Marigolds and Mallipoos

I am now, most probably, the official family kalyanam sketchbook stalker. Another cousin's wedding and a slightly different level of involvement from me this time, as wedding-invite-designer and sole representative of family in the 20-25 years age group (Excluding Brother Mark of course. But then, the bride's brother is not counted in such things). Saving self from converting to maamidom were the U-19 sister and one pithukuli from Oz.

Part of duties this time involved secretly feeding cousin/bride pieces of Bournville (yes, she earned it) and attempting to strike lame deals with the new athimber, whilst doing Matrix-style dodging of smoke from the pyre. The vadiyar conducting the ceremonies then was kind enough to explain to us yeng folk the point of what was happening at appropriate junctures. What he says here "...ippo onga expenses ellathayum avaa authorise pannuva" translates to "...now she will authorise all your expenses". Yes, cheap thrills :P

Drinkify

{From top-bottom}

Colourful drinks at Pizzeria Romano / Tea at studio with two cat-people and a fly-cup / 

Kullad chai, pakoda platter and radio at Chai Patty / 

Sick-day soup and comic books at Cafe Terra

~

The original drinkify.
Recommended searches: Bappi Lahiri, Himesh Reshammiya, Bob Dylan (amongst others)

Juno

Once upon what seems like a long time ago, a little half lab-half something* was brought to the studio. Multiple naming ceremonies resulted in Juno, which I am pretty sure she confused with the NO! that she heard all the time. It's impossible to try and sketch her now, because she is never ever ever still. This is an old one, from one of those peaceful puppy-nap days.

* Most definitely part cat-part monkey

Penciljam@CKP

I've been only to two Penciljams (both with Sparkles) and actually sketched only at one. This Penciljam was at Chitra Kala Parishat, early last year- lovely pillars throwing shadows, lots of trees and even a little temple. There was a crafts fair happening on the same day, so the relatively empty campus slowly filled up with colourful stalls, people and more people. Eventually the sketching gave way to shopping for pretty thingummies :D

~

Lots of catching up to do with posts!

Powerpeff

Mallu overdose.
Yes. Happens.

True story.
(The overdose I mean)

Sparkles the Bunny Cat

Sparkles makes the world go meeeaaoooww.

The Painted Postcards : 1

Well, hopefully part-1 that is.


*
In a fit of boredom and missing my college friends, I decided to make postcards for everyone.

Eventually, I made only two and then never found my way to the post-office. Now that both the cards have been delivered- many months after they were made- here they are - a Singin' in the Rain + batch joke inspired card for the louwely Mildred and film reels and chai cups + Filmclub louwe for the amazing and newly christened Strawbella.

More soon (again, hopefully).

POSTER PAINTS / ROTRING / COLOUR PENCILS / PHOTO INKS ON RS.0.50 POSTCARD

Bengaluru Habba

Nothing can compare with the experience of listening to a band for the first time, at a live concert, and loving it. I've managed that a few times at Bangalore (Advaita, Motherjane, Thermal and a Quarter). Thanks to a certain Mogambo's scouting skills, I managed to catch the last of the Jazz concerts at the Bengaluru Habba- the Amit Heri Quartet (Amit Heri + Maarten Visser + Keith Peters + Jeoraj) and blues band Soulmate, from Shillong.

The stage / Amit Heri / Tipriti Kharbangar

photo credit: Siddharth Mohanty

Lesson learnt after the Indian Ocean gig, this time I took along a black gel pen, oil pastels and my neon crayolas, last year's birthday gift from a Sighing Billi. The setting was so lovely, I just had to draw- open skies at the UB City rooftop amphitheatre. I only wish we didn't have the UB tower as a backdrop to the whole thing.

Amit Heri was a lot more jazz-ey than Prasanna was, but one could make out the Indian classical music touches to most of the pieces. (Again, especially with the names-like Incidental Kalyani. Is there something about Kalyani and fusion music? Prasanna has a track called Kalyani Connection).

Soulmate was a revelation. I was playing their music on loop off the internet for a week, but at the concert, I was far more fascinated with the lead singer Tipriti 'Tips' Kharbangar. You will have to watch videos of their gigs (or even better, catch them live) to get what I mean about Tips. These sketches do no justice to the energy she had on stage.

~

Conclusions after a series of concert drawings:

- I like drawing drums and mikes.

- Guitars are best drawn while they are being played.

- Women are more fun to draw than men.

~

Indian Ocean LIVE

The Indian Ocean gig here last year (atleast the one I went for) was part of Bongalore's Durga Puja celebrations. It was vastly different experience compared to the my first time at an Indian Ocean concert, in 2005 at IIM-A's Chaos. For starters we were in the midst of fish-filled uncles and aunties, and not drunk-in-dry-state students. Also, we had seats. Not the lounging on grass, staring at stars in the January cold this time.

BUT, strange enough, the concert managed to drag me out of my 'not in the mood to sketch' mood, which had lasted a few too many months. Note to self: Always, ALWAYS carry a pen. Just a pencil may not always suffice.

As you can see, shameless autograph getting also happened.

The Fantastic Tale of my Fluoroscent Nails

Okay, it's not fantastic and all. I just liked the sound of it.

I've always been guilty of strange coloured nailpaint. It was not allowed in my school, and I used to sneak around during term exams (when I was eleven) with nail art that involved more than one blinding colour. Somewhere along the way, I eventually gave up on that. But a summertime of sickness can make one do strange things.

Aided by the sister, I have rediscovered the joys of non-pink/red/brown nailpaint. And yes, the fluoroscent in the drawing is the actual nailpaint.