Once upon a time

I’ve been on a long blogging hiatus but in my defense I was busy working and playing catch-up on all my pending projects. One of which was a commissioned artwork for a client who wanted me to illustrate her kids in a fantastical ‘Indian princess’ kind of storybook setting. It took me a long while to finish this piece, more than a year (yes, unfortunately), and after much procrastination and many redo’s, I finally presented it to the client last week. Yay! Thankfully, she loved it – so hopefully it was worth the wait.

It amazes me (and keeps me honest and humble) that after all these years, I still worry about being judged by my work. After all, for weeks and months I am the only one who has had an intimate relationship with the pencil, brushes and paints that has helped evolve a blank sheet of paper into a piece of art. Below you can see the transformation from thumbnail to black & white sketch to finished piece. I used  real references from the kids room to inspire the artwork, and used real photographs (over which I glazed with watercolors), watercolors and sumi ink on Arches hot press paper to create this work.

Orange Elephant

What’s better than the color orange and an elephant. An orange elephant of course! Makes for fabulous hair. A warm fuzzy blanket. And a best friend.

The winter is white and spring brings all the colors

Happy Holi Everyone! Spring is here – atleast in New York! This is a somewhat of an old post – but timely to reintroduce to those who missed it. My animated short Happy Holi Maya! first aired on Nick Jr. in May 2005. The idea took shape after I went through my third cold white winter in NYC, and longed for spring colors and summer warmth. (In India, we welcome Spring by celebrating the festival of Holi, where kids and adults alike, frolic and throw dry colors and colored water on each other). Besides being on TV and online, it screened at a number of film festivals worldwide, and continues to show intermittently on Nick Jr.

From the desk of…

This week, I designed thank you cards for my daughter. She’s been blessed with a very long last (family name) and a short first name that means Monsoon flower (see – I really do love the rains!). In any case – she is the light of my life – with her bright personality, her curious mind, her love of art, and oodles of sass! She recently had her 3rd birthday party and I wanted to send out personalized thank you cards that spoke to her disposition. And while there are so many cards online and in stores that are adorable – I just felt that I could do much better. So here it is – her first personalized stationary! I think it captures Keya- with her mad curls, her love of pink and polka dots and all of her sass! What do you think?

June rains in New York

Call me crazy but I love the rain. I love the fresh dewy feeling the streets have, the crispness in the air, and the smell of wet mud. I love that the trees are a fresher brighter green and the city and street lights twinkle with more reflective shiny-ness. In some cultures it’s considered good luck when it rains on a special occasion – a blessing from above. For me, it’s remembering my childhood. I grew up in Bombay (when it was still called Bombay, not Mumbai), and the monsoon season brought with it 3 months of rain from June through August. June rains were special. It meant the start of a new school year – new books, new rain boots, a new school uniform, and shiny new brown paper covers on our school books. The monsoon sky colored itself turquoise, purple, orange, cyan and lilac. And if you were really lucky, each monsoon season brought a day of torrential rains so you got rained in, which meant a no-school day! And a no-school day meant that everyone wore their best rain gear and went downstairs to play. Sometimes, I still like to play in the New York rain.

A Blog Award!

I write in this space mostly for myself (ok, secretly I hope there are a few of you out there reading my ramblings) but I write because it gives me structure and forces me to take a moment in the week and put pen to my thoughts and imaginary friends. So I was touched and surprised when fellow 12 X 12 in 2012  participant Margaret Grenias  at http://pentoprint.blogspot.com  presented me with the Liebster Blog Award. I am very touched that you picked my blog. Thank you Margaret!

“Liebster is a German word, meaning dearest or beloved, but it can also mean favorite. The idea behind the Liebster Blog Award is that it is given to bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers in order to create new connections and bring attention to their  blogs.”

I am required to thank the giver, add the award to my blog, list five things about myself, and select five bloggers to whom I wish to bestow a Liebster Blog Award.

So here’s 5 random new things about myself -

1. I have extremely high standards for coffee and pomegranates but couldn’t care less about the clothes I wear.

2. I am a working mom with two kids, and besides having a website, am on facebook, twitter, wordpress and pinterest. I really don’t know how people like me actually get any work done.

3. I learnt how to swim when I was 28, but still suck at it.

4. I am in awe of and slightly intimidated by Doctors. There I said it!

5. My all-time comfort food is yogurt and rice, with a little pickle.

Ok – so here  are my awardees! All of the below bloggers are either illustrators or designers and I absolutely loved their work, sensibility and style.  I hope you will check them out..

1. Carter Higgins http://designofthepicturebook.com/

2. Kathryn Ault Noble www.kathrynaultnoble.wordpress.com/

3. Priya Kuriyan http://priyakuriyan.blogspot.com/

4. Suzanne Del Rizzo http://suzannedelrizzo.blogspot.com

5. Sylvia Liu http://www.sylvialiuland.com

Tulip

I’m not very good with illustrating animals, bugs, thingamajigs, monsters and dragons. I stick to my own kind – people, preferably little ones. But in an attempt to expand my portfolio, I am trying to ‘make nice’ with some furry creatures. Here’s Tulip – my shaggy little furry friend from some time ago.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

A while ago, I did some spec artwork for a character I was developing for an independent animation studio. I experimented with a style that’s not typically mine. It was liberating and challenging to show personality and emotion by using just cut paper and glue. No pencil, no paint, no brush, just various scraps of paper. It’s not a style that comes naturally to me, but it was fun to do.

My Pink Princess

So this week I had to plan my daughter’s third birthday party, and lo and behold – she’s obsessed with pink (shudder). I always secretly hoped that she would skip this phase, but now that she’s in the thick of it, I figure my best approach would be to embrace it, overdo it and get it out of her system by over-exposure! (only slightly kidding!). Anyhow, I doodled this thinking about her wearing her pink party dress and her sparkly crown. Also – kudos to Jane Yolen for writing this fantastic children’s book –  ’Not all princesses dress in pink‘ ( See more here http://janeyolen.com/works/not-all-princesses-dress-in-pink/).

This if for my pink princess!

My little pink princess

We Make Believe.

Picked up my Business Certificate today. Doodled a new logo for my company. What do you think?