Fields of Scotland

Another landscape in acrylic.

I have used neo-impressionist style at places, especially to add light and shadow... Most of the painting is plain colours with minimal shading.

Georgengarten, Hannover, Germany

Step-by-step how to paint the scene from Hannover, Germany

I began with pale and bright lemon yellow for the canopy and shades of ochre for the ground.

Painting was made keeping in mind the distance.

Lodalen, Norway

Another one of my step-by-step landscape posts...

This one is based on a picture of Norway.
I think one day I shall settle in the Nordic lands... *wishful thinking*

(Please do pray for me :P )

Glen Brittle, Scotland

I am down with fever and after several hours of sleeping and lying down and getting bored, I decided to make a quick painting.
My muse was 'Glen Brittle, Scotland'
My medium is acrylic.
In this post I have given serial pictures to show the painting evolve.
I am not particularly happy with the end result but then, I couldn't sit any longer.

Perhaps I will add some finishing touches to it later.

RED ORANGE YELLOW FLICKER BEAT

I never do reviews of songs. I dare say this is a start, it however is a first.
I couldn't help it, it was compelling: the beauty and sheer genius of what Lorde has composed (salutes!!!)

The song 'Yellow Flicker Beat' is a beauty beyond description (I am talking specifically about the lyrics and how they have been sung. )

It is a poem, nay, an amazing poem!!

Here are the lyrics:

"Yellow Flicker Beat"

I’m a princess cut from marble, smoother than a storm.
And the scars that mark my body, they’re silver and gold,
My blood is a flood of rubies, precious stones,
It keeps my veins hot, the fire's found a home in me.
I move through town, I’m quiet like a fight,
And my necklace is of rope, I tie it and untie.

And now people talk to me, but nothing ever hits home
People talk to me, and all the voices just burn holes.
I’m done with it (ooh)

This is the start of how it all ends
They used to shout my name, now they whisper it
I’m speeding up and this is the red, orange, yellow flicker beat sparking up my heart
We're at the start, the colours disappear
I never watch the stars, there’s so much down here
So I just try to keep up with the red, orange, yellow flicker beat sparking up my heart

I dream all year, but they’re not the sweet kinds
And the shivers move down my shoulder blades in double time

And now people talk to me, I’m slipping out of reach now
People talk to me, and all their faces blur
But I got my fingers laced together and I made a little prison
And I’m locking up everyone who ever laid a finger on me
I’m done with it (ooh)

And this is the red, orange, yellow flicker beat sparking up my heart
And this is the red, orange, yellow flicker beat-beat-beat-beat


Full of fire and head strong will power, this song does describe Katniss and what she felt like. The way Lorde sings it, the song successfully makes the most inattentive of audiences know exactly what is inside a rebel, what is pain and grief and what is the flaming hot colour of the red orange yellow flickering fire that oppression and injustice lights up.

When there is just so much pain that the person becomes numb to it, that is the fire that lights up a rebellion.

Every single line can be spoken about, however I particularly love the way Lorde sings the line 'And I’m locking up everyone who ever laid a finger on me' . Beautiful!

The song also highlights her dilemmas and fears. As it progresses, we can visualise Katniss growing stronger and deeper into the fight. Her "dark" rebellious side that very aptly touches the fringes of 'ruthlessness' is what makes the song so realistic. However, what makes the song surreal is the minimum words doing so much talking!

Pure genius, Lorde!

Creating Yourself

Life is as beautiful as you nurture it to be.

There are many ways to live life. No one is better than the other.

A small lump of clay, amorphous, complete with full potential, just like a blank canvas, sits idle on the wheel.
Many factors make it, mould it, create it into what it becomes. The potter, water, wheel, the sun, wind, temperature, furnace; each has its effect on the final pot that is made. Once made, the pot cannot be reshaped. It is what it is, on one hand, a beautiful creation but on the other hand, rigid and unyielding. The potential it had, realised or lost?

Then there is clay that grows into many lovely things. Like water, the element representative of love, it can take many shapes, solve many purposes. It doesn't differentiate between that what is like it and that what isn't simply because everything is in it and it sees itself in everything. This is clay that is shaped not by a potter but by the loving life force of the nurturing universe/chi/prana what ever it is known as, to you.

This clay is forever growing, forever loving and is the perfect example of 'Life is as beautiful as you nurture it to be'.

Choose.