Million Little Stitches

Hundred Day Project

2025-05-21T09:54:00.000+05:30

The hundred day started out as a hundred patterns but I found these leaves on my morning walk.

One pattern led to another until it became an obsession, as you can see.

Paint for leaf impressions and gel pens.

Before the obsession with leaves.

Some tea and gel pen magic.

Collage of leaf cut outs.

Bought some fountain pen ink.

I'm moving on to other leaves and I'm going to fill up the sketch book with leaves and leaf patterns.

Collage-o-rama

2025-04-07T22:49:00.002+05:30

Collages created for Collage - O - Rama in Seattle.

Hosted by @specialagwntcollagecollective. This is Mission 22.

Each collage is 4" × 6" , postcard size.

Journal Quilt

2025-02-02T17:57:00.000+05:30

My journal quilt is finally complete - made with garment offcuts and made entirely by hand. It's taken me a year to finish.

Delighted that my mum could hold up the finished quilt so I could photograph it.

My journals document all manner of things - recipes, quotes which inspire, local customs.

Between the pages of my journal are all manner of bits and pieces which I collect - things I find, labels which I find striking or colourful and I press flowers and leaves between the pages of my journals and sketchbooks.

My cat - Gin is usually nestled amongst the fabrics and art materials depending on what project I'm working on.

The collage above, has images of the quilt top. On the left is the finished quilt top.

The quilt top has a central portion of different dark blue fabric pieced together onto which recipes in different languages, quotes , the cat and a turkey feather has been hand embroidered.

A tambola ticket, a feather and some pressed flowers have been appliqued.

Around this central portion is a colourful border meant to be the pages of the journal and to tie it all together is a patchwork border of dark blue fabric

My 87 year old mother has seen this quilt come together. I have been carrying it with me every month when I visit her and spend sometime with her. She has contributed some stitches to the applique in the colourful border.

Details of applique and hand embroidery. The quilting is the kantha style of quilting . Tiny stitches which cover most of the surface of the quilt so the surface of the quilt is characterised by a sort of stippled appreance.

So honoured to have my Mamma by my side as this quilt took shape.

Home - A Zine

2025-01-17T08:49:00.000+05:30

Welaro, is my home.

A place where creatures, big and small co exist in harmony.

There are days when I experience four seasons in twenty four hours.

There's inspiration in my surroundings and with my pets around me, I sit on my deck with a cup of my favourite tea and work on my current project from dawn to dusk.

Home is where I have all that is dear to me around me.

I created this zine in response to an international callout to women zine- makers by @the_rockretreat and @youlouartcentre.

The zines will be exhibited simultaneously in St.Vincent and Gibraltar.

They are looking for original work and the project is open to broad interpretation of the theme - Home.

Deadline for submissions has been extended to 1st February 2025.

https://commonwealthfoundation.com/opportunity/zine-making-call-for-submissions/

Maybe you can create a zine to submit.

2024 - The year that was

2025-01-02T20:16:00.000+05:30

#artvsartist2024

Snapshots of the creative pursuits I undertook in 2024.

Collages & a zine.

Digital illustrations.

Pen and ink illustrations. Marker and oil pastels to illustrate fruit.

Mending my clothes

A Journal Quilt.

A quilt experiment - 400 hand pieced inchies and 400 Suffolk puffs inspired by Bird of Paradise.

Needlelace leaves

Wonder what 2025 will bring.

The 12 days of a Desi Christmas

2024-12-23T16:18:00.003+05:30

The 12 days of a Desi Christmas are a series of mini collages created on old visiting cards and back issues of Vogue is where I got bits and pieces to collage with.

Desi is a Sanskrit term meaning native of the Indian subcontinent. It is used to describe the people, culture etc.

So, here you have the 12 Days of Christmas with an Indian flavour.

