The inspirations for my yoga art come from my long practice of yoga and, from raising a family with all the ups and downs that go with it.
I named the mother elephant Lochanadevi because she has such beautiful eyes. Lochanadevi, like all modern mothers, is super busy juggling multiple roles on a daily basis. And, setting aside some personal time for yoga and meditation practice is a big challenge. Luckily for her, her young ones like to hang out with her. The Warrior pose III or Veerabhdrasana gives both strength and balance that the mother elephant is metaphorically striving for.
I depict mother elephant and her calf instead of humans in my yoga art because elephants are matriarchal family oriented animals and, are also the most beloved of Indian animals. They are very agile and flexible. It is easy to imagine the mother elephant doing all those yoga poses while the little ones watched. I also call this yoga art Hatha(i) art. Hathi means elephant in Hindi and hence the play on Hatha yoga as Hatha(i) yoga.
The painting is done in Indian folk art style--the images are unidimensional but have great details. In the typical folk art style, the watercolor paper is first dyed using tea and coffee. The painting itself is done mostly in primary colors. In India, elephants in real life are decorated with silk, gold and silver ornaments during religious festivals, and in art too they are so depicted.
All my yoga paintings are original, drawn and painted one at a time for the collector.
energy for my yoga practice.
