Priceless treasure

If I was an Egyptian queen, I'd have an extremely short list of things I'd want to follow me into the black of beyond.  Number one would be this little portrait done of his mom by Anant when he was about three and half years old.

It has weathered a lot, first just flapping around in a file. Then being framed proudly along with 2-3 other sketches, one of a seven-headed Ravana (three heads are at the back, Mamma), his perspective of a Formula One car  as seen on TV, and a cheerful red train, thanks to the advice of a cartoonist who dropped into the house one day. I've forgotten his name, but am eternally grateful for his intervention, without which they would still be languishing in a folder like countless others produced by the resident artist. He had a theory about how it boosts the young artist's confidence and encourages them, and added that he had done the same for his nephews. And so these originals have adorned the walls, occasionally being shifted from one wall to another. A change is as good as a feast, as someone said.

About the portrait...I thought it is a rather gentle rendering, bringing to mind a certain friendly ghost, maybe because I was always hovering about? If you  are keen-sighted and spotted the artist's signature at the bottom, and wondered whether we had a precocious genius on our hands, well, the truth is simpler. About two years ago, during his  cricket craze phase, Anant broke the glass of this portrait with the cricket ball, and  during this time, he  made use of the opportunity to scrawl his name prominently across the bottom. Short-sighted me never noticed for days, and then I was terribly annoyed. My question was very simple and I started out by saying: "how do you expect people to believe that you did this when you were about three when ....blah blah blah...." and then I gave up. It didn't matter.  Nothing mattered except that it was STILL his portrait of ME, and he had the artistic licence to do what he wanted with it. (Besides, he did colour coordinate the signature.)

Now that Anant is in some kind of tribal art phase, and is currently "experimenting" with the Warli style now, we read up something about this particular form of art.

In one write-up on the Internet, it was mentioned that the triangle, circle and square feature in this form; however only the triangle and circle are shapes found in nature, for instance mountains, leaves, the sun, etc.  I  wonder -- is that why we think of urban landscapes or man-made environments in terms of "boxes" and rectangular shapes rather than something more fluid and organic?

Anyway, coming back to the said portrait, it is interesting that the triangle was prominent in his very first "articulate" portrait as well.  Anybody with even the slightest interest in understanding how children perceive things and how they learn would be interested in such milestone drawings (if not all of them). Having said that, it was the broad (triangular) smile that astonished me the most though. I always thought I was a rather grim and forbidding person, and with a toddler on my hands and working, often anxious about a gazillion different things.  A prosaic reason could be that at around three years he just didn't have as much control over his little starfish fingers then as he does now, and the smile ended up so big and cheesy. But being the subject of this portrait, I have my own spin on it.  He and I secretly knew that  my broadest smile was reserved then and will be reserved for always for my little boy. Just like that of any mother across the world. Happy Children's Day !

Finally, the outdoors...

The crisp winter air in Delhi signals the beginning of more outdoorsy activities. Rosy cheeked children dressed in their winter uniforms skip along happily to school. Just driving on the beautiful roads of Delhi past the parks and monuments  inspires us to plan weekend activities like picnics and birdwatching trips, to make full use of the season. 

As if that’s not enough, a profusion of events in the city leave us spoilt for choice. Music concerts, exhibitions, haats (or outdoor markets) for crafts, food festivals, and outdoor dance and music performances are a sure magnet for anyone who wants to give stuffy malls a miss. One such ongoing festival was Akhyan being held on the lawns of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, which is devoted to performance and masked art forms of India. Featuring stalls where craftspeople demonstrated their skills, making masks, leather puppets, scrolls or kaavads, besides an exhibition on masks and puppets of India. 

A sight to behold just as the Dastkar bazaar opened in the morning. Photo by Anant.

Puppet becoming puppeteer? Photo by Anant.

Master of the kitschy school of photography? Anant's perspective.

Can't get enough of these giant leather puppets. Photo by Anant.

