Illustrator’s Guide to Procreate

       

        

Last weekend I bought Ruth Burrows book - The illustrators guide to Procreate. It’s a gift to myself when I was buying mid year gifts for the family- well actually I didn’t need an occasion to buy this book as I simply just needed it is a good enough reason. 

I have been saving online classes link and workshops on skillshare to learn and practice more on procreate but as those are all online I seem to never add that to my list of practicing. Hence I needed this book.I have been following Ruth’s work for awhile and I have been a fan of her colour usage. 

The still life above are based on my inspiration picture from Italian and is created using her first project from the book - Still life.

       

       

This was really fun and with easy tips mentioned in the book, this was fun to achieve. Though next time I will make sure I add a time limit how much I want to dedicate to these practice sessions. 

South Asian -ROOTS - Exhibition Series by Arts Etobicoke

I am super chuffed to be one of the 13 South Asian artists to be selected for this show! Don't worry if you can't make it - you can enjoy the audio tour - hear my sleepy voice (I have been told its calming)

This series celebrates the diverse cultural backgrounds of people in Etobicoke with a specific focus on origins, culture, and migration. We will honour, explore, and learn about these different cultures throughout the year, starting with a celebration of South Asian roots featuring 13 South Asian artists.

Below are the two of my paintings that are displayed, you can see the exhibition in person till MAY 2nd. If you can't don't worry Arts Etobicoke with help of artists have arranged an AUDIO TOUR and its beautiful to hear them introduce their works.

I feel so blessed to be selected for this curated show and can't my dear husband enough to help me come up with bolder titles.

 

'I choose Joy'

 

Do you reckon JOY is a choice? 

Do you feel that if you just change your focus - distract with a nicer thought you- break your pattern you might be able to pull yourself out of negative thought process? 

Let me know what you think?

Early April I got two different news - which raised emotions of varied ends. Job that I loved got terminated due to a stupid glitch and The same night I experienced the support and love at a beautiful Opening night of my group exhibition!

I felt high on this beautiful energy of other artists, family and friends! And to think that due to news I received I didn't even feel like going! I was simply going to keep myself away from this Joy.  

 I don't know what challenges or adversaries you might face, remember no matter how difficult it might feel....you can sneak in a bit of JOY!

CLING CLAN - Oil Painting 

Time of the month

I am feeling the blues since past few days not sure why. It’s easy to blame the time of the month,If you know then you know. 

I have started disliking going on Instagram or Facebook, I feel so underachieved in so many segments of life. I know it’s mostly like because I haven’t painted in a while and this most likely a painting deprived anxiety. 

Do you ever experience that or a similar anxiety? 

It’s also reduction in self reflect time that creates this for me.Even though there are millions of ideas floating by in terms of creating with Keanu, tidying the house, organizing my admin pile of work and spending time with Cesco or myself, I feel energy deprived…. Inspired yet demotivated, found but lost, among my own but still alone, Will to move but not strong enough to step forward. 

At the end it’s a phase isn’t it?! I am just in my resting phase maybe? 

An artwork of tea cosy I did forlegion experience museumI as part of a diorama. I feel like that teapot right now, want to hide and be all cosy and protected. 

Loud thinking

Notes to Myself- by Hugh Prather left a big mark on me not sure what about it? Am not even sure it was the book or my sister’s trust in my weird sensibilities that encouraged me to read n get to love this book. Many moons back my sister while studying in uni got me this book, inside it there was a note by her  ‘I didn’t understand it but I know you will’ 

Anyways if you haven’t had a chance to come across this book, this what I found online that best describes it- ‘The book serves as a beginning for the reader's exploration of his or her own life and as a treasury of thoughtful and insightful reminders.’  

