Thank you Anne Wood for sharing the patterns for these cups! I am going to make many more! I cut the patterns from a cereal box and used paper strips to paper mache!
chai paani cups!
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Monthly Archives: June 2012
clutter happy!
Some work in progress!! Will put up pics of the finished works soon… these are for storycards for a publishing house! Priced at Rs.2 each, they will be translated in 11 regional languages and sold at teashops, handed over to schools in bulk! Hopefully many kids will read this lovely story and love my bright pictures! HAPPY!!
Birdie Numnums
Paper birdies on paper sticks… I saw some of these from Pamela Garrison’s work and loved them! They look deceptively easy to make, but I struggled quite a bit with the paper armatures for these! I think they will make lovely return gifts at kiddie parties. I could even make fairy wands or planes, strange bugs on sticks! Much excitement!
Paper strings and mumsy things
This post might sound like rambling but I am going to go ahead and try and put down the stringy muddly thoughts that currently crowd my head…
It started with a delightfully, messy worktable, strewn with paper, bits and things, cutter blades, scissors, glue and all my fat 8B pencils.
While I am working on some lovely little paper teacups, one part of me is nagging me to clear the mess away before Little Thing (from now on referred to as LT in this post or any in the future) gets back home from school. And I find myself sighing and thinking, “I wish I had a studio with a skylight and white walls, potted plants, big wooden work table and clutter, clutter, clutter!” A place I could disappear into and and swim around in old, baggy clothes and my paints and paper. A place which does not allow any access to husbands or LTs unless they break the damn door down or in LT’s case holler the walls down!
And while I think these terrifying thoughts, I put my cutter blades away and tuck the sharp scissors somewhere high where LT cant get at it. I do these things on auto mode all the time. I go to my bachelor friend’s house and put knives away from the edge of the kitchen platform, I gather all the glass/ceramic cups and put them in the middle of the table where stretched little toes or fingers can’t get at them, while he grimaces at me. You get the drift? If you are a parent who is reading this, I know you have that knowing smile on your face right now.
So here is my big shout out question. How does one work and create in a home with a LT? How? How? How? How does one make the time or the space? How do mums do it? Ok… if you are offended because I am only addressing mums and you think I should be gender neutral, stop reading, go take a walk, take the rubbish out, whatever… the lion’s share of care giving for a child falls on the woman, so go away if you think otherwise. I have been trying to paint and work and create ever since LT came thundering into my life and have been able to do so only rarely. Most of the times, I am working, LT is in my lap grabbing at my pencils/brushes/paper/glue/sanity or insisting that she ‘helps’ me. And I am almost beginning to cry and wonder why did I not put her in daycare or get a nanny?!
No nannies, no daycare. I just cannot entrust the care of my LT to anyone else thank you please (except grandparents, the poor old dears, but they shouldn’t be made to do what is my job all over again when they should be reading, knitting, playing with LT or just plain being). So whats the point really of all this rambling… nothing… I am just saying, all you mums out there, whether you are working from home, outside of home, focusing on childcare and home alone… here is my salute! you are Amazons.
And now I must don my mommy avatar. When she sees me from the window of her school bus, her eyes as big as saucers, she will smile at me, the brightest of smiles and jump into my arms… or she maybe sleepy and confused and her features will settle when she sees me and she will curl up and sleep in my arms, her cheek pressed against my heart, while I carry my precious bundle across the road, up to our home and lay her in bed. It’s all good…
It Wasn’t Me
My homage to my favorite author/illustrator David Shannon. I am crazy about his No David series! Please go get your hands on one if you haven’t already.
But of course it had to be a little girl with her hair in fluffy bunches! That’s my thumbs up to my little 3 year old! She is allowed to scribble to her heart’s content on all the walls in her room though! Lucky thing!
Floating Lillies
Acrylics on canvas with some nice shiny turquoise waves and golden shimmery leaves… the camera did not really capture all the glitter.
The Nine O’Clock Lullaby
A Cat slumbers on, while the old radio plays older songs. I often paint or work listening to Paris Chanson, I am quite sure I was a Parisian once… or maybe I will be.
Ting-a-ting-ting Leila
leila. i love cows. i love the way they hang around busy traffic intersections looking like they are high on something. leila is the cow that i draw often and i don’t care if she doesn’t look desi enough! so there! my leila is a mix of a jersey heifer and the gaay. i have drawn her plenty of times, it was fun to give her flesh and haunches! i made leila with an empty tuna fish can and newpaper. the bell is an old rusty thing that i painted blue.
well… go on then… mooooooooooo!
this little piggy
this little piggy is made using a different method. i looked at Jonni Good’s work and learnt that i should probably make an armature first. i made this little piggy’s armature using crumpled newspaper and an empty yakult bottle (Little Thing drinks one a day, so i have a collection). i then layered it with newspaper and flour paste. let that dry and then layered again with torn paper from brown paper bags. i added ears with cardboard from a pizza box and this is how this little piggy looked.
then some of my favorite blue wash, i liked keeping the wash thin so some of the brown paper looked through and then sprinkled some bright flowers on this little piggy.
ek chidiya
working with paper has been a rush! i am trying to teach myself papier mache. the last time i may have done some must have been as a kid. I remember making terrible messes. And poor ma indulged me, while cringing inwardly at all the extra work she had to do cleaning up.
of course i had to begin with this little birdie. chidiya has turned out very rudimentary. i used paper pulp to make her and then painted over with acrylics.