Prash

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2012-01-30T04:05:00.001-05:00

The mango trees are flowering.....

2012-01-28T17:49:00.000-05:00

....and already have fruit on them! The tree outside Mathieu's window.

Being there.....Calcutta

2012-01-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

In memory of the Northern Red Oak

2012-01-22T13:33:00.001-05:00

My animation film done for LIFT (The Liaison of Independent Film makers of Toronto)'s 30 anniversary celebration. Shot on 16 mm film, using an Oxberry camera.

Or you can watch it here in a pretty decent resolution thanks to Craig Saltz who produced and arranged the music and uploaded it onto youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8Er94-EnKA

The correspondence of Harper and Madeleine

2012-01-20T02:02:00.000-05:00

The Correspondence of Harper and Madeleine was featured in the fiction issue of Tehelka magazine this month.

http://tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ne07012Correspondence.asp

For those of you who don't know. My friend Kalpana and I have been writing letters to each other in verse of over 17 years, under the names Harper Leaf and Madeleine Weathers. These poems chronicle our lives and travels and occupy many volumes of books. Some of them have been uploaded on another blog:

www.harpermadeleine.blogspot.com

Calcutta 2012

2012-01-17T09:14:00.000-05:00

LIFT screening

2012-01-12T22:55:00.000-05:00

My little 3 minute animation film "In memory of the Northern Red Oak", will be the first film screened on the 19th Jan, 8 pm at the Jackman Hall, AGO, Toronto.
10 films will be screened every day on the 19th, 20th and 21st.
Here's an online article about it from the Toronto Star:
www.toronto.com/article/709559--projections-30-new-films-for-lift-s-30th-birthday

2012

2012-01-06T02:11:00.000-05:00

Dear Twenty twelvers,

It has been a whirl wind of activity since I arrived from Toronto, and the festive season has been an enchanting and magical episode.

Bombay was a vortex of getting over jet lag, social encounters, a total lunar eclipse and acrylics on canvas.

The 'Gypsy Jazz' show in Bangalore was a blast.

Christmas with family in Chennai was a non stop food festival. (It still hasn't stopped!)

We headed to Shillong in the North East, which was full of magical happenings that ushered in the New year. A rainbow at the Nohkalikai waterfalls in Cherrapunjee and stepping down more than 2000 steps through lush vegetation straight out of 'jungle book' to see the living roots bridges..... unbelievable bridges made out of the entwined roots of ancient trees.

On New years day we walked through a sacred forest in Lawkyntang. This sanctified ancient forest hasn't been touched in centuries by the local community and the aura of the space was mystical as it was healing.

So for 2012 I wish you an extraordinarily magical, enchanting, exciting, inspiring, joyous and peaceful new year.

Love and light from Calcutta,

Prash

what it looked like

2011-12-26T09:45:00.000-05:00

Gypsy jazz opening

2011-12-25T08:48:00.000-05:00

At the Plantation House, Bangalore. Photos: Roy Varghese

Gypsy Jazz show opens today, 17th December

2011-12-16T15:17:00.000-05:00

At the Plantation House, Bangalore, 8 to 10 pm.
www.plantationhouse.in

Plantation House invites you

2011-12-13T02:55:00.001-05:00

www.plantationhouse.in

Conde Nast Traveller

2011-12-12T06:11:00.000-05:00

Illustrations done for Conde Nast Traveller, 2011.

http://www.cntraveller.in/content/indias-best-walking-tours

Gypsy accordion

2011-12-12T03:35:00.000-05:00

New works on Gypsy jazz...

2011-12-08T03:43:00.000-05:00

.....for the show in Bangalore. December 16th to 23rd. 2011.

W.I.P

2011-12-04T01:38:00.000-05:00

Work in Progress. Acrylic on canvas.

Gypsy jazz paintings in Bangalore

2011-11-30T03:30:00.000-05:00

Works in progress for a show at the Plantation House, Bangalore this December 2011.

www.plantationhouse.in

Manish and Divya's wedding invite

2011-11-26T04:09:00.000-05:00

Coming soon!

