Meditations in colour. Works 06

My first painting about colour and meditation.

Before you move on to new things it is interesting how one feels like accepting and acknowledging the past. I am on the verge of putting together a new body of works with their roots in various ideas and thoughts that have been dancing around in my head for a long long time, some have emerged as a painting or two, but now I have this urge to go the whole hog....... ^_^


They say the journey of one thousand miles begins with one step. It will be my pleasure to show to you in coming months what I have been thinking, drawing, painting and writing about. But before the new comes please review with me my 'old'. ^_^

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I know I keep talkng about the time I spent in Ladakh (bear with me some more ^_^) and one of the questions that was most often put to me, especially by Ladakhis themselves was , "So, what did you do with your time?" They were refering to winter, if you have ever been to the airport at Leh in winter, you will notice, there is a long line of people at the departure terminal and the arrival is nearly empty! Well, i don't blame anyone, year after year of isolation can be absolutely monotonous I guess. No malls, no multiplexes, nothing, just mountains and deafening silence in winter (in summer Leh is a complete contrast, all green and vibrant with people ^_^)

Coming back to what I did while I was there.....gosh! I could write a book! what did I do? I cooked....dal, potatoes, carrots ....ha! ha! I'm veg! washed my own clothes under open sky in summers, with the glaciers in view, and what a view! !

I remember my walks with great fondness (ah! how I miss those walks!), after my walk I would return to my room and paint or draw from my mind's eye what I had just seen - a copse of leafless trees, a horizon of mountain peaks.....clouds floating in the distance, leaves of apple trees....anything.

At the end of the year, my husband (then boy-friend) and myself found that I had accumulated quite a few art-works, and he said to me, why not put up your works here in Leh? at the time I thought it was a great and silly idea, at the same time.

You know how it is when nature conspires to help you, my dear brother-in-law, had opened a restaurant in Leh, called Golden Dragon (he is partner of the popular Golden Dragon restaurant in Delhi, Saket) partly to be with his wife, who being ladakhi prefers to spend half the year of the year in Ladakh ^_^ (who would'nt?)

Well, Kelly, my brother-in-law, offered me his newly done up restaurant! and so one August we got my paper-works (and just a few oil-paintings) framed locally and my husband banged in the nails and hung up my works and I had myself an informal exhibition! ha! ha! that was fun! no arty crowd! nothing! just local and foreigners who were pleasantly surprised to see art-works as they entered the restaurant...they certainly were'nt expecting any of that! One does see thangkas, yes, but not intimate rendering of one's stay in Leh.

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Here are a few of those works, I have given a little description to each work. Hope you like them, sorry, if the images are'nt very sharp and all.......

Prayer-flags and tree in winter....the carved face of the frame was made using readily available decorative strips of wood used in interiors of traditonal Ladakhi homes. I saw them being sold in a shop beside the framer's and decided to experiment. To my luck, the framer got it right and it worked! ^_^





I called this water-colour Gyurmet after my husband's second name, it means 'unchanging'. Ancient trees do have something unchanging about them...... ^ ^

Thangthong house. This was the view from my room - a traditional Ladakhi home belonging to our neighbours, the Thanghtong family. Peeping behind the tall poplar is Shanti Stupa. You get a marvellous view from up there of the valley ^_^

Autumn leaves I, II & III
A set of three water colours depicting autumn. I have used actual autumn leaves- poplar, birch, capturing their shape by placing them on paper and painting around them, and repeating the process till I was satified, till it looked balanced, complete.

I have experimented with composing by accident as opposed to planning.

This was inspired when I saw for the first time a path laid golden yellow with leaves after a very windy night. ^_^

This one I did with leaves from a place called Phey, not to far from Leh. Rigzin took me there while on a shoot( he is a film-maker) and while he was filming with his crew I was left to wander around as I wished, so I painted and even got chased by a male dzo (cross between a yak and a cow, used for farming) gosh was I scared! ha! ha! ^ ^

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Thank you so much for allowing me to share this with you. It takes more than one to do that ^_^

I wish I return with new and inspiring art and I wish you great success in all you chose to dream of!

Love & light !