Indian Eye

No posts in ages! I used to post every week, and in excess! Sorry for the delay my faithful readers (any passerby's won't know the difference. I will have something with a bit more meat on it soon enough, probably after I finish my current project. Here is something to tide you over:

This piece uses techniques from Indian miniature painting, involving layers of a chalk based paste spread out thinly again and again to build up color, burnished between each one, leaving behind a smooth flat surface with the sheen of porcelain. I didn't have the knack for it for some time, but I eventually got it down enough to produce this. The patterns and themes are borrowed from Indian and Chinese paintings. I have been told the silvery layers on top do not translate well to digital - especially at the bottom of the piece.

I learned the process a bit third hand - my teacher, Leslie Elsasser, was an American who had studied under an Indian painter abroad.