2011-11-25T03:16:00.003-05:00

These are some of the designs that triggered off the children's books.
Watch out for these, coming soon on
www.littlelatitude.com

The correspondence of Harper and Madeleine

2011-11-22T17:00:00.001-05:00

This is a preview of the correspondence between Harper and Madeleine. Harper Leaf and Madeleine Weathers have be been exchanging letters in verse for over 17 years. These letters occupy volumes, and you can get to read some of them on their blog...

www.harpermadeleine.blogspot.com

I have just begun illustrating an excerpt of their correspondence for a magazine, which will be published sometime this winter.

My elephant plates

2011-11-17T14:36:00.000-05:00

These are my elephant plates that I made at Susan Collett's ceramic workshop in Toronto! Just picked them up and I'm quite excited!

Ceramics

2011-11-09T00:45:00.000-05:00

So I'm making plates and my 'cone cups' at Susan Collett's ceramic workshop in Toronto. It has been so much fun! I got my first plate that I've been working on, and this is some of the process. All the plates have an elephant theme, and the other 4 will be fired next week.Here are some images of the plates in progress, working the wet clay, then the fired plate, and glazing them.

Chris Bezant - The Book

2011-11-04T02:45:00.000-04:00

Did the CD cover for Chris Bezant's CD, "The Book". Gypsy Jazz, in the Django Reinhardt style.

Transforming studio 212

2011-10-31T17:05:00.000-04:00

At the Gladstone, for my show.

Autumn 2011 sketchbook

2011-10-29T14:28:00.002-04:00

The opening

2011-10-28T16:13:00.000-04:00

Managed to take some pictures towards the end of the night. It was madness and lots of fun.

Up Art

2011-10-27T01:01:00.001-04:00

My Show "Charming Old Buildings of Toronto", opens tomorrow, Thursday 27th October, 7 pm, as part of Gladstone Hotel's, Annual Contemporary art fair. The show goes on till Sunday the 30th.

Flavelle House, Toronto

2011-10-24T01:21:00.000-04:00

Bathurst, Spadina and Bloor

2011-10-22T02:36:00.000-04:00

Gearing up

2011-10-20T01:07:00.000-04:00

Queens Park

2011-10-14T19:48:00.000-04:00

Legislative Building, Queen's Park, Toronto.

Still more charming old buildings of Toronto

2011-10-12T22:28:00.000-04:00

Oxberry Bhagwan

2011-10-06T18:23:00.000-04:00

So I've just finished shooting my film "In memory of the Northern Red Oak", on 16 mm film, using an Oxberry Camera, and now I just have to pray to the film Gods......to see if anything comes out. Here is some of the process.

Charming old buildings of Toronto

2011-09-27T02:29:00.000-04:00

The Great Hall. Queen St. W

Royal Conservatory of Music, Bloor St.W.

Toronto Fire Station, Kensington.

I'm working towards a show at the Gladstone Hotel at the end of October. I'll be exhibiting at the Art bar, from the 27th to the 30th of October. Quite exciting.

Here's some of the work in progress

In memory of the Northern Red Oak.....exposure test

2011-09-22T21:45:00.000-04:00

LIFT, the Liaison of Independent Film maker's of Toronto, has asked me to make a film as part of their 30th anniversary celebrations. I've got a couple of months to finish the film before the screening happens, and so I've decided to do a little animation film, which I will begin shooting on the 3rd of October.

Last year I witnessed the chopping down of a Northern red oak, in Queen's park, Toronto. It inspired me to tell the story of that tree. I have done a little exposure test using an Oxberry camera shot on 16mm film, and today I got to see the footage projected. It is a wonderful opportunity to be shooting on film once again, and it's super exciting. The people at LIFT have been so very helpful! Here's what the test looks like.

Gandhi's birthday

2011-09-22T00:11:00.000-04:00

I was at the Gladstone hotel on Monday, and while at the washroom taking a pee, to my surprise I chanced upon one of my posters there. This was my first poster amongst many done for World Literacy of Canada, for a Gandhi's birthday celebration at the Gladstone hotel in 2003!

