Finally, I think I am back!!!

It took me four years to get back to doing what I love to do the most, or maybe just what I love to do. Why not the most? Maybe because I have found motherhood to be more fulfilling than anything else I have done in the past. The sight of my li'l one squeezing out the last speck of a sliced mango gives me more satisfaction than completing my hand-painted work. It is more far more exciting to find matching bindi and nail-paint for her than inspiration for my next work.

So to come up with what I did this time around, I had to combine both my passions. I decided to hand-paint a dress for my daughter. I knew it wasn't going to be easy as the lockdown left us both spending 30 hours in a day together. The only time I would find for myself would be when my daughter decided to hit the sack. Those precious hours would be further divided between a returning from work (from the dining table to the bedroom) husband, dinner, turning the makeshift play area into a bedroom. But I decided to take up the self-assigned assignment.

As expected, it was difficult to pick the subject as there were at least 10-15 characters craving for her attention, some cringeworthy, some cute. That's when I asked her, and pat came the answer in Peppa Pig. All I had to do is clean the dust settled on my paint brushes, dig out all the water colours, medium and palette from my treasure trove and voila. But it wasn't as easy as I imagined it to be. The brushes weren't in the best shape, some colours had dried unsurprisingly. While these were essentials for me, in the pandemic induced lockdown, they weren't so finding all this became a task. 

I got in touch with some kind souls who sold stationary for a living and they were sweet enough to help me with my requirements. Once the sailing got smooth, the WIP and the eventual result gave me confidence to reignite my passion. So here I am today, back to doing what I love to do, most or not we can leave that conversation for another day. 

The Creative Jungle

Another post after a long, long time. And back again this time doing what I love the most. Painting a pair of shoe. This was for a family friend's daughter. Having seen my work, they gave me a free hand to paint anything I like. More so, they also didn't know what exactly their daughter would like. Teenage choices.

But then had to start somewhere, internet, wardrobe combined with imaginations got me to start something. A fox with reindeers horns and peacocks feathers, a bird with four legs, feathers of a cock and crocodile type spikes. Yes, in a matter of a few days, these animals came to life, with my colours. To add some splash I added some cactus and my creative jungle was ready.

While making it I was worried whether the teen girl would like it. But when it reached their home, the folks were excited to see it and likewise, Dhanvi, whose birthday it was on May 1, liked it when she was gifted this by her parents. And after which the excited parents told me that she was craving for a pair of Converse and they had refused her. Reason being this custom-made pair was on its way. Here you go!!

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Zoo Entry for 'Party' Animals

So after almost a break of 15 months, my work is back on my blog. But this break was only for blogging, work was hectic, so much that I failed to take out little time to post a blog. So here's the new post, sounds as cliched as it can be. But yes, I literally designed a Zoo Entry ticket. For what? Here's a little story.

Tvishi Jaipal Choksi, a dear friend, wanted me to make an invite for her husband and the husband's cousin's birthday party. This party was being planned at this lounge in Vile Parle, W, Mumbai called ZooBar. The look and feel of the lounge is obviously full of animals and then this was a birthday party. The two combined obviously made the invite into a zoo entry ticket for party animals.

  

My first wild one

Sounds funny the title eh!!

Well, the work I did a few months ago has been my first foray into the wild. To be precise, wildlife. I was waiting for some opportunity like this and it came in the form of a certain wildlife photography enthusiast by the name of Karthik Moorthy. Karthik happened to be Gautam's journalism days colleague and friend Lakshmy's friends husband. Yaa, long shot!! 

But take my word, this gentleman (by all means and in true sense) from down South has been the most dedicated and zero-fuss client I have ever met. He had an idea, left us to build on his idea, be liberal on how to turn his idea into a a book worthy design and the ultimate product was something that turned out to be pretty impressive, by the clients' admission.

Yes, we made our first wildlife photography coffee table book from our first client from down South. The book from being just raw pictures in Karthik's Canon EOS 7D and 60D to a 50-pager exhibit named 'Birding At Corbett' came into being in about 2 & 1/2 months.

It was not just my aesthetic sense which made the coffee table book possible but also Karthik's unflinching dedication to the project, which included flying down to Mumbai to just look at the final layout, and then not ask for any big changes. The book is Karthik's experience into Corbett National Park while going for a wildlife excursion, especially for photography. 

Not only that, Karthik also sent one of his men from Chennai to Bengaluru just to pick the first print of his book which was being processed there. This, only to ensure that the first copy reaches his mentor Ramashish Ray (also now happens to be my client, thanks to Karthik) before he left the country for a long period. 

Truly it was an experience to work with someone as dedicated as we were to the whole piece. Thanks for being my client Karthik, thanks for introducing me to Ramashish and more importantly thanks for coming back again to start your new book. 

The cover with the box designed like the cover too 

One of the inside pages

A double spread layout of Chestnut Headed Bee Eater

One of Karthik's best shot which recently got selected in a leading newspaper's FB page as picture of the day

A double spread which gave precise details on the birds Karthik shot in Corbett

My first fling with a sling

So as the title says, this is my first fling with a sling. After painting shoes, tees, bedsheets, pillow covers, walls, I picked up this new thing of painting sling bags & clutches. 

Yes, I get these bags custom made with a white cloth from a friend of mine who learnt how to make them. And then I paint them. Though its not as simple as I am saying it. But then just when I thought painting part is a tough job, making these slings and clutches was another task.

Luckily, I just had to paint them and not make them from scratch. But mind you to even paint a clutch/ sling isn't a cakewalk. These are specifically only for women and you cant paint them with superheroes and artists only.

The first order also happened pretty randomly. A friend of a friend asked me if I can do this and I said, yes why not. And then for a couple of days we brainstormed on what to paint and settled for a floral pattern which I had to create. She agreed to the third pattern I created and voilaa!!

The final result here for you'll to see and give feedback. Hope this is first of many. I'm lovin it!!

A calendar with a different thought

When this project first came to me, I struggled to come up with ideas for it. It was just not working out. Its normal for any creative to not come up with the best idea in the first instance. But I made over 25-30 trial and error attempts before zeroing on the final design.

What came out eventually was a very satisfactory outcome. The client here is Windsor, a plastics processing machinery manufacturing firm with a 50 years history. They have some cutting edge technology from around the world which makes their roster of clients what one would call as happy customers. And to make machines and their products talk for their calendar wasn't easy.

Fact of the matter is that their products effectively touched human lives. Through the 12 pages of the year’s calendar ultimately they wanted to show exemplary attributes that go into making up the most of it in everyday life.  

Pulp Fiction meets Scarface: Timeless work on these timeless flicks

Till I was asked to make these characters on pillow covers, my only connection to Pulp Fiction was through my husband Gautam. He had done a 20 minute documentary on Colaba Causeway and used the background score of Pulp Fiction in the same. Now after over 9 years since he made this documentary, one of my friend Nirja asked me to hand paint that sexy pose of Mia from Pulp Fiction and that epic dialogue from Tony Montana in Scarface.

The moment Nirja told me to do this, I knew I had this opportunity to create some classic here. I took a good 20 days to complete this, which included 15 days of holiday in Hongkong ;). Anyway the ultimate conclusion of the work was actually ultimate. When I shared this work with my friends and family, they were all stunned. I had stunned myself too.

This is my second pillow cover after making one with Bob Marley. And I have suddenly a new found affinity to these classic retro designs. Hope I get some more opportunities like these soon. Keep checking this space for more.