A bridge across cultures

This past summer, I visited Vancouver for a conference. I was living on the UBC campus and visited the famous Nitobe memorial zen garden.
The garden is a tribute to Dr. Nitobe, who worked all his life as a cultural bridge between the two countries.



I was fortunate to meet a woman there who carried forward the work (maybe without even knowing about it). She was actually the person at the ticket booth (right next to the entrance in the picture). She was selling these incredibly cute handmade Japanese dolls. I asked her how I could learn to make them, and she said that she had made them, so she could teach me. She immediately cut a small piece of paper from a notebook and taught me how to make it. (She even gave me the template). I finally managed to make my own today, and it clearly isn't as pretty as hers, but I'm very happy to have made it. This also introduced me to the wonderful art of Chiyogami. The material used for this doll is Chiyogami paper, card board, black crepe paper for the hair, small silk thread and glue. I wonder how many people in this world are living bridges across cultures?

More reproductions

Please see my previous posts here and here about how I got into this kind of painting. This one is a difficult one by Kandinsky that I haven't been able to finish. It's from the book that L. gave me. This time I sketched it free hand!



This one is actually an enlarged version of a small part of one of Kandinsky's early works. I'm absolutely in love with the intense colors used in this.




This one was done on a greeting card for my sister-in law on the first birthday after the birth of my niece. I simply can't remember the name of the painter. J., I wrote it on the card, can you please tell me what it is?



Here I'm experimenting with Pastels. Another Kandinsky. Am I in love with him or what? I think so, cause I named my laptop after him. (My advisor is partially to be blamed for this. We have the 'artist' theme running in our lab..the name of the lab is 'IESL' (Information Extraction and Synthesis Lab), the grad students are called 'artists' (As in, hey artists, I'm not going to be able to make it to the lab meeting today), and all the machines (including servers) are named after famous painters. There is certainly something about computer scientists and art.

My all time favorite

See my previous post about how I got into painting. After that experience, I kind of really got going. I started reading about painters and started thinking about what I liked and what I did not like. L. as usual was very supportive and even gifted me two books - one about painting techniques and the other about my favorite painters Kandinsky and Munter.

Here's another painting that I did (started in the third class, and even finished it afterwards). I've really liked their work and this one remains one of my all time favorites. This also reminds me of the lazy summer in which I did these paintings.

Learning to imitate

Last year, I took a painting class in my university. I barely attended two or three sessions. I was very eager to learn painting, since ever since I was a kid, my drawing and painting skills have been pretty bad. I flunked all the drawing related state exams and my teachers finally gave up on me. And so did I. So, given the history of my disappointments, I was kind of hoping for a miracle in this class.



The very first day, the teacher (prof. John) asked us to paint something. Anything. I was blank. I was expecting HIM to tell me what to paint. So here I was, staring at a blank sheet of paper. So I did the default painting - Mountains, river, field..the stuff I've been doing since the fifth grade. I was very disappointed. This is all I knew how to do, and that too pretty bad...I looked at the teacher and he asked me, "is this what you want to paint?" I said no..I told him that I wanted to let my imagination run wild...but I just didn't know how. He said, "this is your painting. You can draw anything you want. ANYTHING." I thought about it for a while. I asked him very timidly, "Can I have a pink sky?". "Anything". "What about stars on the ground?". "Anything". It finally dawned upon me that it was really my painting and I could really do whatever I wanted with it. It was such a liberating experience. Even though I finished that painting with a lot of joy (and stars on the grass on the other bank of the river), it wasn't really all that nice.



Then came the second class. This time, he asked us what it is that we want to learn. Basically, he wanted us to work on something that we felt that we needed to deal with. I told him I was very bad at drawing, but I really enjoyed playing with colors. So he said, fine, work on what you like doing. He asked me if I wanted some inspiration, and asked me to look at some books of paintings and pick a painting that I liked. I did not have any clue whatsoever about Art and Art history. I picked Klimt's "Church At Unterach On The Attersee". He taught me how to reproduce the outline of that painting using a projector and charcoal. He then asked me to reproduce the colors as faithfully as I could.

I was absolutely puzzled. Isn't that plagiarism? He asked me, "When you learn music, wouldn't you practice pieces of Mozart and Beethovan? Is that plagiarism? You are simply learning the techniques of the masters by imitating them until you learn the language of that art form. You are then free to interpret their work in your own style or create original works of art." This was absolutely eye opening to me. I had always lived with a sense of guilt for not being really original in my creations. This idea completely removed that guilt. Of course, I did understand the importance of being aware that you're reproducing someone else's work and striving for expressing one's own ideas and feelings. I started painting with this newly found liberty, and was surprised by the outcome. He said that I should never say now that I don't know how to paint. Unfortunately, I never got around to finishing this painting. Finishing projects is another lesson that I still need to learn (maybe it was in the fourth class that I missed)

A birthday tradition..almost

This was done again at Claytopia. See my previous post about this. This year, again I had very little time, but I was wiser, and so I picked a small project. Also, working on flat surface was much easier. The designs were transfered on the tile using a transfer paper from my favorite embroidery design book. See more designs from that book here and here.