On the 1st Day of Christmas my true love gave to me - A Panther in a Palm tree.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas my true love gave to me - 2 Pesky Peacocks

On the 3rd Day of Christmas my true love gave to me - 3 Plates of Chaat.

On the 4th Day of Christmas my true love gave to me - 4 Super foods

On the 5th Day of Christmas my true love sent to me - 5 Golden Stars

On the 6th Day of Christmas my true love sent to me - 6 Fans a Whirring

On the 7th Day of Christmas my true love sent to me - 7 Stunning Silk Sarees

On the 8th Day of Christmas my true love sent to me - 8 Jars of Pickle

On the 9th Day of Christmas my true love sent to me - 9 Home Remedies

On the 10th Day of Christmas my true love sent to me - 10 Ancient Tomes

On the 11th Day of Christmas my true love sent to me - 11 Flowering Trees.

On the 12th Day of Christmas my true love sent to me - 12 Pashmina Goats

All the collages have a touch of green because the theme for December @mini.collage.collective is Green.

I would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas. 🎄 May you enjoy joy, peace and fellowship with family and friends.💫

Pixel Paradise

2024-12-20T08:37:00.002+05:30

A 20" × 20" quilt created for the tsi_dq fabric challenge.

The theme given was - Bird of Paradise.

I created a quilt of 400 inchies with the English paper piecing technique.

Then backed and bound it because the challenge rules required the quilt to have a backing and had to be bound.

Then I made 400 Suffolk puffs and created a second layer.

A quilt experiment I made up as I went along.

Sketches of the ideas and the placement of colours. Wothout these I would have gone mad.

The quilt is entirely hand sewn.

Hidden - 21Nov - 22 Dec

2024-11-26T09:57:00.001+05:30

I'm delighted that my work is part of this brand new show at The House of Smalls, in Edinburgh.

This is an exhibition by 60 women who have been affected or witnessed domestic abuse either mentally or physically.

Timed to coincide with 25th November - White Ribbon Day for the elimination of violence against women.

This mini quilt speaks of women who are educated and accomplished professionals but in a patriarchal society many a time husbands, partners and employers tell them to shut up, their opinions and ideas are dismissed.

A number of women shut up to keep the peace and in the process are mentally traumatised. They develop illnesses which are unexplained.

The mini quilt is 12cm × 12cm.

Techniques: Applique and embroidery

Framed and ready to hang.

With frame - 6" × 6"

Available for sale.

Please leave a comment if you would like to purchase the piece.

If you are in Edinburgh, do pop in to view all the fantastic work done by 60 artists.

Chay Reds, Ferrous Black

2024-11-25T19:32:00.004+05:30

I was fortunate to be able to spend time and view the Chay Reds Ferrous Black exhibition at MAP in Bangalore.

Blocks used in printing the cloth.

The printing process. A slow painstaking process.

Floral borders.

A variety of bird and animal motifs.

If you are in Bangalore and can spare a couple of hours do go and view this show. It's on till March 2025 at MAP (Museum of Art and Photography)

A quilt experiment - Bird of Paradise

2024-11-23T18:37:00.001+05:30

I'm experimenting with creating a hand pieced layer of inchies which will support a layer of Suffolk puffs.

A contemporary quilt inspired by Bird of Paradise.

The 20" × 20" layer of inchies are done and now I've begun making the Suffolk puffs. 400 to be made.

Making of a Diary Quilt - 2

2023-08-12T14:32:00.001+05:30

Getting on with the Making of a Diary Quilt - Part 2.

Day 9 - Making yo - yo's or Suffolk puffs.

I made seven yo- yo's because there are seven stars which make up the Saptarishi Mandal or constellation also known as the Big Dipper in the Western World.

Day 10 - Applique the yo - yo's onto the quilt top.

There is an interesting story about the Saptarishi Mandal, which you can read here - The Story of Vashishtha and Arundhati.

Day 11 - Connect the yo - yo's with running stitch.

