poppies 03

batik on silk with embroidery
48 x 68 cm

During the poppy phase I had tried one out on silk.  Not completely satisfied, because of too many crackles , I had kept it aside with the idea of trying out embroidery at some point.

So : my second attempt at embroidery (well, simple running stictches really), + the use of beads.
Quite fun to do.  It's good to try things out :)
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experimenting with back-lighting the batik.

bird of paradise

batik and sequins - on cotton
48 x 69cm

Where I grew up in the Sivalik hills (Dehradun, India); the house was built on terraced land overlooking a river, and hills.  We have quite a big garden, mango and litchi trees amongst a variety of flowering trees, a patch of land dedicated to a Eucalyptus 'forest' and tall lucious bamboos growing wild in the dark slopes where the monsoon rainwater runs off towards the river.

Even though over the years, the neighbouring fields have been sold and converted into residential plots with more and more houses, more people, more noise; our little pocket still retains its 'green-ness'.  One of the beautiful memories I have of this house is the amount and variety of birds which stopped, nested, or just visited.  During spring, on rare occasions we would see Birds of Paradise.

This is my ode to them and to the magic of my childhood.
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On a more technical note : I am experimenting with adding embroidery onto the batiks.  First of all : I need to learn a LOT about embroidery (was always more of a tomboy); and second : I'm not certain the sequins were the right choice, even though I like the rainbow shine of them.  I figure I need to leave this for a while, then take a fresh look to see if I want to do it again, differently.

mes petites fleurs jaunes (my little yellow flowers)

on cotton
47 x 47cm

an experiment in technique
wanting to work on the difference between background and subject through texture and just 2 rounds of waxing (well 3, if I consider the little white lines as round 1)

girl on a cliff edge

on cotton 53x29cm

as I lay in the grass

batik on rough cotton

70x50cm

It's interesting to work with a different base material. The rougher cotton absorbs both the wax and the dyes differently from what I've become used to. I think this is also the batik where I've used the most layers of colours. It's also the first one which was worked on 90% stretched on a wooden frame, so the dyes were painted (or dripped) on.

I find it a bit too illustrative and not 'batik' enough; but then I've spent too long staring at it. A good night's sleep and a fresh lookey-see might make a difference.

The idea of perspective is interesting though; shall see what else can be done with it.

at the end of the tunnel..

cotton - 48 x 68cm

walking home in the rain

cotton - 48 x 78cm

the red umbrella

the red umbrella

cotton - 49 x 53cm

green sun poetry

The Green Sun

cotton - 49 x 67cm

Inspired by a poem written by my mother
'The green sun in a black sky..'

also an exercise in 'free' brushwork - no drawing, no real layout..
the text is a bit too disorderly (or not enough) - it doesn't all connect
so - this needs more exploration

experiment in 2005 - just forms

Just forms..2005

on cotton - 45 x 45cm

an experiment in a different style

The last time my parents exhibited in France was in 2005.  I had done this batik then.  I recently found it in a box and finally ironed out the wax.
It jars me now; this 'style'; but for years back then, anything I drew ended up looking like this, so neat!
Each time I scroll down through my own blog, I cringe when I reach this one.  I've even considered removing it altogether, but it's sometimes good to be reminded of what we don't like!