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The Indian Artist: A Christmas Special

Riya A 1 Comment

So I was perusing my Instagram feed the other day (as I know that we all do now and again) and I came across an incredible artist that I wanted to share with all of you. This week’s post does not have anything to do with Indian culture, but rather, something festive that is still related to art and just in time for the holidays!

Maarit Hänninen is an artist and linocut printmaker based in Amsterdam and her beautiful paper ornaments really caught my eye, inspiring me to make my own. She uses linoleum blocks to carve out intricate designs and then applies them to create three-dimensional sculptural ornaments that are a perfect fit for the holiday season. She has clear instructions laid out on her Instagram, pdf templates free for anyone to print out, as well as videos detailing how she puts everything together.

I made one the other night and it turned out wonderfully! I wanted to share this with all of you in case anybody is interested in a fun and easy way to spruce up their bedroom. I have attached the links below, feel free to comment if any of you try it out!

I know this week’s post was very short, but I wanted to make sure that I took the time to share something that made me smile. During these trying times, all we can do is share a little joy. I hope that you all have a restful and incredible winter break and enjoy the holidays. Stay safe and as always, see you next Sunday!

 

https://www.instagram.com/maarit.hanninen/

https://maarithanninen.com/pages/downloads

 

~ Riya

 

Personal website:   https://riyarts.weebly.com/

poco piano: schuby

jacobtw 1 Comment

This is a little excerpt from the Wanderer Fantasy by Schubert. The name comes from the second movement of the piece where Schubert uses his own song and creates a variation on it. The whole piece is actually a variation on the that song title “der Wanderer”. In the song, the wanderer is lost in a desolate place, mentally and emotionally.

This little excerpt comes a couple pages before the song quote so I imagine this is a traveling scene. It’s quite serene with some bustling underneath, almost like a smooth carriage ride through the country side with rolling green pastures.

Bits and Pieces

Josie Faith Leave a comment

I’ve had a rough week or so in terms of writing anything good enough to deem worthy of finishing. So instead of posting a full song this week, I’ve decided to post a few bits and pieces I’ve written down in the last few months.

Some are sad, some are happy. The styles are all different, and I’m not sure exactly what the tune to some of them are yet. But there is a certain beauty in an unfinished song. They’re in their ‘poetry’ stages. So, here you go:

 

#1: (a song for the seasons)

Wake up blanketed in white
stars like tiny twinkling lights
and I’m finally home
porch is dusty striped with snow
air is biting bitter cold
and I’m finally home

And I open shutters wide
should I run, should I hide
Is it finally time

It’s another barely merry Christmas

 

#2: (a song for fading feelings)

What do I say when the feelings all fade
But I promised you my forever
What do I do when I said I’d stay true
But in all my dreams I’m not tethered
You’re all I have, and I know that
What my heart wants, is what it once had
How do I stay when I feel I must stray
Is my only choice now or never

Every new night I add to my lies
And I weave a new stupid pattern
With every word sent and every word meant
My bond to you has but shattered
You’re who I’ve got I want whom you’re not
I need to hold on but everything’s wrong
What do I say when it all fades to gray
And everything’s gone that once mattered

 

#3: (A song for the towns we call home)

Small town small minds
Not too many passersby
Crazy girls simple lives
Its home
Big fields bigger dreams
Everything is as it seems
Stuck there till seventeen
That’s home
Then we leave and we see what the real world says
About us small town home grown women and men

You tell em where you’re from just by naming a state
All they’ll nod like they know but they don’t what to say
And everywhere you go everything is strange
Like what are you doing here?
You try your very best to be a part of this place
But in the end you’re 2000 miles away
And deep inside a part wishes you’d stayed
Home home.

 

#4: (a song for MY town I call home)

I was born in a town
where the greatest place around
was the Culvers on the side of highway sixty
And our idea of a getaway
Was a 40 minute drive away
To the shores of the Great Lake out in Milwaukee

 

#5: (religious, but my attempt at a song of lament)

Oh Father how I feel like old Jerusalem
Once full of people and the vibrant lives they shared
Now like that silent city I will weep away my sorrows
and it’s more than one small single soul can bear

The tears are streaming faster as I count the names of friends who’ve turned their backs as they have carried on their ways
Now like the silent city I will find no rest tonight
for my mortal heart is once again betrayed

©SKETCHES BY MAKO: 7

MAKO Leave a comment 
7

Whether it’s forever or not, each day that passes you get closer and closer to the end.

