Life as I live it

Rover - I call him Rowee

2017-07-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

I hardly write these days - not here, not anywhere. There was a time when I kept a journal and it actually was tons of fun! Some time back, I decided to read what I had written, and I saw that it was just a repetition of the misery I was feeling or dwelling upon. It definitely is a part of me, so I won't burn the journals, but the older, wiser me decided wallowing is not going to help so I stopped journaling.

In person, I am told I am fun. It has gotta be because I choose to be with people when I am feeling good ;) .

The last couple of years have been very difficult on many levels. In 2015, I lost my friend, my confidant - my mother. My life was all about honoring my parents name and somehow keeping order in a make-belief life. It kept me going, it was a project I took upon myself. My behavior was based after weighing what I felt was in accordance with what my mother would want.

I loved her, I hated her, I obeyed and I rebelled, but when I lost her… I lost a part of me. I had to re-establish who I was and how I should conduct myself. Two years in and I still can't even acknowledge she is no more.

Life was getting pretty glum. I met with an accident in 2016 and that changed my work life. Now I had even more time to wallow. I am glad I didn't journal because it would have been pages of what I am writing right now.

By the end of March 2017, I decided I needed to focus my care and affection to some one more than just my husband. (By now he was getting smothered.) I decided I will take the plunge and get a puppy. Rover Oommen came home April 28. 2017. A bundle of cream fur, with deep brown eyes like that of an old soul; we thought he was calm for the most part, but he is slowly making us change out minds.

Of course I couldn't call him Rover as it was too formal for me, so I call him Rowee with a lot of eeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Two and half months with him, and I want to say I am having a fun time and that I have totally changed. No. He is a lot of work so I don't take care of my appearance any more or cook or paint like I used to. I have given up. However. what has changed is I stopped frantically calling people to talk. I hated myself for being needy, but now I am exhausted and have no energy and I LOVE IT!!!

Here is Rowee, my Australian Labradoodle. I wish I could write stories about him and keep you entertained more often, but alas it is just another responsibility which I gladly pass. His thick soft fur calms my nerves. I hug him and he wriggles free, but every time I see him or he demands attention I break away from wallowing in pity.

Love you Rowee!

Flower Vase

2015-09-13T20:01:00.001-07:00

Third in the series. It's from a photograph I had taken a year back from flowers my husband bought me.

Magnolia

2015-09-13T19:56:00.001-07:00

Some flowers had to be done. First of a series I am hoping to do.

Acrylic on Canvas

9x12"

Waves

2015-09-13T19:54:00.001-07:00

This was a fun painting to do. Big gesture achieved by loose bold strokes. I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed doing this.

Acrylic on Canvas

12x16"

Music on Galveston Beach

2015-09-13T19:48:00.001-07:00

My brother-in-law took this beautiful picture and my husband fell in love with it. For once my husband requested me to paint a subject and I was hardly going to decline. After all, he suffers after each of my painting forced to comment and critique.

Acrylic on Canvas

12x16"

Mother's Love

2015-09-13T19:24:00.001-07:00

This is a picture I made from a photograph. My schoolmate had this picture as her profile picture and I loved the expression and the quality of the photo and knew I had to paint this. I asked her and she was okay for me to paint it. I loved doing this and very thrilled to get her expression.

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

6x6"

Fabian Perez copy 2

2015-09-13T18:08:00.001-07:00

Fabian Perez Copy

I love this artists paintings. I may one day buy an original, but until then I wanted to paint some of his work to get an idea of how he executes his paintings. So far just like executing my own paintings I enjoyed doing these.

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

6x6"

Fabian Perez Love

2015-06-01T10:41:00.001-07:00

I love Fabian Perez's paintings. I have pinned his favourites and just love them all. I don't know if I can even buy copies of his painting so I decided to try painting a favorite.

There sure is more work to be done on it. It's on a 6x6 acrylic paper

Sewing

2015-05-24T20:54:00.001-07:00

I picked up my sewing machine two years ago. As soon as I bought it home I sat down and read the manual, got my fabric out, and started sewing. I have no idea what I did but nothing worked. The stitches were messed up and I had no idea how to finish a lining I was making for my crochet bag and I gave up. Fast forward two years and one day I decided I needed to sew. I was guilty of buying the machine and not using it. I took out the same fabric and made draw string bags. It's not perfect but far better than my first attempt two years ago. The momentum built and now after a couple of weeks I sewed all this using tutorials online and you tube.

