The Illustrator's Collective

The Illustrator's Collective is Bakula Nayak, Kalyani Ganapathy, Trusha Sawant, and me - four people with varying styles and interests, brought together by a love for narrating through the drawn image. Through an amazing chain of events (involving a himym-like story of how we met, too many teas, and countless emails, google docs and hangouts), the four of us are exhibiting our work this Friday onwards, at Kynkyny Art in Bangalore.

*applause + drumroll*

'My Cup of Tea' is the first edition of the Collective, and our first exhibition together. Drop in to meet us and see some new illustrations that we have worked on specially for this exhibit, across varying media, techniques and thoughts!

We have daily updates on us, our inspirations, and behind the scenes of our works and the exhibition over on our facebook page. 

Invite designed and aesthetically tea-stained by Miss Jontu

Creating Change: Now Online!

Creating Change is now available as a digital version (for free), here.


Download. Read. Share!

Matt Littlewood @ Plantation House

After many months, I went to Plantation House for the monthly jazz gigs that Shalini hosts. There was Matt Littlewood on the saxophone, Vijji Cheyyur on the guitar and Naveen Kumar on the bass. Such a fun evening. I think nothing can come close to drawing to jazz.

Creating Change @ KDY13

This year, Kyoorius and British Council teamed up to offer one day workshops on design writing, conducted by William Shaw across three cities - Delhi, Bombay and Bangalore. Participants at this workshop were invited to pitch stories for a book that would be released at the Kyoorius Design Yatra. It has been a while since we took a break from Little Design Book, and I was glad for this opportunity to indulge in writing about design. 

Creating Change features twelve essays by designers, architects and writers, discussing design and its possibilities in India. Many thanks to Aanchal Sodhani (British Council) and William Shaw for their guidance in shaping the written pieces and Shumi Bose (Blueprint magazine) , Patrick Burgoyne (Creative Review) and Robert Wilson for the online masterclasses.

The book was shared with all the speakers and participants of this year's Design Yatra. 
Anyone with a subscription for the Kyoorius magazine should be receiving a book with their next copy too :)


Edit: The book is now available online as a free e-book. Download here!

The Wildings Festival: Part 2

A few months ago, I participated in Mirror of the Open Road, an exhibition of works by 23 artists as part of The Wildings Festival in London.

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It been over one hundred years since the suffragettes fought for the right to vote. The world can change many times over in that sort of time. But for some reason, an idea as simple as women's rights is still an ongoing struggle in many countries, including India.

The voices and actions of many women over several years has brought us where we are today, slightly better than our predecessors. Yet we still seem to be fighting the same battles. On the streets. At work. At home. These are vignettes of some of those everyday fights I see around me, where I live.

The three pieces take inspiration from the colours of the suffragette movement – purple, white and green – and re-imagine what they might mean in today's world.

'Privilege'

'Purity'

'Body'

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Mixed media (gouache, photo inks, pencil and pen) / 18.8 x 27.7cm

Singin' in the Rains / 2013

It's that time of the year again! Much thankses to Akash and Sushmeit for new music introductions.
This is also the first of my rain playlists to feature music by friends – Shilpa and Bindhu. Go say hi.

Older rain playlists here.
This might help too.

Kaapi & Cigarettes

Trusha and I are doing a weekly sketchbook swap.
Check it out here. Whee!

The Wilding Festival: Part 1

Earlier this year, Akhila had invited me to participate in 'Mirror of the Open Road' - an exhibition that is part of the multi-arts Wilding Festival. The event commemorates the memory of Emily Wilding Davison, a suffragette who gave up her life for the movement a 100 years ago.

28 artists from 8 countries are participating in the exhibition, which is at St. George's Church, London. I'm terribly excited to be a part of this, and really wish I could be there.

More images of my entry in a later post.

People in London, do visit the festival! :)


Mirror of the Open Road is open from 13th to 16th June, 2013. More details here.

Churches and Chaaya

I spent this year's Good Friday - Easter weekend in Cochin/Kochi, with SM and her family at their beautiful new home.

In the three years since my first visit here, I seem to have lost my tolerance for sitting down to sketch in extremely sunny spots - the yellow face... it burns our skin it doessss - Bangalore has spoilt me whattodo.

This year I finally learnt about the Way of the Cross, although I decided to stay back at the church and draw other Ammachis who weren't up for braving the sun either.

The heat notwithstanding, the weekend was full of hot, sweet chaaya, in mugs and cups and coffee pots. Thanks to SE chechi and Don saare, we took a loooong drive to Fort Kochi, to see the Santa Cruz Basilica (which was closed, for Easter) and Teapot, a cafe I have been wanting to visit for a very long time.

I wonder when I'll next get to spend time on a breezy balcony overlooking a never ending canopy of coconut trees...

Painted Postcard : 3

For Poo, who will fly away to NY soon.