lazy stuff crazy enough..

2009-01-12T22:09:00.000-08:00

Perception of Emotions

Visual Perception is a vital requisite of any artist. Visualization of the abstract is unique of a maestro. The sense of loneliness is a subtle and abstract emotion that is acclaimed and appreciated by all visual artists alike. It is my belief that there exists a minute quality that defines the visual essence of any emotion. I have spent a lot of my time alone in an attempt to capture or identify the essence of this delicate emotion. The mental picture that floats first in my mind every single time is the image of a small child standing in a beach. The imagery is predominantly black and white. But I have realized that it is possible to enhance the emotion with a black and blue or a blue and white combination. This is interesting as blue is a cold color and augments the chillness that can so easily be associated with a beach (not just the coldness of water and the moon but also the one that which the vastness and the uncertainty create, experienced as mild apprehension). To comprehend the consequence of this observation, it is necessary that we answer some questions.

Why is it that a child portrays a better imagery?

Why is it that a distant object speaks better of solitude?

Why is it that a panoramic illustration especially of a beach helps relate better with this emotion?

What is in common with all these attributes that helps strike the right note?

The answer to all these questions is contrast. A child in a panoramic portrayal of a beach shows the contrast in the size. The depth, the vastness and dimensional expanse of the sea contrasts the shallow emotions and small size of a child. It is indeed the same reason why the diminishing of the distant objects speak so well of solitude. The same is the reason why a person walking away into the open vast exposes the spirit of this emotion. The reason is contrast.

White and black are two interestingly unique colors that can blend so well with themselves and with other colors to depict contrast. This brings us back to our observation as to why black and blue or blue and white helps enhance the imagery. The answer again is contrast. Also the warmth of the human element develops a contrast with the cold, still and distant (again) nature of the sea and to an extent, the blue color itself. But whether it is the color that helps express the emotion or the emotion makes the color cold is a more difficult question to answer. May be the melancholic element of loneliness requires a cold color to express the sadness. But the presence of a strong contrast is easily perceivable.

But it is not necessary for all these elements to be present to describe loneliness. A picture without the human element may still manage to reflect the emotion. A picture of a boat that sails far and deep into vast deep and silent waters, for example, may achieve the emotion. The stillness and the distance and the contrasting colors will not fail to create coldness, but only in this case, it is the emotions of a viewer who can relate truly to the imagery that provides the necessary warmth to create the contrast.

Hence, contrast clearly is the quintessence of loneliness.

2007-12-06T22:21:00.000-08:00

The Red Curtain

Long Red drapes with fine creases. It was so striking and sublime.

Some times subtle things offer you so much joy. Some ice cold water trickling down your dry throat, a cool breeze during your early morning walk, or delicate silence that let you sink in your dream pool. Things so small, you might just carry on without appreciating or even realizing it had come to pass. May be because the joy is brief, or because you are in a state of lazy bliss, enjoying the moment, that you don’t truly care as to who or what is the reason behind it. Especially if the things are so mundane, you just take them for granted and you don’t in fact care if they are not. These are just unexplained stretches of time with joy, that’s beyond reason or purpose.

For me, it was one of the curtains in the small momentarily empty ice-cream shop that I visit often. All the same it might have been the silence that waltzed the empty room, the comfortable posture I was in or the chilling effect of the air-conditioner, I did not indeed know or care. Yet, something about it was so pleasing, I sank in thoughts.

Slowly I started talking to myself the way I always do when I am cheerful. And when I do that, it’s not just about what I whisper in my head, it’s about the visions I see, the voices I hear and to some extent, the sense of touch.

It started with an instinctive chant of random words “soft…fabric…happy…curtain…warmth…red…passion…happy…silence…

chill…happy…”and so on. And with each chant I could see, hear and feel what I spoke. Gradually everything turned misty and I sank in to a deep reverie.

