Some themes bring out the playful line, the gesture-line so free and refreshing. For me seeing Anandamayi Ma brings forth such a spark, the fast lines materialize in shapes before my eyes, something that seems like indecipherable calligraphic writing starts shaping her mysterious face, different complex patterns conspicuously form the background of the room where she is sitting in meditation, those shapes form the garments that she wears and the flowers on her neck, patterns which hold their secrets - if you look more closely you will see patters of nature within them, the brush strokes continued by almost dry brush marks form the volume of her face. I could go on and on sketching Anandamayi Ma.
Do you ever feel that animals have a light in their eyes that make them seem as if they are almost human? I get this feeling many times when I look at animals or even photographs of animals. This is what I wanted to express in this sketch: how an animal can pierce into your eyes, and there is a familiar feeling that tells you that essentially both of you are made out of the same substance.
These two sketches are inspired by the Japanese Tea Ceremony. I have been fascinated with this ceremony: the way people put on their complex garments, everything is folded perfectly and they enter this simple room, yet everything is put in perfect order and position, along with all the etiquette: the way you enter, the way you bow down and sit, the perfectly exact manner in which the tea is prepared and served. But above all of the technicality is the feeling such a ritual gives, and this is what I wanted to express in these sketches: the feeling of flow, the feeling of union with oneself and the environment, like floating on a river completely held by the water, without any struggle.
Sketches of observation and study of the human body, both female and male
