Magic of daydreaming...



Painting by Dita

 I was flipping through a travel magazine at the dentists waiting room some weeks back and I saw this beautiful resort at a tropical paradise...It was magical...beautiful blue seas, sparkling beaches, cosy rooms with adjoining verandahs...and one plant that seemed to be growing everywhere was the commonly known Birds of Paradise.

I had this frame in mind from then and was waiting eagerly for an opportunity to paint it. When M wanted to take the kids for a play in the park on Sunday I knew it was my chance... :) and what you see on the right is my abstract version of Birds of Paradise... but it has a story of it's own!

All the while that morning, I kept thinking of the pictures I saw in that magazine...the beautiful beaches, the warm waters, the peaceful spas, the tranqil pools...And, the magic of the bright red and yellow paints, the paint brushes and my solitude seemed to transport me to the tell-tale world of ethereal beauty...a space where everything is sublime...there is no worry...no constraint...just pure joy...joy of satisfaction, joy of contentment, joy of being myself...

...and then cheerfull voices of I & J declared my landing back to the real world...they were back from their stint in the park...I smiled to myself and packed up to get lunch ready...real world is just as good...only with a 5yr old and a 3.5 yr old around it is far from peaceful!!!

At that stage I had just completed the flowers and the foliage and had planned the background to be blue...like the sky...But when I got back to finishing the painting later in the afternoon...I decided to honour my little tryst with day dreaming...And to capture the mystery of the space I had been to earlier in the day I changed the backgroung to black....the mysterious, enigmatic elusive black!



Just to give you an idea about how this piece of mine could look at your home (or mine)......



Glee...

           After all the anxiety, tension and nervousness...I am finally content and happy...actually really elated and humbled at the same time...The Exhibition and Fundraiser was excellent! I have sold a few paintings and quite a few greeting cards and have raised a reasonable amount of money for the cause....but more than anything else... I have done what I have dreamt of doing for a long long time...something that is very close to my heart...and that gives me a feeling of euphoria... I really held infinity in the palm of my hand for a second and made a promise to myself...a promise that this is just the beginning....the beginning of me defining my life and making a difference to others...one step at a time!

 

Image by Reshmi Mazumdar



I have also learnt a few life lessons while organising this event...some good, others not that great...and I not going to bore you with the details but will definitely share something with you...I knew that Ma, Baba, M, I, J, Bonuram... love me a lot and will always be there to support me but now I know something more...something much much more...there are a whole lot of people...some of whom I have been close with...some with whom I have lost touch and others who I barely know...also think of me and brace my endeavours...3 cheers to all of you who made this day possible and a special thanks to R for being there to share the joys! I just thought of spreading the cheer further by sharing this bright painting of mine.



Image by Dita



Prep!



I am not sure if I have told you earlier, but I am hosting my first solo Art Exhibition Fundraiser on the 14th of Sept and have been really busy over the weekend to conclude all the prep for that! Although my checklists and notes say that I am ready for Friday I can’t seem to get rid of the “I am missing something” feeling from my head...I am nervous and excited at the same time...puzzled yet resolved!



Prep for the exhibition! - Image by Dita

I am not sure which colour represents this whirlpool of emotions...but it seems as if all the colours of the world are being churned in my head...but for whatever reason they are not being mixed into a muddy brown and that makes me happy!!!

Whirlpool of Emotions!..Image from Google

Following is the poster for my Fundraiser. The initiative “Rainbow Children” is a concept that was conceived and nurtured by the “Daughters of the Cross” a religious congregation under the Roman Catholic Church. Over the years the nuns have been rendering untiring and determined service and effort to improve the state of the downtrodden in the vicinity of the convent. As a student of St. Agnes’s Convent School Howrah, I was involved in the ‘feed and read’ program where we used to spend time teaching the children from the slums close to our school and also provide them with one meal for the day. Today, when I realise how much my school has done for me I feel that this is only a small way that I can do something in return....when I see how fortunate I am not having to worry about the necessities of life I feel the need to think and do my little bit for the ones who are not as fortunate as I am...

The Banner - Image by Dita

I have named my collection of paintings ‘The Rainbow’ in honour of The Rainbow Children. There will be 7 paintings exhibited one of each colour of the rainbow and you have actaully seen all of them in my previous posts. I have also got some Greeting Cards designed from my paintings that I will be selling at the exhibition. I am actually working towards hosting the exhibition online afterwards and will update you as soon as I am ready. I do need your support to make that a success ! Let me see if I can use my passion for colours to broaden the smiles of these children….

What was Cleopatra's favourite colour?

Cleopatra painting on Papyrus - www.fromcairo.com

What was Cleopatra's favourite colour? ... It was Purple! The royal colour...the colour of divinity and that of the rich...the colour that possesses in itself a lot of mystery and perplexity...the colour that embodies the stimulation of red and the calmness of blue...

Before I started writing this post today I had planned to write about Violet but I could not resist the mystic qualities of purple and therefore had to write about it!!! Although not too far away from each other in the colour spectrum, both these colours are quite different technically. While purple is a range of hues between red and blue and is used as a common term to describe the same, Violet refers to the last colour of the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum. 

I associate purple with royalty... It is what I feel when I am treated as a princess. Whether it is Baba trying to organise quick shipping of my demands from overseas or M cancelling a meeting because I need help with something silly... I don't know whether they do it to make me feel like a princess (I desperately hope that they don't feel pressurised to do it!) but I feel happy and Purple when they do it!

Bonuram and me were always treated like princesses when we were growing up... Although we were taught the realities of life, we were always made to feel special!!! I remember Thamma cooking hot breakfast for us at day-break, Dada ironing our clothes to make going to school easier.. And Ma Baba  sacrificing a lot of their comforts to afford taxis for our commute to school and back... These things did not seem too big then... But today when I am a mom myself I know how much it took... How difficult yet easy it was for them to make our lives royal... When I look back at the rainbow of childhood memories, Violet/Purple seems to be the logical colour behind every shade of Orange, Red or Yellow as the happiness and joy that we felt then was because somebody thought that we were worthy of it... Because Ma, Baba, Thamma, Dada thought we were princesses and made efforts to help build our lives likewise....This painting is in honor of that feeling of Purple!



Painting by Dita

What childhood memories can you relate to Purple? When you spend time with your present parter in crime, do you feel Purple?