Year 2011, leaves a mark on my journey.........

As I walked through the first half of 2011,each day was filled with the fascinating experience of discovering this wonderful relationship that evolved between me and each piece of canvas. I had always felt the urge to illustrate Tagore’s songs and poems and decided to have a solo exhibition of my paintings on this special occasion of his one hundred and fiftieth birth anniversary. While reinventing my interpretation of his works and exploring the visual content of my expression and skill on the canvas, I enjoyed every bit of the experience that nourished my thoughts and my journey through this joy of creation.

Growing up in Kolkata, the birthplace of Tagore, I was significantly influenced by the trend set by this genius. My mother was educated in Viswa Bharati, the educational institution founded by him. She created in me, a deep interest in Tagore’s works and philosophical thoughts. She  taught me to appreciate art in its various forms and was my constant companion in my journey through art. All types of performing art that I learnt or took part in, had something to do with Tagore’s creations. Be it singing,dancing,stage decoration,costume designing, or dressing up a bride,one could clearly see in my presentation,the influence of the style referred to as ‘Santiniketan' style,a style developed by Abanindranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose, the doyens of the Bengal school of art.

Tagore lived and worked during a period of crucial social and political transformation in India. He responded to its intense moments through his works. He wanted all human beings to be treated equally regardless of the country or nation to which they belonged. He also did not want barriers between people even within the same nation—the barriers of caste, race, and religion.Through his work, Tagore has captured every aspect of life in its ultimate poetic fashion that creates waves in the mind of the reader and allows deep realization of humanity in its universal context. Appreciating Tagore’s creation requires one’s ability to fathom the underlying symbolism and experience the spiritual realization associated with it.Each of my work had a story to tell and the more I tried to express my interpretation of Tagore’s creation, the more I discovered its variety and depth of understanding. Every time I started a new piece, I received the inspiration from within.
In Tagore’s words, ‘Life is perpetually creative because it contains in itself that surplus which ever overflows the boundaries of the immediate time and space, restlessly pursuing its adventure of expression in the varied forms of self-realization.’
I would start with the sketch of an image of the song or the poem I wanted to illustrate............

...............and then colour it using the program doodle in my Ipad. This enabled me to alter the composition till I felt satisfied with it. This would serve as the miniature sample.

I would then enlarge the sketch and transfer it to the canvas and start working.The final outcome :

I used a lot of dynamic colours, and my composition would reflect my interpretation of the song that inspired the painting. Combining traditional and contemporary styles I painted 15 works in acrylic,1in mixed media, 4 in water colour and two pencil sketches of Tagore within a span of 6 months.My first solo exhibition, 'Timeless Tagore’ was held at the Gallery of Gnani Arts, Singapore, from 7th to 17th May,2011.

It was a great experience. It received good reviews from collectors and the media. I was happy with my work. The overall experience felt like the opening of the doorway to my creative expression - it was more of a spiritual journey that led towards discovering and expressing myself to the world. I suddenly felt very light as my fear was gone ! 

My works for this exhibition can be viewed on-line at The Gallery of Gnani Arts, Singapore  and on my website along with the translations of the songs.

On 2nd May I was invited by ISEAS to exhibit few of my works on 5th May, during the occasion of unveiling of Tagore’s bust by the Indian minister of foreign affairs, his excellency,

Sri.S.M.Krishna and the circular was out with my works displayed on it. 

By then I had already submitted my works to the gallery and the logistics for transporting the works was not sounding OK to me. I agreed to bring the two pencil sketches of Tagore’s portraits and quickly did two paintings. It was a good test of my skills. 

Mid way through my exhibition, I had to leave for USA to attend my daughter’s graduation ceremony. She completed her PhD in neuro-biology. It was a good break for me. I visited a few galleries and enjoyed our trip on Amtrak along the West coast with our daughter. The day I was leaving for Singapore, I received a call from my grand daughter from Boston requesting me to fly over to Boston the next day. I promised her that I will try to be there soon and left for Singapore.

Upon my return to Singapore, I received the press cuttings from  Lianhe Zaobao, the Chinese 

equivalent of Strait Times.