This year, L. chose to just read paper, rather than paint with me. I guess the magic of first year of a relationship never comes back. We also found out that claytopia doesn't give free painting time on birthdays any more..so I guess this birthday tradition might die prematurely...It was fun while it lasted though..and L. and I did have a great time on my birthday....including free ice cream at Herrells.

Impressing the future in-laws

I know it seems like that's what I'm doing. I knit up this hat and scarf for L.'s niece. But actually, when I saw this yarn in the store, I just thought of knitting something similar for the two most important babies in our lives..my niece and L.'s niece. Then I found out that my niece is going to be in Mumbai during the winter, where there is hardly any need for such warm clothes, so dropped the idea. I did of course go ahead with my plan to knit something for P. to protect her against Jaipur's harsh winter.





I used one skein of Red Heart Baby Clouds yarn and US size 11 needles for this. The best part about this yarn is that it's machine washable. Hopefully this would make life easier for L.'s sister-in-law. It also does look cute, however, I'm not entirely thrilled by the feel of the yarn. I think next time I'm going to try to get a yarn that feels really soft to touch. The pattern is extremely simple garter stitch. I did the hat first (I'm not entirely sure if it will fit her) and then did the scarf with the remaining yarn.

I'm still wondering what to do with the other skein that I bought.

Joint work with Anu

I love making collages. This collage was joint work with my friend Anu. It was totally her idea and concept. She introduced me to Picassa's collage feature. It was done for a flyer for the celebration of India's Independence day during my ISA (Indian Student Association) days. This one's Anu's creation, really...but I like it so much that I can't resist the temptation of calling it joint work. So here's August 15th through the eyes of two dreamy graduate students living abroad.

My attempt at mass-produced cards

Well, not really..but I did make two of this kind. My bro and my very good friend S.'s birthday are very close and I made two cards that look the same for them. I used a stencil to create the center design (bought at AC Moore), and used Fiskers decorative scissors to cut out the borders from a black card paper. I also used silver outliner used for glass painting and some plastic mirrors. I hope both of them liked it.

S. and I set up a greeting card making and selling business when we were in fourth grade. I guess this might be the right time to revive that business, now that I've figured out how to mass-produce pretty looking greeting cards. What say S.?

A friend's engagement

This one is for a friend of mine who got engaged recently. Unfortunately, she was too engrossed in meeting with guests on the day before her engagement, giving me very little time to do her mehendi..but S. really liked it, so I guess it's worth it.

My first multi-tier cake

Well, I do have a food blog, but I consider cake decorating more of a craft, rather than cooking. So here's my very first (and the only one so far) multi-tier cake, for L.'s b'day.






It was baked using box mix (two boxes of Betty Crocker Super Moist Devil's Food). Didn't want to take a chance with the construction. Also used Betty Crocker frosting. Made the cake boards at home, and used big plastic straws in place of dowels. Filled it with coconut - condensed milk filling. Everybody was very curious about the white standing hearts. They are made of white chocolate (piped on wax paper and refrigerated).

This was the center piece for L.'s grand surprise birthday party.

My Entry to Wheat Thins Creative Expressions

I am a graduate student pursuing PhD in computer science. I have always been interested in various art forms including music, dancing, painting, cooking, knitting, embroidery and other crafts. Although research provides me with an opportunity for creative thinking, it gets quite tricky to catch up with these more tangible art forms under the pressure of my academic life. Hence, I always look for ways to release some of this “creative frustration” by taking up art projects and gifting the creations to my friends.

On my recent trip to India, I saw a very beautiful wall mural, which reflected the traditions of Gujarat, my home state in India. The very old and almost extinct art form is called “Mandana”, paintings made by women on the mud walls of their huts with limestone and mirrors. The beauty of these paintings is in the simplicity of motifs and color (white on dark background), three-dimensional effect and vibrancy of mirrors. I have also been inspired by other rich art traditions of India, which involve more colors and richer (but expensive) materials, like semiprecious stones and Zari (gold/silver weaving work). Despite the beauty of these forms, I have never seen a painting that brings together all these elements and modern medias like acrylic, watercolors and ceramic paints. I had been visualizing this big painting that captured all these elements including the richness of Zari, semiprecious stones and mirrors, vibrant colors, three-dimensional effect and traditions of Mandana motifs. My college friend bought a house and I wanted to make a unique gift for her. It was a perfect excuse to bring my concept to life. I was happy that the result turned out even better than my imagination. I was even happier when I saw the look on my friend’s face when she unwrapped it.

