Healthy breakfast – 30 day challenge!

I hope everyone is looking forward to an exciting Labor Day weekend...I know I am! Since September is the National breakfast month, I am going to challenge myself to have (healthy) breakfast every single day(this month).  For most people, breakfast is an essential meal, for me I am just fine skipping it. I totally enjoy good food but I am not a morning person. So cooking breakfast or making something first thing every morning is just not my cuppa of tea...And yes I skip tea too!

Challenges get me going and for those who know me, just pretending to be a morning person is a tough challenge in itself and adding ‘healthy breakfast’ to it...challenging enough I think!

Today is the first day of the challenge and I made myself a strawberry, kiwi smoothie. YUMM is the word! Turns out smoothies come with an easy logic (fruits + nuts + yogurt) – one of the many things I learnt from friends and family.  

Trying out new things adds an interesting twist to life; it makes it lot more fun. Next few days, I plan to try out different combinations of fruits and add a mix of other ingredients like oats, tofu, greens etc. I have tried smoothies with Oats in the past but it became so thick that...Ah well! Times change and so do skills, so I am sure this time it will be just fine.

There are just so many options out there that I hope when I get really tired of smoothies, some other idea with magically show up. As they say, where there is will..there is a way. So I pray that I keep up with this challenge and have my most essential meal through this month and maybe longer! Will try to post some of the recipes..wish me luck and keep checking on me! Ciao - Happy Labor Day then...

Carpentry - My Abandoned Hobby!

Inspired by my roof building effort with Habitat for Humanity, I decided to do my own carpentry project – An Altar Table. An unusual project for any chica from India, my family initially got worried but then encouraged it as my new found hobby and interest.

Ready to kick start, I walked into Lowe’s (hardware store) with a rough design in mind, a small list of things to buy and an aura of overconfidence and excitement. Every rookie should start their carpentry journey at Lowe’s mainly because they just know what people like me need..Few minutes into Lowe's and I now had an updated shopping list!

Elated, I couldn't help reminisce the roof building week.  It took me half a day to hammer a nail in and another half to hammer it in ‘straight’.  I could barely feel my arms, only other time I had hit anything with any force was a cockroach! Being able to use a hammer without injuring myself or anyone around was a proud moment for me.  Climbing shaky planks amidst silent prayers, alternate uses of duct tape, using the saw were some of the other memories of that week.

Ready, Set, Go - I arranged the wood against the wall to get a visual perspective of the design (very helpful for rookies) and then circled the spots for the nails. Sanding and staining are best done outdoors, so my garage became my workshop area. I got to see few different neighbors in six months – certainly my carpentry had nothing to do with it!

Assembling time- Assisting with the roof vs. building a table alone have different learning curves. Bummer!  I realized I had more to learn before I could complete my project but my day job demanded more time on weekends as well.  So this project had to wait...so much for the enthusiasm!

A year later now, I still see the pieces of wood in my garage with the evident traces of an abandoned project!  I really wish I had gone that extra mile to learn this skill properly. Next month, a professional carpenter will complete my unfinished work. Failing at something isn't easy to deal with, so one day I hope to bring back this form/mode of art into my life! I might as well, I already have the tools! 

Declutter - Mind, Home and Life!

I am no Van Gogh (yet) but was so busy with my consulting gig that organizing my place just wasn't a priority! It is rightly said; clutter is nothing but postponed decisions!  

To me, Clutter is like the creepy virus that sneaks in each time you touch or just glance in an area and before you know it, you lose control over it. 

Decluttering process always starts in the mind - something I learnt through this experience. As easy as it seemed, I was overwhelmed due to lack of planning. I had pulled out things from my bedroom, closet, storage, kitchen and living area at the same time! Few hours later, I had created a bigger mess and accomplished nothing! (Expected? #cluelessaboutdecluttering)

When it comes to making changes in life friends turn out to be our biggest blessing! So with the help of my bestie, we managed to get the mojo back and started focusing on one area at a time. A week later, we had a clutter free living area and storage area; And the joy of walking into an organized room – beyond words! As it always happens, I had to blog about it and so jotted down some of my learnings, hope you will find them useful too. 

• Start small: because too much can get overwhelming. Take up one section/area at a time and do not budge until you have it done. If you have pending items for giveaway or trash, then it is NOT DONE!
• Be prepared to let go (Most challenging): I have a tendency to keep simple things like gifts for the just-in-case situations; it was time to change some old habits. Similarly some clothes were waiting for me to slim down (ya right!); it was time for them to go.
• Get Organized: There are many creative options out there, I went to the container store and was surprised to see their ideas for organizing absolutely everything and anything under the sun! Amazing!
• Maintain it: Clutter can sneak its way back in if we are not careful. Now as I watch TV, I try to  sort out mail, organize jewelry. It’s easy to keep at it when we multi-task.

My place was not as bad as I am making it sound but it sure needed some de-cluttering effort. Clarity in thoughts and needs and a good friend to question my decisions made the process a little easier. Given our priorities and lifestyle, clutter happens but claiming our home and life back from it doesn't have to be such a daunting or overwhelming task. All it needs is continuous transformation of the mind first and then home and life follows with it. Got it? 

Oh My, Time Flies !!

Time Flies! I knew its been a while I came by here to share my passion and activities but did not realize its been three years. WOW. Thank you to the friends who followed up to check on updates and especially Aparna who never gave up trying to convince me to get back in here. So here I am trying to think the one thing that I may have done in the past three years and that deserves to take this space tonight - tough decision !

