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Good evening everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and have had a good week thus far. I am suffering from major writers block here and thought that I would post a little bit of sneak peak into my latest painting. I also wanted to share some of the difficulties that I have had with this piece and the process by which I work through rendering challenging subjects.

My current piece, set to be complete by the end of the month, is a 4’x5′ oil painting on canvas titled Five White Horses. This piece is a recreation of the symbolic and famous cover of the Hindu holy text called the Bhagavad Gita. I have taken inspiration from a similar recreation by Bijay Biswaal as well as the original cover from the official Srila Prabhubad version of the text. This is my biggest and most detailed painting to date and it has been more than a challenge getting it to a place where I am satisfied.

The figure on the left is Krishna. Krishna is meant to be portrayed as divine with beautiful, effeminate features that are still strong and masculine. I have had a lot of trouble rendering Krishna in this painting in a way that depicts him as intended. There are a few tricks that I use when I am facing these challenges that I wanted to share with you all!

1. Take a break from the piece! Taking time away from the painting is imperative. I took a couple weeks off from this work and decided to focus my attention on other art pieces. This provides me with a fresh perspective on my composition.
2. Turn the work upside down. Though this seems bizarre and counterintuitive, a change in perspective literally forces you to attach the artwork with a new eye and vigor.
3. Refresh with reference images. This is very important for paintings with life-like subjects. I find that taking time to study lighting, staging, and anatomy away from the physical piece is very helpful. This help me to sculpt out the subjects with a greater likeness
4. Give yourself some grace! Good work that you can be proud of takes a lot of time. I struggle with every single piece that I do. However, it is through this struggle that I learn the most about myself and unlock new skills that I am able to apply to future pieces. Take your time to explore your medium and subjects. Make mistakes and welcome them!
5. Finally, stop when you have said what you need to say. It is very common to overwork an art piece. It is an art in itself knowing when to stop and having with wherewithal to call a piece done. When you feel that you have expressed your intentions in the work, let it go. There is no such thing as perfection in an art piece and continuously harping on details can take away from your broader message.

I hope that some of these points were helpful if you are also struggling with or stuck on a piece. There are so many aspects of my art process that have become second nature and I find it fun to put some of them into writing. As always, 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.

Until next week,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art

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

When I was younger, I was told that blue butterflies could grant wishes. The first wish I made, as I gazed upon its beating wings, was to have a pair of my own. Ones that could carry me above this world, into the starlight. As I grew older, my wishes became less fantastical. While climbing trees, I’d wish for my arms to be just a bit longer, enough to reach the next highest branch. I’d always wish for more, until everything became too much. I started wishing for less – less work, less stress, even less of my own stomach.

Wishes were no longer wistful dreams, but pleas from a young girl who didn’t want to grow up. I felt those growing pains intensely, both in my head and in my heart. I reached high, not for the next branch, but for the next rung on the infinite ladder. I filled my time with schoolwork and friends, hoping the noise would drown out my thoughts. Yet, in the silence, those thoughts raged within me, beating against the inside of my skull until I fell asleep with puffy eyes. In those days, during listless slumber, my wish for silence was granted.

It’s true that those awkward years are ephemeral, and I found myself embracing womanhood on a stronger foundation. I no longer defined myself by what I lacked but by what I stood for. Secure in myself, yet lost in the world, I wished for an anchor. An anchor I believed would come in the form of a warm body and welcoming arms. Someone to kiss my forehead and wipe away my tears, like my mother did many years ago.

Only now, crying took the form of silent streams, a quick release and reset done in the privacy of my locked room. I never found the anchor I was looking for, and pretty soon, I gave up trying. My focus shifted back to my schoolwork and the road that promised me success. I wished for approval, opportunity, and the strength to navigate the many hoops. Until I got those things, and my driving flame flickered out when met with the cold wind of empty success.

The security I had in myself fell apart, and I found my soul keeping a safe distance, trailing behind me in my day-to-day life. I wished for clarity and found it not as an epiphany but as the soft comfort built by tiny moments of peace. Peace found in sprouting herbs or a freshly baked pie. Peace found in laughter shared with friends or a hug from a child. Peace in comfortable silence and a sense of purpose.

Not all my wishes have been answered, and yet I keep wishing. The other day, I saw a blue butterfly. I only caught a glimpse before it fluttered to the next flower, but that moment was enough to close my eyes and make another wish, one perhaps even more fantastical than any other.

This is a personal piece work that I created for poet Su Shi ((1037–1101 CE), undoubtedly, is the one of the few poets that I can find “natural.” By saying natural, I mean he is authentic, free from bias and hardships. He faced adversities of course, not only faced them, but became a theme of his life. Despite his remarkable attainments in the aspects of literature and poetry, Su Shi is known as “in a constant state of either being demoted from his official position or traveling along the path leading to demotion.” Su Shi shaped his life into a masterpiece even in extreme poverty. He writes poetry as inspiration strikes, without any preferred themes, expressing genuine emotions. Rarely do I sense any deliberate or artificial elements in his poems. He enjoys cooking, sleeping, social gathering with liquor; he is not a saint, he has his moments of self-satisfaction and fear of loneliness, engaging in banter with friends… He stepped out of history with his authenticity and personality, his life is “full of life”.  I feel the connection between me and Su from Song Dynasty through his writings. I find my sense of belonging when I came to US because of him. He built the bridge of me and my culture thousands years ago.