He learns or just suffers?
Like it or not, you do influence
In the wails of a lunatic and the howls of the wolves
Like the waves on the oceans and its undercurrents.
Not to mention artists and poets
Who have attributed countless allegations.
You are a witness – silent and surreptitious
Of past, present and the future...
The world sleeps when you are up
You see the real man in all his ‘grandeur’
Night after night the ghosts enter
To clamour and create chaos,
To loot and plunder, to lust and revel,
To make sacrifices, to celebrate death,
To reign a world that you no longer recognize.
Still, you embrace one and all
For you still live with the hope of a new-found
Land where dreams blossom in little children
And is strewn across the cerulean sky
Where flowers and saplings grow in secret spaces
Waiting for the eminent rays followed by your dews.

#deepagopalsunil


This is actually the progression of my painting of the moon and then I added it all in one frame with Photoshop. 



My-Super-Blood-Moon-in-curve-HuesnShades

My-Super-Blood-Moon-HuesnShades

My-Super-Blood-Moon-in-line-HuesnShades

This is another Moon post that you may like if this is not an overdose!

So how did you play with your moon???!!

Linking it to the Awesome girls in Paint Party Friday! Thank you for the feature on PPF page!!! I am over the Moon!!!!