In the past couple years, I have done some interesting activities like carpentry work (literally), assisted with roof building,  travelled for a plein air workshop, been doing radio shows and managed non profit or attempted to keep it afloat ofcourse despite everything managed to keep some artwork going. Currently I am doing a decluttering project in my apartment totally inspired by Feng Shui with a sincere hope that it will bring some much needed good luck my way. I hope some good luck finds its way into my life :-)

I will try to get them in here one by one and see how best I can share them all. Stay tuned - atleast some of them is coming this way in a week's time :-)

A Salute to the Art of Improvisation!

Every peice of art that we make is never a masterpiece. Sometimes as I experiment different techniques, I end up with pieces that are not worth the second look and yet definitely do not belong in the trash merely because - they are my creations!

No matter how big or small our homes are, a point comes when we got to clear the clutter and all these "not so good" pieces get the hardest kick. Recently I have been at it and found some 11 x 14 pieces of designs on yupo that had a thick layer of a blob like thing; the kind of blob that made them seem a disaster! I pleaded with my brain to come up with some way to use them and even ardently prayed to dear god; finally what seemed like a eureka moment - I was prompted to use the "Art of Improvisation".

Improvisation was a final attempt to revive their usability. I looked around me and saw some leftover water in a bottle that I had attempted to finish minutes ago. I divided the water into three separate bowls (small) and added couple drops of three different inks in each. It was now a diluted medium of yellow, brown and orange. Then I took some of each in my palm, poured it on the designs, let it flow and take its place on the cards. Since it was really wet and very late, I had to let it dry through the night.

The morning came sooner than I expected and the cards beat the morning tea to grab my attention. Its best to use a flat and straight surface when drying a wet card was my morning lesson. They had now graduated to an uneven beauty - wonderful super thin transparent glassy effect on one side of the card and absolutely nothing on other and the blob still dominantly spreading itself in the center but now making little more sense and blending with atleast one part of the composition. Anyways after a cuppa of my best microwaved tea, I first cut the cards into two inches wide strips and then converted them into bookmarks after additional trimming. The pieces with little or no color were now ready to be re-created and "improvised again" and the others had evolved into a bookmark with a layered effect (tiny part of the blob as top layer and the thin glassy effect as the bottom layer).  

The one with layered effect is pasted to my right here and the one without layered, is the picture to my left.

By now, excited with an elevated mind (without caffeine), I decided to do more and drew random outlines for some of the self formed shapes in the bottom layer. A personalized message on the back of the bookmark and the overall outcome made my day!

I salute the Art of Improvisation, for now I had some simple gifts for some of my dear friends and ofcourse fun along the way.

Understanding Abstract art !

Like many, I have also struggled to understand abstract art which is often referred as modern art. I thought the best way to understand something is to get deeper into it and experience it. So I started making small pieces of art which were sort of abstract to me. However when I shared a newly created piece to my colleagues, friends or family, I got mixed reactions. Some would ask " Whats that?", some would walk away with " thats nice" and few stood to admire or enjoy it.

Dabbling with Abstract art was a journey - going with reference to no reference. Let me explain, A painting can be replicated or referenced from nature - anything that has structure, proportion, shape, size, color and texture OR it can be created from zero reference or no starting point. Such art that is created with no reference is born from our reflections in life, experiences, thought process that cannot necessarily be put into words. Our emotions at that moment determine the color and textures. As we progress through the creation, our emotions change, our mood is further uplifted and we realize it has turned out to be completely different than what we anticipated. We are completely surprised by the outcome! It becomes our baby - our creation through the days, months and years in some cases.

So why then, is it difficult to understand or interpret this art? Well, as human beings we like defining things, we like to give structure, shape , size and form to everything we see or make; even in relationships or everything we do in life, we fix our belief with a label or a name. When we suddenly see something beyond it, we are lost. Now as my art is constantly evolving, I realize, its not as formless as I initially thought, it has a composition that works together, a set of lines created by series of colors that talk to each other or textures that mean something. The best thing however is like life, each person can have their own experience or interpretation from the same piece and walk away with their own personalized vibration. Gradually as I continue to understand better, I am beginning to love the abstractness in life, that which cannot be defined but simply interpreted /experienced.

Abstract art as I see it, is an new born expression - each time!

Experimenting Yupo !!!

Yupo - A very unique name indeed! Well when I first heard of this, I assumed it had to do with some technique. However Yupo is a kind of synthetic paper which can be used to express your artistic talents. So what's unique about yupo - its water resistant, so when used with water colours, instead of soaking the color in, it can give it a very print like, glossy look. For environmentally conscious folks - YUPO is the 100% recyclable, waterproof, tree-free Synthetic Paper.

So I bought some paper and tried working on it. I started with making 11 x 14 size papers and made few very beautiful designs with Bombay Ink and Water Colours. Since it is water resistant, you can pour a bucket of water and it will still create a puddle vs. soak it in. So I decided to experiment and play around with it - I tried using ink and water colors with no water, little water and lots of water. Each one had such a drastic difference. Ink and water colors with no water created a thick blob like abstract, little water gave it a focussed design feel with areas without water untouched and more water gave it a very glass like look and feel. Gorgeous!

Once I had played around with it and gotten a feel, I used it to make bookmarks, thank you cards and larger pieces as gifts for family and friends. While oil, acrylic and water colors have their own beauty, yupo adds change to the world of art and creativity and allows some room for diversity.

I hope all my wonderful donors for my recent fundraising love the yupo cards and bookmarks I sent them :) will try to upload pics when I can...since I dont have a camera yet, its hard but I will figure some way to upload them.