Author: Riya A

I hope that you are all doing well and I want to congratulate you all on completing yet another year (for my student readers out there)! Many of you, including myself, graduated and will start a brand new chapter of your lives. I just graduated with a bachelors in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology with a double minor in Art & Design and Sociology of Health & Medicine. I will now be moving on to medical school this summer. It is incredible to say those words, I’m not sure it’s really hit me yet.

Looking back at these past four years, I am so grateful for all of the opportunities, guidance, mentorship, and love that I have received. I have failed and fallen many times, but each time, because of the strength and confidence everyone in my life has helped to instill in me, I have been able to stand up.

I do not have much to say besides thank you. Thank you so much to everyone who has stood by me on my journey. It has been my lifelong dream to become a physician, working to break down healthcare barriers, working to save lives, working to serve other humans every single day. Though my journey in medicine has just begun, I now can see the light at the end of the tunnel assuring me that I will one day be Dr. Riya Aggarwal, MD. What a privelege.

Art has been one of my largest supporters and the truest love of my life. Even if I went a year without touching a brush, paint, or even a pencil, just seeing my canvases sitting in my room, my colors and pallets adorning the shelves, or my countless pens and pencils strewn about, I felt a sense of comfort and safety. Reminding myself of my creativity, of my artistic capabilities, has given me the confidence to face many battles unrelated to the world of art. I am so grateful to be an artist. I am so grateful to have this part of my life and I promise to make sure that I never take it for granted.

To all of the artists, newly-minted graduates, longing creators, and hopefuls out there, never forget your passions. It is so easy to get caught up in the work, in the day-to-day of the achievement culture; however, it is the authentic parts of yourself, the parts that you yearn for at the end of a long day, the parts that shine when nobody is looking, that are the most important. It is your own definition of art that will teach you the most about you. It is through my art that I have grown the most, found the most solace, and cultivated the most confidence. This feeling is irreplaceable and inimitable. So harness it, chase it, and watch as its effects permeate into the rest of your life.

Once again, thank you so much to anybody who has ever read a post of mine, my family, mentors, professors, friends, and arts, ink., for giving me endless support, encouragement, and unwavering love. I would not be where I am and who I am without you.

Signing off,

Riya Aggarwal

Good evening everyone! I hope that you are all doing well! I know that I have been a bit MIA but I wanted to come back with a post about a project that has been my pride and joy this past year. On Thursday, April 26th, Pages for Pediatrics at University of Michigan sent out its first children’s book for publication and production. I received our new books in hand on May 2nd! As I mentioned in my last post, I completed illustrated this book from cover to cover. It was an incredible labor of love and I learned so much throughout the process.

I have been doing art for as long as I can remember. However, I didn’t start calling myself an artist until senior year of high school or even early college. There is a certain responsibility that an artist holds in my opinion, the job of navigating visual media in a way that is respectful, striking, and even controversial. I have done a really good job of challenging myself within the confines and boundaries of my comfort zone. Don’t get me wrong, I have continuously found ways of pushing myself, but it wasn’t until Leela’s Braids that I was confronted with something that I had NEVER done before in a medium I knew absolutely NOTHING about. It was humbling.

Teaching myself the ins and outs of digital art and children’s book creation was an incredible process. I still have so much to learn, but it has given me so much confidence. As a future physician, it is my dream to complete write and illustrate a series of children’s books discussing different topics in medicine and various diseases. For any of you who are interested in or have even considered writing and/or illustrating your own children’s book, I would say to absolutely go for it! It can be very harrowing but there are so many wonderful free resources out there and in this day and age, the internet is the best classroom. If you are interested, please also feel free to reach out to me!

I want to thank all of my readers for the wonderful support all of these years. Without this blog, I may not have had the courage to take on this project and many before it. Please feel free to reach out to me or comment if you have any questions, concerns, or thoughts! If you would like to see my work, please feel free to check out my website and follow me on Instagram.

Sincerely,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art

Website: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/

Science and medicine are forms of art. They are intertwined inexplicably, and oftentimes, it takes a little bit of a sharper eye to see the connections. Each part of biology is beautiful, and if you look deep enough, if you look with the correct magnification, if you look with just the right stain, maybe you too will see that true beauty lies within…

Your immune cells are beautiful like the sun and its flares…

Your heart cells are beautiful like freshly chopped purple cabbage…

Your stem cells are beautiful like wheat fields glistening under the sun…

Your neurons are beautiful like autumn trees or the perfect lightening storm…

Your fat cells are beautiful like freshly picked berries…

Your skin cells are beautiful like the natural formations of the Grand Canyon…

What do you think? Do you see what I see? Are you looking closely enough?

