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.

CELEBRATING YOUTH

"Born anew, new sun each morn

New hopes and heights every new dawn

Such is the sparkle that lights up the day

And so is our youth, and so they say”

The youth of a nation is not just the muscle but also often a breath of fresh wind that showcases the mundane in a magical light. The world has always been here and always will be, but our perspective can make it look new and different and

this perspective is the true power of youth. When fearless, the youth of the world can bring about change that few would expect and it is this gripping fear that anchors down our youth and hence, us. So what exactly is this fear and who has put it into our world? What keeps the youth from being all that they could be? Today we know that stress levels and depression is extremely high in the youth and this is not only shameful, it also cripples our progress as a country as well as mankind in general. What exactly is the reason behind these issues? this is what we tried to explore this August.

On 12th and 13th August, we (The Department of Community Medicine) at Vardhman Mahavir Medical College (Safdarjung Hospital), New Delhi, celebrated the United Nations International Youth Day, in collaboration with the ‘Indian Association For Adolescent Health’. This year, the theme for this annual global event was ‘Youth Civic Engagement’. We hosted multiple inter-college events conforming with the theme and also tried to explore certain medical issues of today’s youth.

The idea was spontaneously conceived, almost out of no where, and it got together each one of us here to help it become a reality. At first, it was just a bunch of first year post graduate students fiddling with an idea that seemed too difficult to chase in the short span of time that they had. Then, some undergraduate students got interested. “Let us do it.” That is the spirit of youth. It is almost poetic that youth got together to attain something seemingly uphill, to showcase the power of youth.

However, no seed ever germinated without the cool water and warm earth nurturing it and no plant ever becomes a tree without standing tall in the harshest of sun. And so, the seniors ( and I mean seniors as well as the faculty ) carefully helped the idea materialise.

With a lot of team work, a lot of institutions were included and events held. Both medical colleges and non medical institutes got together under one roof to express the various concerns of today's youth via art, photography and the spoken word.

On 12th of August, we had a photography as well as poster making competition. While the photography competition highlighted the ‘Role of Junk Food in Adolescent Obesity’, the poster making competition was an open invitation for participants to express ‘The Power of Youth’ or ‘The issues faced By Today’s Youth’. There were also literary events. A debate competition was organised to compare the role of youth in their health versus the role of the government in promoting the same. In the extempore competition, different participants had different topics, all relevant to today’s youth. All these events witnessed enthusiastic participation by students from various colleges across Delhi and with each participant, the audience could appreciate the various aspects to the multi-factorial issues that revolve around youth.

Since youth is what the children are made into, our program also included a school for underprivileged children. The posters they made emphasised on how junk food was affecting the health of the youth and many children participated. On 13th, we had the opportunity to directly communicate with the children after the extempore competition, which had various youth related topics.

As the event concluded, we realised we made so many new memories for so many people. The beauty of practising ‘public health’ is the impact that it has on the root of an issue. Many gigantic issues can be easily resolved if only seemingly trivial and at times overtly simple, grass root level interventions are devised and implemented and this event was one such small yet significant step.

In youth we learn, in age we understand and since we shall never be as young as we are right now, it makes ‘now’ the perfect time to realise what youth is all about.