Imagine a breezy summer afternoon, perched under a shady palm tree, against the cools of a stone building, with the bird chirping their love song. This is the emotion I wanted to capture. There is a natural sense of freedom and freshness that gets associated with spring, that’s what I wanted people to feel. The warm silken skies, lilac washed walls to bright green palms, paper tear edges and grainy textures - painted my composition.
BIRDSONG
I wanted to paint my dream - like capturing a snapshot of my memory. I wanted to preserve the fleeting thoughts - the music I hear, the colours I see, the buildings that surround me, the textiles I wear, the Indian-ness that truly belongs to me.
Colours became an important way of communicating my mood, it helped in radiating the energy of the scene. The architecture brought in a sense of calm and balance to the everyday chaos and made the work more dimensional. The animals brought in a sense of surrealism in mundane settings. My work became a classic vignette of Indian culture.
The shadows cast by the sun, the sweeping hills, the monumental buildings, the fragrant flowers, the basket full of bananas, the ladder leading to the terrace and the ‘bandar' - all made up my dream.
