The story of 'the thief'

I warn its a little autobiographical!

April 2009

A new person was person was born..
on a new media...

I can never forget that day..
when i with one of my best friend went on to search for Bhaskar Art store at Avenue Road.
The new media which i was about to begin my new journey with was oil and canvas.

Technology and scientific advances had made all requirements and complexities in the process simple.

This reduced my anxiety and fears by its first level.

And this day when i am writing this, i am out of that fear and i have made a really good friend with my media.

Yes. There was a fear... anxiety and probably a responsibility...

I always had a tough time with everything which comes new. Its actually good for me as it toughens me. And when it come to art.. the sketching, painting, collage, models and what not, any form of visual art, its a huge responsibility. specially when you are conscious about your audience and your reactions.

I remember those school days when i had to qualify among our friends to attend inter-school drawing competitions. This particular thing, to my close and old friends will strike a chord. I don't see such support and encouragement for visual art anywhere else (with what little places i saw or know about). probably that stimulated in me both the encouragement and anxiety for my output.

Imagine a drawing competition for school kids. [Am sure people will now imaging Ishan! but this was my childhood]. the organizers would get us drawing papers and some times some snacks and we are given a limited time. Once the countdown starts, you will all sorts of expressions anxieties, joy, hesitation and a huge consortium of feelings crawling in. Usually there would be a topic on which we have to paint/draw. Now i know the idea behind the sketch was the first thing which will strike the judges. Half an hour past, you will find kids peeping around for what the other competitors are up to. Believe me this is not unhealthy. this is what i meant anxiety. representing the school, for a kid - i assure you he will be more serious than a olympic player representing our country. I am not questioning their (Athletes) motivation. What i find more strong in those kids would be the motivation and zeal to win in any case. That magical feeling probably started accumulating fire in me and so i started making my skills better which i first learnt from my mother.

My School: Durgigudi government higher primary school, Shimoga

Our school (Primary and Middle) was a moderate grade. Your remember, there used to be a small layer and stratification between best and lesser schools, especially so with respect to the kids. And my school was a government school.

It was really during the middle school when i started getting prizes for drawing competitions. And the next day morning assembly, our headmaster used to announce the news and the whole school would clap. This till date brings tears in my eyes. Friends, those were the best days of my life. that applause, smiles of the front row friends and the special smile and warmth i got from my class mates and close friends. This was a boon.

I never missed my mother standing in some corner to witness all these.

That was the weight behind all that.. the drawing.. the media.. the simplest quality of paint i could afford thanks to my mother and the peer pressure. I now want to relive those days.. it was weaker but definitely sweetest.

All these happened just for the little skills i owe to my mother.

Next was highschool...

Saraswati at our DVS School Sculpted by by my teachers HPS and others

My days at Desheeya Vidhya Shaala. Transformation of my personality and enrichment happened here.

And my real formal training in art started here..

C S Garag (CSG)
H Prabhakar Shetty (HPS)

My only two formal drawing teachers..

I learnt everything possible, sketching, designing, modeling, painting, composition and what not. There used to be a small old room outside the main school building which was studio for these two artists. it was a dull / dark room but glowing with the reflections of Saraswati.

A small room flooded with paints, canvas, pencil, papers, boards photos, models, masks. that was a real Saraswati studio of visual art. Music teacher Late Shri HRP and another teacher used to join them in their daily art aaradhana.

HPS Sir was more into modeling and detailed art. The inspiration to my skills in technical drawing and attention towards the details is through his works. His life, which my friends of DVS knows, is true a brave one. Hatsoff to his art and his strengths.

With my teacher, CSG

I am more influenced by CSG Sir. He was the one who was always with oil and canvas in his studio. DVS have the many priceless portraits thanks to his continuous interest. He (and ofcourse HPS Sir) used to always appreciate and improve my work. He s a fantastic style with water paint and he is the first and till date only oil-paint artist i interacted.

I am heavily influenced by his style of painting.

The DVS team! we used to sweep prizes, drawing, quiz, debate or anything - this team was the best!
With Vikram, Vinay and Vivek

After three years of rigorous Saraswati aaradhana, i was into pre university in the same college.

