Dedicated to my husband ;-)

I was making pasta the other day and asked my husband to open a jar of pasta sauce for me. It was quite an ordeal! After several minutes of heating the lid and heavy hand-to-jar combat, I decided to make him open another jar instead containing a basic tomato sauce. This one was easier, although, I had to get creative about making the basic sauce taste good. It turned out pretty good! Later I came across this little 'love is' cartoon and I thought about all the times I've made him open jars for me. So here's to A! ;-))

Dean Kamen

Now tell me this guy isn't wired differently. Here is an article about Dean Kamen - the guy who invented the Segway. And tell me....just tell me he isn't wired differently...

The indomitable human spirit

This is beautiful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjWtaTtiZEg

Dragon

Don't ask me why I'm painting dragons. :-) This is the result of the combination of me trying out some brush techniques and finding a cool dragon image while browsing randomly.

Nattuvangam

I had a tough time explaining to some people recently who don't know much about Bharatanatyam what Nattuvangam means and its relevance to Bharatanatyam. I had an even harder time explaining this to non Indians who don't know what Bharatanatyam is. So I surfed around a little bit and found this article that does a decent job. Thought I'd share it:

Know about Nattuvangam - the rhythmic sound play of cymbals

My latest painting

At last week's painting class, my teacher taught us a pretty neat trick. He asked us to cut a little rectangular window in a small piece of paper that is exactly proportional to the canvas that you're working with. It would be hard for me to explain how to do that by just writing it. I'd have to show you so I wont bother going into the details on that. Anyhoo, after we cut the little window, we pick any picture/photograph of our choice and place the window on that. It could be anything really - magazine images, personal photographs anything. Then move the window around on that image until you find that you've captured something interesting inside that window. That's what you're going to paint. Chances are that it's not going to turn out looking exactly the same - but that's the point! Since the proportion of the window is the same as that of your canvas, it's easy to use a grid technique to draw the contents of the window onto your canvas. Then use only two colors (complimentary) and paint it. Of course, you're allowed to use shades of those colors by mixing in black and white. Anyway, I used the same technique of the 'window' and used an image from a graphic novel (Conan - Volume 1 for those interested - thanks to my husband for buying graphic novels with good art :-)). Result is what you see above. I didn't use the complimentary colors though. Anyway, I know I screwed up some stuff but overall I'm reasonably happy with the result. Cut me some slack - this is my first attempt at painting a face. ;-) I should also mention that I took this photo of the painting without flash - so it looks one shade darker than it actually is. It looked horrible with flash. Feedback welcome!

Decisions decisions decisions...

It's been ages since I wrote anything...or read much actually. Pathetic really. I've started reading about 5 or 6 good books over the span of the past 4-5 months and haven't finished a single one of 'em. It feels like I've been living in a milky haze floating on without much control. Work and dance burn down my hours like wild fire. Actually it's mostly work - it would be GREAT if it were dance. :-) The rest of the time I'm left gasping for breath to catch up on chores and other things I love to do - tennis, painting. Then there are bills to pay, taxes to do, heaven knows what other odds and ends to take care of. Seriously, I have no time left to pick up the piano where I left off about 6 years ago. Not to mention try out billions of recipes that I've been meaning to for a while (yes - I love to cook too). Plus I simply love hanging out with Ashwin so that time is not up for any trade off - we get such little time together as is! So either: (a) I'm lazy and don't have much time management skills OR (b) I'm taking on too much at one time - there just aren't that many hours in one day as I like to think there are.

I can't help but wonder whether our generation is exposed to 'too much'. Life seems easier when the choices are fewer and decisions simpler.