I'm a Creatyst

So I have been featured as a Creatyst on their website and I'm quite kicked about it :) 

Creatyst a platform for giving voice and presence to what you love to do!

Read more HERE.

Vector Letters

So I stumbled upon @36daysoftype on Instagram and I knew I had to be a part of it. 

Vector illustration scares me, a little less now but it still does and I thought this would be a good opportunity to give it a try. I started with U and was quite pleased with myself, so this has now become a daily routine. I've realized that it is quite challenging but also great fun !

Here are my illustrated letters:

U is for Us

V is for Voracious reading in the park

W is for Walking your dogs

X is for x-hausted after a long day of work

Can't wait to do more of this !

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a really cool initiative by The Great Discontent and a San Francisco based artist, designer, and writer, Elle Luna. It’s a celebration of process that encourages everyone to participate in 100 days of making. The great surrender is the process; showing up day after day is the goal. Read more about the project and participate HERE.

I came across this great project on my latest addiction - Instagram :) and instantly decided to be a part of it. I had a bunch of topics that I wanted to choose for the project but then a friend helped me decide on the perfect one - 100 days of painting doors. Since I was going to be travelling for some part of the project, it was suitable, as each city has such a wonderful collection of doors to offer. 

It is now week two of the project and I am so inspired and motivated each day to complete my door painting. It is a wonderful feeling. I started off with painting them by hand, tried a few vector doors for a bit and now am back to hand-painting. 

You can view the entire project here - #100daysofpaintingdoors 

Here are some of favorites till date:

Can't wait to see the entire collection after a 100 days ! 

Pretty Rooms

I did a series of illustrations of rooms recently and I'm sure there will be more because this is so much fun. Getting to design a little space, do it up all by yourself - multiple times, is really therapeutic :) Deciding which lamp goes where, what plants to include etc is a fun process !

I've used watercolor and a bit of acrylics and also my trusty Pigma black multi-liner :)

Time flies

It's been a long hiatus from blogging and I'm back. It has been a crazy few months and 2015 has begun with a lot of promise and happy feelings. I hope it stays this way :)

I recently got selected for a fellowship, a first for me, and I'm really thrilled to be a part of this. I am off to a village in Karnataka to study and help preserve their culture and heritage. 

More about that soon ! 

2015 also began with a lot of travelling all around Bengal and a little bit of Sikkim. 

Here are some illustrations from our travels:

These illustrations were also part of the #6framestorychallenge by Pratham books. 

Here is what Pratham had to say about my story.

September - the month that was

September came and whooshed by before I could blink. It even seemed like we skipped it this year. Like it was just August, and now October. I guess mostly because I've be racing to meet deadlines.

Books:
Umm.. well.. reading took a back seat this month, sadly. To make up, I attended the Bangalore Literature Fest and was enlightened by the many discussions I sat through.

Movies:
Strangely I saw very few movies this month. Seems unbelievable to me too.
Finding Fanny - A sweet movie, unlike a typical Bollywood film. Since I am a DP fan, I was happy to look at her for 2 hours. The story was o-k-a-y, performances were nice. Wouldn't say I loved the movie though.
Mary Kom - Saw this in the bus while going home to Pune. Thank goodness I did not waste moolah to watch this on the big screen. What a terrible thing they have done to such a remarkable story of MC Mary Kom.
Good Morning Vietnam - Heard so much about this one and finally got to watch it. A lovely movie, Robin Williams at his best. Great story and acting.

TV Shows:
I started watching Gotham (amazing), which is a take on Gotham before Bruce Wayne became 'Batman'. I love it.

Travel:
This month we were too caught up in work to travel anywhere. Except for a weekend when my college friends were in town and we had an awesome mini-reunion, the month just went by drowning in work.

Restaurants:
So I went to The Beire Club for the very first time. Yes, ironically I did not have beer (i'm not that big a fan) but instead ordered a Sangria, and must I say, it was one of the best I've had till date. Really well made. Also their Nachos were delicious. I had a really fun time there.

Also visited the hip and happening 'Church Street Social' and really liked the place. It's just the right amount of loud that I like in a place. They serve their drinks in really cool and innovative ways - candy floss cosmos, shots in syringes etc. It was a rather fun evening !

Also, tried out Dyu Art Cafe in Kormangala. The place is really pretty, and has a charm of its own. Can't say the same about the menu though. A really limited number of dishes, though the tea is nice. I ordered a Chamomile Tea and they served us an entire potful - 3 cups ! A nice place to just sit, read and doodle maybe.

 

October already looks like a fun month. Let's see how it rolls.

Coldplay love - contd.

And here are some more Coldplay illustrations I made recently. My new fav song, from their album Ghost Stories, is Always in my Head. Simply love it.