New activities in Chennai and Singapore

I returned to Chennai around the 3rd week of September and our annual festival, Durga puja was round the corner. It is an event which takes place for 5 continuous days and is an occasion for the local artists and artisans to display their talent. I have not attended the Durga puja in Kolkata since 1990, but had the opportunity to participate in the festival in Mumbai, Singapore, UK and this year in Chennai.
Immediately after the Durga puja, I was invited to an old age home in Chennai to have a craft workshop with the ladies. It was just before Deepavali, so we decorated lamps made from clay. We also made greeting cards with motifs made by the art of quilling.

While all this was going on, the author Swapna Mirashi called me from Singapore and asked whether I would be interested in illustrating a children's book. I knew that would be fun, and considering the uncertainties in my life, I opted for digital illustration. That was the start of my adventure into the world of two seagulls, Olive and Jay......

1st November,2014 we moved back to Singapore. I continued with the book illustration. It was fun to create pictures based on a story line. The author of the book happened to be in Singapore and that made things much easier for both of us. It was yet another learning process for me. I used GIMP for most of my illustrations. I was in Singapore till middle of April,2015 and the book was published in May,2015. The book is available in Singapore. 

While in Chennai and Singapore, I continued with coffee paintings. The warm earth tone and its versatility as a medium makes be go on experimenting with it.