I chose a yellow silk for the yo - yo's because these yellow Angel's Trumpet flowers release a beautiful fragrance at dusk and the night air is beautifully scented.

I suspect the flowering has something to do with the cycles of the moon as well.

Day 12 - Improv patchwork. Make it as large or small.

I decided to represent the many moods of the Nilgiri sky.

The brilliant blue winter sky, which is all blue with not a single cloud in the sky, the moody monsoon sky with dark rain clouds and the cloudscapes which will have one day dreaming for hours.

Day 13 - Attach the improv patchwork anywhere on the quilt top.

Day 14 - Hand yoga.

Day 15 - Choose a piece of fabric, trace the outline of a familiar object and applique it anywhere on the quilt top.

I used this fabric which I got in a giveaway. It matches the teal blue of my phone cover.

Day 16 - Trace the outline of a familiar object and embroider it.

I wear a gold chain with a gold sovereign or coin given by my paternal grandmother, so that's what I placed on the quilt top and traced the outline of and embroidered.

Day 17 - Onto a piece of fabric, trace out a part of your body and applique it onto the quilt top.

Decided to trace out my foot. Symbolic of the all the walking I do in the garden.

The fabric is Shwe shwe fabric from South Africa.

Thank you Helen van Zyl for all the shwe shwe fabric swatches you sent me when we had a fabric page swap.

Day 18 - Embroider or appliqué a piece of clothing. The size is left to you to choose.

These are my patched black trackies.

I have two pairs which developed holes because my cat Gin has a tendency to dig her claws into my legs when she wants to be fed.

The track pants are of knit fabric and I patch the holes with the fabric from old panties.

These trackies are boros in the making, one patch at a time.

The quilt top is slowly filling up.

I think a third part will be required. Shall have that up in a couple of weeks.

I hope you have a creative weekend and get to indulge yourself making , messing around or learning something new.

Making of a Diary Quilt - 1

2023-07-24T07:52:00.001+05:30

I was fortunate to discover the #dailypracticeqal being lead by Heidi Parkes on Creative Bug.

It was just my thing because it asked for the use of fabrics found around the house and upcycled materials.

For the quilt top I used a piece of cutting waste and I got a 3 feet × 3 feet piece.

Day 1 - the prompt given was to make a running stitch doodle in the top left hand corner of the quilt top. Use an embroidery hoop and make the doodle within the hoop.

I don't have embroidery hoops because I never use them so I made the little doodle using running stitch to represent my walks in the garden accompanied by Blackie, my pet dog and Gin the Calico cat.

That's Blackie and Gin. They love their morning and evening walks with me. It's become a ritual. They wait for me to say - come on let's go for a walk.

Day 2 - Running stitch doodle - left hand side of quilt
Choose any colour thread and make another running stitch doodle - make lines of running stitch - exploring how many stitches you can make gathering the fabric on your needle and making one pull of the needle . Then move to the next row.

The lines of running stitch in green represent the tea estates which surround our property. That's a picture of the hill opposite our property. Amidst the tea stands an Indian Gaur, commonly called Bison. They are wild and roam the countryside in herds, they have adapted to living close to human habitation, that's the reason the two women tea pluckers are walking past the bison which is in such close proximity.

Day 3 - keeping to the left of the quilt top once more and using running stitch make a geometric shape and fill it in with running stitch.

I chose to represent the passion fruit for the prompt on Day 3. It grows wild in the garden and the purplish fruit turn a lovely orangish yellow when ripe and we love it.

Day 4 - on the lower half of the quilt embroider with running stitch any organic shape.

I chose to embroider a bird, not just any bird but the Malabar Whistling Thrush or Whistling Schoolboy as it's know. It wakes me up list mornings with its inimitable Whistling call. A small bird with beautiful shiny royal blue feathers.

The quilt top with the first four prompts completed.

Day 5 - on the lower half of the quilt applique a small curved shape or shapes.

