Happy sippin!!

"I took a walk into the woods and came out taller than the trees"

- Henry David Thoreau

Inspired by the mesmerising, reclusive animals and birds that live in the nooks and crannies amidst the dense thicket.  Our woodland creatures, hand-painted sipper family is growing fast!! Meet the new adorable members, Dusty the honey loving grizzly, Mimi the colourful  gobbling turkey, Bandit the rascal racoon and Luna the coy deer.

Drop us a line if you'd like to give these quirky babies a new home. Happy sippin!

BANDIT THE RACOON

MIMI THE TURKEY

LUNA THE DEER

DUSTY THE BEAR

Dusk shadows

I visited an old haunt the other day, tucked away in this concrete jungle there are serene escapes for those who look hard enough. My little sanctuary- it's a lush paradise where the sound of crickets drowns out the drone of city life, where colourful frogs croaking in glee, as grey herons bicker over nest space and if you're lucky you can catch a glimpse of striped wild piglets go about their business with wanton abandon.

It's a place I would go to daily for an evening run- run fast, run hard, run till it feels like every muscle in your legs are on fire, your lungs feel like they are about to explode and the wind hits your face till your eyes tear up. It's a delightful cocktail of physical exhaustion and  feeling alive. It's also a place where you can either rummage through the clutter of thoughts in your head and hope to file them neatly or it's a place where you can choose to just don't need think - not a thought in your head or a worry on your mind.

What I also love about my green heaven are the old abandoned buildings, mere skeletons of what they once used to be and etched on their walls are the small telltale signs of the people who once called this place their home. Instead of window grills today all you can find are beautifully woven tapestries of creepers as nature reclaims what was once hers. Enormous trees, who I'm sure have a story to tell as their roots spread deep and far, untouched and left alone for decades. There's an indescribable beauty about this spot in the middle of a bustling city like Mumbai, it's pure and so rare.

Every time I visit this place, I have this urge to bottle up the smells, the sights and my emotions into a jar full of memories, just incase I might never get to experience them again. It's always bitter- sweet to walk away from a place I was once so familiar with.

My heaven- I promise we'll meet again and if I can help it, it will be much more often.

The timekeepers rainbow web

Ostrich feather-duster in hand, she delicately dusted the cobwebs in her mind.
Rainbows caught in webs woven over the years.
Some taut some giving way to to the erosion of time,
Each colour reflecting a shade of the past.
Memories delicately woven,

Some so fragile a whisper in the wind could destroy,
Waiting for a gust of wind or thunder storm to blow them into oblivion.

When truant clouds wreak havoc

The sun is beating down hard on a city that is sweltering and seeming more listless with each passing day.  Beads of sweat organise themselves into a millions of rivulets that run down my spine unabashed, they leave a city feeling stifled as each droplet on a million faces catch the last rays of sunshine as night falls. All I can do is helplessly gaze at a sunset sea, as the last rays fall unceremoniously into a seemingly calm sea, only to send it into a shudder of glittering shivers. I begin to curse myself for ever complaining about the monsoons, the floods, the clattering of windowpanes as the rain pelts down and shamelessly robs me of a good nights sleep.

I've always had a love-hate relationship with the monsoons, I dread the dampness, the longer hours I need to work on my artwork to make sure they dry in time. The filth that finds it way up from open drains when the city goes under, which I must add, is a promise Mumbai always manages to keep. But I also find myself each year, towards the fag end of summer, earning for the rains in an attempt to bring some respite from the harsh summer sun and relentless humidity.

A couple of weeks ago the sultry silence of summer was broken by blots of lightning and thundering clouds, as  I lay in bed listening to natures delightful lullaby I felt a dash of excitement and anticipation, the monsoons were near at last. I suddenly loved the monsoons and couldn't wait for the city to smell, feel and evolve into something less dusty and sweaty!

Every monsoon I love how the leaves on the trees turn from wilted shades of brown to brilliant greens. I love the ever changing sky filled with sometimes heavy, dark clouds about to burst and shower us with abundance and sometimes scattered with little grey clouds playing hide and seek, almost waiting in the wings to pounce on unsuspecting people below. I love making a hundred cups of tea and sipping on them as I read a book and slowly allow myself to transcend into another worlds.

I think most of all, I love the changing of seasons, it's something I look forward to, as I sit by my window trying to catch the small signs nature throws our way.

A dragonfly in my mind's eye

Some nights feel like they are made of magic, where you feel an almost primal need to express something. This artwork started like most, a faint glimmer in my mind's eyes and with each brush stroke morphed into something beautiful and heartfelt. If you've followed my artwork and blogposts you'd know I do have more than just a soft corner for dragonflies, so much so that I've had one inked on my body. 

At the fag end of every Monsoon season, I find myself standing on my terrace engulfed in a sea of dragonflies, it's a surreal experience where you smack dab in the middle of a bustling city and yet in your mind you feel like you're in a lush field filled with dragonflies, so real is the feeling that I can almost smell the fresh grass and feel the soft mud between my toes.

This artwork which is still a work in progress, is a humble expression of all of those feelings I've felt over the years. My little haven and escape from the realities of living a fast paced city like Mumbai.

Thunderstorms don't frighten me

via GIPHY

Thunderstorms don't frighten me.Yes I do get goosebumps and a shiver down my spine every time the skies roar, but there's also a bolt of excitement that runs through my body. I've never been more aware of nature in all its fury, it feels like nature forces us to acknowledge its presence and power. Often we get caught up in our little bubbles of everyday struggles, but during the rains and especially during thunderstorms for a brief moment in time our bubbles burst, as we stare in awe at the forces at work that are much larger and stronger than our little lives.

Thunderstorms to me, are like a 'War dance of nature' - the thunder claps, like the resounding beating of drums riling up the forces, the howling winds like war cries instilling fear of the imminent danger,
 lightning blots of electricity that shoot across the skies like arrows, are the final blow, the weapons of wrath and destruction.

As the seas churning ferociously, belching all that is unwanted and the skies unleash havoc on our plebeian existence, for me it feels cathartic as tectonic plates of change shift, giving our lives a good 'ol fashioned purge.

Cloudbursts of creativity!

With the monsoon winds breathing life into the city, as dusty leaves now glisten with sparkling raindrops, like strings of pearls dancing to the melodious pitter patter. The rains have a wonderfully cleansing effect on me. The rains to me, are a heady mix of the scent of flowers in bloom, the wafting smell of freshly brewed tea and mouth watering chocolate chip cookies that keep me company as I allow myself to let the beauty this season brings be all encompassing.

Every monsoon I make it a point, to step put of the house and get completely drenched in the downpour, there's nothing like looking up at the skies as they burst and fill you  and the earth with the promise of new life and possibilities. I've you've never done this I really recommend you do.

As the sound of raindrops sing songs of their travels across oceans and seas, I can blissfully retreat into my haven with friends, hot pakodas and laughter filled evenings or on days where I seek solitude, pick up a book and whisk myself into magical lands and wonderful tales all waiting to be uncovered.

Sodium lights and street flowers

Darkness fell silently, a curtain call on the day done by, 

She walked down sodium lit streets with a wish on her lips, 

Lips that wouldn't move, thoughts that moved too quickly,

A dirty street, studded with little white flower stars.

One with nature project

So i have a good friend who is a  gem of a person, she loves plants and asked me if I could paint a bunch of products with plants and flowers  for her. What I love  most about working on any of her customized requested is, she gives me a gist of what she likes and then lets me go wild with it!!So heres what came out of that!!hope u like :-)