New thought..

Today's Thought

Children's Books

Towards the end of 2007, I was given the opportunity to illustrate Children's books. It has been an amazing journey, I have learnt so much through the process and I'm thrilled that the first books I worked quite hard on have been published. I really love how they have turned out. These are the two cover pages.
These are wonderful Christian based stories of God's purpose for our lives. The author 'Jonathan Cooper' has been able to bring powerful meaning through the simplicity of the narrative which is quite remarkable. A lot was revealed to me about my life and it's purpose as I worked on the illustrations. So, although these books are for the young, they have meaning for the "young at heart" as well!

My illustrations for Children’s books are simple and playful. Bold colours bring out the mood of each page. I try to awaken the reader’s imagination. I really feel for the purpose of 'inspiring young minds'. I love this particular line of work as I feels it is a great challenge to my creativity and I see each page as a work of art and fresh ideas are always required.

For more information on these books and others on 'God's Creation' wonderfully written by Claire Osborne and beautifully illustrated by Heidi Hendriks and on how to order them, please visit this site: www.saltandlight.com.au

Fun with Photoshop!!

A digital art portrait of myself!

I love how this turned out. My version of 'Think outside the box' was created from scratch on Photoshop.
These images below are from photos that I turned into digital art:


These images below are what I practised creating on Photoshop, logos, titles, framing and composition:

I feel I've learned so much just by playing around with all the tools and effects. The possibilities are really endless and it can get quite addicting!

Magazine Covers

The Front Cover (up)
The original characters in the boxes were hand painted by us.

The Back Cover (up)

The Front Cover (up)

The theme given to us, we were thrilled at the visual we came up with.
The Back Cover (up)
Shireen and I were on the Editorial Committee of our Church in the years 2005-06. We were on the design team and we really enjoyed being creative and innovative. We are really proud of how these covers turned out and I feel the imagery gave artwork a more current feel.

Water colour

Watercolours are interesting to work in, it requires a certain amount of practise and skill, I don't feel I have mastered this media completely as yet. It isn't a forgiving medium, we have to really avoid any mistakes. It can be great fun once you have some practise and know how to control the flow of the water colour. The first painting (2007) is a definite witness to it's flow, wash, transparent, translucent and layering qualities.

These paintings were done in 2004-06

Pencil Shading

Pencils are great for details and delicate work. These are some of my favourite pieces done in college in 2004-05.

Pastels

Pastel work done in 2005-06. I love the texture of this medium and it's bold colouring effect.
The first picture is entitled 'Dance'. It depicts statues in a garden in movement, a touch of irony, it is in a way a tribute to this medium as it allows me to feel free and playful.
The second is a village woman who modelled for us in college, I loved the richness of her saree and glow of her chocolate skin and so I naturally chose to work with Pastels.

New Year Party 2006

What a great time we had! Asked by one of the finer hotels of the city to create the decor for a their 2006 New Year's Party was a thrilling experience. The theme was 'Wild Flower Garden'. Three other friends and I worked hard day and night for 3 weeks on all the props. A cave entrance for the D.J console painted white to glow under the neon lights, 50 large and fluorescent hand painted fabric flowers..
...12 plaster of Paris mushroom stools, 6 grass cutouts..
...1 hand painted wooden tree, 2 white picket fences and a lot of extra details is what made up this fantasy. Was the party a success?..sure did look like it!

Linocut

Linocut is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for the relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum surface with a sharp knife, V-shaped chisel or gouge, with the raised (uncarved) areas representing a reversal (mirror image) of the parts to show printed. The cut areas can then be pulled from the backing. The linoleum sheet is inked with a roller (called a brayer), and then impressed onto paper or fabric. The actual printing can be done by hand or with a press.
For more information on this process check this site:
www.fimp.net/howtomakealinocut.html
The prints were done in 2005-06 at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath

Intaglio

Intaglio printmaking techniques - engraving, drypoint, etching, aquatint, stipple, mezzotint.

These are the 3 techniques I mainly worked in:

Engraving
Engraving is the oldest and most common of the intaglio techniques. Lines are cut into a metal plate using a tool called burin or graver. After the process of incising lines has been finished, the plate is inked. Then the surface of the plate is cleaned and only the ink in the incised lines is left. A dampened paper is put on the plate. With the paper being pressed firmly against the plate, it absorbs the ink left in the lines.

Etching
For etchings the plate is first covered with an acid-resistant wax or resin ground. Then the image is incised into the wax or resin layer with an etching needle. Finally the plate is dipped into acid. The acid bites into the exposed lines where the wax or resin was removed. These acid-bitten areas hold the ink.

Aquatint

Aquatint is a special form of etching. It is created by etching sections rather than lines of a plate. First a porous ground of powdered or melted resin or asphalt or a similar ground is dusted onto the plate. Next the plate is heated from below and as a result the applied dusty coat adheres to the metal and is acid-resistant. The acid is spread over the plate and bites into the tiny holes left in the coating. Similar to mezzotint, aquatint is a technique to produce prints with the effect of printing rather whole areas than just lines. Typical for acquatint are the finely dotted areas.

These prints were done in 2007 at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath.

Lithography

These are some of my lithograhy prints, done at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath in 2006-07.


The Basic Idea:The essence of the technique is the affinity of oil for oil and the repulsion of oil and water.
Stone lithography was invented in 1798, and it was the first new printmaking technique to emerge in about 300 years. Stone lithography became very popular as a medium by the 1830s. People used stone lithography to create color art for books, as well as for more pedestrian things like labels, flyers and posters.
Stone lithography's popularity with artists came about because it was the first printmaking medium to allow the artist to naturally "paint" or "draw" onto a flat stone (limestone) to create an image. The artist creates the work directly and naturally.

The basic idea used in stone lithography is extremely simple:

• The artist draws/paints on the stone with a greasy substance. For example, a litho crayon is a soft waxy/greasy crayon. There are also litho paints and pencils. The stone picks up this greasy substance and holds it.
• The stone is moistened with water. The parts of the stone not protected by the greasy paint soak up the water.
• Oil-based ink is rolled onto the stone. The greasy parts of the stone pick up the ink, while the wet parts do not.
• A piece of paper is pressed onto the stone, and the ink transfers from the stone to the paper.

For more information about the technique and process check this site: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/stone-lithography2.htm