That's raindrops which I've appliqued onto the quilt top.

There are light showers all through the year which is good for our gardens and for the tea. We get the North East monsoon in November when it I wait for the sun to make an appearance. I like the sunshine more than the rain.

The quilt top with the addition of some appliqued raindrops.

Day 6 - applique a large curved shape in any corner of the quilt top and attach the shape with running stitch.

Day 7 - hand yoga

I cut out a large piece of a floral block printed fabric from a top which used to belong to my mum.

It's a representation of all the various flowers which grow in my garden.

I know I've got carried away with so many pictures of flowers. I should have made a collage of these pictures but I hope you enjoy them as much as I delighted in discovering them blooming in my garden and snapped a picture to delight in their beauty in the future.

Day 8 - long skinny strip to be appliqued anywhere on the quilt top.

I appliqued a piece of a printed batik border from a sarong.

The colours and floral motifs remind me of the shola forests which are border our property. The trees grow dense and it's quite dark. The sunlight struggles to filter through the thick canopy.

I'll be back with the next installment of the making of the diary quilt in a couple of days.

Take care and have a good week.

International Nature Journaling Week 2023

2023-06-14T21:43:00.000+05:30

International Nature Journaling Week this year was from the 1st to 7th of

June.

This year the theme was - Sensory Safari. The exploration of nature focusing on one sense each day.

Day 1 - Colour

The view of the tea gardens and shola trees from the deck.

A textile and fiber artist at heart, so what could you expect.

A patchwork of greens which I see from my work station on the deck.

Day 2 - Texture

Bark of the Silver Oak tree.

Silver Oak trees are planted at intervals in a tea garden to provide shade for the tea bushes.

The leaves are dark green on top and a silvery pale green on the reverse and hence the tree gets its name.

Day 3 - Aroma

Angel's Trumpet or Brugmansia.

When it blooms especially the yellow one, the fragrance is intoxicating.

I used watercolor pencils for my illustrations. I've had these colour pencils for the last 25 years. Still going string.

An incredible sight. At dusk the flowers release their fragrance as does the Raat ki Rani or Cestrum nocturnum.

The garden is a delightful place to be at night when these plants in bloom.

I have pink and white Angel's Trumpet growing in the garden but the yellow one has the strongest fragrance.

Day 4 - Song

There are so many birds in the garden.

It's been interesting learning to identify the different birds by their call.

My Journaling at the end of four days.

Day 5 - Flavour

Summer in India is all about Mangoes.

This year we ate plenty of our favourite variety - Imam Pasand. We tasted Sugar Baby or Chakkra Kutty for the first time when a dear friend brought us some. Bite sized and sweet.

I made a Gujarati pickle - Chundo and a particularly sour Baganapalli was made into Mango fruit leather.

How many varieties of mango have you tasted and which one is your favourite?

Day 6 - Movement

Where I live, the natural world is abuzz with activity be it night or day.

There's quite a bit of wildlife too.

Day 7 - Heart

Nature is slow and we too try to live a slow life which enables us to appreciate nature.

The changing seasons, the moon as it waxes and wanes. To appreciate the interconnectedness of everything in nature.

The Sensory Safari I took.

Must continue to journal, probably use fabric and embroidery to do the Journaling.

The 100 day stitch book challenge - A bouquet of flowers

2023-05-10T10:18:00.003+05:30

For the 100 day project this year I decided to join the Stitch book challenge hosted by @annwood.

Got the 20 pages of size 5.5"×7" cut and ready before the start date of 20th Jan 2023.

I was excited to learn a new method of assembling a fabric book - the slot and tab method.

I didn't have a theme in mind.

Going through my stash A floral theme emerged.

My sleepy companion - Gin the Calico cat 🐈.

Kasuti embroidery swatches from a project I did years ago in Hubli, Karnataka.