On the same lawns, a crafts bazaar by Dastkar also provided enough opportunities to do our Diwali shopping or stock up for the winter. The Dastkar bazaar focuses on small development organizations working with artists and craftspersons to design and produce interesting and innovative objects,often with natural materials.

Another interesting feature was the workshops  by artists and craftspeople which could be attended by anyone for the nominal sum of Rs 30. 

Anant and I attended two such workshops, one on Madhubani painting and the other on the papercutting  called Sanjhi. While an hour is hardly enough to gain deep knowledge on anything, it was like diving in at the deep end and just doing what we were instructed to do, and asking questions to get more information. Both instructors said they have been working at their art since childhood. Madhubani painting was a revelation as we learnt that the inks and paints are made from plant material. The black ink used for the outlines is made with soot and kerosene. The paper was handmade brushed lightly with cowdung. Each of us was able to make one small painting outline using the nib and special black ink, and we needed to fill it out at home with poster paints. An hour was enough to understand the control needed over the nib, and also to get an overview of the typical layout of a Madhubani painting. 

At the Madhubhani school of painting, on the lawns of the IGNCA. Anant working on his initial outlines with a nib and the special ink. Photo by Namitha

Namitha's  attempt to get a hang of this style (voluntary disclosure, the bird on upper right corner was done by the instructor). Photo by Namitha

Tiger rendered in Madhubani style by Anant (voluntary disclosure: the tiger was done fully by Anant, with some help on the background by the instructor). Photo by Namitha

The Sanjhi paper cutting technique was not easy at all. Intricate stencils are used to transfer a design onto paper. A specially sharpened pair of barber’s scissors (with really short cutting sufaces) is used to cut out the paper stencil.  The point of the scissors pierces the paper which is supported from behind by one hand. Originally such stencils were  used to make rangolis(patterns with coloured powders or flowers). Current uses of these delicate stencils range from framing them or using them for dry rangolis. 

It was indeed an afternoon well spent, soaking in the mild winter sun, stretched out on the lawns, and learning something new.

Festive sights

An impromtpu visit to Bangalore during the Dussehra (Dasara) festival period resulted in some interesting photo opportunities for Anant.

A walk through Gandhi Bazaar, a local market in Bangalore, is a feast for the senses. Multi-hued flowers in straw baskets, garlands, banana leaves to adorn vehicles, ash gourds...the dolls that are used to decorate the traditional kolu or doll display that many households feature during this festival.

Flowers at Gandhi Bazaar market

A Chetiyar doll, usually a shopkeeper in the doll display

Vivid colours of the dolls in a shop waiting to be picked up by customers to adorn their kolu

A kolu at a relative's house.

Nature journal

Even if it takes time to figure out watercolours, I still can work out ways to bring in birds and paints into my life.

The little boy was gifted a camera for his birthday yesterday, and I thought that this was a great time to start him on a nature journal. Birding trips always result in us writing lists on random sheets of paper, that's how much we rely on photography as documentation. But there is so much more to see than just birds, there's seeds, seed pods, spiders, dragon flies, beetles, butterflies, mushrooms, slugs.... A boy needs a place to record all this.

So I picked up this inexpensive handmade journal bound in fabric so that it could be used as a nature journal. I used my painting of the Flame-backed Woodpecker as a reference, and used fabric paints, to make the cover more interesting. When painting on fabric I use a really tiny brush with short bristles which functions almost like a pen. It is easier than I expected really.

My boy  loved it. I do hope it gets him started on journalling. I also had an idea that I could use the tea bag pouches that I refuse to trash on some pages so that he can store treasures like tiny seeds and feathers.

A fabric bound handmade notebook

Ah, can that be an inspiration?

A perfect present for a little boy -- and coming full circle really because the painting I made was based on his photograph of the bird!

Slow progress

It's been a passion with me to collect paint supplies, and although I bring them out once in a while, seriously getting around to putting paintbrush to paper was tougher.

