My Canvasses of Colors

Creation is always a thrill, and it is natural. Whenever we create something, it holds a special place in our hearts. My mom tells me that the first artwork that I ever made was with her "bindi packets" and I stuck them on walls making various patterns. Since then, my life has been filled with canvases of various colored and black & white paintings, scattered in my memories. A few of them I don't mind leaving the way they've been, but there are certain black and white paintings, I definitely would love to see in colors; see in life!

My Parents' Wedding Photos

My childhood memories have been captured in colors and I cherish looking at them all the time. In my album, apart from those captures there are some wedding pics of my parents too that are all black and white. My mom had always been the most beautiful woman, I've ever seen and her bridal pictures and youth, captured in black and white certainly make me more curious to sit in a Time machine, go back to her time and see her in real, see her in actual colors - the way mother nature painted her.
Every time I look at her pictures, I could see the hint of that subtle blush on her face and the slight fear of a bride, which just leaves me wanting to see more.

My Black and White Sketches

Colors always meant life to me. I've always loved to sketch and paint, and the interest started since the time I began to move my limbs.  

As I grew up, I began doing some serious drawings and paintings too; all learning on my own. Though colors always fascinated me a lot, I usually ended up doing sketching and pencil shading for the fear that I always thought colors would rather spoil the art and beauty of my sketch. 

Black and white ruled my life for quite sometime and I remained stuck to that world. However, as I began to grow confidence in my sketching and painting skills, colors started coming back to my art work. I could half imagine this world in black and white already from what I see at my office and it certainly doesn't feel too warm to me. I tried making a painting of my office, and it just felt too cold and bland to me.
Coming to imagining some other things in black and white, I wonder how could I showcase the blushing of a young girl, the warmth in her eyes, and the tiredness of a farmer in black and white sketches?
Colors were definitely needed and I had to bring them into my paintings. Although, all my new artwork had colors in them now, I still miss having colors in my previous sketches.
Yes! though black, white and grey had their own charm to these sketches of mine, I still want to see them in colors; see them in life!

Some of my black and white sketches that I'd love to see in colors:

I made this sketch after seeing a photograph of a model at a metro station in New York. The sparkle in her eyes and the mischievous smile is something I'd love to see in colors. 

This is one of my first few sketches. The apprehension and hesitation in the girl's eyes are something colors would definitely make look more live.

I made this sketch around 2 years back, and I never expected it to come this way. The mix of sensuality in the whole posture of the model along with a subtle touch of innocence on her face is something that definitely leaves you wanting for more. 

A Blind's world

This could be too hypothetical, but my personal experience with a little blind girl shook me from within. I simply couldn't forget interacting with her. She was congenitally blind and had no idea about colors, though she loved playing holi at her school and her dream was to actually get to see those Holi colors.  Below is my experience with her, that I wrote in a poem sometime back:

A regular day with regular needs,

I went to buy some groceries,

Holi, the festival of colors was around,

And I had to make some delicacies

The place I lived, had in its behind,

A school of people, who were all blind,

As I crossed the road to reach the shop,

I saw a familiar little girl,

And I came to a stop,

She was all alone,

Waiting to go to the other side,

I asked her, if I could help,

She didn't take a step,

And she kept quiet

I asked again and touched her face,

She didn't flinch, but nodded a yes,

I held her hand and crossed the road,

I asked her - "Where do you want to go?",

She said - "I have to wait here for my Miss",

I couldn't leave her there unaccompanied

We took a bench and sat their for a while,

I asked her name and talked about her school and life,

She was happy to answer and she smiled,

She asked me about my rife,

I said I had to buy some sweets,

And had to get some clothes and tweeds,

At that moment she fell quiet

And then she asked - "Its Holi isn't it?"

I said - "Yes",

She paused and said "We play holi every year at our school",

I went dumb,

She said - "I like the festival; I wonder how colors look like",

And I went numb...

Something inside me was piling,

I looked at her; she was still smiling,

“My miss says, what I see is the color called - Black,

And when lots of light is there outside,

The black lightens a bit, and she calls it White"

I knew she was sad, but she was smiling,

And I couldn't see anything, as I was crying

She heard me, but refrained to say,

Her Miss came and took her away

And I kept seated, glued to my seat,

Wishing from my heart, if I could do the feat,

Of coloring her world and coloring her life,

Wishing if blindness could have more than just black and white

Though nature took her gleams,

To see the colors, when she was born,

It certainly couldn't snatch her dreams,

As they were her own

I wonder what dreams she sees, and how they fair,

And I wonder what she painted them there...

  

PS: I know congenitally blind people can't see colors and images in their dreams (at least that's what I've known from the entire internet search I did). Their dreams are usually filled with emotions, sounds and their experiences. 

Her words still keep on ringing in my ears - "I wonder how colors look like". The experience made me register my eyes for donation so that it could lit up some blind's world. I really wish and pray that she gets to see the colors soon.

Being a painter, I usually love to paint with bright and bold colors. I don't know what attribute of my character it showcases, but definitely gives me the same satisfaction God might have felt after creating this beautiful colorful world. This sense of satisfaction also made me keep this blog template blue. Our dear planet earth is the most amazing creation of God and Nature that we know till now, and the fact that this amazing creation is a "Blue Planet", made me give the same color to my blog too.

"The Blessings of Nature are shown in its Colors; capture them as much as you can"

P.S. All the artwork, paintings and sketches described in this post are made by me.