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Sometimes we don't even realize we are insecure about something. It takes an incident or an intense experience to bring us face to face with the gigantic gaping chasm of insecurity that lurks inside of our minds. Drawing it out in my sketchbook helps me confront it and process what I feel about it and when I do that, I realize that my insecurity, a result of mental conditioning, is nothing more than a mirage.

Strange and Beautiful

Some time ago, a friend wrote a very thoughtful letter to me on what beauty means to him and why it was important to his existence. In the letter, along with his words were included pictures of things and surroundings from his everyday life that he finds beautiful. In order to reply to his letter, I have been compelled to confront and examine what beauty means to me and why it is so important to my existence. When I partake of my friend’s beautifully worded letter with its pictures, I try to think of my own sentiments towards this subject. I realize that when I am drawn towards beauty, it is because of what it makes me feel and that feeling is an instinctive attraction towards the object I find beautiful causing in me a desire to possess it as mine and look at from every facet and consume it with my eyes so that I don’t miss out on anything of this that I find so beautiful. I do that by drawing and other times I use my camera. It is an attempt to make something ephemeral last forever. 

I found this flower during a walk. The house was empty and some helpful boys jumped over the wall at my request to get it for me. It is a gorgeous flower and this is the first time I have seen anything like it. As I carried it home, I almost felt like a hunter taking home an exotic animal. This is not the best analogy to use perhaps but the sense of triumph and disbelief that washed over me when I possessed this beautiful flower was enormous. 

I might have inadvertently found the words to express my sentiments towards objects of beauty while writing this blog post, but to articulate why beauty is so important to me in my life seems to be as skilled a task as finding the right kind of line to express what I want to in a drawing. It will take some practice, but I’ll get there.

Aristolochia

Cabbage Town

Some pictures of the beautiful mansions in Cabbage Town

Mirror

You have no idea how hard I’ve looked 

for a gift to bring You.

Nothing seemed right.

What’s the point of bringing gold to

the gold mine, or water to the ocean?

Everything I came up with was like

taking spices to the Orient.

It’s no good giving my heart and my

soul because you already have these.

So I’ve brought you a mirror.

Look at yourself and remember me.

~ Rumi

Night

Adrenalin

At 2am on ordinary paper.

Nostalgia

Photo of rare white-haired Suttonese mushroom hunter.

Circa 2014 A.D.

Hand painted pebble by native Suttonese artist 

gifted to Indian explorer.

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 nos·tal·gia noun nostalgia plural noun nostalgias
A sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.
Something done or presented in order to evoke feelings of nostalgia.

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I just want the world to be quiet for a bit."

                                    ~ M.H

Creepy as Hell

A while back, I retreated from life into a lovely farm somewhere in a village outside Benglur. Directions to the farm went something like this, "At the mango tree, take a right turn, then where the cows are sleeping, take a left turn..." 

The setting is all very idyllic,

until you come to the Anthill!

And you see hair growing out of it -

So you cautiously move a bit closer to examine this hair 

And the hair starts moving!

And you just...just...slowly back away...

Before We Visit the Goddess

I was very pleased when the Art Director at Verve magazine invited me to illustrate a story by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. I had wanted to illustrate for Verve ever since I saw their beautiful magazine years ago when I returned from Australia. Then, during pre-internet era, when I contacted them with samples of my work, they sent me an article to illustrate almost immediately. However, because of the logistics of couriering actual work across during those pre-digital times, it was an exercise in futility and nothing came of it. Therefore I was pleasantly surprised when I received a mail inviting me to illustrate for them this time. 

I haven’t received my copy yet, but a walk along Indiranagar with a friend and a bid to escape the heat by plunging into air conditioned Crossword assisted me in getting my hands on a copy and photographing it.Do check out the April 2016 issue of Verve. But you can also read the story here >>

The story is a beautiful one about young lovers, a red sari and stars in the night sky on the terrace. It was a pleasure to do and it is one of my favorite assignments to date. The focus of the illustration is on his hands cradling her and her sari enveloping them. The resulting shapes remind me almost of a foetus within a womb, safe, loved and secure.

For those of you interested in such matters, this illustration was done on Canson Colorline paper with the rich pigments of Daler Rowney pastel. I love the grainy texture and the rich but muted, sophisticated colors that resulted. This has been one of those rare moments when there is a sense of satisfaction with what has presented itself to me at my desk. 

Fishing in Troubled Waters

This time's comic for The Big Picture at Livemint. 

You can read the entire story by clicking here >>>

I enjoyed drawing the illustrations for this story. When I requested him for one, it was almost immediately written and sent to me by my long time virtual friend Slogan Murugan of Mumbai Paused fame. Not only that, it had my favourite subject - fish (or rather lack of fish, which is why I got to draw only one fish), but still, drawing the sea, boats, troubled wives...all was good to do.These illustrations have been done with pastel and graphite on absolutely lovely pre-cut C a grain Canson paper.

Here are some of the illustrations -

You can find photographs taken by Slogan Murugan about this subject here>>.

Creepsome

When I was working on an illustration this afternoon,I ended up drawing a child with a strange expression. Whichever way I turned, the child's intense gaze followed me. The juxtaposition of cut out images on my table looked very interesting beside the child's face. I decided to take some photographs and put them up on my blog.This would probably work well for a macabre children's story. The lethal pair of scissors and the child's expression open up a lot of possibilities.