3 Things I love.

The cloud has lifted and I'm back to sharing things that make me happy :D
Earlier I had started to make a list of 100 things I love / am grateful for, this time I will share three more.

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6. Illustration of leaf forms.
This dictionary has been around in my family for so long that entire sections of it have crumbled away, therefore everything ends after alphabet v , ha ha , but it is still very dear to me....What I love here is this particular page , illustrating the various forms of a leaf, don't you just love the detail?


7. Children's story books.
Another peculiar interest of mine is to collect children's books with illustrations - magic-realism/ fables/ mythology . In fact I once did illustrations for a freind's story which hav'nt been published yet.


Aww! love this detail , the author has dedicated the book to her father, so warm.



pages from the book......wish I could share with you the story, feel like a child again.

8. Fish. J'adore this circular shoal of fishes in a chines paper-cut. I'm very drawn to the form of a fish, and it's a good thing that they are an auspicious symbol too, for example in the the Tibetan Buddhist tradition part of the eight auspicious signs, are a pair golden leaping fish.

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Just celebrating some beauty can cheer you up and it is so true it must lie in the smaller things in life.

Love + light !

The monologue- Passing thoughts.

Passing thoughts , passing clouds.

Monologue

Today, I did a whole lot of talking..........at work, at an art get-together, coffee with a friend, bumped into more freinds, yack, yack, yack and yet now that I am alone I think it is harder to cease a conversation with others than with yourself !

Wether we are all by ourselves or in a room full of people, truth is, we are'nt listening to what the others are saying, we are only listening to ourselves! I know so because I see myself do it every time......I try to quieten fom within but the talkative mind drums up again!

On another passing thought, I cannot always make sense of what I am doing working at a gallery, or for example, today, why was I at a get-together where the key words were -

market, buyers, contemporary, modern, auction houses and oh! one sensible person said 'aesthetics'. I often wonder what karmic lessons have I got to learn from being here?

What comes to mind is most unlikely,

" Sometimes be in the mountains , sometimes be in the market" - Osho.

Love + light :)

Rumi and the inner voice.

Pale sunlight,

pale the wall.

Love moves away.

The light changes.

I need more grace

than I thought.
- Rumi

"The Essential Rumi" compiled and translated by Coleman Barks and published by HarperSanFrancisco (1994).

Picture: from SUFI Expressions of The Mystic Quest by Laleh Bakhtiar, one of my fav books to go through as of now for the pictures as well as the text.

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What if something is bothering you? Can you accept your limitations as you blurt you are cracking while keeping appearances under pressure? How dignified do you feel with your straight face since you do not fool yourself? You know you do not feel good inside.
During such times, I try to think things through, to pause. Even though I may be pensive or melancholic, rays of compassion from somewhere touch me or if nothing else, the emotional pain gradually subsides. In the aftermath Goenkaji’s words always ring true, “It is ephemeral, this too shall pass away”. And I feel so foolish for amplifying every word and action in my mind.

Today suddenly it came to me, Rumi’s words, "Pale sunlight,
pale the wall...need more grace than I thought" - one of my favourite verses.
Also this thought, “The seeds you sow today are the fruits of tomorrow”.

I'm sure you identify with answers such as these which just pop up in your heart/mind, calming you down, reassuring you, reminding you to stay on a higher vibration so that even though you waver you regain your balance and simply walk on.


Love +light

Woman and leaf.

Woman and leaf

This is a water colour on paper I did more than two years ago. I have not repeated this theme recently. I chose this watercolour which is quiet and shows inward reflection, perhaps because thesedays that is how I feel.

The colours of the leaf and of the woman are those of autumn, they also reveal how the watercolour began, the first washes of warm colour, then the darker colours surrounding the two motifs

There is very faint horizon which is really the outline of a low mountain range. I could see this mountain from the window of my room in Leh (Ladakh), the hour is when night falls and you see the first stars and the clouds reflect the very last light after the sun has gone down.

Although my paintings are realistic they are done from the mind's eye. I find this practise very interesting, it allows me to see, feel, absorb and live with a certain idea and then one day I draw or write about it from my heart-mind. One could say there is a poetic feeling to my work.

The leaf is commonly known as camel's foot. I'm drawn to leaves and I like to make studies of them in watercolours or simply to pick them up and have a closer look for their beautiful colour, shape.

There! I have waxed eloquent enough ....will post more images of sketches and drawings since I would like to give the feeling of an artist's diary/journal/sketch-book which is more personal.

Love + light