Henry's World

2011-09-17T23:30:00.000-04:00

Opening sequence for Henry's world. Many of the characters I designed for the show were based on friends, and acquaintances. It was magic to see my watercolour designs, being translated into 3 dimensional beings and then come to life!

Henry's World

2011-09-17T23:24:00.000-04:00

"Henry's World", was a stop motion animation series that I designed while I was at Cuppa coffee animation many years ago. As some of you may know, I worked in the animation industry here in Toronto for 4 years, which proved to be a delightful learning experience for me. I love children's programming, and it was here that I was asked to design a 26 episode Stop motion animation series, in 2001, the first of it's kind in Canada, for which I was production designer for the first season.

When Alliance Atlantis approached Cuppa coffee, the show was a piece of print on paper. I designed the main characters, after which it took a couple of years to get funded to go into production. It was an incredible adventure of learning, where I would be involved in the script reads, then go off and design the characters and locations, which would then become puppets about 8" to 11" tall, the locations I made were then made into sets of proportionate sizes. It was an all encompassing job working with the puppet builders, wardrobe department, animators and compositors, all of whom had various requirements from me. Rotations from the puppet builders to know what the characters looked like from front, side and back, sometimes the wardrobe dept. could not find the appropriate fabric in a tiny size that I had drawn, and so sometimes I would have to paint on the designs onto the fabric, or the set build would require tiny paintings made by me that would hang on the walls on Uncle Neptunes lab.....or various other props.

In the midst of all that madness, I got an insightful peek into the animation industry. Very quickly I got to realize that the producers, Alliance Atlantis, and co producers TV Loonland, and the Family channel, didn't really care much about the children, it was all about the money. The tooth fairy couldn't be a black man, Lady Luck couldn't have a Bindi because it was too Indian, and Joel Spencer Martin the child actor had a be a white child because "let's face it, it was a white show"( That's what they actually said!). These were some of the comments that I got from my clients, and I wish I had saved those emails, because they would make for an interesting read.

I also realized that the bottom line was about people's ego's, there were quarrels about how many times the 'creative director' appeared in the end credits, and in how big a type face people's names appeared in. Needless to say this was disillusioning, and turned me into a monster. I was happy to leave the industry after that, and travel in India for 6 months, because I figured that with the 1000's of drawings I did for the season one and having established the world of that show, someone else could easily continue the work for season 2.

I even hand wrote the logo type "Henry's World" which they wanted to make into a Henry's world font......and not a 'Prash" font, because it being my hand writing really didn't matter.

But the beauty of that time was that I met many exquisite souls, and we had a blast!!! So thank you for all of that.

I do not have any of the multitude of watercolours I did for the show, but I did manage to find some of the process that I went through, in a few of my old sketchbooks. I bring this all up now, because I never really got to see that show, or get a copy of it for myself. I ordered the first season of Henry's world online and got my copy today, about 10 years later!

I would like to share a little bit of what I have of what seems to be another part of my life. Stop motion animation is an arduous painstaking art form, and with a whole roster of 12 to 14 animators working on it all the time, we managed to do about 8 secs of animation a day!

There are many amazing stories from that time......but here are some images and videos that I have put together of what I've found online and in my sketchbooks. Some of which bring out the angst, frustrations, joy and wonder during that time.

Have fun,
Prash

The DVD that I just bought.

During the photo shoot for the poster

frustrations!

Characters for the Night monsters

The night monster puppet with wire armatures covered in foam latex, and the character design from my sketchbook

Autumn puppet, plastic head, silicon covered wire armatures, leaf covered wire hair that could be animated to blow in the wind. oh Sarah Morden! What a grand old time we had!

I painted on the dyed fabric

A germ

Life drawing at the Art Bar, Gladstone Hotel.

2011-09-16T13:23:00.000-04:00

Wednesday night life drawing sessions at the Gladstone Hotel, Art Bar. Toronto.