How do you want to live your life?

How do you want to fill your day?

Can you keep chapters?

Yesterday was my birthday.

It is becoming difficult to understand age beyond its construct.

The linearity of time is an illusion.

We are simply points in a scatterplot

Or constellations

The difference between organic and synthetic is age, because by sheer nature the organic is finite.

Finite nominally but infinite structurally, systematically.

An Apple Rots But A Tree Evolves.

I am finding it difficult to differentiate myself.

I am finding it difficult to differentiate myself.

Am I Apple or Tree?

Perhaps both, curse Aristotle, who

Cried in Gestalt!

Perhaps my whole is mathematically equivalent to the sum of my parts.

If matter cannot be created or destroyed within a closed system, are we not

Simply recycled atoms from leaves, lemon tek

Poured over candlelit dinners

Sangria from Sudanese stelliums

“I love you” my Mother said, in broken tongue

“I love you” my Father said, verbiage assault wrapped in bloody bandages

“I love you” my Brother said, over allergic reaction and laughing gas

Deliverance of severed packages

Regardless if it’s forever or not, for each day that passes, you get closer and closer to the end

How do you want to live your life?

How do you want to fill your day?

Where do you feel safe?

Where can you explore?

Commit to these missions, Rover

Curiosity!

I have been having the same dreams, repeatedly, lately

In that dream, I am more than my parts

I am skin, I am flesh, I am bone

I am carcinogen

I am curator

I am creator

I have words that escape my wet tongue in damp O’s and Ah’s

I can still store data, knowledge, but in images and faded memories found in shipping containers and cargo ships

I can breathe, my gills pulsate through thickened water, like

Fighter jets piercing the sky in a single file line

Criss cross applesauce, dinosaur figurines made from crude oil

Your fingers through my hair, my chest pounding against yours and you whisper to me

“You always had a hand at this”

In that dream,

I can feel love

I can feel touch

I can feel taste

Strawberries, Napalm, Licorice

“You always had a hand at this”

My grandmother would say to me,

Shrimp dumplings coated in canola oil,

Before her last croak—

Regardless if it’s forever or not, each day that passes, you get closer and closer to the end

How do you want to live your life?

How do you want to fill your day?

The Indian Artist: The Goddess of Fortune

Riya A 2 Comments

How about another story this week? With the stresses of exams and the end of the semester, I thought that it would be a fun post! This is the story of the Goddess Lakshmi and how she came to be. The drawing shown this week is my recreation of one by Bijay Biswaal, done completely in ink. Enjoy!

Each and every deity in Hinduism has significant importance. The Goddess Lakshmi symbolizes good luck and is the goddess of wealth and prosperity.

The Goddess of Fortune, done in ink

The story begins with a meeting between Sage Durvasa and Lord Indra, the God of weather. Sage Durvasa offered a garland of flowers to Lord Indra who took the garland and placed it on the forehead of his flying elephant, Airavat. The elephant took the beautiful garland of flowers and threw it down on the earth. Durvasa got angry at this disrespectful treatment of his gift and cursed Lord Indra, saying that his kingdom would be ruined in the same way that the flower garland was ruined when it was thrown. At this point in the story, it is important to understand that these sages were very easily angered and often times full of excessive pride.

Following this encounter, Sage Durvasa walks away and Lord Indra returns to his kingdom where changes have already started to take place. The gods and people are losing their energy and vigor, the crops and plants are starting to die, citizens are foregoing any charity work, their minds are becoming corrupted by darker forces. With the Gods getting weak in the kingdom, the demons and demonic forces invade, defeating them. It is said that this is the reason that good and evil reside in us all.

After being defeated, the Gods went to Lord Vishnu, the ruler of the universe, to ask for help. He suggested that the churning of the ocean would restore the power back to the Gods by providing them with the antidote that would make them immortal once again. Thus, the churning of the ocean began. Think of this as a literal game of tug of war between the Gods and Demons. From this churning, the Goddess Lakshmi rose out of the waves seated on a full-blown lotus. The Gods got their power back and fought the demons again, and this time, they were successful.

I hope that each of you has a great end of the semester and may the Goddess Lakshmi grant a bit of luck on all of your exams. As always, if anything that I discussed in this post stands out or if any questions arise please feel free to comment and share your thoughts!

Looking forward to next Sunday!

 

~ Riya

 

Personal website:   https://riyarts.weebly.com/