I walked down a busy lane filled with chirp and chatter of little lads as they played merrily. Mist. I was in an empty classroom ringing with laughter that belonged to people long lost in the sands of time. Mist. I strolled past an old house singing melodies I once knew so well. Mist. I stood gazing at the silhouette of a person standing still, seemingly near yet so far. Time trickled quietly but the image did not vanish. I inched gradually forward and the face came to light. Mist.

A resounding noise of smashing metal and there I was sitting again in the familiar ice cream shop looking down at the red curtain that lay on the ground reverberating with the impact of the fall. As I stood up and walked away, the memory of the beautiful curtain, the silence, the comfort, the happiness, all faded away to be replaced by one desperate plea

“Peter pan…if you can hear me…take me to Neverland”

2007-04-11T01:45:00.000-07:00

Belonging

I have been here many times before,

Where the familiar roads end.

The paths I tread, the people I know

All stay behind.

The narrow rock that stretches beneath,

Being the very edge of known road.

With the deep blue vast, miles above

And the deep blue sea, miles below.

A queer quietness lingers around.

As I stand in the road's very end,

My eyes closed, only to conceal

The might of the storm inside.

I may choose to turn back,

To the familiar but incomplete roads

To play where I have already played

And stay where I never truly belonged,

Or I may choose to go ahead

To the land of uncertainty,

Where all roads seem to end

But hidden hopes still remain.

In a flash I open my eyes

And as I lean gently and let go,

I leave the road I know behind.

I leave behind the fear.

I leave behind, the memory of it all,

As wake up where i belong.

2006-12-30T03:54:00.000-08:00

Patriot

The land is bare, the snow falls hard
Chill is in the air, but they bother him not
Many fall wounded, many lie still
Death draws nearer, but they scare him not
His heart flutters, his eyes burn
His hands work and the gun fires
Out of the blue a bullet speeds
Piercing the air and in to his eyes
Back he falls shooting madly and
As the world darkens his face brightens
With moments left his heart full of emotions
He cries proudly VANDE MATARAM

2006-12-27T04:07:00.000-08:00

Beloved's Eye

The cool rays of the early moon
Washed over the frozen lake
The glassy face vividly radient
Rosy beneath the rosy sky
Standing stll in the motionless lake
Was an expertly carved wooden boat
Filled to the slender and black rim
With milk as white as snow
On the surface of the creamy milk
Ripples threaded into fine network
And floating over the milky plane
Was a shiny black shimmering plate
Sailing gently from side to side
Like black moon in silvery sky
Amazed i stood on the slender rim
Silenced by the dazzling beauty
As i gazed down at my reflection
Dazed and unaware i started to slip
I saw myself falling, falling in Love
I knew i was sinking, deeply in Love

2006-10-29T10:08:00.000-08:00

Sight Perception and Interpretation

A road so crowded. Swarming with people.

Different people. Different emotions. Different directions.

It is a fascinating game. Great fun to just sit back and watch.

But wait. Where is the time? You are in the middle of a blind mob.

You have no choice. You have to move along lest u lose your identity in the mad chase.

You seem stranded.

Chance for success seems ever so bleak.

Something big is at you, casting you in to the shadows.

You can run, but you can't hide.

The end seems inevitable.

Or does it???

Just look around you. So many familiar faces.

There are many who walk parallely along as you make your way.

There are some who wait for you to catch up when you lag behind.

And there are a few who are ready to carry you along when you fall.

See the people for what they really are.

How can they steal your identity when the identity you bear is their gift?

How can they be here to suppress you?

They are your companions. Your fellow travelers.

They are here to help you just as you are here to help them.

Do not hide. Not because you can’t. But because you won’t.

Run along. Not because you have to. But because you want to.

All of a sudden the mob is gone. The shadow is lifted.

Success towers in front of you.

The game is still a fascinating one and the whole world is yours to play.

2006-09-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

A walk in the sandy beach

Be it the day, while the sun burns out
Be it the night while the moon smiles down
Neither do I sleep nor do I stop
You are the light footed princess I admire
And I am the sandy beach you once tread
Days have gone since you left me
But I do still bear, carefully preserved
The mark of your feet that sank in me
For you are the charming princess I admire
And I am the sandy beach you once tread
Day after day I voice my song
Neither do I sleep nor do I stop
And day after day I do long
For your soft feet to sink in again
For you are my sweet princess I still admire
And my heart is the sandy beach you once tread...

