affairs of the art

as a child one of the highlights of my new school year was the buying of new stationary and art supplies.  the no-frills geometry box, fountain pens and rulers were pleasing enough –  symbols of hope for a better and brighter year at school. but it was the standard issue water colour set and crayons that were so much more evocative  reminders of what school really had to be about- less math (a lot less),  more maps,  more diagrams pertaining to geography  and biology. and plenty of art.  renewed hope that at least here on the art teacher would permit my cityscape illustrations into the “scenery” category – where so far she had always marked them a zero and insisted on the DMK  inspired  rising sun and two mountains as the only acceptable depiction of scenery.

apart from ‘official’ art supplies, i was frequently  plied with special treats.  a parent or relative who had traveled abroad was often thoughtful enough to buy me some indulgent felt- pens,  tubes of acrylic paints and  assorted boxes of water colours bearing beautiful names, such as cerulean blue, dark puce, chartreuse and fandango pink, that i loved to repeatedly read aloud.  these paints were never used in my school drawing book keeping in mind the doggedly philistine attitude of the aforementioned arbiter of scenic art. i may have on occasion  spared a few daubs of this “foreign” paint  on a map of the oceans or diagram of the earth’s molten core but the bulk of it (all 5 ml) was for weekends of unbridled romps- watercolour posters, cards, bookmarks and endless pictures of trains, bridges, cars, skyscrapers (about five storeys i think) and other non approved components of  urban scenery.

years later in graduate school abroad i was lucky enough to have to buy more art supplies.  those were financially lean years and  i was likely to forfeit a topping on my pizza and make do with a plain cheese slice so i might  continue to splurge on art equipment – colour pencils (a green is not merely a green- it is either mint, chartreuse, shamrock, lime, persian, tea, teal, turquoise, jungle or forest green ) water colours in hitherto unexplored shades and (gasp) natural sable hair paint brushes.    my studies in landscape architecture, at this point, was a happy blend of two great loves- plants and painting.

just a few years later though, the professional practice of landscape architecture drifted away from the hand rendered and colourful presentation drawings to CAD sheets of a rather anemic and austere nature. my tech updated presentation drawings had all the personality and pizzazz of an amish prayer meeting.  the office was  deprived  of so much colour (literally) and  the pleasurable world of creating art drifted slowly away from my life .

after nearly two decades of ascetic “artlessness”, my daughter and fellow art lover  sam -who as her going away to college gift (leaving my world in only the bleakest shades of grey- pewter to lead) gave   me an adult colouring book .  i tentatively re-entered the realm of art although it was  a rather simplified version  with basic  colourpencils and a stay- within-the- lines approach.  but as months (and pages) progressed i was caught in the all too familiar tug of shading, blending and burnishing.   the ever unresolved questions  of  using black outlines or not,  of painting light to dark vs the opposite way, careful studied details vs  fleeting ephemeral impressions – taunted me to take the plunge once more. i sensibly yielded and  can now  be frequently found drifting around  the art supply store with a blissful yet covetous eye at many other media and possibilities.  

my art table, while not exactly groaning under the weight of the supplies,  is a paradoxical presence – it is my ever calming oasis at the end of too-long work day and is also the spring of much cheer and energy.