My interest is in painting birds, and watercolours do bring out the details of this fascinating subject wonderfully.   Being a self-taught artist (how easily that rolls out..) comes with a price, and one needs to be really honest or have good critics around who can say things that are constructive without damaging the delicate artist's ego.  All I can say with the experience of exactly four pieces of relatively small-sized watercolours is that I have a long way to go. I would advise any other closet artist to invest in a good spiral bound artist's block which can chronicle your efforts. Although this can make you cringe when you look at your first attempts, you can progressively cheer up - in fact, if you flip the pages fast enough you  might see more of the good parts.

The really wonderful part about painting was that I turned my attention not only to the details of the birds, their plumage, their silhouette etc., but I began noticing trees: their trunks, their shapes, the branches and leaves. All these paintings are from photographs taken by the boys, but I was witness to these birds in nature, and I recall everything that happened, how the photograph was shot, and the sense of exhilaration we felt when we saw the bird.  This is reflected in the paintings, rather these attempts at painting them. Sketching, noticing forms, brush control, paint fluidity all these were learning experiences. While I have tried to be true to their basic shapes, this appears to be more a snapshot of their mood, some sort of continuation of my professional work in editing and publishing. The paintings really are edited versions of the photographs.

Interestingly the bird that looks fairly "flat" in the photograph, the shikra,  has come out quite well as a painting. That's because I had to take more effort in layering to get the effect I wanted.  I remember feeling a keen sense of awe watching this beautiful bird at head height (we were in the Canter at Ranthambore Tiger Reserve) just about 12 feet away from us. The effect was of silent power couched in delicate colours.

Update: I had a discussion with my friend Kamini about these paintings, and after that I decided to post the original photographs alongside the paintings so you can get an idea of how much editing and cropping I had to do to translate it into a painting.  These are actually photographs of photographs since I did not have the digital files with me. The photographs of the Flame-backed Woodpecker and the Spotted Dove were taken by Anant and three others by Dipak. It is difficult to encapsulate the magic of the Shikra and almost ashen coloured tree trunks and branches that provide an almost ethereal quality to the photograph. Even the blurry yellow leaf that appears in the foreground can be excused - remember that these are photographs taken from a vehicle and we stopped for barely thirty seconds. One does not go about manoeuvring one's position in a Canter with several other people! The thing about my painting is that I have no patience in taking time over the painting - since these aren't really large canvases. I feel compelled to do the sketch, filling and background in one sitting. One could call it artistic urge, but...actually, I know it's just plain old impatience. 

Oriental Tree Pie - this social, almost tame, bird was common in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. Don't miss the blotches of paint hidden really badly with white paint. What a mess!

Blossom-headed Parakeet - a riot of colours, really a challenge for me to figure it out (as you can tell) This beautiful bird really appears boring in my painting.

Perky Flame-backed Woodpecker sitting on the Flame of the Forest (Butea monosperma)  - it was high up on this tree and quite small.

Shikra at Ranthambore Tiger Reserve

Don't forget to leave some blank pages in between so little hands can have a go too. Sketch of a  Spotted Dove (minus the spots) by  Anant (June 2010)

Impossible is...

...Nothing?

Handstitched cotton shoulder bag with jute backing, sisal handle and embellishments. Handpainted kingfisher on front pocket.  Made by Namitha (September 2010)

For some reason, the only phrases that come in to mind at this moment are advertising slogans like Kodak moment, "Priceless" as in the Mastercard ad, and "Impossible is Nothing" which my son tells me is from Adidas.

Sometimes words irritate me, it can be anything, even just the syntax which really gets on my nerves. The words get all jumbled up in my brain and rearrange themselves into some  memory unearthed from the past.

"Impossible is Nothing" is a classic example. It always gets rearranged into "Nothing is Impossible", and from there, it's just one way street for me. I have to get up, get into my Sister Act avatar and become part of an imaginary gospel choir singing "Nothing is impossible when you put your trust in God...".

