Inspiration is food for thought for all artists! As soon as I step out of my doorstep, I find inspiration everywhere! It can be as simple as a simple cup of coffee to as large as scenery in the countryside. In this case, it was a local flower shop that got my attention on a morning run. I stopped by to make a quick scribbly sketch of the flower shop and a variety of subjects then transformed my sketch into…
I was really looking forward to visiting my family this month but the US president’s proclamation prohibits anyone from visiting friends and family in the US from Schengen countries. So, I ended up re-booking my flights to travel at a later date. This would have been a wonderful opportunity for our son to celebrate one of the biggest Indian festivals with his Indian family with mirth – Holi! Holi – The Spring Festival of Colors Holi is a joyous and…
This post provides you a basic step-by-step process of making your own handmade watercolors Watercolor paint is an alluring medium of traditional fine art, which when mixed with water creates translucent layers of color on paper. The use of watercolor dates back to prehistoric times when primitive humans made paints from charcoal, ochres, and water. They applied them with fingers, sticks, or whatever was naturally available, to communicate and document their life. Since antiquity, watercolor is used as a medium…
The next time you’re cooking eggs, don’t throw away the egg shells in the bin straight away. It will surprise you that you can use them for making safe and eco-friendly creamy white watercolor paint and use it for transforming your existing color palette. It also makes for a great rainy day project to get the kids involved! White is not a color that is used by traditional watercolor artists. To achieve white in a watercolor painting you plan ahead,…
The year 2020 was unlike any other in our lifetime! It was a year filled with trials and tribulations for everyone. In hindsight, it has been a year that I will remember the most for it gave us once in a lifetime opportunity to look at life in a very profound and unique way! I reflect on 2020 by not fixating on the tribulations and personal loss but instead acknowledging their existence, honoring the thoughts and feelings that were a…
Have you ever wondered how ink was first made? How did the ancient civilizations make those beautiful colored inks? What were the pigments and dyes used in making inks? Many of the colorful dyes that were used by ancient civilizations came all from the natural world. These early pioneers created ink using fine carbon particles and natural pigments combined with plant gum to acts as a binding agent. Inks have a large impact on our lives! It is essentially a fluid…
Elder (Sambucus nigra) or Holler as it is called in Austria grows very commonly as a shrub or small tree. Its natural habitat is on river banks and in wet woodlands. The fruits and flowers of the Elder have long been used in traditional Austrian medicine. In fact, Elder is an absolute classic whether it is made into a syrup, roasted, or cooked into a marmalade, one or the other of these delicacies can almost always be found in an…
The journey of a plant to paper! What is Paper? It is a network of plant fibers laid down as a flat sheet. Paper is a basic and immensely versatile material that has been used since long for written communication and the dissemination of information besides having numerous other applications. Paper has many names (papier, carta, kagaz, waraq, etc) depending on where you go, but everyone understands its many uses and importance. In today’s modern world there exists an endless variety…