Those painting classes at school were one of the most boring hours n disgusting too coz i was unnaturally bad at it...given the fact that my granny is a fantastic artist...she once taught me how to draw a tribal women carrying a pot of water when i was 6...my first drawing...i was good at that particular sketch coz the lady doesnt face us and i just had to draw the back view which was easy enuf...
Still...painting...never understood back then why it was a compulsion to attend that hour...it was an attempt to embarass kids like me who dint want the whole class to know the fact that a cat and a cow looked the same when we drew them...or even a dog and a donkey for that matter...those of us who never bothered to differentiate gender while sketching humans...it was alwayz a turn off..moresoever bcoz my best frnd was great at it...she excelled while i struggled to get even a simple picture like a swan right...so what if i couldnt draw i was good at something else...spellings! if that could be called an art...well eventually i learnt it wasnt...coz i got no praise from anyone for my correct spellings...
While drawing classes faithfully went on bothering me at school, never did a single day pass when i wasnt welcomed by my granny in her painting session the moment i was back home...thanks heaven i dint have a drawing lesson at home with her thou i'd have enjoyed to play around and fake it just to smell some fresh kerosene in which she stored her used brushes (i was, rather am quite an addict to the smell of kereosene and its family)...so it was home sweet home where my drawing skills arent put to test...and strangely i turned a critic to my granny's paintings...thou i wasnt even in my teens, she took my suggestions...and always said i had a point and that i'm a good observer...thus i practised the habit of observing every detail in a painting...occasionally she allowed me to paint a big patch of color on a huge canvas...it actually felt good...the brush in my hand...but never planned to venture any deep into the divine art...
Years passed and one day when i was in my final year of college, i thought of making a pencil sketch, inspired by the picture on my notebook cover (actually my sister's notebook she wanted me to correct)...a picture of a rajsthani beauty... succeeded in getting the outline right but with a slight change in the face...just that mine was ugly...so i quickly found a sidey actress who looked like her and marketed mine as a sketch of her...some were even foolish enuf to believe my crazy idea...but that small sketch made me rethink about developing my painting skills...i gave it an year or two before i did my second sketch...this time i was taken to a shock...my second sketch again of a rajasthani women turned out to be more beauiful than the original...i was all excited and immediately started my first painting on oil canvas...a scenary with a river, a house and a windmill...somehow i was alwayz fasinated by a windmill...so i started some serious painting only to realize that i dint have the same interest throughout...i need deadlines to slog my bu*t out coz i display a great tendency of leaving things half way...so naturally i neglected that painting when it was only half done and went about with my life...
Finally one fateful day i got engaged and only after that did i realize the importance of the art when i knew i'd miss my granny and regretted that i dint bother to learn anything from her all these years when she was only too happy to teach me everything she had in her...so once again i started a new one on canvas funnily again of a rajasthani women...this particular women whom i found on an old calendar was according to me one of the most beautiful women ever, painted by an artist called Subrata Sen and painting her was like a dream to me...i hit it off well and even got my inlaws' appreciation while it was just half way...was all in high spirits...but then loyal to my nature, i got turned off one day and left it...one day when it just a few weeks to the wedding i suddenly jumped on the thought of gifting something to the most wonderful person i've ever known, Surya, the meaning of my life...something like a wedding gift...i dint even have to think, there can be nothing better than a beautiful painting...a final call...shamelessly i again sat on it only to finish it this time (thanks to my frnd Priyanka who's been a critic and made sure i took it to near perfection)...i couldnt wait for that wonderful moment when i signed my name, when i moved back a few steps and gave it a final look, when a beautiful women stared back at me (well not as much as the original but mine was beautiful in her own way), when it suddenly occured to me that this is the best i could give to my best half...all thanks to my granny who has finally digged out the skills imbibed in me...but i'm positive its not entirely the art within but also the love i felt towards Surya and the strong desire to give him something worthwile and memorable that has driven me into delivering this one, which is now very close to my heart...my first painting which is also my first achievement in life!!! today i'm confident i can paint anything that i desire...
