I had the privilege to visit Brihadeeshwara Temple (UNESCO World Heritage site), located in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, in the south of India after a gap of 30 years. My first visit there was during one of my primary school field trip and now i was visiting the same temple with my daughter who is in primary school – Nostalgic indeed!

This magnificent Shiva temple was build by Rajaraja Chola king in 11th century and depicts the grandeur of the Chola architecture. I could not resist taking out an A4 piece of paper and start sketching this marvelous intricate architecture that stood in front of me. So this is what happened in the next 30 minutes:

Indeed fully satisfied 🙂

Here is a painting which i finally completed recently, along with a poem inspired by this painting, to illustrate the moment in words.

She flipped and bounced, her eyes twinkling

I turned my head, our gaze meeting

A moment of silence so enchanting

We burst into laughter for reason unknowing

Till our eyes were watering, with the laughter so endearing

Here is a memory so alive with a painting so gratifying

Here is the making of the painting:

 

If eyes are the soul of a portrait then lips are the ones to express the mood. The expression on the lips control almost the entire contour of the face.

So here is the lovely lips giving a big smile and showing off the sharp nose and chubby cheeks.

If a portrait comes to life, then eyes are its soul, the sole reason.

With everything around us going digital i had been eager for a while to get hold of an Art software which can allow me to create digital paintings while keeping the experience as close as possible to real life painting.

Finally i did manage to stumble upon ART RAGE,  a super cool natural painting software.  As it says in their website “ArtRage gives you real world painting tools on your computer in a stylish, easy to use environment that lets you get down to the process of creating without digital distractions.” which i completely agree to.

Here is an amateurish attempt with a portrait.

I have been going crazy over stitching in the last couple of weeks, so much so that i am either seen with the baby or with the sewing machine.

I find it addictive, just the same kind of feelings which i get while painting, the excitement at the start, to persevere till the end, tons of patience to correct mistakes in between and finally a super sense of gratification upon completion as each piece of work is the outcome of an initial creative idea.

Well that said here is the first dress stitched for my little one. A simple frill frock with a matching head band. It was such a pleasure to see her wear it.

Here is my second dress stitched for my baby. With some confidence gained by stitching the first frock, i wanted to try a more complex design something different from the first in both color and design. So this is an A-lin cut frock with box pleats and used the same lacy cloth to make the frills around the neck and sleeves.

The cloth cutting for the box pleats does require a bit of maths, so in case you plan to try it out be very careful before you cut the material (lessons learnt).

Here is a sketch inspired poem
Left right she tosses her head,
Her favourite toys hang beside her bed,
From the corner of her eye she spots me instead,
Her face blossoms with a smile widespread.
A smile so innocent,
Infectious instant,
A smile so inviting,
That i scoop her into my arms loving.
With a squishy squashy hug we snuggle up,
Till our hearts dance with content locked up.

Yay! Shriya baby turns 2 months and it feels great to have grabbed sometime to do some sketching after a long break. Looking forward to capture many such wonderful moments.