2006-09-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

The Color of Emotions ...
Colors have a subtle specialty .Omnipresent. This character of colors can be explained in 2 ways depending upon the way we view it.
The first one and the simplest way of explanation ....I look around I see nothing sans colors. Every thing in nature has a color to it. Well the second and the subtler and by far more complex interpretation, the one which I am here to share my views on are the abstract colors. These are the colors you don’t see. It’s beyond that. You actually feel them. But to do this you need to tune your mind. In simple words you need to love colors.
Looking back at the times I have used my brush in the past, I used to wonder how my emotions reflect on the usage of a particular league of colors. Why I liked different colors at different times. When I looked closely I found the colors followed some pattern. It took me some time to realize one of the most ironical of things. I was indeed feeling colors and thereby seeing emotions
At this point, I believed I was relating light colors for happiness and dark ones for sadness. But soon I realized the classifications were bit more complex. I just collected my works and made a study. I found that I used yellow to red transition (colors generally termed as warm colors in art community) when I was happy and the green to blue transition (colors generally termed as cold colors in art community) when I was sad. The astonishing fact that is incidentally deciphered from this is, the color change from happy to sad is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet is the transition of colors in a rainbow.
Also, it is important to remember that the color of emotions are exposed when the painting is made naturally just for the love of making them and also when there is freedom of colors. In this way, while the color of love is generally white (ironically mixture of colors), vices generally go with dark brown or black.
While fear goes with yellow to brown transition. Guilt goes with yellow to blue transition.
Once an artist understands these subtle nature of colors to express emotions and lets the colors flow to portray emotions, he starts to mature and thus is born a master piece.

2006-09-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

Writing an article is an experience by itself. Just this afternoon I was sitting in my drawing room munching my favorite snack when I had this familiar urge to write. Then came the big question...."on what?"...I tarried to ponder and a hundred images raced in my mind....crazy as it may sound ..."a man racing through the city in skates".... "an armored soldier on a donkey"..."a couple romancing on the moon beneath the beautiful 'full earth'"....."two friends strutting a dark lane"...."a crowded bazaar"...the list was endless....As more images started pouring in, getting exponentially stupid all the time), I gave it a break and thought categorizing and narrowing down would do the trick....A terrible mistake ...This is how it went....On Relationships, Experience, Politics, Technical, Management, Literary, Sports, Music, Movies, Psychology, Astrology, Astronomy, Science, Art, History, Geography, and a plenty more...I smiled subtly......I waited for a long time dumbstruck at the expanse of my knowledge....I was not so dumb after all!....Then a bell (of the giant clock tower near my house)sound brought me back to senses... And there I was ....in a complete mess again ....back where I began.."What to write on?"..... Well with my patience wearing off ever so fast I decided to adopt my final method....The INSTICTS...I really have great instincts...It has always helped me 'right'.....May be it will help me 'write' as well...So I closed my eyes and smiled....I had made my decision...I will write on that which pops up first...in my mind........Well they say meditation is a state of thoughtlessness......A state of utmost bliss.... Well technically I should say I was meditating because my mind went unusually blank....Only I was steaming inside.....No bliss in any sense...I waited ten whole minutes.....Hoping against hope to deny the obvious truth before it came crashing down on me.... My instincts had failed me... I sat in disgust.... The emptiness of my mind engulfed me.....Angry words started pouring in my mind.....my mind was not empty anymore ....I was bursting to pour it out....But then I realized I had nobody to blame...This made me feel worse...Finally I exploded on the paper I had in my hand.... I tore it in to a hundred pieces and showered it all over the room.... My mom was on me in a jiffy... As I cleaned up the mess (thinking how easy it would have been to just dispose the paper as whole).....I swore ...I swore that one of these days, I will write a great article...One of these days, I will show these people what I am made of...One of these days...