Sketchbook Stuff

Drawings on Wedding Feast Paper

One Sunday Anil, one of the regulars at Pencil Jam, gushed and gushed about his latest discovery - he used wedding feast paper to draw on. For the phirangs (foreigners) reading this blog, most South Indian Hindu wedding feasts have long tables where a roll of white paper is rolled out on it, then banana leaves are placed on it to serve a fabulous lip smacking vegetarian meal as you can see in this picture here >. The paper with the remains is simply rolled up and binned after that. So easy. No washing up.

I had to grudgingly admit that it was a super idea to use this paper for drawing. No more scrounging around for rough paper or tearing up bulky cartridge paper to draw on. Just roll out and draw!

I must give thanks to the ever resourceful Akhila who procured the Wedding Feast paper for me.

Here are some of the results :-)

 

Monster plant!

Somebody got miffed that she was removed from her usual perch on the table and placed on a chair.So I drew a giant sardine for her...

Woah!

Throughout these midnight endeavours of mine, I was fuelled by Salted Chocolate chip cookies from David Lebovitz's famous recipe. It is the best ever and so easy. I love the bursts of salt sparkling on my tongue amidst the sweetness of chocolate and sugar. Naturally I have to show pictures ;-P

A satisfied smile!

:-)

Red Silk Cotton

The tree, the flowers, the drawing.

Week

I once met an illustrator some years ago who said that he never used a camera and that he 'draws everyday'. I remember being mighty impressed. These days, thanks to regular sketching, I use my camera less, and while I may not draw everyday, the days I don't draw I am usually thinking of a drawing or preparing one.

So here are a few glimpses of the week that went by - the first one, a lovely Italian dinner made in front of me, complete with freshly baked bread, goat cheese, grilled prawns, roast potatoes...and some very charming and intelligent company. The second pic is a beautiful banyan tree at Madhavan Park and the third picture is a preliminary sketch of the trainer at my gym who wanted me to do a picture of him and his girlie from two hazy photographs taken on his cell phone. 'You do this for me, I take care of your phitness' said he. So much for ranting about fees in an earlier post, I did this and gave it to him. I think the way he blushed  when he saw himself and his girl in the drawing was thanks enough.

Here are some stunning photographs of one of the Pencil Jam sessions taken by Archana >>

Lekka Pustaka

 Ever since I saw Nilesh using a bright red cloth bound book as a sketchbook I wanted one too.
It is a 'lekka pustaka' explained Nilesh, an 'account book'. The paper inside is great to draw on and even holds watercolour. And it is a fraction of the cost of expensive Nightingale books at upmarket shops.

I just liked the fact that it was RED and BRIGHT PINK. I couldn't sleep until I had one of these.

The ever informative Prabha was more specific - this is a 'Jain account book' she said.

Gujju baniyas (Gujarati businessmen) use it to keep their accounts. 

Notice the Goddess Lakshmi on the title page. She is the Goddess of Wealth.

:-)

The pages are numbered. Such a nice touch.

Good paper

Bright and Chubby! 

It may lack the elegance and sophistication of a more expensive sketchbook but it makes up for it with its chunky presence and colourful personality.

Bright red and shocking pink are such a striking colour combination.

It satisfies the 'Indian' in me in every way.

 I also bought and Indian calendar in the same shop.

 It is from Diwali to Diwali madam, said the shopkeeper.

 So much character

Here are Nilesh's drawings from his Lekka Pustaka. 

And this is his cruel caricature of me ;-p