Wings!

I suspect there are going to be many birds at the Illustration Friday this week since the topic is "Wings"!

I could not resist putting a bird on it either! In a separate post, I will show how I achieved the background effects.

Thanks you for visiting.

Double-Deckers!

Double Decker on north Quale, Isle of Man

I remember riding on them back in my college days in New Delhi. The DTC had so few on its fleet it was indeed a special treat if you were lucky enough to get to ride in one. After a few years, they were discontinued.

I spotted this double decker on North Quale, Douglas while taking a virtual tour of Isle of Man for this month's challenge at the Virtual Paintout. Could not resist the trip down the memory lane. I sketched it using pencil and brush pens. I did not get the glass reflections well but I like the bus!

This is also my submission for Illustration Friday's this week's theme Wheels.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy Pongal!

Tomorrow (January 13) is the first day of Pongal, a three-day festival celebrated in Tamilnadu. Pongal, which  means "flow over", is a harvest festival, but celebrated by all Tamilians. The most popular icon of Pongal festival is a cooking pot with sugarcane shoots tied on the sides and brimming over with steaming milk and rice. The overflowing pot is a symbol of auspicious beginnings and is heralded with the banging of metallic plates and spoons (kind of drum roll). I remember doing it when I was little and it was fun. Growing up, Pongal was always fun mainly because of all the wonderful food my mother used to make for three days and no school either. Just eating and playing!

In the countryside it is a big event--the farmers paint and decorate their house, throw away old and unwanted things, buy new clothes, prepare feasts and have country fairs where they bring livestock all spruced up and painted. And everywhere, people celebrate it by making varieties of rice dishes--sweet rice, lemon rice, coconut rice, tamarind rice, yogurt rice--all accompanied by a medley of vegetables. 

Pongal celebrates the transit of Sun into the sign of Capricorn (Thai) and the beginning ofuttaranayana punyakala or the northern ascension of the Sun (its 6-month transit over the northern hemisphere). That is why, the month of Thai  is also celebrated as the season of hope and new beginnings. 

HAPPY PONGAL EVERYONE!

Thanks for visiting. Submitted to Illustration Friday's this week's theme "MYTH".

Artwork by Indira