Birthday Roses

I have made this birthday card for a special person. Sometimes, the best way of ‘composing’ a layout is through simplicity. And sometimes, the best inspiration is right in front of you staring you in the eye. The sun had a particularly strong light when I made this card and my early roses were starting…

Read More

Barrio Fiesta

Whilst working with my Warwickshire Open Studios series, I became nostalgic about fiestas. Perhaps, becoming slightly homesick, again (a perennial problem for me). For the uninitiated – they are simply parties, a good excuse for getting together, sharing food and feeding people in a spirit of generosity. Where I come from, there is a religious…

Read More

Micro-climate

Another abstract moment headed to Warwickshire Open Studios this year. I decided to inject some ‘cuties’ in this one. These inked bug-like things are emerging in my subconscious, as I listen to nature-related topics on the radio while I’m working. I have been listening to this dystopian drama on the BBC, called ‘Forest 404’. Somehow…

Read More

Savoury-sweet

I have continued the gastronomic theme and sharing this today. This one’s an odd one, but it is slowly growing on me. A gauche creation that I’m still trying to figure out. I added a touch of gold watercolour – ‘savoury’. The ‘pinks’ and ‘yellow’ are the saccharine elements. The iridiscent sequins complete the arrangement.

Read More

April Evening Song

This is my homage to early evening birdsong heard from my back garden. I thought about how best to suggest this beautiful chorus that lasted for hours. I came up with this. There is definitely something to be said about having all your papers just laid out and using what is in front of you.…

Read More

Delish

Thought about mixing pleated papers with coiled and ‘bendy’ ones. The juxtaposition of these two methods was the starting point. Then it became about how the papers cast subtle colourful shadows on the support. Played with several ‘arrangements’ and finally decided on this offering, which reminds me of restaurant food. So my inner gastronome is…

Read More

New Directions

Spring is here! And I have been busy making new works for an upcoming exhibit called Warwickshire Open Studios. It’s based on my hometown here at Coventry where artists open up their studios for some ‘art fix’ for everyone. This is my first time joining, so I am anticipating it with equal measures of positive…

Read More

Forty

Forty is a landmark moment, I think, as far as birthdays are concerned. This card was a specially notable one which I made last year for my friend. I am posting it today to share. This is definitely one of my ‘maximalist’ cards, hopefully still achieved with some visual sophistication. But this is relative to…

Read More

Spring Birthday

I am having a die cut kind of mood with my cards lately. I found this yet-to-be-used dies from Sizzix. It’s actually two different dies – one produces these leaf patterns, and the other these mutiple florals, hearts, and other confetti shapes. I used yellow because it felt really zingy. The contrast with the black…

Read More

Newborns

Just wanted to share these two cards with the same theme. I had been playing with distress oxide inks for some time now and they do produce these gradient effects and unpredictable colour mixes when water touches them again. So I made these colour stories on 200 gsm watercolour paper and passed them through a…

Read More

Coming Together

This is the second piece for the Healing Arts Winter Exhibition mentioned before. Here is a link of the project in its entirety. This work was all about movement. Wreath shapes have a universality across cultures due to its round shape. It looks very comforting, enveloping. So the shape kind of encapsulates this feeling of…

Read More