All this is a throwback to my two years in a boarding school in Bangalore. By default, given their presence on the school campus 24/7/365, thanks to parents being abroad or in a different city, the girls who lived  in the hostel were coopted into the school choir. This made it easy for them to called for practice early in the morning for school assemblies and special events like annual functions, Easter and Christmas. There were many advantages to this, of course some expeditions to the outside world and visits to other schools, besides of course occasionally, official sanction to escape from class and spend time practising for special events. We had a hymn book which we used, and for special events we'd practise all those classic numbers like Oh for the wings of a dove... and Partrides in a Pear Tree.

I still lustily break out into song when some of these phrases pop up during conversation.  If you are wondering how doves and partridges could feature in everyday conversation, you obviously have no idea what we are about...this family has birds in its belfry.

Anyway to get back to my scintillating brush with choral singing, there was this time when we had to form two rows of singers facing each other with the choir mistress Miss Fritchley in the centre. I think we were practising singing in parts. Be that as it may, girls will be girls and a little fifth grader called Harsha kept making faces at the opposite row whenever Miss F had her back to her row. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't quite wipe the giggle off my face when Miss F turned to face us, and she immediately thought that I was the instigator and told me to leave the choir and never return or some such pronouncement.

Naturally, I was extremely upset at being wrongly accused, and I tried to convince myself that I was better off without choir practice. But as the little girl Harsha was in the hostel, a few well-meaning classmates of mine went up to her and insisted that she confess to Miss F. And this great confession happened about a fortnight or so later. I was unaware of all this background drama -- I was too busy being British without being British.

And one morning when I was just walking in the corridor before school began (no doubt after another of those breakfasts with disgusting cold fried eggs, which we'd have to smuggle out in our pockets for the campus dogs), Miss F came up to me and gave me a cheerful hug and said  "I'm sorry child, I believe that you were not at fault.." etc etc. I accepted the apology without much change in expression (I modelled myself after William in the Richmal Crompton books at the time). The next thing she said was "Would you like to come back to the choir?" and I just said No. It was clear that all the lessons in forgiveness and other moral values were no match against the mutinous and wilful girl that I was  at the time. I think William would have reacted in the same way.

Perhaps it was the resentment I felt that an adult should have been more circumspect before accusing the first person they saw? Perhaps it was a case of impulsiveness on my part and I might have answered differently if I'd had some time to consider the invitation to return?

In any case, the choir was without one member for the rest of the term, after which I became a day scholar anyway. I did actually miss that lusty singing in anonymity, it signified carefree abandon with every syllable.  Every now and then, I lapse into song whenever a  catch phrase pops up, and there is a seasonality to it. In summer it will be "Go no more a'rushing maids in May..", and it will include those sad numbers like "Fill my cup Lord" when I am particularly low. It doesn't matter who is around.  With time it has become an accepted part of family life and I am tolerated like some kind of aging budgie coming to life when the northern breeze ruffles its feathers or some such similie.

Which brings me back to Impossible is...Nothing. The reason this particular syntax does not gel is the air of arrogance it carries which is just NOT ME. Normally. Yet, it might just sum up this bag which signifies doing something against all odds.  Not really known for my sewing skills, and with plenty of witnesses over decades who would testify to this, I actually handstitched this bag, with jute backing, with all the embellishments,and found time to paint a little blue kingfisher on a separate pocket. If I had to choose between the hymn "Nothing is Impossible when you put your trust in God" and the slogan "Impossible is ...Nothing", I would choose the latter just for a brief while today. I also ask for forgiveness for my distinct lack of humility.

Treasure map

I love some of the little assignments that Anant brings home. Some of them are serious explorations to encourage the children to record their observations. Others are complementary to their lessons. Like this one on making an ancient treasure map, a simple fun optional activity to convey the importance of maps and mapping that appears in a lesson in social studies. I wonder if there is a child who wouldn't want to do this activity. It doesn't take much time, and helps the child organise his/her work better, because they have to finish their homework before the fun work obviously.  I feel these weekday activities are really important for the children, much more than those lengthy projects given during summer.

