Daub me! When colours be perfumes!

My experiments with oil after 9th Grade

I have just too much going on in my mind. I watched a brilliant movie today - Dhobi Ghat. After long I actually felt that Indian cinema had arrived. I am a fan of abstraction and loved the abstract story which had no starting or ending and merely showed me reality which most of us hate because we want to define everything around. This was coupled with brilliant perspective and story telling. I mean some shots were just poetry! I could not have revealed feelings any better said some shots.

Loved the scene where "Amar" was filling up his drink with the rain water, or where the maid serves two distinct cups of tea portraying stature of some sort, saying so much and how shai picked the one that was not intended for her. The expression on Yasmins face in the last shot of the letter was just so heart wrenching. I loved the way Kiran Rao expressed! I save the review of this movie for another post, but this movie shook me up, taking me back to Mumbai, the rains, the maid pragya we had and the mindless rush through traffic on my scooter or in crowded locals. The kababs at bade miya and the discovery of a cafe "fiesta" a small little bakery in Malad. It reminded me of how much there was to take in that city just as I recall losing a lot of myself there too.

I got back and listened to some jazz music for a bit and suddenly was inspired to pull out my oil paints. Had a box of wood I had intended to junk away and decided to work my way with a broken brush, a frozen brush, knife and my fingers! I always knew if I ever painted, it would be abstract too just as the stories in my mind or life have been. It was the first time I experimented with colour. (I have tried black and white sketches a couple of times)!  It does not matter how the painting turns out honestly. What matters is that the process is just so amazing, I was lost for an hour or more almost like all my thoughts came together and expressed themselves in each stroke. There is something in creating with your hands... the same gush you feel when you drum or play table tennis?? No! This felt different! I could see the variation in what came out as the evening went past. I could feel a part of me take shape in colours. I knew a zillion thoughts, shades, stories, people came into my mind when painting. Though nagging thoughts of boredom just walked out succumbing to focus and intensity! I loved my hour with the paint. I felt the wood, the wet colours stuck on and I could smell the turpentine all over and for once it felt almost like the fragrance of a new perfume. A perfume I know, I would daub on myself many a times in the coming days!