A birthday card inspired by tradition

During my recent trip to India, I visited a famous Gujarati Thali restaurant in Lonavala, called Chandralok. Any gujarati who's ever visited Lonavala, the small hill station near Mumbai knows that it's worth waiting for hours on a Sunday afternoon for a table in this place. So while we were waiting in the heavily ornamented lobby, I started clicking pictures of the modified Mandana work on the walls. Mandana is the traditional work done on the walls of mud huts in Gujarat (the state of India where my ancestors come from). It usually involves a lot of geometrical patterns and mirrors. I was really inspired by these and wanted to work with the form, but also wanted to make it portable art. So, I bought a ton of accessories from India and started making collages and greeting cards. Here's a birthday card I made for L. The basic shape was traced from my favorite book called "Embroidery Designs" by Nirmala C. Mistry, Navneet Publications. The design uses cloth laces, kundan stones and mirrors on creative cards paper.

Believing in Love..and Mehendi

I had stopped believing in Love. Even after meeting L. Even after we got into a relationship. I had also stopped applying Mehendi.

For an Indian girl, Mehendi is not just a beauty accessory. It is the reflection of the delicate feelings that only a young girl can feel. It is the hope of a beautiful and blessed future. It is the hope of marriage. Even since I was a young girl, I loved applying Mehendi. I learned the art from my wonderful cousin sisters. It was not just the Mehendi. It was everything that surrounded it. The eucalyptus oil applied on the hands before beginning, the lemon-sugar syrup to keep it from falling off, the plastic bags used to cover it while bathing in the morning to keep it from coming in contact with water, the oil applied and the clove mist given to improve color. All the tender loving care given to the mehendi that only women really deserve.






L. found out somehow that I love Mehendi (well, I must have told him), so he insisted that I apply some. I kept finding excuses for not doing so. Honestly, I just wasn't emotionally ready. He kept insisting..to the extent that he sat next to me while I applied it..to reassure me of his love. This is certainly not the best mehendi I've applied, but it's so special because it finally made me believe in love again. This was many many months ago. And now, the time is fast approaching for the dreams to come true..

Mehendi hai rachne waali..Haatho mein geheri laali...

A very quick gift

I don't remember how I thought of doing this, but I just picked up a Lion brand black wool and saw the pattern on the cover and thought of a friend and just did it. It was one of those very random things..or maybe it was her birthday. This is why I need to write this blog, so I can remember the stories behind the stuff that I make!

Here's the bags that I made (I kept the tiny one..don't remember the pattern, I think I just made it up to use up the leftovers). The pattern for the main bag can be found on the Lion website here.

The important thing is that it's a bag that P. can carry off really well...and I'm glad that she liked it!

Knitting in the middle of the night

When my brother told me that he was going to be a dad, I was working in my lab, late at night and didn't know what to do with my happiness. I happened to have some cotton yarn and knitting needles, and so I did the obvious. Knit up a hat at 3.00 a.m. Here's the pattern (From the web) and the finished hat.


Instructions:
Using 3.25mm needles, cast on 57 sts.
Rows 1 and 3: K1, *P1, K1, rep. from * across.
Rows 2 and 4: P1, *K1, P1. Rep. from * across.

Change to 4mm needles and knit across next row, inc 3 sts evenly spaced.....60 sts.
Next row: Purl.
Eyelet row (RS): K1, *K2tog, yarn forward (under needle). Rep from * across, ending with K1.
Beginning with a purl row, work in st st until 8cm (3.25") from beginning, dec 4 sts evenly spaced across last WS row....56 sts.

Shape Top:
Row 1 (RS): *K5, K2tog. Rep from * across.....48 sts.
Row 2 and all WS rows: Purl.
Row 3: *K4, K2tog. Rep from * across.....40 sts.
Row 5: *K3, K2tog. Rep from * across.....32 sts.
Row 7: *K2, K2tog. Rep from * across.....24 sts.
Row 9: *K1, K2tog. Rep from * across.....16 sts.
Row 11: K2tog across row.....8 sts.
Row 12: Purl.

Cut yarn, leaving enough length to thread through remaining sts., draw up securely to close.
Sew back seam.
Thread ribbon through eyelet row, tying a bow in centre front

Birthday at Claytopia..a gift for myself

This pot was painted last year on my birthday at Claytopia, Northampton, MA.

The first time I walked into the place, I thought it's just another restaurant in the fancy Northampton downtown. It was only when I saw the cups with brushes in place of salt and pepper on the table, that I realized that it's a studio that lets you paint your own clay objects. They sell many things from pots and mugs to tiles and plates. You pick the thing you want to paint, use all their painting supplies, and pay by the hour. They even fire the object, which you can pick up later on. My friend S. and I had always dreamed of a place like this!

This pot was done when they used to give free painting time on your birthday..they don't do it any more..I wasn't very happy overall with the result, as it was my first time, and was done in a hurry. The tricky thing about painting with these colors is that they don't look the same before and after firing, so you have to imagine a lot. I used stencil for the shell shape and free-handed the rest. I also need to work two or three coats for the colors to look bright.

L. did a little red and black clay bowl for me while I did this pot. He even wrote my name on it!! It was a great experience to spend a part of my birthday with him working on this. It's also always exciting to work with different mediums and different surfaces..

Art..Craft..Life..

The distinctions are very clear sometimes and not so clear at others...here's a journal (a scrapbook?) of all the stuff born out of intense eagerness to create something beautiful..