Flowers my mum embroidered on a silk peasant blouse. The fragile silk tore but I saved the exquisite embroidery and I'm glad it found a place in the pages of this book.

I have cross stitched motifs , initially intended to be converted into Christmas ornaments but they worked with the theme so some found their way into the book.

The first page I made. The Blackwork butterfly was in my needlebook for a few years but I think she's happier amongst the pretty flowers.

Salvaged from a block printed bedspread in my mum's house.

From my mum's top.

My cousin Esther contributed many floral themed swatches in this book.

The yellow sprig and ladybug are my sister's clever way to mend a tear in her trousers. Many tears later when it was te to let go the trousers I decided that clever bit of mending had to live on in the pages of my book.

Suffolk puffs. My first attempt making them.

This page took the longest with all those French knots.

Another piece contributed by my cousin Esther.

The 20 hand embroidered and appliqued pages.

Starting to assemble the pages.

Ann Wood has all the instructions with pictures so one can create a book using the slot and tab method. She is most generous in making it free. Much appreciated Ann, thank you.

The pages on top have a slot and the ones below have tabs.

Hand sewn pages ready to assemble.

The completed book.

A fabric book after ages and I'm so delighted with the Bouquet of Flowers.

A Garden Party

2022-07-24T19:38:00.000+05:30

I'm a newbie as far as Procreate is concerned but I decided to participate in Jehane's Twelve Days of Elements and hone my skills.

There were Twelve prompts.

The first was A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies.

The second : Proud Peacock.

I decided the Decimals brush would be the element common to all twelve illustrations.

Prompt 3 : Celebration Cake. It was the Queen's Jubilee Celebration weekend at the time.

Prompt 4 : Victorian Glasshouse.

Prompt 5: Picnic Blanket.

That's a traditional Indian rug called a jamakkalam. It's striped and brightly coloured, makes an ideal picnic blanket.

There are samosas and other Indian snacks in that brass tiffin carrier.

Prompt 6: English Flowers. I love the pictures of English meadows filled with wild flowers.

Prompt 7: Cherry Blossoms

Prompt 8: Garden Birds.

These are Purple rumped sunbirds gathering nectar from the Thunbergia coccinea in my garden.

Prompt 9: Queen Bee. This Prompt made me think.

Three prompts in one: 10, 11 and 12.

Party bunting, Fanciful Topiary and Deck chairs.

At the end of Twelve days the surprise element to the challenge was to combine the Twelve Days prompts into one illustration - Garden Party which could be used to create a jigsaw puzzle of the same name.

It was great completing the challenge. My confidence in using procreate has increased in leaps and bounds, that's the best outcome of doing this challenge.

A Tribute Book

2022-07-19T14:48:00.003+05:30

This tribute book is for my father who passed away on the 5th of February 2022.

Made with the pages of the #buriedearthbookproject.

The fabric pages of the book which was buried and unearthed after close to three months were quite fragile.

I thought it was fitting to make a book with the fragile fragments appliqued onto pages of unbleached cotton.

The verse from 2 Timothy 4:7 was what we chose to have engraved on the headstone.

My sister wrote a beautiful tribute message which she read out at the memorial service. I had her handwrite the same in a little booklet which is put into a pocket.

A mild mannered person who loved the outdoors, animals and was always up for travel and adventure. He was a basketball player and watched cricket matches and tennis on television.He loved caramel custard and laddus.

There was a laddu in each snack box which was given out at the memorial service.

A card distributed during the memorial service is there in two other pockets.

He is remembered very fondly and with deep respect by friends, family and the members of the church he belonged to.

Gold - An Artist's book

2022-03-03T19:13:00.002+05:30

At the end of 2021 I saw the prompt - Gold for # creativevaccine_gold hosted by @jackravi , on Instagram and decided to give it a shot.

I'm a hoarder of gold foil which chocolates come wrapped in. I have quite a stash.The cover is made of card paper wrapped with foil and decorated with squares of light gold foil and the whole thing is stitched which imparts a texture to the book cover.

