Works of my School days

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” -- Pablo Picasso

In my Kindergarten, I happend to win a 4th prize for a painting competition. It inspired my mother to buy paint and other articles for me. She asked the drawing teacher of the school where she was working, to give me some guidance. Luckily, then onwards, I won prizes in various painting competitions conducted in Kerala. 
Since I am not a patient perfectionist, I was more comfortable with watercolour. You decide what to draw and just do it. No scope for retouch and no need for spending too much time on one picture. Just enjoy the soothing serenity of  the painting... I love this pleasure.   


Here comes Mom
 "Here comes Mom" (1997) -- I was 14 years old. An attempt to try out Monochrome imagery in watercolour. 


"If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him" -- John F kennedy


Ariyidikkunna Sthree
"Ariyidikkunna sthree"- women pounding rice (2001) : A common sight of the afternoons in the village houses of Kerala during my childhood - women pounding rice in to flour for the next day's breakfast; mostly to make puttu, idiyappam, pathiri etc. The equipment is called 'Ural and ulakka' a bigger version of mortar and pezzle made of wood and stone.




Village well
"Village well" (1997) - women carrying water from the communal well : a forgotten system of drinking water facility in Kerala villages, public wells built and maintained by the local government.  These water wells are dug manually with shovels. Water is drawn using a small bucket tied to a long coconut coir cord, pulled of  by a pulley fixed to a log on the top of the well. Women used to share gossips and stories with her friends while filling their water pots. It was her 'social media' of the time.



















Water carrier


"Water carrier"(2001) -  Girl carrying water from the village well                            
Fisher woman
Fisher woman
"Fisherwomen" of Kerala (2002) - the men catch fish and women sell it in market : The imagery of fisherwomen for me is inspired by 'Karuthamma' of the famous Malayalam novel 'Chemmeen'  



It's planting time

"It's planting time" (1999) - Wayanad is the land of paddy fields. I have been seeing different stages of paddy cultivation which inspired my works during my childhood. 


"The creative act lasts but a brief moment, a lightning instant of give-and-take, just long enough for you to level the camera and to trap the fleeting prey in your little box."   - Henri Cartier-Bresso