Still...painting...never understood back then why it was a compulsion to attend that hour...it was an attempt to embarass kids like me who dint want the whole class to know the fact that a cat and a cow looked the same when we drew them...or even a dog and a donkey for that matter...those of us who never bothered to differentiate gender while sketching humans...it was alwayz a turn off..moresoever bcoz my best frnd was great at it...she excelled while i struggled to get even a simple picture like a swan right...so what if i couldnt draw i was good at something else...spellings! if that could be called an art...well eventually i learnt it wasnt...coz i got no praise from anyone for my correct spellings...
While drawing classes faithfully went on bothering me at school, never did a single day pass when i wasnt welcomed by my granny in her painting session the moment i was back home...thanks heaven i dint have a drawing lesson at home with her thou i'd have enjoyed to play around and fake it just to smell some fresh kerosene in which she stored her used brushes (i was, rather am quite an addict to the smell of kereosene and its family)...so it was home sweet home where my drawing skills arent put to test...and strangely i turned a critic to my granny's paintings...thou i wasnt even in my teens, she took my suggestions...and always said i had a point and that i'm a good observer...thus i practised the habit of observing every detail in a painting...occasionally she allowed me to paint a big patch of color on a huge canvas...it actually felt good...the brush in my hand...but never planned to venture any deep into the divine art...
Years passed and one day when i was in my final year of college, i thought of making a pencil sketch, inspired by the picture on my notebook cover (actually my sister's notebook she wanted me to correct)...a picture of a rajsthani beauty... succeeded in getting the outline right but with a slight change in the face...just that mine was ugly...so i quickly found a sidey actress who looked like her and marketed mine as a sketch of her...some were even foolish enuf to believe my crazy idea...but that small sketch made me rethink about developing my painting skills...i gave it an year or two before i did my second sketch...this time i was taken to a shock...my second sketch again of a rajasthani women turned out to be more beauiful than the original...i was all excited and immediately started my first painting on oil canvas...a scenary with a river, a house and a windmill...somehow i was alwayz fasinated by a windmill...so i started some serious painting only to realize that i dint have the same interest throughout...i need deadlines to slog my bu*t out coz i display a great tendency of leaving things half way...so naturally i neglected that painting when it was only half done and went about with my life...
Finally one fateful day i got engaged and only after that did i realize the importance of the art when i knew i'd miss my granny and regretted that i dint bother to learn anything from her all these years when she was only too happy to teach me everything she had in her...so once again i started a new one on canvas funnily again of a rajasthani women...this particular women whom i found on an old calendar was according to me one of the most beautiful women ever, painted by an artist called Subrata Sen and painting her was like a dream to me...i hit it off well and even got my inlaws' appreciation while it was just half way...was all in high spirits...but then loyal to my nature, i got turned off one day and left it...one day when it just a few weeks to the wedding i suddenly jumped on the thought of gifting something to the most wonderful person i've ever known, Surya, the meaning of my life...something like a wedding gift...i dint even have to think, there can be nothing better than a beautiful painting...a final call...shamelessly i again sat on it only to finish it this time (thanks to my frnd Priyanka who's been a critic and made sure i took it to near perfection)...i couldnt wait for that wonderful moment when i signed my name, when i moved back a few steps and gave it a final look, when a beautiful women stared back at me (well not as much as the original but mine was beautiful in her own way), when it suddenly occured to me that this is the best i could give to my best half...all thanks to my granny who has finally digged out the skills imbibed in me...but i'm positive its not entirely the art within but also the love i felt towards Surya and the strong desire to give him something worthwile and memorable that has driven me into delivering this one, which is now very close to my heart...my first painting which is also my first achievement in life!!! today i'm confident i can paint anything that i desire...
Quite a long story isnt? ufff!! btw that scenary is still there safe and unfininished with leafless trees and a brownish sky which shud have otherwise been blue... :p
@Rekha
