"I won I won" and some Monsoon art!

I won I won. Yes, I won a fabulous Mish Mash cushion cover on Emreen's giveaway! I am picking the dreamer cushion, I just love it. What a perfect accessory it will be in my painting studio....the place where I usually dream and get lost in thought!

Thanks Emreen!

So speaking of studios.....I was completely taken by this photo I blogged about in my last post. The composition, the colors, the subject....all were utterly beautiful. I felt this uncontrollable urge to paint it....

And so I did exactly that over the last 2-3 days. This was just the impetus I needed to shake off my summer stupor and get back to the easel....

Take a look.....

So here they are - the inspiration on the left and my version of it on the right.

Copycat painting.....

This is what I have been busy doing these past few days.....! I saw this painting on SHP's blog a few weeks ago, when she did her artist profile on Vishal Misra, a painter whose work I have long admired. And I was completely smitten by this one, aptly titled "Jewellery Series triptych". The colors, the composition, the bold strokes, the stylized abstractness, the tribal look...loved it all.

But the chances of my ever getting my hands on this original are about 0%, so I took matters into my own hands, literally! And tried to copy it....with a few small changes, not out of choice, but more due to lack of technique!!

Not anything nearly as gorgeous as the original, but for about 800 bucks for the canvas, 4-5 hrs of work and a ton of fun, I'll take it! I hope Vishal Misra will not mind, after all imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery!

Weekend Wrap-Up IX

Am linking up with Patty's Weekend Wrap Up! Wow, its the ninth one!!!

As weekends go it was fairly typical, a little bit of everything with maybe just a wee bit more irritations as usual! Getting any kind of work done in the house...repair work, fixing broken things, gardening work...anything at all, is a hassle. After many years we finally decided it was time to repot all our pots, it was long overdue. The potted plants were clearly not happy.....they were getting spindly and sad, so after much deliberation....we went for it. Believe me when you have 400 plus potted plants in the garden, this is a Herculean project! So come Friday, this huge lumbering truck came by and deposited half a load of soil and half a load of manure (read-cow poop) on our driveway! Which by the way the dogs loved!!!

There must be something organically good about manure, cos even though it stank to high heaven, the fumes permeated into the house, wafted into the bedroom and when I woke up Saturday morning, my week long aggravating sinuses had miraculously cleared!! (I must google this some more......) 

So I fortified myself with a good solid breakfast ready to take on/supervise the project!

After giving the gardener instructions and telling him to be especially careful with my prized Shilparamam ceramic pots, I went around the garden to see what was new, marveled at all the colors nature produces, and gazed adoringly at the red passion flowers that were blooming on the pergola, and took some pics....

Adenium/Desert Rose

A solitary hibiscus that fell off the basket while being transported from tree to puja room

Red passionflower

Same flower different angle

Something from the coleus family...looks like poinsettia?

Then I played for a few minutes with the errant sunshine dancing around on my verandah

 Started on my new book and snacked on peanuts

Listened to some soulful music

Photographed some flowers inside

Got mad at the gardener and his crew for breaking some pots

 And then even madder for breaking some more.....

so I had to make a quick dash to the nursery to get more pots, and in the process bought 2 gorgeous poinsettias to add some Xmas flavor to the yard

which consoled me somewhat till I came back home to find that.....

....they had broken one of my favorite pots while I was away!!!! So I completely lost it, yelled at them and for my own safety came inside......

 ..........and meditated with the Buddha wishing I could be as calm as him!

....which didn't work, so I cleaned my studio, always a therapeutic thing for me, and found solace in a new oil painting I am working on

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

Back to the drawing board......!

I will be taking a bit of a break from blogging....not a complete break, but I may not be blogging as regularly. Time for me to dust off my paints, clean my brushes, buy some canvas and get back to some oil painting. My studio which as been like an oven these past 3 summer months, finally got cleaned out yesterday. It is still not as cool weather wise as I would like it to be, but I think we should see the real monsoon in 3 or 4 days.