The little book of fish

Remember the very tiny alphabet book and the little red book of Malayalam Alphabet? We made another little book, this time about fish. This is dedicated to Daniel and his love for fish. 

Mee Mee is the kid lingo for fish in Malayalam. He calls fish Mee Mee! 

There is a tiny aquarium in dmy place in Kerala. That was bought in when Maman was a little boy. Maman was the first batch of DPEP, the primary education program that emphasized on alternative methods of learning. The aquarium is kept alive even now. I remember the little boy Maman obsessed with creating a perfect natural habitat for the fish. His text book told him to create an 'avasa vyavastha' for the fish. Avasa Vyavastha was probably the first ever big malayalam word he learned. Anyway, years later, Daniel too enjoys looking at Maman's aquarium and the fishes in their aquarial avasa vyavastha :) 

And like any other fellow Mallu, he loves his fish fry with his rice. :) That makes him a well rounded fish-lover.

His favorite fish is Rohu. While we are in North India, we try to overcome our coconut oil hangover and fry the Rohu pieces in Refined Mustard oil.

But we love other fishes too, sea fish, fresh water fish, dried fish, pickled fish, all kinds of fish.

And that is our little story about mee mee.

Flower Power Doodle Wall :)

We have this tiny shelf space in our drawing room and one fine day we thought we could give it a doodle flower power facelift. So we got into action. It took me a little over two weeks, the painting grew little by little during the boy's playtime. I call it power painting since the boy wanted to closely observe it too. At least one third of the painting was done while carrying an 18 months old boy. :)

Thus endless amounts of patience, fun and shoulder pain later, we now have it finished! Tada!

Us in action.

Now will you go play?

What did I tell you about patience? And concentration? Did I mention concentration? This was one perfect concentration workout.

And thus we reached the last day!

About inches left to paint....

A little higher!

I love the next two photographs! Did I mention the other growing wall art we have, thanks to our little toddler?

The kid observes me, he copies my style :) He even has sponged off my postures and mannerisms while painting... So much love for the little one.

Are we there yet? 

While I was finishing the biggest ever picture I have made so far, The photographer father and the assistant son were goofing around taking pictures of eyes widened in wonder :)

Just a teensy inch more...

And then, the moment! We are all done!

Now picture time!

Aren't you a teeny weeny bit crazy, amma?

I am most certainly sure that you are! :)

But I love you so, you give me piggy back rides!

Well, I used to scornfully look at people who put voice to their kid's pics and look at me now! Well, people change!

The colourful toys pop out brightly next to the black and white doodle...

So happy to be able to finish it!

Love love love!

All settled!

Twin Babies :)

Inspiration comes in many ways, today it came in the form of two wee little kids :) 

It was the happiest thing today to see the twin babies Dhwani and Thanmay  Congrats Proud parents, Smitha Vallathol and Shrihari Achayath  I took my liberties to make a sketch for the little ones. I hope you guys don't mind!

My messy work desk!

Closeup of the wee little ones.

Another view.

All my best for the little ones and the parents, for now the game begins. Double fun, double love, double diapers, double hunger pangs and double tantrums! You don't know what you have signed up for yet :)

This picture was also incidentally my first goof up on this blog. It so happened when the father responded saying that Tanmay is a boy. Now that is a terrible mistake from my part, and i did a cover up too. 

Presenting tanmay in a top hat. 

Much love, 

Wax Resist Tutorial

This is a very basic water colour technique which can be put to use in all kinds of projects. The supplies required are very minimal.

You will need a sketchbook, wax crayons, water colours and sketch pens.

The first step is to do a simple sketch using wax crayons.

Next step is to paint over the crayon sketch using watercolour. This is a quick one, not very neatly done. Excuse that.

Next and final step is to give an outline and a simple design all over with a sketch pen.

A nice background will give a stunning effect to just about anything. I tried to put the same design as a background for a simple lettering.

It is nice to look at just the wax crayon and watercolours, don't you think? I couldn't resist the temptation of keeping my bunch of easter eggs next to the sketch. 

Once again, excuse the shabby quick sketch.

Final outlines all done.

This might look good if framed and put up on a wall, don't you think?

You are so loved!  My boy with the sketch. :)

anybody can doodle

Dan was a wee little fellow when I saw this story about an artist collaborating with her four year old kid to create wonders. Check it out here. I wanted to try collaborating with the boy, but I couldn't wait till he becomes four. So I decided to try at 18 months. I handed over the adult tempera colours. It was unfamiliar territory for him. He was used to crayons and sketch pens, pencils and regular pens. This was new.

He was hesitant to put his fingers into the tiny tubs of paint. I made him dip his fingers. He freaked out in the beginning when he saw paint on his fingertips. Then I showed him how to dip fingers in paint and use it for finger painting. He made some strokes.

I had to hand him his sketch pens after a few minutes of finger painting.

The finished toddler art.

And then the mother gave the toddler art piece a wash with water colours. Finally the mother doodled all over it and folded it and made it into a greeting card for the father.

Here is the final product.

Since the kakka aka crow is his favorite word (he sometimes wakes up uttering the word kakka), I decided to put that down in the card along with a little crow on a tree branch. 

Fishes from the mother.

And butterflies from the son.

The crow.

Doodle triangles.

Us, the Doodlers.

This signature will be used for future collaborations from the mother and son. :)

That's all folks.

NB: The father of the boy liked the greeting card. :)