Step 1: Treat the paper to create a faux ancient effect

Use slightly thick handmade paper, at least thicker than the standard printer paper. Tear edges to make the paper appear old. Crumple it and flatten it out. Ask any adult around to make some tea decoction (OK, they can drink some if they want). Ask them to make it really as strong as possible. Pour it into a cake tin and let it cool.

Swirl the paper around in the tea decoction and press down on it with a brush. (Photo by Namitha)

Place the sheets/s of paper one at a time into this decoction. Press over the creases with a thick brush. You can even scratch on it lightly with the handle of the brush. Swirl the paper. It takes about half an hour to develop a light tint. Keep it for longer if necessary. Place sheets between sheets of clean paper to dry.

Remove the paper from the tray and place between sheets of clean paper. (Photo by Anant)

Step 2: Creating the treasure map. 

Sketch the treasure map on a rough sheet of paper. When the design is final, draw it lightly with pencil on the dried "ancient" parchment, and use a fineliner pen to draw the final version. It might be a good idea to use a brown pen to add to the aged look. As you can see we made do with black. You can add 3 D objects while presenting the project. You are only limited by time and imagination. In fact, this might be a great idea for designing a board game.

Don't be surprised to find elements that the child is especially fond  of or which signify "treasure and mystery"  popping in here and there. Skeletons, ghosts, monsters... anyone?  Here is a Anant's version of the map to find Red Rackham's treasure. The little treasure chest was conjured up using cardboard, an old glittery invitation card, and odds and ends found in my craft box.  (Photo by Namitha)

Driving in the city

Close your eyes and you could be on Marine Drive, Mumbai? Marina Beach, Chennai? Kerala? No, we thought we'd just stay in Delhi -- this is the  River Yamuna, or to be more precise, the inundated flood plain as photographed on Sunday September 12 2010. (Photo by Dipak)

Another view of the river's flood plain. (Photo by Anant)

Crowds of people line the ITO Bridge watching the river. Not our regular Sunday haunt, but just because it was such an unusual sight. (Photo by Dipak)

Another view of the river Yamuna. Swirling eddies. Some serious motion here. (Photo by Dipak)

 

Another view of Delhi. Check out the piece of political graffiti on the signal box. It is of Irom Sharmila, the lady on a hunger strike.  Interesting combination of a stencil (?) of a rose combined the image of  the strong-willed lady (Photo taken from the car by Anant)

After the long drive, it was time to grab some sand-roasted corn. The corn cobs are buried in hot sand with the husk. And they are sold with a small packet of spice mixture and lemon. (Photo by Namitha)

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesha the elephant God. Right: A tiny figurine picked up from Rishikesh which is moulded around an areca nut. Possibly Plaster of Paris. The one on the left has been made by Anant and modelled on the one on the right. Medium: Italian quick hardening clay. Painted with acrylic paints. Both have their place in the altar on the occasion of the festival of the elephant God, Ganesh Chaturthi on September 11 2010.

For the two of us, heaven is a store filled with stationery and art supplies, preferably with a counter for dessert and a bookstore under the same roof. A couple of years ago we discovered a lovely store called Hobby Ideas in Indiranagar, Bangalore. We bought a few packets of this polymer clay in different shades of white and green...besides a whole lot of other materials. The shop subsequently disappeared from there, but I discovered some of their retailed products in Staples in  Bangalore earlier this year. The thing about the air drying clay is that it comes shrink-wrapped somewhat like a packet of dates. How does one break off bit without it drying up and going to waste because children do take a while to get their tiny fingers used to it? My tip is that before the child gets into the act, break off a test piece of the clay and immediately seal the rest in cling film or some other shrink wrap. Then just check out how long this lump of clay takes to harden when exposed to air. You will then be able to give the child a clear picture of how long it takes to harden, and they will be able to work happily without you breathing down their backs.  Give the child about quarter of a packet at a time and wrap the rest. I've also found that the raw clay is quite hard, and we used a few drops of water to make it into plasticine consistency.  Perhaps this could be tested out also with a small lump of clay.

Bird tee

Coppersmith barbet on a tee shirt. Model: Anant. Fabric paints on cloth by Namitha.