 

Second half of 2010

Since 12th July,2010,I was in Wayland with my grand daughter Amie for almost ten weeks. This time,I found Amie playing more independently.She had developed keen interest in music and reading.She picked up a few songs from the movie Sound of music just after watching it a couple of times and requested me to teach her 'doe a dear' on the piano.She could play the entire tune using only one finger.

We did some paintings together, built a little puppet theatre inspired by the lonely goatherd song, stitched a cloth doll and wrote and illustrated a story together for Baba’s [Amie’s father/my son] birthday.All along we had to maintain secrecy as it was meant to be a surprise for Baba.

The collage above used to be in my room in Wayland. The sunflower in the collage was done by her as she sat next to me while I was painting mine.

This movie below is the digital version of the book  created by Amie and me.

         
Here are a few works in pencil drawing, water colour and pastel which I did during my stay.

                From Mamoni's garden

             Amie in Cape Cod  

         Swan pond- Cape Cod                     

                                                                       

                                                               Ellora and Amie watching a movie in Cape Cod                   

After returning to Singapore, I  tried out a few watercolours on a theme close to my heart and was happy with the outcome. Every time I visit my children and grand child, I return feeling fresh and regain the initiative to create something new. I decided to show those pieces to an art gallery in Singapore. They liked my work and told me to work on the same theme for a solo exhibition. I had to travel to India for two weeks in October, but on my return to Singapore, I signed a contract with the gallery and decided to go for a solo exhibition to be held from 7th May till 17th May 2011. I was away from Singapore again from end of November 2010 till the first week of Jan 2011. I started working on the project from 3rd week of Jan and have completed eleven works in acrylic on canvas the size ranging from 24”x30” to 40”x50”. I am quite satisfied with the progress.

Though I can’t post my works here, I can share a few things I learnt from the experience. I knew that I had taken up a challenge to do something very special and unique. It involved a lot of thinking along with a test of not only my painting and drawing skills but above all my ability to compose. I wanted to blend classical and contemporary spirit in order to display my interpretation of poetry written a century earlier and bring out its relevance in the present context.

I hope my readers will now understand the reason for my long silence and will bear with me for a few more days.Thank you for allowing me to enjoy this wonderful part of my journey.

Balboa Park and Old Town-San Diego

I arrived in San Diego on July 4th to visit my daughter. It is one of the most picturesque places I have visited. This is my second visit and this time I came prepared with a mind to paint the beautiful scenery from my daughter's bed room.As luck would have it, the sun did not show up throughout my stay and the misty atmosphere due to a marine layer above the ocean transformed Lajolla into a hill station. I didn't miss sunny San Diego.It was a welcome change for me after Singapore, and I took this opportunity to spend my time at the Balboa Park and Old Town instead of the Lajolla cove.
At Balboa Park, the Spanish Village is a must see for an artist. Here thirty-seven working artist studios/galleries host over two hundred independently juried local painters. I thoroughly enjoyed a stroll through the galleries talking to artists.

Galleries at the Spanish Village------->

<----------- Artist at work

Artist's studio--------->

At the end of the day, it is the duty of the artists to clean the space around their galleries.

Some of the galleries belong to individual artists, while, some are shared by a group of artists taking turns to man it.









There are workshops for children conducted by the artists. This one was for making decorative items from coloured clay ----------->

The Spanish village is a great platform for the local artists of San Diego.




I spent the rest of the evening at the San Diego Museum of Art and was lucky to participate in an on-going art workshop conducted by Michele Guieu . Each participating visitor was given a A4 black and a A4 white sheet of paper, scissors and some glue and asked to produce a flat image of any permanent collection of art works from the museum. This video made by Michele gives an idea of how she wanted the art works to be transformed into black and white images.

It was fun to do some artwork just for the sake of spontaneous, unadulterated joy of creating

The Old Town-San Diego is yet another
interesting place.Here one is transported to a period from 1821 to 1872.It still retains the Mexican flavour. There is a week-end street market where local artisans sell hand-made items including pottery,jewelry,painting,hand-blown glass,and more..