Bernie Glassman at the Hart house

2011-09-16T13:03:00.000-04:00

Went for a talk by Bernie Glassman, on Bearing Witness

Nephew and niece

2011-09-16T13:02:00.000-04:00

Chris and Lauren Karkada.

Wild ones

2011-09-15T01:05:00.000-04:00

Acrylic on canvas. 2008

Tropical circumstances

2011-09-07T15:24:00.000-04:00

Just finished a commission for Ingrid Furtado. Toronto. Watercolour on paper. 40"x20". 2011.

1997 Chronicles

2011-09-07T01:07:00.001-04:00

This was a sketchbook, while I was at NID, India. Mostly Ahmedabad, Goa and a bit of Bangalore.

Gladstone Hotel

2011-09-06T13:48:00.000-04:00

Gladstone Hotel, Toronto. Commission for Margie Zeidler. 22"x30" watercolour on paper, 2007.

At Dilys'

2011-09-03T00:53:00.000-04:00

summer sonata. 2008. 22"x30" watercolour on paper

'Red winged black bird', and 'Varied thrush'

It's amazing, how old paintings show up at old friends' houses. I'd forgotten about these paintings at Dilys' wonderful apartment. Toronto. 22"x30" watercolours, and a few small ones.

Geometry

2011-09-01T15:28:00.000-04:00

Portraits

2011-08-30T15:19:00.000-04:00

Moonlit slumber and midnight blossoms

2011-08-29T02:53:00.000-04:00

Watercolour on canvas. 2005

At 401

2011-08-29T02:43:00.000-04:00

My watercolour of 401 Richmond, Toronto, at the office.
www.401richmond.net/

Brodi

2011-08-29T02:39:00.000-04:00

If you could only see these books!

2011-08-08T15:00:00.000-04:00

The 3 children's books are printed and ready for sale!!!

I got my first set of the 3 children's books in the mail yesterday, and I must say that it is a joy to see them!

They are simply fabulous.

A set of the 3 books:

If there was one thing I could be

If there was one place I could be, and

If I lived in a tree house.....come packed in a lovely slip case.

I've attached some images of the books, and if you want to buy them, you can order them online at:

http://littlelatitude.com/Order_Form.htm

www.littlelatitude.com

Wedding in Athens, Greece

2011-08-08T13:25:00.000-04:00

Did these watercolour invitations for a wedding in Athens, Greece.

Being there

2011-08-07T23:13:00.001-04:00

Bois Guillaume, just outside Rouen

At Etretat

Saint Michel, Paris

Issa's balcony, Boulevard Haussman, Paris

La Londe, Normandy

Honfleur, Normandy

Buttes Chaumond, Paris

Mosquee de Paris

Behind the Notre Dame, Paris

Hotel de ville, Paris

France & getting there

2011-07-30T07:03:00.002-04:00

A quick post from Paris right now. There have been some wonderful travels through Normandy, and a little Bretagne....and getting there.

Pour Mathieu

2011-07-18T20:44:00.000-04:00

A birthday flip book for Mathieu last year.

Benares products

2011-07-11T15:54:00.000-04:00

Don't think I've shown some of the products that I designed while volunteering at World Literacy of Canada in India, 2007. I was involved in designing products for the sewing program, as part of the Social Enterprise Program with the women in and around Varanasi. Some very exciting things happened. I've just managed to find a few samples from that time.

Gentleman's calling cards

2011-07-04T15:59:00.000-04:00

I have finally got some calling cards made, some with my personal information printed, and others that I can hand write on.
Thanks to Aparna Kakrania from Design Dimensions, New Delhi, for having got them printed.
www.designdimensions.in

At the cottage

2011-06-24T15:36:00.000-04:00

In Ontario.

3 New Zealand kingfishers

2011-06-22T23:28:00.000-04:00

A watercolour that I had done for a tattoo......a while ago.

London

2011-06-08T13:00:00.000-04:00

Blue Bangalore

2011-06-08T12:54:00.000-04:00

Bombay happenings

2011-06-08T12:50:00.000-04:00

In Kashid

2011-06-08T12:44:00.001-04:00

While at Titoo Ahluwalia's house in Kashid.