The pages are strips of foil woven into the cream card.

Four pages with different woven patterns in gold foil and cream card paper.

Strips of a light gold foil are woven in at random like extra warp.

The back cover.

This was one of the last projects I did in 2021.

Very satisfying and it was great to be able to use my some of my stash of gold foil.

Fusion - Mini Quilt for the Modern meets Modern Challenge

2022-01-21T09:09:00.005+05:30

In October 2020 The International Quilt Museum,Nebraska announced a mini quilt challenge, open to all. The challenge was to do with the Modern Meets Modern exhibition of selected Modern Quilt Movement quilts from the Museum's collection representing the past 15+ years to be juxtaposed with groups of quilts made over 150 years ago. These antique quilts display cutting edge qualities for their time and can still look modern in the present day.

The museum chose four quilts to serve as catalysts for new work. I chose the four patch quilt as the catalyst for my mini quilt which I called Fusion. It has elements of quilt making taken from the western tradition of quilt making such as the Engish Paper Piecing technique and the four patch block as well.

I then used techniques such as the Kantha technique of quilting ,the use of embroidery in the quilts made in India and like the quilts made in India, the mini quilt was not bound but I used a faggoting stitch to hold the top of the quilt and the back of the quilt together.

The tradition of making quilts was a thrift craft, whether in the east or the west. So all the fabric used to make the quilt top are garment off cuts. Layering two pieces of an old bed sheet made the batting for the quilt, inspiration for this came from the Kanthas of West Bengal which are made by stitching together layers of old cotton sarees.

The kantha style of quilting which I did on the white patches give the surface a soft dimpled texture.

The finished mini quilt - Fusion - 16 inches x 16 inches. Handmade and handquilted.

There were 116 entries for this challenge. Ten finalists which I didn't make it to, but it was an interesting challenge.

To see the ten finalists' quilts and all the mini quilts submitted click here.

1 Year of Stitches 2018 no longer a UFO

2022-01-18T08:33:00.001+05:30

Had to work on the UFO's and complete them. 1 Year of Stitches started in 2018 would be the simplest to get done so I set to work in October, adding a line every other day and I'm happy it's done.

I wanted to explore the creation of circular motifs using a single embroidery stitch or multiple stitches.

It's a sampler of sorts.

Texture and pattern that's possible with embroidery stitches.

If you would like to see how it all started click here and to see the slow progress I made before putting it aside, click here .

What I did with bullion stitch.

Do you have UFO's lurking in your cupboards and work baskets?
How do you go about completing them?

Upcycled origami bag

2021-11-05T15:18:00.000+05:30

In my stash was bits and pieces of jeans. I had salvaged them from a bin at the fashion institiute I used to teach at in another lifetime.

I found a pattern for an origami bag which I could hand sew and decided to use the bits of denim and make an applique and patchwork bag.

Blanket stitch all around and a whip stitch for the parts which had to be joined.

The pieces of denim have been appliqued onto part of the king size bed sheet which I still have pieces of .

It's a very large and roomy bag.

I've appliqued some rust dyed circles onto the bag.

I rediscovered sorbello stitch and couldn't stop doing rows of it as a form of embellishment all over the bag.

Will keep this bag for shopping. I need something smaller that will work like a handbag.

Senbazuru for a young boy

2021-10-27T21:42:00.001+05:30

There's a young boy who is very dear to me. This senbazuru is made specially for him from pages of Tupperware flyers.

He's at a cross road in his life when important decisions have to be made.

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
― Steve Jobs

With love, prayers and, support of his family, the anxiety should soon be a thing in the past.

While folding these 1000 origami cranes I was sending him positive thoughts, wishing him well and praying he can make choices and be excited about the journey ahead.

