I love dogs. It’s no secret. And I love painting. Combine the two and what do you get?

Dog Portraits of course!!

All these four paintings are done in acrylics on canvas and are 10×12 inches each.

Lucky	Kajal
Sita	Sita

There are gods and then there are gods. In India, we have them in all shapes, sizes and denominations. This kettle is dedicated to some of the ‘Gods of Cricket‘ down the ages- Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, M.S Dhoni and the one and only Sachin Tendulkar.

To cricket and it’s many big and small gods – We love them, we hate them, we love to hate them….but as a nation we can’t seem to live without them.

We all have them. Those fears that don’t let us sleep. The demons that show are frailty, our vulnerability. It makes us human.

Superstars have them too!! Both Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan have spoken of their fear of anonymity publicly.  Mr. Bachchan on ‘Rendezvous with Simi Grewal’ and ShahRuhk on a mini series on his life (I forget which channel it aired on now )

I hope this new year brings love, laughter and resilience in all our lives. I hope it allows you, my readers and me to embrace the future without fear.

Happy New Year everyone!!

And to both the Shahenshah and  the Baadshah of Bollywood – I wish you both more success and more fame. May you both never have to fade away into obscurity.

I did this a while back, just didn’t get around to posting it.

This animation is 1.3Mb {your patience is appreciated }

My husband thinks that in this portrait my expression is a little mocking. He prefers this one. I like them both, they are just different moods of me.

How cool is that?!!

Kehte hain- Daane daane par likha hain khaane wale ka naam. ( It is said- Every morsel has the name of the person who is going to eat it, inscribed on it).
My husband now says- Har ketli par likha hain paane wale ka naam. ( Every kettle already has a patron somewhere in this world).

Oh! and both the kettle and I made it to the pages of Deccan Chronicle on 21st Aug 2011.

 

I started this kettle on Thursday, it was ready by Friday, got lacquered Saturday morning and went to Freedom park Saturday afternoon. And on Sunday it was with Anna!!

My daughter came home from school the other day with a tiny box in her even tinier hands. She held that box with reverence and asked me to close my eyes, because she had a surprise. So I did. She opened the box and there was a very beautiful butterfly inside. Dead.

Meera told me in all her innocence, her sparkling blue-grey eyes filled with hope  – Mama, lets take her to the hospital and then the doctor will fix her and make her alive again…and then her beautiful colours can fly. My daughter at almost five is very articulate. Needless to say, I had the unhappy task of telling her that once something/someone dies, they can’t come back. They go to heaven and are always happy.

This kettle is inspired by her. I hope my daughter  (and son) always have blue skies and colourful wings to soar with….

…and for Nanaji- you just added a lot of happiness and colour to heaven!!  Do say hi to Haritha for me

Thats my friend Rakesh Shukla for you.

Jokes aside, he is one of the most ardent dog lovers that you can find. Between his office and home, he has 10 dogs. Only two are pure bred, the rest are strays. He also looks after about a dozen stray dogs in our locality. He feeds them and takes care of their medical needs too. All of them have been spayed / neutered at his expense.  And he lives in hope that they can find a loving home. And if they don’t, then as he says- ’Main hoon na’.

However, lest you think he is a saint…He has a real foul mouth on him sometimes and believes everyone is guilty until they can be proven innocent!! Which of course makes for ear reddening comments from time to time. The thought blurbs illustrate those The dog tags depicted read- ” Bad to the Bone” which he says he is and “TWB“- the company he co-founded and runs.

I once asked him how he manages to control all the dogs… and he answered “They know who’s the Alpha Dog ” !!

Oh! I almost forgot to mention….he is an artist himself. There are many ways to paint a portrait of a person. And I have painted a traditional one of him before. You can see it here. But, I think this one is more him. It kind of better captures the essence of him. I sure hope he agrees otherwise I am going to have a mighty offended friend on my hands!!!!

This is in my studio right now.

This is my friend Alok Johri- a fellow artist and a wonderful photographer. This portrait is done in acrylics and is approx. 20×16 inches.