One early morning sometime at 6am, I ventured outside during
a Montreal winter to catch a bus to Sutton. Around me, the world was a
desaturation of black, white and grey. And then I looked up and saw the sky. It
was this shade of intense blue, the colour I would use as a child to colour in
a night sky but while thinking that skies did not really exist in this
colour and I was using this shade of blue because it was the darkest blue in my box of
crayons. But here it was, that impossible blue as the real thing contrasting against strange shapes in a monochrome world. An hour later, the
sky turned grey, then dirty white and everything looked bleak once more.
And then Bangalore where the brightest of bright colours clash and jostle with each other. Montrealers will wonder what the heck I’ve drawn above while Bangaloreans will instantly recognize a Bangalore sky in October - bright orange of African tulip flowers set amidst leaves that are so dark green they are almost black. Rows and rows of them emphatically making their presence felt against a bright turquoise sky.
At an Art supply store in Queen street in Toronto I saw
giant bullet-shaped sticks of Senelier oil-pastel obscenely priced at nine
dollars each. Here, an artist down the street has an entire box of them in
different shades of red which I was generously allowed to use.
And this beautiful woman standing with confidence in her
Sunday best. I quickly hurried home and drew her in her stunning attire.