The 1000th crane. Wishing you happiness and enchantment sweetheart. It will all work out

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” ― Steve Jobs

Like colourful streamers the senbazuru are hung around the verandah, the gazebo and car park and they sway in the breeze sending the young boy positive energy.

Wishing he gets back his mojo and his smile <3

New York Textile Month 2021

2021-09-22T17:18:00.001+05:30

I'll be giving a talk about my work on the 24th of September.

Nervous and excited, I hope the internet doesn't play up. Last time it was my laptop.

Wish me luck.

90th birthday present for twin sisters

2021-08-29T18:08:00.001+05:30

I'm always surprised when someone contacts me via social media about a commission.

The request was for a poem to be embroidered.

I was taken by surprise when I was told I would have to embroider the poem twice because it was to be given to twin sisters for their birthday 🎂 in July.

This was a first.

The twin sisters are creative. One a poet and the other a designer.

The poem I was requested to embroider has been written by the poet.

The embroidered poem - Hometown Blackpool by Naomi Beth Wakan.

A frame for the embroidered poem was created with strips of shibori fabric.

The two copies of the embroidered poem.

The finished piece.

I have an account on Instagram @giftablewords for the express purpose of commissioning unique embroidered poems, quotes, birth samplers and wedding samplers, which one can gift 🎁 to friends and family.

Do take a look. I'll be delighted to work with you to create something special.

Have a great week.

Fruit

2021-07-31T22:47:00.000+05:30

Fruit was the theme in May for the areyoubookenough challenge.

I've collected the stitckers you get on fruit and most of my journals have pages filled with these stickers.

The tiled backsplah in my kitchen is where the stickers are stuck. A little spot of pop art.

It was only natural that I should make a book with all these fruit stickers.

That's the cover of the book with a question in Malayalam which translates - Is it the apple which wears a garment? Garment refers to the mesh like protective case which is put on each apple to protect it while being transported from various parts of the world. This was what a crafts woman actually asked me when I was doing a craft project in Kerala.

Made an accordion fold book with brown paper and made circular mandala patterns with the PLUstickers.

The numbers on the stickers are a code to identify whether the produce has been grown organically, genetically modified or grown conventionally using pesticides.

A PLU code which starts with 9 represents organically grown produce.

A four digit code which starts with 3 or 4 means the produce is conventionally produced using pesticides.

The fruit I buy comes from halfway round the world. So I've bought and eaten apples from New Zealand, Chile, Brazil and Italy.

Not very good for the environment, that's a massive carbon footprint.

I'm sure they have fruit label designers who must be creative to come up a distinct eye catching label.

Another bit of trivia - the inventor of the produce sticker was Tom Mathison.

I have a lot of blank space waiting to be covered with fruit stickers. So this book is a work in progress at the moment.

Have a great weekend.

Slowdown Studio Art Comp 2021

2021-07-24T12:40:00.000+05:30

I'd come across Slowdown Art Comp last year.

The last date to enter had just gone by. I had to participate this year. How can one not when the only real constraint is the size of the artwork. Very liberating if you ask me.

This is my first entry. A Box of Bespoke Murukkus.

I had got a small spirograph in a Kinder Joy that I had bought. I'm a sucker for the little toys you get. I buy the blue ones meant for boys because the toys you get are so much more interesting. Little vehicles like earth movers, tops and spirographs. I also unearthed a spirograph I had bought outside a temple when I had gone on a project.

Spirography - not sure if that is even a word, is addictive. The forms reminded me of murukkus which are a type of crunchy savoury snack, made in South India.

My third entry - Heirloom Flowers.

I combined the flower like motifs created with the spirograph with the batik like effect of the wax and ink.

The second entry - Silver Dollar

Gave the spirograph a rest and used just wax crayons, a candle and ink.

I had fun.

There's time, another week infact if you would like to participate.The competition period is from July 1 to July 31st 2021.

You can find the details for the competition on the Slowdown Studio, Instagram page.

Have a good weekend.