Sincerely,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art

Website: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/

Good Morning! I hope that you are all doing well! To wrap up the semester I wanted to do an informative post on some techniques that I true love that were expanded and developed from the Age of the Renaissance. There are four significantly different modes of techniques in the Renaissance paintings that were widely spread by many great masters. They were applied superbly to create brilliant and spectacular art treasures.

1) Cangiante

In the early Renaissance, the primary modes of painting were based on Fresque and Tempéra. At that time there were only a few kinds of pigments used, as skill and materials were limited. Therefore, artists adopted relatively simple methods to express color and value, such as the intrinsic color of the object mixed with black in order to represent shading. That’s the reason Cangiante emerged. The main purpose of this technique is to replace the highlights and shades by using analogous colors as long as the value and hue do not show too big a difference when compared to the actual color. We can see in Giotto’s works that he used this practice occasionally.

2) Chiaroscuro

Now this one is my personal favorite! Chiaroscuro uses light and shade to express three-dimensional forms and space. In the early Baroque period Caravaggio composed his paintings with strong lighting on the main subject. He used a dark background and emphasized the contrast of light and shade in order to achieve a dramatic effect that was similar to stage lighting. This technique is used to compose images effectively by using light and shadow to create the effect of three-dimensional space and the beauty of a sculptural figure on a flat plane. If, for example, we were to depict a man standing outdoors, we would realize from observation that the natural light comes from all directions. This is not the same as painting the effects of light and shade as if lit by a shaft of light from a single source. Think about a candle lit in a pitch black room. The purpose of this arrangement is that it is convenient way for artists to show three- dimensional forms but the result is totally different from reality.

I have subtly begun to apply Chiaroscuro to my paintings and plan to create a more exaggerated piece very soon!

3) Sfumato

The most significant part about Sfumato is that painters use very fine transparent pigments and a glazing medium which has the ability to flow smoothly and spread easily. The basis of this method is the careful superimposition of glazes applied layer by layer. The color of each layer is so subtle, light and thin that it is hardly to be observed. Also, every coating layer had to be completely dry before applying the next one with a different transparent color. As it is applied, changes are made, and the glazing is adjusted according to differences in the object’s structure and the changing of light and shadow. With the process of applying up to ten of layers of glaze the colors are slowly enhanced to a rich tone and the edges are blurred. After much painstaking work, finally it had led to a mysterious and soft visual effect. Because of the manipulation of successive glazing, what people actually see is not the result of oil paints mixed on the palette, but a natural combination of whole colors under the optical effect of light going through layers of delicate and magnanimous glazing. This is famously applied and implemented by Leonardo Da Vinci.

4) Unione

Unione has many similar attributes to Sfumato. It is one of the most famous techniques of the Renaissance. It is regarded as a prominent technique rather than a perspective technique. It plays an

integral role in enhancing the work of art. This method relies on the smooth transformation of colors without any hint of hard lines. However, it differs from Sfumato due to the intensity of the colors being used.

Where Sfumato relies on smoothing colors by dark or ling pigment which reduces the intense colors in paintings, Unione is focused on the intensity. It tries to improve the eye-soothing parts o the images to make the picture even more vibrant, colorful and lovely. By following this method, the works are able to represent the value of the color, while at the same time they form the shapes with delicate transitions from light to shade. The outcome is colorful and dazzling. Raphael was responsible for revolutionizing this technique.

All of these techniques were revolutionary for their time and have helped set the stage for post-Renaissance and modern artists. Without knowing it, all artists implement one of the above techniques in some way. All modern teachings are expanded from these first four canonical modes of painting. Maybe I’ll try and implement all four in a painting one day!

Sources:

https://artium.co/en/node/126#:~:text=There%20are%20four%20significantly%20different,been%20widely%20spread%20by%20posterity.

https://artpaintingartist.org/the-four-canonical-painting-modes-of-the-renaissance/

As always, if any questions or thoughts arise, please comment or reach out to me! Thank you for reading!

Until next week,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_agg.art

Portfolio: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/