The simplicity of the words,  the insights shared feel they are shared as not really to inspire but they are truly genuinely meant as a loud thought.  I love the tag line too- my struggles to be a person. 
I felt a kinship with the words, as I haven’t shared this much before when I was young I used to write poems : my writing that time and I still feel is as if I am just typing my loud thoughts. They make sense in my head, these also make sense randomly but at the same time these also feel vague and simple. 
So why all this about the book, you may ask ( if somebody is actually reading this)? Well mainly to say I am planning to start it again and share my thoughts here… notes to myself these might be helpful to some or one. Who knows?! But I need to do this for myself definetly to help clear my head and understand myself more as part of my this year resolution. 
If you have read the book let me know or if are planning to let me know what you think once you read it! 

010 week 1 stop animation and stickers dinosaurs

Week 1 progress - Keanu made some stickers which we are still waiting to receive.  The stickers are drawings of different dinosaurs.  

And Keanu also made his space movie 2 with few words and special effects. You can watch it below. 

O1O

Keanu has decided to start a business, we are starting with this blog to announce it. 

‘O1O’ is the name of the shop/ brand - which means over 1 object a week. 

We have various ideas what we could make and sell so we will be taking it as a weekly project.

He is starting grade 1 this year so he will be pretty busy but he is sure he can focus on this as well as his playing and studying. 

Watch this space for more updates

Keanu Bori

Painting 365

Eek! Am doing it and no going back!! 

Painting365 starts in 22 days!!! On March 8th  I will officially start painting, posting, listing, and selling one painting every day. These paintings will be sold on my etsy shop for the dollar amount of the day (for example, on day 13,the painting will cost $13). To start with the paper size would be roughly 6” x 6” with medium gouache/ watercolours. 

This is inspired by Emily Jeffords who did this few years back, am doing it so that I get into habit of posting my artworks to sell on my site rather than me just hoarding them and not letting them go. This is also to celebrate a big bday for myself. 

Would you like a painting for yourself?? I would love to paint a painting specifically for you it for your loved one! Send me a photograph of one of your beautiful memories/ keepsake, and I will paint it!  

Chanda Mama

Indian lullaby of Chanda mama and memories  Of growing up in India

 Bushy Eyebrows, my retro jumper and Chanda Mama 

Created part of the #drawthisinyourstyle challenge by @littleyellowgherkin at insta. Indian lullaby ‘Chanda mama’cradle, me enjoying my bounrvita milk in my retro jumper, I really Love that jumper and wish we still had it…. I would look so cool n retro!!! 

Created in procreate

Sabotaging Myself

"Self-sabotage refers to behaviours or thought patterns that hold you back and prevent you from doing what you want to do." 

How many times have you done this? I have done it plenty, I did it this morning and few minutes back, thats the reason of m writing this post. Not saying am proud of it on the contrary I am sharing this to bring a change in my daily tasks. 

me preparing new surface to paint

 

I usually hold myself responsible for many things but I never take the responsibility of being my worst critic.I can easily motivate people I love motivating fellow creatives but the struggle to keep a vision for myself gets lost quite easily. Yes I have achieved many things but I have also pulled my foot backwards from stepping towards my dream. If you do it to or did in past how did you come out of it? Did you know The most common self-sabotaging behaviours include procrastination

After recommendations from my sister (my Mentor /Coach) i have started reading to Psycho cybernetics and also started practising Silva Method, these practices have made me realize one major thing among many - we need to be aware of our limiting beliefs, our fears and then move on. As we move on, staying aware of the patterns we push ourselves into...the things that show up over and over again we can tackle them much easily. My biggest sabotage pattern is whenever I decide of a big goal instead of working on it or writing it down I will do everything else. Small jobs will start appearing in front of me - small design projects thats show me money flowing in or has urgent requirements, then housework or the family or internet! 

My Now Tactic - 

1) Write down my goals not only my daily tasks - Read my long term goal, mid terms goals and short term goals.

2) Five mins -15 mins relax , mediate , go for walk alone

3) B aware when a task comes in -how urgently does it need my attention? and why is it urgent? Only do the task till after I have completed something from my to do list that will take me a step closer to my dream. 

4) Say/ appreciate myself/ compliment myself be a small task or big or even if its a i made good tea! or i look nice

I am over all going to be aware why am i don't what am doing!  Please share with me if you found a way to deal with self sabotage.

