June 2009

This June,I was with my little grand daughter, Amie,once again utilising my creative abilities to keep her occupied.Our activities involved sketching each other,sewing,painting,clay modeling and going for long walks appreciating nature's bounty.
I brought with me from Singapore, the painting I had done for Amie in oil on canvas.She had requested me to paint Winnie the Pooh.When I showed her the painting for the first time from Singapore through the web cam, I had made only one bottle of honey. She told me to make three more bottles of honey and a bee. I added that and kept one part of the painting as a surprise for her. The painting represents a child's play room with the tropical foliage of Singapore seen through the window. The surprise item was the open book on the floor with the sketch of a story she loves to hear from me.It is the story of Tuntuni dancing on an brinjal plant- a story written for children by Sukumar Ray in my mother tongue,bengali. This painting now hangs in her little corner in their living room.
I have made a number of sketches of Amie from photographs but, live drawings of a 3yr+ is a different story. She found me using the eraser and remarked," Thhaaam[that's how she addresses me],you are good at art and craft,then why do you have to use the eraser?"In reply I just smiled and she carried on," because I move a lot, is that right Thhaam?" This shows the relaxed atmosphere in which we worked/played.The Ganesha in the background is also my hand work.It is a embroidery on silk using a typical stich called kantha stitch used by the traditional bengali women to make quilts.

Two of our sketches ->