Am I an Artist ?

As a child I dreamed of being an Artist. My inspiration has always been my mother, from a young age I have enjoying painting alongside my mother. At around 12 years I started attending Art classes, my mother found one the best art teachers in Bangalore and I would travel far to attend the Art classes. I did not particularly enjoy the art classes, they were too technical for me. Soon I lost my dream of becoming an artist.

I continued to draw and paint occasionally but as a hobby. One summer when I was 16 years old my father introduced me to Zentangle. He showed me pictures on the internet. I spent that summer painting and drawing Zentangle and Madhubani by seeing pictures from the internet. I slowly became quite good at Zentangle but I did not consider myself an Artist. I thought an Artist is someone who an expert, who has gone through proper training and who can make amazing paintings of all techniques.

 As I explored Zentangle, I stated sharing the Art with people. I started making the Art on greeting cards and gifting them to people. This led to people asking me to share the technique of the art with them. I took a few sessions on how to do zentangle. I began to realize my connection with art. I then got an opportunity  to make zentangle designs on handmade diaries for an eco friendly shop and did that for a month. It was awesome to see my drawing being sold and earning money for it.This whole experience of reaching a level of skill in Zentangle and being able to bring my own flavors and style gave me confidence on my Art but I still did not think I am an Artist. I did not understand colour combinations or contrast so I could not be called an Artist.

Over few years I explored other art like wall painting, impasto painting, mandala painting, dot art and so on. I also began doing and learning craft like quilling, decoupage, mix media, key chain making, wire art, making things out of waste material and so on.

I am still not an expert, I am still learning and understanding technical things like colour combination and mixing colours but I realized I am an Artist ! I am an Artist not because of my technique or expertise but for the connection I feel with art and passion I feel towards it. The way I enjoy doing art, I feel at peace while I am doing art and the way I show my love to people by gifting some art made by me.


Now I am at a stage of making my Art sell-able. I am working on creating art and craft products myself which I can sell. I am excited to experience the process of selling and pushing my skills to create products.
Another thing I am doing to push myself and give myself confidence is that I started an Facebook page to share my art with people. Also having a FB page gives me commitment towards my art work.

So yes I am an Artist ! and a unique one !

How movies are shaping my mind

I see a movie for entertainment, to enjoy a fictional story, have a good laugh, maybe get some inspiration and simply pass my time.

I did not know that when I see a movie I am seeing notions of society. Whether its Sandalwood, Hollywood or Bollywood it doesn't really matter, I see things that I don't know are giving me a subtle message and are playing games with my mind.

I see a notion of love - I see a girl and a boy falling for each other, at times it's love at first sight. I see a boy paying for the dates, getting down to his knee. I see the movie telling me what is romantic. I see a boy eve teasing a girl, following her, despite her rejecting his proposal and then in the end I see the girl agreeing. I see that kissing and sex is the ultimate way to show love.

I see a notion of gender - I see gender roles and responsibilities. Girls are dramatic, demanding, emotional and sexy. Boys are cool, don't show emotion, have abs and show off. The movies objectify women, making them all about their bodies.

I see a notion of beauty - I see a muscular man, a slim girl. I see spotless and fair faces. I see tall people with perfectly waxed bodies wearing latest fashion clothing. I see long flowing hair and just perfect body image.

I see a standard of living - I see a luxurious car, top notch furniture, fancy carpets, latest auto-mobiles, flat screen television, people eating at expensive restaurants, owning the latest technology and of course you can’t forget the glamorous wedding and parties.

I see a notion of success - Money, sexy wife / husband, more money, fame, high reputation, and lots of stuff is the formula to success.

I see a notion of happiness - hanging out with my friend in a bar, going for a family vacation to foreign, going on a date with a beautiful women / handsome man or shopping.

I see what I need to be, look and buy so that I am loved, accepted and find happiness and success but I thought I was seeing a movie.

I see violence, the notion that adventure is cool, exaggerated action and drama, I see music and dance losing its essence and I see a fake life that many people aspire for.

Of course not all movies show this, there are many meaningful movies. I am not completely blaming the film industry, after all as consumers we see these movies and give approval to such movies but I feel sad to see the negative impacts standard modern movies are doing in our society