We are Birds of the Boundless Sky

This would be one of my favourite poems. Used to recite it pretty innocently while at school. Here's a translation of the same off a website:

We are Birds of the Boundless Sky- ShivMangal Singh Suman

We are birds of the boundless sky

Caged, we cannot sing.

Battered against these golden bars

Break, shall the delicate wing.

We who drink of free flowing waters,

Shall die of hunger and thirst.

Far better is the bitter berry

Than grain in a golden cup.

Within these yellow prison bars

We forget our speed, our flight

And visit only in lucid dreams

Our open swings within trees.

Such were our desires and more to soar

Beyond the boundaries blue

To devour the scarlet rays with beaks

And stars like grains, chew.

To blend with the horizon seamless

These wings shall thrash and throe,

To be one with that same horizon

Or only to be no more.

Pay no heed to the tree-bough

Destroy and wreck my shelter

but if these wings I am to have,

Do not distress these frantic flights.

Ik Baat

Late night obsessing over Javed Akhtar's poetry as recited by Farhan in 'Zindagi Na milegi Dobara'. An illustration for another one of my favorites from the movie.

Ik baat honton tak hai jo aayi nahin
Bas ankhon say hai jhaankti
Tumse kabhi, mujhse kabhi
Kuch lafz hain woh maangti
Jinko pehanke honton tak aa jaaye woh
…Aawaaz ki baahon mein baahein daalke ithlaye woh
Lekin jo yeh ik baat hai
Ahsas hi ahsas hai

Khushboo si hai jaise hawa mein tairti
Khushboo jo be-aawaaz hai
Jiska pata tumko bhi hai
Jiski khabar mujhko bhi hai
Duniya se bhi chupta nahin
Yeh jaane kaisa raaz hai

(Transalation)

There is a matter that has almost come to my lips
This is evident in my eyes
Sometimes from you, sometimes from me
They ask for words
To take their shape and come to my lips
And to be embraced by my voice
But this matter

Is a feeling…only a feeling

Floating in air like fragrance
Fragrance becomes its voice
That you know of
That i know of
It’s not hidden from the world
Don’t know what kind of secret is this

- Penned by Javed Akhtar & beautifully recited by Farhan Akhtar

Imperfect

found some old line drawings and went on a color trip with em'. Lent the girl in the pic my clothes and my pink shoes :)

Monday morning hues

The lass and the heart of gold

Deep in a forest there lay a heart of gold, magic surrounded it and not every naked eye could see it. Now once upon a time there was a lass who set out into that very forest bent upon finding the heart, for it was said of it to contain many a rare golden secrets....

Illustration Art for the Coca-Cola youtube channel, India

Poster Color Doily

So I decide that I must really get back and try my poster colors and so I begin by trying out something simple -- a blue bird amongst white and pink flowers :)

Art on Self

When I pick clothes for myself I always love to imagine how it would translate to as patterns on paper. So here I was happily penning out some colors, cuts and patters i picked ( o ye for some reason my pen tweaked my own features into something prettier lol) :D

The episode of the giant woman

One day a little girl went wandering holding onto a fine silver thread that no one else could see. Up she came a flight of stairs and saw a room glowing like silver. She hide awhile behind the door and watched the Giant Lady who looked young but had flowing silver hair weave the most beautiful white feather like fibre. After awhile the lady looked up and smiled as if she knew the little girl was always there and invited her so kindly in that the little one who till then had fear in her heart forgot it all and sat by her...

Very sketchish but I so loved penning what was in my mind. Click on the pic for a better view :)

IF : Trailing thoughts

Like the perfume of a crushed flower, tree branches dancing silently in the distance, like the rhythm of a fountain and the ripples and silences around it or the call of a solitary bird one late afternoon, leading the mind onto a trail of thoughts.

Juice Logos

Jiffy Juice logos were really fun! These are a chain of New Age Juice Bars up in malls in Delhi. I love the last one splashy and stainy. But there are other things to keep in mind-- like the client wanted solid colors and how things would look in greyscale etc. But what I really need is feedback on what is working visually.
The logos have been put in order of exploration last to first :)

Grandmother's Tales

Illustrations from a new book in process. Love love paper cut outs :D

Old tales

The best part about a piece of art is that you feel you just can't do it and then you see that you are doing it ! Feels nice to pat oneself on the back once a while lol :D

Poem Illustration

Today I dug out a few old school books and found my book of rhymes from III - B standard :). It's an Oxford Publication and is called the 'Book of Verse for Children'. The book itself contains very scrawly broken illustrations, however I remember enjoying them immensely so there has to be something magical about that style too.
Well here's my version for the poem :

IF PIGS COULD FLY
If pigs could fly, I'd fly a pig
To foreign countries small and big--
To Italy and Spain,
To Austria, where cowbells ring,
To Germany, where people sing--
And then come home again.
- James Reeves

Postcard art, just for kicks, using elements from my mom's dupatta.. :D

Puss In Boots

'Puss in Boots' a book illustrated by me for Scholastic Worldwide.
The story is of a miller's son who inherits only a cat from his father and is distressed of what fortune he would make of it. But 'Puss' is no ordinary cat and sets out with his master's bag, hat and of course the pair of boots to make him a fortune and much more. Reminds me of T.S.Elliot's mystery cat called 'Macavity'. Cats them all, with panache.

Tee

The t-shirt was made for a foreign market. Wonder if anybody would wear this in India..

Restaurant menus

Some initial work i have been up to which is turning out to be fun :)