"JaydimaNnina Kale"

I LOVE working with JedimaNnu !!! Well.. JaydimaNnu in Kannada just refers to Clay ! Once the clay items are baked /fired in the kiln, they are called TERRA-COTTA ! so... Here are a few of my Terra-cotta works i did a few years back. Its so much fun getting your hands all messy with a brown sticky stuff all over your hands! :)


My Cute lil' Terracotta Elephant all set to go for the Dassera prosession!!


Enjoyed working on this box so much... Etching each of those desings when the clay was Leather-hard and then filling up everything with a white paste called 'Engo'. I love it !


Am so crazy about diya's. I love seeing a LOT of diya's lit together. Made four lil' diya's and put them all together like this! It looks very pretty when lit!!


Another lil' Diya with the form of the parrot. I love birds as most of you already know looking at my paintings. As soon as i saw this piece.. i wanted to make it for myself too !! :)

*GuLakMale*

Well... *GuLakMale* happens to be a small village near Kagglipura, on the road connecting Kanakpura and Bannerghatta Road. A lot of fields and floriculture around the place...a high raised bund and as we climbed up on it, a big lake was right in front of us!!

Yup! Nanditha, Shilpa, Joyshree, Geetha and myself set out birding today. We had absolutely no clue that we were going to such a Beautiful place. The cloudy weather made it even better!! There were birds everywhere!!! Starting the day with Indian Robins, Pied Bushchats, Cormorants, all the three kinds of common Bulbuls - Red whiskered, Red vented and the White browed Bulbul, and ,Rose-ringed Parakeets. The day was more promising with the sightings of the Small blue Kingfisher, plenty of Black headed Munias, Ioras, White eyes, a Green billed Malkoha,White breasted Waterhen and not to forget the juvenile Short toed Snake Eagle!!!! Ofcourse, the Jungle Myna's, Ashy Prinias, Tailor birds, sunbirds,Doves, White browed Wagtails, a Lapwing, Spot billed Ducks, Grebes, Swallows,Small Green Bee-eaters, Kites, Egrets and Crows added to the day! Saw about 3-4 sunbirds in Eclipse plumage too!!!

A good number of butterflies too... Baronet, Nigger, Common Bushbrown, Crimson Rose, Tawny Coaster, Common Indian Crow, Emigrants, Grass yellows and Grass Jewels all around!! A pleasant and wonderful day all together! Waiting to see what more this place has in store! Hoping to visit soon! :)

More painted birds.....

Malabar Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus)

Well... posting just a few more of my bird paintings done a few years back... These are mainly watercolour paintings.

Cattle Egret ( Bubulcus ibis)

Indian Pitta ( Pitta brachyura)

Mural at the Montessori !

Well....My friend Shilpa and i, worked on this mural at a montessori "Learning Tree" in Jayanagar. The garage has been converted into a play area with a sand-pit, a small wooden house and a slide for the kids. And ofcourse the painting on either sides. The owner of the montessori was very much willing to make it educative for the kids and was happy to include bugs, butterflies, birds, plants and other creatures in the mural! She wanted it realistic and that's exactly what we had in mind too! By the end of 20-25 days.... this is what we gave her!!

Birds abstract !

One of my friend gifted me a really nice book on wildlife paintings- "Tigers-Artists for nature in India" by Nicholas Hammond! I love the book and at the same time was so inspired that i tried out something myself.... using a kinda similar style!

I guess i got to get rid of my laziness these days.. and try out some more !!

KAYAKING over the weekend !!

I had been wanting to do some kayaking sometime... and especially after KK (Kiran) got a kayak from the US, i had even more wanting to do it. Out of the blue, friday night KK asked me if i would like to do some kayaking saturday morning... how could i deny! :) We reached manchanbele dam by 7:30am... inflated the kayak and set out !! The weather was amazing... breezy, cloudy and *Grreeennn* ALL around! This was my first time Kayaking and we went on and on and on.... I guess i was sooo excited, i never got tired of rowing at all! It was so peaceful out there... cormorants, Grey herons, kingfishers, bulbuls, sunbirds, peafowls and raptors above! A wonderful way to spend your weekend, no doubt! We were back where we started around 12. Deflated the kayak and headed back home...right in time for lunch!

Hummingbird series...

The above image of the 'Bumblebee Hummingbird' has been the best out of the three i have done so far. Both the birds are from my brother's photographs but with a lil' modification to make it a nice composition. As i started working on the branch, i got excited myself! Though i was still not sure how i will bring about the fluffyness of the bird captured in the photograph.. Am really happy with this one and i know, the more i practise its only gonna get better!!
Below, are the two other hummingbird paintings i have done - Buff bellied Hummingbird (my first attempt with the hummingbird painting a couple of months back) and the Purple Throated Mountain Gem Hummingbird (not all that satisfied with the composition), respectively.

Mural at Bandipur, JLR.

This surely is one of my favrouites... as its my first really *BIG* individual work! I painted this mural in one of the rooms of Bandipur Jungle lodges and resorts! Its about 10 ft x 15 ft. It was an amazing learning experience for me at every step - every thought i thought, every colour i mixed, every stroke i painted and more...
Every moment from waking up early to catch the sunrise... a whole day for painting... various yummy dishes to choose from... really -friendly-cheerful- staff... a chance to go on the jeep safari's every once in a while... sighting my first leopard and my first sloth bear... amazing sunsets over the Gopalswamy betta... interesting discussions over the campfire... watching wildlife documetaries... walking up and down the path several times... sitting thru the long silent nights... waiting to hear the call of the 'bubo bubo' every night... after all that, a peaceful sleep! Whatmore can one ask for !!

*MEROPS* it is !!

**MEROPS** i have always been fascinated by this word. i like the way it -sounds-! The first time i took interest in learning about the scientific names of birds was on one of my most amazing birding trips to Point Calimere, more than about 2 years back!
*Merops* is just a genus of the really pretty 'Bee-eaters'! But well of about 26 Bee-eater species found all around the world, i have just seen about 4 species..... LOTS more to see.. and that's why my journey goes on.... and on.......