New products with little latitude

2011-06-07T12:00:00.000-04:00

The project with little latitude started with doing watercolour designs for baby bed linen. Eventually they were translated into quilts, mobiles and a few ceramic products. Here are some textile samples from what's in store.

Plotter sheets

2011-06-07T11:35:00.000-04:00

The plotter sheets for the children's books have come in from the printer's in Singapore. Quite exciting!

Argyle cottage, Bangalore

2011-05-26T16:08:00.000-04:00

While in Bangalore, we stopped by my old friend Maya Tharaken's 111 year old Bangalore Bungalow.....Argyle cottage on Rest House Road, for a pitcher of beer on a Sunday afternoon. It was so reminiscent of those good old days in Bangalore. Here is the watercolour from that afternoon.

Bangalore Blues

2011-05-25T16:52:00.000-04:00

Blue Matchbox

2011-05-19T15:13:00.002-04:00

I've made matchbox cases to house my 5"x11" paintings at the Plantation House.

Publicity for ARTST4CK on CNN go

2011-05-18T08:45:00.000-04:00

http://www.cnngo.com/mumbai/life/beautiful-watercolors-old-bandra-bungalows-sale-460476

'Blue' show in Bangalore

2011-05-17T10:09:00.000-04:00

"Blue" a show of exquisite hand crafted clothing entirely in blue, and a series of watercolours by me called 'The Blue Matchbox'.... opens on Thursday the 19th of May, at my friend Shalini Subramanian's wonderful store called the Plantation House.

Plantation House weaves the eclectic talents and tastes of artists, musicians

and aficionados into a series of curated evenings held within the space.

Launching InHouse, an informal platform for inspired experiments,

performances and exhibitions in the world of art, sound and music.

We look forward to seeing you at the InHouse launch party

on 21st May 2011, 6PM onwards

at Plantation House

And here's a sneak peek at some of the 'blue' watercolours.

It would be great to see you at the party on Saturday.

See you soon,

Prash

Setting up ARTST4CK

2011-05-17T05:31:00.000-04:00

Midday article for ART ST4CK

2011-05-17T04:10:00.000-04:00

ART ST4CK

2011-05-10T17:11:00.000-04:00

So it's our fourth year of Artstack. If you're in Bombay, join us on Saturday for a night of fun. May 14th 2011.

I'm doing a series of watercolours on the old homes of Bandra.

Hope to see you there.

Old Homes of Bandra

2011-05-10T17:08:00.000-04:00

I'm doing a series of watercolours on the old homes of Bandra. These gorgeous homes that I've been documenting in Bandra West, are testaments to our heritage. Stunning buildings that carry the nostalgia of our past, sometimes tucked away in little lanes.....they bring a bit of peace and humble respite to the monsters being built all around. What started with simple chronicles of the facades of these charming buildings, I was slowly invited to enjoy being inside some of these homes, and feel the soul of structures that are more than a hundred years old.

The watercolours will be exhibited at the upcoming ART ST4CK, on Saturday, May 14th.

P&A's wedding

2011-05-09T01:15:00.000-04:00

Did the illustrations for Prachi and Aftab's wedding invitations. Cocktails, sangeet and ceremony in Goa.

Moonlight in Benares

2011-05-02T05:45:00.001-04:00

I never did put up the complete set of 28 postcards that I did for a show at kriti gallery in Benares, 2007. This set of 28 postcards of the moon cycle, from new moon, to full moon, to new moon, were painted under moonlight in Varanasi. A limited edition set of prints were done and sold there for a while. Here's the full set.....not in any particular order.

When?

2011-04-30T05:22:00.000-04:00

Sometime in the winter of 2008, I think

Children's books

2011-04-26T04:25:00.001-04:00

The website for the Children's books that I've been working on, is finally out.
www.littlelatitude.com

These books were commissioned by Vinay Diddee of Little Latitude in Bangalore.

