A brief intermission: Toronto

This is a cool city because of:

well built men with motorcycle gloves solving small sudoku puzzles
little indian communities
hipsters
jazz bars
cheap movie tuesdays
sketching wednesdays
cafes and markets
crowded streets and stinky subways
 the lake
cool roommates

libraries and biking!

 

 

 (These were some sketches from an Indian function by a Bengali community. After the prayers and puja, there was dancing, singing, a dramatic drama and of course delicious food!)

A sketchbook in hand, and no other plan: Mumbai

The chaos and palm trees

The sea and local trains,

 Smell of fish in her crammed streets;

 Sight and scent of heavy rains.

In this post are whole mismatch of some sketches I did during my short stay in an amazing, chaotic, flavourful, noisy, sometimes smelly, always alive city- Mumbai, Bombay, call it what you may.

 

A considerable amount of each day was spent in commute- although sometimes strenuous, I always looked forward to observing:

Obeserving people

Listening in on their conversations

A glimpse into their personal lives

Be it obnoxious men with mischievous eyes

Or big hipped, beautiful gossiping wives

Many late nights at the Wadala station

pushed and pulled amongst people 

rushing to make their connection.

(My most distinct memory is of this brave girl that smacked a guy that tried to harass her. She verbally and physically abused him, as the entire station cheered her on. This episode lasted less than two minutes, after which everything was back to the usual- rush, push, squeeze, settle.)

Sketching the artists at CATWEAZEL!

 

March 28th, 2013.
A warmish Toronto spring evening.
I went with absolutely no idea what to expect. A passing glance at the flyer mentioned live performances by anyone who wishes to do so. It was held at Smock Cafe (an absolutely adorable place mostly for little ones and, every now and then with events such as this, for older folk during the evenings). People talking amongst musical instruments, some alcohol and food being consumed, CDs up front and british accents echoing in the room- ingredients for a pretty great night? YES!

 

The crowd was super friendly and welcoming. The cozy setup tied together with the lack of a microphone added a personal touch bringing the audience both physically and emotionally closer to the strong vocal and instrumental performances. 

It was nice to see people come out to perform, lose all inhibition and sing their songs. I didn't anticipate drawing, but luckily I had a tiny sketchbook and was able to capture some scenes!

There was also an engaging reading/ enactment of a T.S Elliot poem-The  Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. It was super interesting to hear and watch this whole new dimension being added to this poem of several layers.

 

This was Catweazel's second event at Toronto. The next one will be at the end of April, so if you're in Toronto, make sure to check it out!

The Skeptical Sardar and Blissful Blonde

Fun with patterns and colours on a piece of glass!

(My apologies for the low resolution pictures)

some talk about poo at the animal zoo

Kids are pretty cool. No. They are hilarious and witty, and I am most often left with no response.
Have you ever reached the realization that its better to just stay quiet and let them do all the talking, to save any further embarrassment to your aged wisdom and keep the intelligence you thought you had an abundance of, guarded?
I have, often times too late.

Revisiting life drawing

I went life drawing (with a nude model) a couple of days back for the first time since graduating! It was great! I could feel the rust chipping off my fingers as I tried to identify anatomy and understand the figure. The model was great, very pixie-esque. She did lively, dynamic, gesture oriented poses, except the last one, which was the- I'm done with posing for the day so I'll just lie down for ten minutes- pose.

The session took place inside a small room at  the very ritzy/artsy Gladstone Hotel (which has existed for 123 years, the elevator man told me as I rode up with him on a classic 108 year old elevator all the way up to the second floor!), with jazz music playing from a tape recorder in the background.

Nice things about winter

Sunny days and skating on a patch of ice

with a red collared dog that slips and slides!