Folktale week 2021

Day 1- Moon 

Been wanting to take part in Folktale week on Instagram. Thought if the first prompt quite hard it’s only when I was getting my little one to sleep while listening to one of night prayers it clicked. I love the Aarti and this time was listening to Satinder Sartaj’ Aarti the translation helped me imagine the visual.

Gagan mah thaal, Rav-chand Deepak baney, Taarka mandal Janak Moti

Dhoop maliaanlo Pavan chavaro karey, Sagal Banrai phoolant jyoti

The Sky is Your platter, The sun and moon are the 'Deepaks' the lamps (lights), The Stars in the sky are the pearls,

The 'Dhoop' (Incense) is the fragrance, That the wind propels, The whole forest is Your flowers.

Kaisee Aarti hoi Bhaykandana Teree Aarti

Anhata Shabad Vajanta bheree

O! What a wonderful Aarti, this is!

You, are a destroyer of Fear,

The sound of Your Name, which is so subtle, that It goes unheard,

Resounds endlessly.

As per Sikh Chronicles, Guru Nanak visited Jagannath Puri during his east travels, which is a famous pilgrimage center of Hindus. Nanak noticed that the priests were more interested in the rituals and elaborate arrangements rather than in their love for God. So he stepped outside the temple and composed almighty of Nirankar. 

Like so many verses I find this one really magical. Sketching this on procreate was really helpful, am still learning but loving every but of it.

Digital Portraits

 

Adding more to the Digitals Portrait Series - Childhood Hero Series These are the people who left a mark on me growing up in one way or other.  As I worked on these series creating them on Procreate as a daily practice as been such a lovely learning curve and it helped me to see what i really enjoy.

It also reminded me of what about these specific  people left a mark on me … be it the lotus on the cover on Arundhati Rap’s book cover ‘ God of Small Things’

Arundhati Rao - Author of God of Small Things

Surinder Kaur 

I have a fond memory of hearing her live when I was little in a wedding singing live. I had no idea who she was but sensed her importance in my mom’s voice introducing us to Surinder’s magical voice. 

Surinder Kaur was an Indian singer and songwriter. While she mainly sang Punjabi folk songs, where she is credited for pioneering and popularising the genre. For her contributions to punjabi music, she earned the sobriquet Nightingale of Punjab, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1984, and the Padma Shri in 2006.

Khushwant Singh-video process

I can’t remember how or went I got introduced to Khushwant Singh’s writings maybe it was from his columns in newspapers. But I do remember reading Train to Pakistan. 

When partition came, Singh was a witness to people being killed on both sides of the India-Pakistan border. Train to Pakistan reflects his accuracy and honesty, and was made into a 1998 Hindi film directed by Pamela Rooks. (Extract from @guardian )

Ek tha Rusty -Ruskin Bond 

I think I have to thank DoorDarshan for so many things!!! Like introducing me to Ruskin Bond 

Ruskin Bond (born 19 May 1934) is an Indian author of British descent. 

Asked what he likes the most about his life, he said, "That I have been able to write for so long. I started at the age of 17 or 18 and I am still writing. If I were not a professional writer who was getting published I would still write."In his essay, "On being an Indian", he explains his Indian identity, "Race did not make me one. Religion did not make me one. But history did. And in the long run, it's history that counts." ( #wikipedia )

Digital Portraits - Childhood Heroes in Procreate

Its been couple of weeks, I have been playing on my IPAD !!! It took me some time to take this leap of getting one, I knew it will quicken my process, it will help me manage more on go. This year has been teaching me a lot about abundance and where to look.  Hence this wasnt an easy investment but am so glad i did. 

Working on it its so much fun, the brushes etc make so easy and i one knows Photshop its much easier to maneuver. 

To inspire me further I jumped in to do my childhood heroes portraits! these are the personalities that indirectly inspired me to pursue art and creative thinking, the general nudges from my family knowingly or unknowingly have helped shape me to what I am.