It is a series of 3 books, with themes of air (birds), the sea and land, written by Kalpana Subramanian, and illustrated by me. It's been fun working on these books, and here is a snippet of what you will see. I've been working on them in Canada....out in nature while watching whales in Tadoussac, whilst in Toronto, and cottage country in the Kawartha lakes. The 'sea' book I did in Goa, by the beach. And the 'land' book I illustrated in Jaisalmer and Delhi.

The books are being printed, and will be on sale shortly.

The website was done by Roy and Arati. (www.royandarati.com)

Working on the 'bird' book, on a rock in Tadoussac

Did a spread everyday on the beach in Goa.

Sneak peek at the land book

You can see previews of all of these on the website.

Mangoes

2011-04-16T12:28:00.000-04:00

The workshop

2011-04-16T12:21:00.000-04:00

When we won...

2011-04-16T12:14:00.001-04:00

The Bungalow

2011-04-16T12:07:00.000-04:00

A little sketch while at Bungalow 8, while they were getting ready for the show.

Keya's room

2011-04-14T11:45:00.000-04:00

The paintings I have done on the walls of Keya's rooms. Thanks to Pallavi, Sudeep and Keya ofcourse.

Prash travels 2003

2011-04-10T10:05:00.000-04:00

Some pages from my sketchbox, while travelling through Bangalore, Mysore, Bylakuppe, Madras and Pondicherry early 2003. This was my first 6 month journey from Toronto, after working in the animation industry for 3 years! I do recall having finished 6 sketchbooks during that trip, and here's one....

An old sketchbook

2011-04-07T07:44:00.001-04:00

An old sketchbook that I bound with wood and leather.
So I used a very light wood.....Balsa wood, and I could literally poke holes through it, so it was easy to sew the leather spine with the front and back wood covers. Then hot glued a leather strap and buckle.
Bound 90 lb watercolour paper in bundles, and stitched it all together to the spine.
Ofcourse I filled it all up.....as far as I can remember it was filled with drawings of an Itzak Perlman concert, and other winter angst filled drawings in 2000.

Streetstyle

2011-04-07T07:18:00.001-04:00

An article on CNNgo, on the launch of Mathieu Gugumus Leguillon's new menswear collection for Bungalow 8.

http://www.cnngo.com/mumbai/shop/street-style-mumbai-man-003746

Mumbai happenings

2011-03-29T15:19:00.000-04:00

Details of happenings in Mumbai. The full spreads will come up soon.

Fr.Time

2011-03-18T13:30:00.000-04:00

From an old sketchbook.

The land book

2011-03-16T05:19:00.000-04:00

While working on the 'land' children's book called "if I lived in a treehouse".

Vogue March

2011-03-12T00:36:00.000-05:00

Illustration done for the March issue of Vogue, India.

Rabbit moon

2011-03-11T14:50:00.000-05:00

Queen Madeleine of the paper cups

2011-03-11T14:47:00.000-05:00

An old birthday card made for Kalpana in 2001.....as a piano fold, in keeping with our ongoing correspondence in verse between Harper and Madeleine, that we've been writing to each other for more than 16 years.

Rainbox

2011-02-20T07:16:00.000-05:00

A sketchbook/journal with a cover illustration done by me, is on sale here in India.
You can buy it online here.
www.rainboxkids.com

I am music

2011-02-18T17:10:00.000-05:00

A painting for Adam Goddard, while up at the Zeidler cottage. Stoney lake, Ontario. Summer of 2010.

Trio

2011-02-10T15:04:00.000-05:00

Objects and such

2011-02-10T14:58:00.000-05:00

In a tank......don't even ask!

The magic of today

2011-02-08T13:58:00.000-05:00

I climbed up a hill at sunset, and passed an abandoned village in ruins along the way, up on the hill I came across the base of an ancient pillar that had toppled over, and an old man seeing me from down below, climbed all the way to the top to have a chat with me. It was wonderful.

You know what I mean

2011-02-07T15:31:00.000-05:00

Today:
My camel's name was Michael.
Papu the Bhopa musician was magical.
Meditated on the shifting sands of time.
Did a watercolour of Papu and gave it to him.
Thank you one and all.