Scenes from the BLACK Workshop :)

 First the participants got an introduction to artists who draw in Black and White

Then they got an introduction to the Lethal Ammunition itself!

Charcoal!

Those are the hands of a Martial Arts expert (no kidding). 

He can crack your skull open with a single blow if he chooses to. 

He produced some really sensitive and beautiful drawings.

Here below are scenes from the Gruesome Faces exercise -

Look at the confidence of those lines!

These above are creations of the very brainy people who are holding them.

They are former students of the Indian Institute of Science (!) and they have never drawn before.

That's The General surveying the spoils from a Gruesome Faces exercise.

My students really conquered the medium I tell you!

Just look at them work!

Those two pink ladies are software engineers who produced some a m a z i n g drawings.

The Babe in Blue is Prabha who designed the awesome poster for the workshop.

First timers at drawing mind you.

I just wish I could've shown you the rest of the drawings but they were carefully sprayed, 

wrapped up and taken to their homes.

Here is a frightening scene below - I was made to give a ' demo' with cameras aimed at me!

But I got an applause (which was really sweet) and a black nose (which is inevitable).

Here are some of the participants with their blackened hands,

 rather bemused expressions 

and big smiles...

If  you ask me what the best part is for me as a teacher in the workshops that I've taken,

I have this to say - at the beginning of a session all the participants look so uncertain, they approach the medium so tentatively... but somewhere during the workshop I find them rollicking about in charcoal, black from head to toe, laughing, eyes shining as they surprise themselves with their creations.

And then, at the end of it all, when they leave, proudly carrying their booty rolled carefully under their arms, they beam at me and say ' Thank you! We had so much fun!' and my heart bursts with joy that I have made them draw once more. That for me is the best part of taking a workshop.

:-)

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Thanks to Ganesh (last pic, right dude) for sharing his pictures so generously with me.

Thanks also to the ever amazing Pencil Jam team for some of the pics used here and for flawless help in organizing the workshop. You guys are the best ever!

Hey you Pencil Jam Junkies...

If you have the guts, register here >>

In the Den of the Dark and Brooding Artist...

Since Pencil Jam is brazenly promoting me for the upcoming workshop, I think I should spruce up my blog to play its part too...

So here we have

Hastily tidied desk

Arty stuff hurriedly pinned over pizza menus

Artfully composed photographs showing just the essentials

Shhhh....when disturbed she is known to snarl

Did you know the stone on that ring was made out of her cat's eye? Gosh!

Wait! I think we should let her tidy up first!

Till she comes back, here is part of a dark and creepsome portrait

and...

Aaaaaaaaaargh! 

Here she is all scrubbed and powdered - the grouchy artist herself!

* An Interview with me on Just Femme

Pics by Prabha and me :)

Workshop!

More details at Pencil Jam 
Poster designed by Prabha :)

Brisbane

A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the months and years but a photograph always remains the same...that is why I think a photograph can be kind.

~ Albert Einstein

Well over a decade ago I somehow managed to escape the clutches of a bunch of vile Neanderthals with whom I had existed in a dark, stinking soul destroying cesspool. I fled to Brisbane. It was a city which was quite literally heaven on earth. The dazzling Tropic of Capricorn sunshine made everything sparkle. The city was clean and green. The people were friendly, kind and happy. The food was delicious. And the sapphire blue Brisbane River, beside which I lived, carried me on a ferry during my explorations all over that paradise on earth. I met wonderful people there, lifelong friends who made me laugh once more, changed my perceptions, taught me to draw again and most important of all, taught me never to be ashamed of being myself.

But it looks like my life has never been without its ironies. While over the years I’ve created a heaven here for myself with whatever I had, that heaven I once knew and which was once so important to me, suddenly no longer exists. It is Brisbane that has turned into a cesspool. All that remains of that world now are idealized memories and old photographs.  What is most painful is that I don’t even know whether the people I once knew and befriended even exist anymore. If I could I would fly there in a second to help clean up that city that I once loved so much and still do. I wonder what it takes to offer a helping hand from a different continent. While the virtual world in which we exist so much of the time is a powerful tool, it looks like it ceases to be effective when it comes to doing things that really matter during a calamity.

Germaine Greer's Article on the Australian Floods >>

*

In ancient times cats were worshiped as Gods. They have not forgotten this.

                                                                                                      ~ Anon

Begonia leaf 2

Sunday drawing

Begonia leaf

I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone.

                                                         ~ Ranier Maria Rilke

Excellent article about classifying Art and Illustration here >>

Drawings from my Bottle Garden

Nature does not hurry. Yet everything is accomplished.

                                                        ~ Lao Tzu

                        with practise!              

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So the quote above is my new mantra for this year. It is a reminder about a fact that I have learnt with time and it is true about my skills in drawing. You do it long enough without biting off more than you can chew and you will go through stages until you get to a place that surprises you.

The points here are going to be something I will be referring to time and again. Hope they will be useful to you too.