 

The Above Portrait is of M.F.Husain Indian artist who's painting of horses left such a mark on me...the bright colours and the cubist style. I don't have cubist style but the freedom in his brush strokes was delightful.

On Procreate it took me some time to get the best background, I think with shadow hint, it has come out pretty good. What do you think?

Being Honest - Unravelling

 They say don't put out anything on social media that you will regret later, Am not sure if i will regret this later. For time being I am just going to be honest with myself and share this here especially i know as there is hardly anyone reading this lol!

Why do I have a blog? I wanted to share my fun activities, any crazy crafty activities I do, later i thought I wanted so that I can show my life as an artist mom ....but thanks to so many things am on such confused phase of life, that I rather use this as my journal-  share and speak as I feel too. Some days are good than others, right? Today was actually a good day, water park opened up near us, we managed to get some books from library, had lovely freelance work opportunity and got to speak to a friend (well more like a text).

Then I wanted to share instagram post and i so wanted to share a blank page.... with a smaller version of what am writing here.. But i didn't as thats not what i want to show to others, especially when my day wasn't even bad. It hit me that why do we have to show as we know it all? why do we have to show to be so strong? why do we have to show as if we have figured everything out? As I surely haven't. 

I don't have my shit together, am making lists, over list...a time schedule, A list what i want to achieve, A list how my ideal week should be? A list what all i want to make? A list of what all i could work as? A list of all admins things i have to? A list of things that are not even important.But within few mins or couple of hours am scrambling again ...not for time don't get me wrong. But simply to keep up with what all i want to do and having no clue what i want to do! What an irony?!!

I am an Artist but I Am Surface Pattern Designer, me choosing one of the other will make me any less of OTHER? Currently, I want to create for Homeware/ Homedecor, for Childrens book, for editorials for murals for sleepwear ...i just want too start painting once again over anything that I want! Should i have products in house? should i do drop shipping? I feel as if I get cold feet as soon as time comes for decisions. Well so in nutshell I don't my shit together, atleast not today... But am strong believer in magic and way Universe works...and I know am just on verge of a revelation for myself----- I just need to be open. 

Hugs - Understanding! Free Download Artwork

We thought it will be for 3 months...thens surely wont last more than 6 months ...that became a year and now its more than a year we are still in lockdown in a way or another. New York times article described the feeling as Languishing feeling!  Through this Pandemic frustration and with same time many other social protests rising I created the below artwork to be shared--- to help with letting others know how important they are in my life.  If you would like to download the printable artwork click here 

Understanding...
A year of missed hugs or more....a year of not being able to see you...a year of only listening on phone about other's joys and struggles...so many things i have missed and with so many heartbreaking things happening around me i wish i could send hugs out to whole world. 

.I simply want to send hug to myself too...hope with this image i can send those hugs out to many of you if not you all. Hope you can understand so how much you are valued and loved...we can feel each other's pain and worry, cant wait to see the light shining thru.

I have alwayd wanted to join in the prompts at @ifdrawaweek but this week i couldnt resist with such a caring prompt by @anna.garssen.Thank you for sharing this prompt.

Illustrating Emotions - Skillshare Class by Anne Bollman

I have started reworking on my first written and illustrated book (its too personal so i keep finding reasons to not work on it- more about it later in another post). The story is quiet emotional and I have been scared of approaching this very honestly. So best to help myself and not to think of this excuse again, there are 2 topics I will be focussing on to start with on Skillshare - Surface Pattern design (To hone further skills and though I have been a Pattern Designer for 13 years now, I am fascinated by how somebody works in the same field) and the second topic is Illustrating Characters or Childrens book. 

The first class I took this week is approx 40 min long Class by Anne Bollman (Anne was Here) called Illustrating Emotions.

Outline of the class - Drawing happy characters comes easily to most artists, but what if you need your character to show another emotion? In this class we will explore how to apply emotion to a character. 

I must say the class delivers fully to what it says, Ok the research idea maybe is taught to illustrators or maybe some people work like that already instinctively, but the idea of going thru childrens book and making a graph/ a chart to compare how different illustrators draw an emotion I had never thought of that! I found it very refreshing and love how simply she has explained it. Earlier I was happy with what rough sketches I had created, now I will be revisiting these. 

