New paintings

Finally some images of paintings I made during my Dune Residency. More to come, but for now here are five.

Branding, Watercolor and acrylic on paper, 11"x15", 2011

I come bearing mangoes, Watercolor on Paper, 7.5" x 11", 2011

Trinity, Ink and Watercolor on Paper, 11"x7.5, 2011

Breathless, Ink and Watercolor on Paper, 11"x7.5", 2011

Jacobs' Fall, Ink and Watercolor on Paper, 7.5"x11", 2011

I think there are about 14 more, so get ready for a week of paintings. :) 

It's all in the details.

I am already mourning the end of my residency, even though there's still kind of a whole week left.

My time here has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life, and I feel completely and utterly spoiled beyond measure. I've made something like 20 new paintings and promise to post pictures of them just as soon as I find a way to fix my Nikon lens (so sad!).

Until then, here are a few pictures I took right before the great fall of my SLR. Details at this place are absolutely stunning. Owners Emilie and Dmitri are totally artists at heart and have come up with some of the most beautiful and creative ideas I've ever seen.

For example, they've placed antique canopy beds all around the infinity pool. Each bed is nestled within a little garden of palm trees.

Staying true to their title as an "ecovillage", all their furniture has been recycled and salvaged from old boats, vintage stores, and palaces. Everything here is green, organic, and totally eco friendly. There's no plastic anywhere, their organic farm feeds their restaurants, and they have fair trade contracts with their fisherman. Such an inspiring business model.

Okay actually, their placemats are plastic. But they are handmade from recycled plastic bags. :) So I feel like that doesn't really count.

They've even relocated an authentic Hindu temple onto their property for concerts, performances, and weddings. It was disassembled in Kerala, and then reassembled right in the middle of The Dune. How ridiculously amazing would it be to get married in?

And the tables are a mix of antique Indian furniture and re-purposed cruise ship parts. Seriously there is just beauty everywhere. It's like a modern day Jungle Book with less wolves. Kind of incredible.

And in case you're an artist, writer, musician, etc. interested in applying for a residency, here's a list of some pretty awesome ones in the US:

Millay Colony
Yaddo
Djerassi
MacDowell
Skowhegan

Applications vary from place to place, but I really encourage all of you creatives to apply. These places are transforming.

And now I'm off to soak up my last week in paradise. 

Workshop

The painting and collage workshop ended yesterday, and already I'm going through withdrawal--the kids were amazing.

I worked with The Last School in Auroville, a super creative, highly alternative artsy school where the kids design their own curriculum and focus heavily on art. The people were so wonderful I was tempted to sign on as permanent faculty--I loved every last bit of it. 

I designed the workshop to explore the Hindu myth of Sita and Rama through painting and collage. The kids first made collages using found imagery from magazines and newspapers about the abduction of Sita (the symbol of ideal beauty/femininity in India), then made paintings based on their collages.

 

I was so impressed with how their work turned out and all the creative (and sometimes hilarious) images they chose to tell the story. Even the teachers joined in, which was awesome for both me and the kids.

Spending time with the local community here was such a treat--maybe even the highlight of my India stay so far. On the last day we curated an art show for their parents and friends and even ended up attracting a few tourists passing through.

Unfortunately my digital camera broke the day before the workshop (screw you grativty), so all these photos are courtesy of the wonderful Emilie Klein. I took lots of film photos though, so I'll be sure to post them in the coming weeks.

As we were saying our goodbyes, the kids snuck off and made me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. And then convinced me to come back next week for another art class. :)

Le studio

A look into my studio...

I love this giant table they have in the middle of the studio space. The size is perfect for spreading out and seeing everything at once. Plus isn't it just such a gorgeous work surface? Its handmade from wooden slabs and granite.

Painting lots. Eating lots more. And swimming everyday. Kind of feels like a second honeymoon?

More pics to come. Trying to be online as little as possible, so forgive the sparse posting. Cheers friends!


ps...A huge thanks to Ada for the beautiful feature on her blog last week. 

And then I fell into someone else's life.

My painting residency at the Dune started yesterday, and I feel almost certain that I've slipped into some kind of magical coma, or that this is not in fact my life.

The people are wonderful. The surroundings are stunning. There are free yoga classes three times a day next to a lily pond. I can help milk the cows on their organic farm at 4:30 pm each day, and the infinity pool is out of control gorgeous.

Oh, and the food. I'm thinking about starting a photography journal of all my meals because they're as beautiful as they are delicious.What you see below is cucumber, mint, and lemon juice alongside their house salad.

And tomorrow I'm meeting with a local art school to discuss the details of a 4 day workshop I'll be teaching next week on collage and painting.

In other words, nobody pinch me. I have no plans of waking up from all this magic.

And in other other words, don't ever listen to anyone that says "art" isn't a practical major in college.

Score.

Why don't I live here.

Danika and I had a *total* blast running around Jaipur, scaring off creepy men, haggling fair rickshaw prices, gawking at ridiculous raw diamond 18k gold rings, and trying our hand at block printing. Rajasthan is known for its art, architecture and jewelry, and we did everything in our power to make sure we packed it all into 3 days.

Jaipur really is the pink city. All the walls and architecture are this beautiful coral color that just makes you want to run out and paint your house something rosey.

We stayed at the Shahpura House, which came complete with purple sequence curtains and maharaja paintings on the walls. I recommend this place wholeheartedly to any and all--so reasonably priced and impossibly gorgeous at the same time.

The Jaipur observatory, known as the Jantar Mantar, was incredible. It was constructed by Maharaja (King) Jai Singh II from 1727-1734. Sometimes I'm convinced people were smarter back then.

The observatory consists of fourteen major geometric devices for measuring time, predicting eclipses,
 tracking stars' location as the earth orbits around the sun, etc. etc..

The Giant Sundial, known as the Samrat Yantra is the world's largest sundial, standing 27 meters tall. Its shadow moves visibly at 1 mm per second, or roughly a hand's width every minute.

 
But my absolute favorite part was the Anokhi Museum of hand block printing.

We met with local block printers who gave us demos on the carving + printing process.

Then the gents let us keep the prints we worked on, as well as the stamps they carved during the demo. So sweet.

We've barely been gone 24 hours and are already concocting sneaky ways of making our way back. Have any of you ever visited Jaipur? Or any other cities in Rajasthan?

And in case you're experiencing a severe case of wanderlust,  here are three other weekend trips around India:

*Auroville
*Chandigarh
*Hyderabad