My Biology laboratory record was a model for other friends and its still there in the college for students to refer. I gained my identity with that as some of my teachers remember me for my lab record book. 'EXCELLENT' was the word written on my second year PU My laboratory record book by one of my favourite teachers. I hold it always as a feeling of pride and satisfaction.

During degree and post graduation, i parallelly worked on a series of private work which gave my art a full fledged professional platform. I cannot mention the details of it as i had to finally sell each of my drawing for a cheap price which anybody would laugh. I was also instructed not to use or own any of those sketches - soft or hard.

This happened couple of years back. there were some 200 plus detailed and perfect technical sketches taken from me as a material commodity.

only my mother knows the worth of time and effort each dot, each line of those sketches.

I will miss those sketches always.

Sahyadri college days marked the days of my best sketches which i don't have any more

This was a serious emotional set back for me; personally as well as for the artist in me.

It was around that time, i happened to visit my drawing teachers.

They, probably are the most hurt people after my mother for what happened for all those sketches. I was meeting them after almost a decade. they remembered my sketches, my work, my skills every minutest thing. For me those moments were very heavy and reinforcing. both of them were happy with me growing in my career. but both were worried that their art student is not doing anything. Both said start painting again. CSG Sir said start with oil and canvas.

I met him next day - a Saturday. when he was done with his classes. He taught me the fundamentals of the media. what it is, how to use, what to use, basic dos and don'ts, and where i should start with.

I was flattered and heavy when he wanted to do my portrait and asked for my photograph.

What more a student want?

So here i was like the cells deprived of energy and nutrients, suddenly fortified with nutrients and electric shock [Remember Ian Wilmut experiment!].

In front of Natural History Museum, London

I should confess the visit to London national gallery and Liverpool art museum fortified my spirit and the beauty of art. Also helping me to come out of the shock with my best sketches.
I spent days at the gallery trying to capture every painting, every stroke, every colour and every minutest thing it could give me.

Given a choice, i would love to spend my life in the gallery with oil and canvas.
I spent full length days, i was never tired although the cold and my depleting energies due to temperate climate was not helping me in any ways.

But i was driven by an unknown force, to fill my senses with all the art which i could capture...

I would definitely remember those days as one of the best days of my life.

And one fine day of April 2009, I was with my friend searching my fortune, my heart and my aspirations.

An artist was re-conceived...

The past one year of my life with 'the thief'

This particular one was an easy choice for the easy look it has. The original was from J Glisson 2009 painting. it had a mysterious look and a strange feel of attraction.

When i started, i was not familiar with the texture and consistency of oil on the canvas board. sketching took no time and i started painting them in patches.

The first attempt - first coat completed one looked like this.

This one was although very crude. friends liked it a lot.
this of course costed a lot of smudges, corrections, dirtying my hands/cloths with oil and what not! the difficult part was to wait till it dries as the details were quite stark application of contrasting shades.

I actually gave some 20 hours for her (the thief!) in all. But it got increasingly difficult with changing situations of my life and increasing professional commitments.

She had to wait for me for quite long.

As if i was interacting with a person, a girl, i used to sense the vibes of rejection or anger.

the dust, the smudge correction took a lot of effort.

Finally when i was cleaning my stuff, i noticed the bill which i kept safely that it was almost getting one year since i started touching her!

My conscious knocked me. If i am to like for the next couple of decades, would i just do some tens of paintings? I started my interactions with her again recently finished giving the final strokes.

The trickiest part was her eyes. the only part which will give the language and expression to this partial face.

Constant appreciation by friends in the form of the orkut album photos of the evolving painting was a real booster.

One of my friends asked me, is she your dream girl? i definitely said yes. The girl of my dreams as a painter...

Here she is .. the dream girl.. my first dream come true...



Dedicated to my mother, my teachers and all my friends.
In her eyes lies a lot of emotions and feelings and so does my hands when they touched her...
the first emotional representation of my life...

'The thief'
April 2010