On other note - Anne Bollman characters have such beautiful eyes. I love them. Have you taken the class? if yes let me know what you thought? Or if you have taken any other of her classes, let me know?

Learning Always - Skillshare Gems

In March I published my first skillshare class 'Balancing Art Practice with Motherhood' - quite an intimate topic and I felt really vulnerable opening up but I wanted it to be personal. - In the Class i share with ideas for art practice  that i have used & learned over times while overpowering my beliefs as I became a mom- An Artist Mom.  Some of the feedback and reviews I received have been so heart touching especially when they have said the things i have shared could easily be applicable for people who aren't parents.  Few people even mentioned how different parts of the class topic really hit home and inspired them. Please do have a look or share with someone you think might relate - The class is 30 mins long.

My mom used to tell me to write down things so that I can remember better and My dad said recently being a Sikh means learning for life. As my class is performing well according to Skillshare I have received a year membership so i have plenty of amazing classes to learn from. 

Inspired by the saying of my mom and dad, I have  thought of sharing my take from various Skillshare classes or whatever I have learnt in written form here including  if there were any specific reviews I wanted to give to a Class. Hopefully somebody else will find it useful too. 

A Break from Instagram - Mental Health

 How easily do you get lost in Instagram hole, or Pinterest hole? or any social media hole per say? If you had asked me a week back i would have said most of the time!

Its been more than a week I have resisted going on Instagram, looking at other beautiful artworks and getting lost in it. I haven't posted anything for the week consciously, I feel a bit strange but needed it for my mental health. Now till 3rd May I am away from  instagram except the Instalive Thursdays for Permission to Create.

Moving countries during Pandemic, figuring out what we actually want to do or rather I want to do, has been tricky. I think the case is with many creatives who easily loose themselves in the heap of ideas and feel overwhelmed on the amount of things they can do but of course realistically one has only certain hours in day, and one cant keep feeling bad about each idea that they cant give their best or work on. Or maybe we can and its about time that it should be stopped, for me definitely. 

I have been going to Gurudwara everyday for past 40days, which helped me further in clearing my head, for that few mins to have space to think and appreciate something else than just house admin. 

I hope wherever you are you manage to get few mins if not more to your self everyday. Atleast sometime where you can re focus on the wider perspective of your life and your creative being.

Picture below - Fryent Park London 

Trousers credit Joan Hebbard

100 Day Project

 This year its my 4th 100 days project and I am already lagging behind but for some big reasons, Been working on Skillshare class and Day dreaming about Permission to Create platform. I never thought i could teach or be in education sector, but i suppose am still not teaching its more of sharing what i know!

Here are few pics from my Decorated Vehicles project, inspired from Southasian vehicles especially India and Pakistan. I always wanted to create a series in this so am glad I finally started working on this.

Materials Used 

Camel Poster Colours (They work like Gouache)

Posca markers (these work like dream)

Goldline Watercolour Pad 

Taklon Paintbrush

School Online or In Person - New City, New learnings

 Its going to be 2 months since we relocated to Toronto, and as the pandemic seems to be evolving and lockdown increasing, K (little human) joined Virtual school.  It has been a bag of mixed feelings, coming from Montessori background and now trying to tell him see your screen, are you paying attention to what they are saying, it all feels so contradictory to what we had been focussing on. 

For K give him Lego and sit next to him, he is all sorted for endless fun.

From next week he would be able to go in person, I am excited and concerned at same time, like am sure many others here! I want him to make friends, want him to play and learn, but its going to be such different experience as they have to wear mask on for all the time except eating and for small mask breaks! They have be to away from each other. We are going to see how his first week goes and take it from there, if it doesnt wok out we will be focussing on Homeschooling.  What are you doing? Are you sending your child in? Do you feel nervous about all this. 

More I think more I realize kids are much quicker in adjusting and maybe all this will work out?!