Draw string bag

Elastic waist band skirt 1

1, 2 and 3

20 min tote

20 min tote 2

This needed some embroidery. So happy. Thanks to the bloggers who share pattern. For tote bags I followed 20 minute tote bag tutorial. For skirts danamadeit.com

Crochet tin Jacket

2015-03-27T07:24:00.001-07:00

I have a home office now and it's a small room with a little table from ikea. We never decorated it so to speak. It's a basic setting and lot of make do decor happens. I gave the tin pen holder a little makeover just to perk up the place. This idea is all over the Internet and you can find tutorials in attic24 and many other places. I just wanted to share this little joy.

Tea Time!

2015-03-24T19:58:00.001-07:00

Another try with bold strokes and quite abstract. Influenced by Carol Marine

Two is Company

2015-03-24T19:57:00.001-07:00

I am very inspired by Carol Marine's paintings and it's difficult not to give the style a whirl. After some terrible results with the roses I did last year I gave up. The last two paintings I did are heavily influenced by her style. I use acrylic and she does oil paint.

Breakfast

2015-03-16T12:23:00.001-07:00

This one took me some time. Even though it seemed much easier than my 'counter top' painting I struggled. I painted and posted on Facebook with a lot of white highlights which dint do anything for the painting. I had two of my painter friends critique and help me see some errors. I took the feed back and continued working and this is the final product.

Grazing

2015-03-12T09:16:00.001-07:00

I had a good month and a half away from the easel and when I came back I thought I will not be able to paint. Thankfully it was not as bad as I feared. Surely it took some time to paint this as I had to remind myself all about what colors to use for the background and foreground. To be honest I felt I was relearning how to use the brushes and my collection of colors too. However at the end of it all I was able after carefully stepping away at regular intervals to do finish this piece. Another photograph of Jasmine's was used.

At the barn

2015-03-12T09:15:00.001-07:00

This is from another photograph on my friends facebook. Her visit to her friends farm. Her photographs the one she takes always tells a story. She and her husband travels a lot an cycles long distances. Both of this i feel together with a good eye for drama and beauty in everyday life helps her capture spectacular scenes. She allows me to copy her photographs and I feel truly blessed that I had enough material to copy when I restarted to paint. After copying so many of her photos I decided I needed to have a painting of her as well. At least an impression of her.

Counter Top

2015-03-12T09:10:00.001-07:00

The title for this is definitely not the most inventive. When I thought of a title I wanted it to be simple and just say it as it is. Not always the best idea I fear. It is the impulsive, spontaneous nature of mine taking over. I do have a cultivated control on my impulse but it had surely deserted me when I finished this painting. Got it done and posted on Facebook all in a fraction of a second. Therefore the obvious title. The brass jug like thing is a 'noottu kudam.' It's a Malayalam word. Beetle leaf chewers use sodium carbonate in a cream form on the beetle leaf. This white cream is stored in this brass pot also known as china but cheppu in Malayalam. My mom used to buy brass knick knacks and she gave this to me. The white and golden vase is a 'bharani' which my maternal aunt gave me. This painting therefore holds a special place in my heart. I have been challenging myself to paint brass and I feel quite proud of this piece.

Mates

2015-03-12T08:59:00.001-07:00

Brushes and colors are a painter's best friend. I think even if you are painting buildings each of us grow close to some of our brushes. In many ways, when I see this jug with my paint brushes it soothes me. I also have a love for simple ceramic crockery so when it holds brushes which have become my solace,and comfort the obvious course is painting. I started painting with a lot of grey and then changed to violet and a dirty yellow for shadow. Like it much better with these colors

Butterfly

2015-03-12T08:50:00.001-07:00

Combing through friends photos on facebook I came across pictures a friend took at the butterfly garden. She had used a macro lense I presume where the bokah was gorgeous. I wanted to recreate the motley background and attempted this one. I loved the color in the photo and this painting is all about color too and a quickly scribbled everything else.

Playing at the Beach

2015-02-27T06:12:00.001-08:00

Isn't it beautiful to see children at play. When the setting is at the beach even better. I was trying out Carol Marines style of painting. I painted it straight on the canvas without sketching. I like the drama and for the composition I take no credit because I simply copied from my friends photograph.

Crochet Babushka

2015-02-27T06:05:00.001-08:00

2014 I painted a lot more than crochet. However, I did crochet Babushkas which I meant to do a long time ago when I first spotted them on Attic24 blog. I picked up the book Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench and enjoyed all the pictures in them for over a year before I braved myself and got the Babushkas done.

I love them but I knew it was better for my niece and gifted her.

Santa Cruz - Impression from a friends photograph

2014-10-30T07:29:00.001-07:00

Brass Vase on a mantle

2014-10-30T07:28:00.001-07:00

Tulip

2014-10-30T07:27:00.001-07:00

Rothenburg Germany - Impression from a photo by a friend.

2014-10-30T07:26:00.001-07:00

Pink

2014-10-20T18:31:00.001-07:00

Pink!

An impression of a beautiful photograph by a friend.