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The Remains

Beautiful Black and White

Since I won’t be posting any of my charcoal illustrations here anytime soon, here are some beautiful black and white illustrations from vintage books that belonged (probably) to my grandparents. Enjoy.

These illustrations immediately below are from a book called Droll Stories by Honore de Balzac.The illustrations are by Steele Savage. The book cost Rs.2 when it was bought.

This old edition of Aesops Fables was illustrated by Tenniel who is known for his beautiful illustrations for Alice in Wonderland.

The illustrations below belong to a Kannada Bible. I have no idea who the illustrator of these gorgeous illustrations are.

Lest there be the inevitable comment that contemporary illustrations do not match the quality shown here, I assure you there are plenty of illustrators who draw very well. One has to sift through the noise and hype to find them hidden away drawing like maniacs inside their studios. They won't have websites or Facebook pages. Their presence on the net is minimal. With time if they are lucky, they get placed in the 'Forgotten illustrator section' of 50Watts.  Here is one of them >>

Play

So with scraps from my desk, I've created Art - A meaningful and complex entity which is open to multiple interpretations. I think this is a representation of the turmoil within the fragmented soul of the collective Indian woman. 

It could also be an abstraction of a flower. 

Or a crab.

Or it is just what it is, a bunch of cut up pieces of paper jammed together with glue.

I had fun doing it :-)

Fuel

Everybody knows that artists need stimulants to fuel their creativity

- booze, coffee,tea, inhaled stuff....

Long time readers of my blogs know what my stimulants are. However, given

the amount of activity on my desk lately, it has been difficult to sustain

myself with the usual, because of the steep prices and the fact that too much of

these things are bad for health.

Then I chanced on the recipe for a certain concoction here>>>

Yes, yes, it's great drunk with wholesome milk and all, but really, it

tastes best when you dig in with a large spoon. One, two and the high is

enough to last you till kingdom come.

It is healthy too - (Hershey's dark cocoa powder, organic jaggery and

cashewnuts). It satisfies my Indian predisposition towards the strong, dark and rich as

no jar full of Nutella every will. And oh my, the drawings are just flowing out :-)

Milk Man

A dusty traffic light junction on my way home has a small tree around which is always stacked those blue plastic cartons which carry packets of Nandini Milk for delivery. One day, on my way back home, having run out of milk, I stopped my bike beside the cartons and looked around for someone. Under the shadows of the tree, sitting motionless on a stone bench was an enormous swarthy South Indian male. 

‘Idhu maarakittidhira?’ I asked (Have you kept these for sale?)
‘Mathyakittidhivi?’ he retorted, ‘Poojemaadakka?’ (Why else have we kept it here? For you to worship?)
Milkman with attitude
I bought my milk. As I started my bike once more, a car behind me slowed down and I heard a tentative voice ask the same question, ‘Idhu maarakittidhira?’
‘Mathyenakittidhivi?’ replied the voice from under the tree, ‘decorationgaa?’ (Why else is it kept here? For decoration?)
Typical Kannadiga male.

Several attempts at drawing The Milkman last year failed completely. The drawings lacked punch. They lacked The Milkman’s enormous presence and attitude. Then one day, a Gumani came home and saw my illustration of Walrus Tea. ‘You know what?’ she said, ‘you should draw these South Indian men as different kinds of animals!’ At that instant, scraps of ideas swirling in my brain joined hands and formed a circle. Thus, The Milkman illustration fell into place. Now he sits among the cartons in the composition, ready to retort. 

Other illustrations for South Indian males are here>>

Gumani interviewed me for her art supply blog here>>
Do you want a tattoo or a rugged handmade sketchbook?
Then check out Gumani's superb stuff at her website over here>>

Character Analysis

I cannot help that drawings of women are invariably accompanied by enormous talk bubbles coming out of their mouths. 

The card below is what Samita made for me. I am so kicked by it I tell you...! 

The decapitated head on the Plum Tree drawn on the card is me. And that is a Pink Plum on on the side. If you pull the ...er, plum, my eyeballs move giving me that Arrey! expression that is just...so...typical.

Have a look at Extension Khirkee here>>

It will blow your mind.

Sunday at Siddappa's

Sometime ago my old acquaintance from another life, photographer Mahesh Bhat, mentioned the well known Siddappa’s Dosa joint in Sampangiramanagar. Since it just so happened that I had to pass that way the next morning, I dropped by said hello to Siddappa as I paid for my Dosa and allowed myself to be enthralled by the quaint old world mannerisms and charm of that delightful place. Half a crisp Masala Dosa soaking in ghee is served on a small square of newspaper as you sit inside the house or outside on benches with dozens of others and await your turn to be served. The dosa was so rich and filling that I didn’t eat anything till dinnertime.

When Rashmi suggested we resume our Sunday Sketching Sessions once more, I suggested this place and we both landed there. 

The atmosphere in this place suggests it is one of those rare nooks in Benglur that has been forgotten by time.

We roped in our dear friend Prashant too. While Prashant has the ability to figure out the most confusing directions in the bylanes of Benglur, he got hopelessly lost by simple directions such as ‘take a left opposite Hotel Geo and the first left after’. He arrived angry and breathless much later, and furiously drew this excellent picture below of the lovely little white house.

His turned out much better than my rather bland representative version below. Rashmi has yet to complete her drawing and I will put it up here when she does.

As much as I am a big hog, I did not partake Dosa here a second time. I didn’t think my system would take kindly to being drenched with the deluge of ghee once more. However Rashmi and Prashant gave it a go. Being Northies and used to rich, full fat food, they returned indignant – ‘they serve only half a dosa!’. Then Rashmi polished off an entire dabba of Coconut Fried Chicken that I had brought for her and Prashant disappeared into Siddappa’s kitchen and returned brandishing a large bottle of ghee. He must have collared the cook into parting with it. Knowing the handfuls of ghee Prashant smears on his chapattis, he’ll probably finish it within a week.

There is plenty to sketch here so we will be returning. Our drawings too can only get better as we absorb more and more of this delightful place into the pages of our sketchbooks.

- Here is an excellent account of Siddappa's Dosas with pictures >>

- An irreverent and insightful look at Benglur through the eyes of Andy Deemer at 

Bang Bang Bangalore