Pages From a Book

This time, back to showcasing my work again -

Beautiful Drawings

It seems to be raining beautiful picture books here. Another gift, this time a travelogue of Vietnam by Lorenzo Mattotti himself. These drawings are full of color, life and joy. They revel in their surroundings and entice us to join in celebrating the city with the artist.

 Here is a film of the artist making this gorgeous book.

Prejudices

An illustration I did towards the end of last year for The Indian Quarterly was for a story called The Circle, featuring the last of the Anglo Indians, the prejudices inherent in them and how it ultimately destroys them.
The print has turned out a bit darker than the original, so I am adding the complete original below along with a detail of the illustration.

The haunting story which makes us cringe at the extent of prejudice and perceived superiority that one community has for another reminds me of the remark made by a friend of mine after she had broken up with her Anglo-Indian fiancee. She said, "How long are these Anglo-Indians going to prefix "Anglo" to define themselves? They are Indians!" This is true of course, but try telling that to Anglo-Indians, you'd probably make them writhe in agony.

Once, some years ago, during coffee an Anglo Indian acquaintance of mine remarked that the father of her niece was a Malayalee. When I expressed surprise, my acquaintance hastily added, "But she (the niece) is not Malayalee! She is one of us! She is one of us!" I was perplexed at the absurdity of that remark and at the determination of my Anglo-Indian acquaintance to completely erase the Indian aspect from her family.

Some explanation for these mindsets can be found in William Dalrymple's The White Mughals and more briefly in City of Djinns.

Here are a couple of memorable quotes from City of Djinns -

'And they're a fascinating people, the Indians. I'll say that for them.'

I've always had friendly relations with them, mind. It's their country. That's what my father always used to say.'

'That's right. The Indians are a nice people. Provided you treat them as human beings.'

'You see we're not Britishers', said Mr Smith. 'We're something different.'

*

Moving On

This illustration is the last illustration I did in 2017. It is for a Jim Corbett book cover.

The last time I drew a tiger was sometime in 2009 for Deccan Herald when I used to do illustrations for their kiddie section. The pay was so low, the stories were so trite that the work became a chore. I decided to move on to other things. The picture below was the final illustration I did for them for a very nice poem. It was a good way to end, the 2009 tiger, sweet faced and hopeful.

Since then I have certainly moved on and in 7 years I have tried my hand at all kinds of wonderful projects which I never even dreamt I would do. However once again the red lights are flashing around my head and there are sirens in my ears every time I take up an editorial or a cover. It is time to move on again, this time to solving far more complex puzzles on my table and at my own pace.

All the Pretty Houses

Everyone who reads this blog regularly knows that there is periodically a post featuring houses here.

The Green Mountain

And a red mountain from some years earlier -

Gatherers

We are gatherers,

the ones who pick up sticks and stones

and old wasp’s nests fallen by the

door of the barn,

walnuts with holes that look like

eyes of owls,

bits of shells not whole but lovely

in their brokeness,

we are the ones who bring home

empty eggs of birds

and place them on a small glass shelf

to keep for what? How long?

It matters not. What matters

Is the gathering,

the pockets filled with remnants

of a day evaporated, the traces of

certain memory, a lingering smell,

a smile that came with the shell.

~ Nina Bagley

Another Cover

There is one art director who absolutely knows what to do with the styles of different illustrators. She brings out the best in each of us. This cover was particularly challenging since we were figuring things out as I went along with her suggestions. I wasn't quite sure what she wanted or had in mind and after many attempts at getting it right I wasn't even sure if what I had done had sufficed. I spent sleepless nights.Then when the cover design with my illustration arrived in my inbox, I was pleased by how striking it was. It is therefore with great pleasure that I am showing it off over here.

The Most Beautiful Gift You Can Give, Ever

I swear to God, if I were someone else, I would have bought a copy of this print. I cannot get over how good the quality is and how beautiful they've turned out. I am just so happy when I look at them.
Many many thanks to Honeycomb printers and to this wonderful artist for telling me about these printers who made this possible.

THE LOVERS

11.5 inches x 9.5 inches

Fine Art Print on Enhanced Matte paper

Rs.2,500 (USD 39)

Postage and handling add Rs.500 within India and USD 15 for international shipping.

Email me at priya.sebastian@gmail.com

with your postal address, choice of print and number of copies.

In Iceland

I received this charming email from Iceland thanking me upon receiving the prints. 

Halló Priya,
the prints just arrived, thank you so much! Such a nice surprise! They are just wonderful. Our humble rural postman was very impressed by the number of stamps, he never delivered anything coming from that far away ;-)

Thank you again and all the best,
T

The beautiful work of Yllir and Birki