Mum

Morjim Beach, 30th Nov 2014

Pune

How was Diwali?

Hi. 

Bangles

Saree-parts

And concentrates

Hard on not

Smiling.

Bye.

Tanvee, Ragini and Saurabh came to town

This is from June, but needs to be here. 

The day they had to leave, 

we went up the hill at 7am

 and explored a new part of it 

(where I'd never been)

The trees were wonderfully 

crackly and the ground dry. 

Thankfully, we were able 

to dodge the sun. 

This was part of Tanvee's 

Nature Girl Outings,

(v.1.0) A success. 

Avani in Latvia

Pelči Palace

NeSau

Neha and Saumitra drove all the way from Mumbai to see my show on Sunday! We ate a yummy lunch of pumpkin chips, topaz curry and herbed brown rice at Malaka Spice. The afternoon was slow and the beer flowed. After lunch, they dropped me back to the gallery and drove back to Mumbai.

I feel so lucky to have them! 

Mother-Daughter gardenshoot

We made Oni take the pictures, and we hurried home from the studio to catch some natural light. 

I'm still waiting to select the pictures from the actual exhibition to share with you! (:

Sindhu

First glimpse of the mighty Indus. In this picture it is flowing in from Ladakh and onward to Pakistan. This was from the Kargil-Batalik road, a slight diversion from the regular Kargil-Leh highway. We drove along the river for an entire day. I cant begin to explain how mysterious those landscapes are.

Finally after two hours of driving along the Indus we found a spot where we could stop and sit by the river for a while. Sindhu, your name has a new meaning for me now.

Happy Journey!

birthday greens

Birthday was very leafygreen, with lovely company. 

Missed you both. 

24's nice so far (:

The Blind Pig

Outside the local brewery 'The Blind Pig', we stood under the lights, shivering, looking at the frozen stone  fountain, wondering how pretty this would be in the middle of summer.
(This is my Michelin-man coat, which was the only reason I was ever slightly enthusiastic to step out.)

Champaign cooking II

Slow cooked lasagne sauce, soon to be layered in with the pasta sheets, covered with parmesan and baked till golden, then put into boxes and deep frozen. 

(It lasted us 3 weeks) 

Champaign cooking I

Chicken sauteed with spinach and herbs and cucumber salad with parmesan and vinaigrette.

Kashmiri Kahwa and bakery goodies at Zahoor's (Ski instructor / friend) house.

Fox's wedding

SUNSTERDAM

Sun's out near Gate F04 in Amsterdam Airport, but it's that weak, European sun that does nothing but shine bleakly out. It looks way warmer in the picture than it is here! Sending love.

Devrai, Panchgani: Wall painting residency

WEEK IN PANCHGANI:

Nighttime forest drives, delicious homemade food, painting all day, passing out under the mango tree in the heat of the afternoon in a hammock, watching movies before lunch, chopping strawberries for wine, beer in hand and wind blowing, mid-day naps- sometimes between waking up and breakfast, black tea and biscuit-fruit breakfasts, spiced honey brandy and barbecued chicken and jacket potatoes, Angus and Julia Stone, mahua in the night under the mango tree, secret batcave exploring in the moonlight, watching the bronze and iron craftsmen work under the banyan tree, waking up in the projector room and the loveliest sleep everywhere.

We had SUCH a good time! Missed you both.

 Here's our first 2 days of work, mid-morning. The painting got built as we went along, and we responded to what it was asking for, and worked accordingly. 

Here's Madhoo, doing her South-Indian hero routine.

Here's my shawl-turban according to the time of day and position of sun. We would paint a little, step back and look a little, take pictures on the established tripod (that you can see on the right side of the frame) and listen to many, many playlists.

 The appearance of the rust-orange was a huge surprise every time I looked at it, though it was I who mixed that particular colour. I'm telling you, I could mix paint for a living.

We did the paint-and-see rather than the see-and-paint. I JUST saw a conservative, gathered-tentacled octopus in here.
We enjoyed and talked again and again about how the grey was the colour of the stone, and painting over white with it felt like we were making the white invisible.

Very close to completion, Madhoo does some finishing with (rust/white/grey/blue).
When I took the same picture on my phone camera without Madhoo and the ladder, it struck me how much the colour palette was like Guernica; cheerier, but definitely from the same families of colours.