Watermelon Love

Cold watermelon (right out of the fridge!) is our family’s favorite summer foods. From Ayan to Montana and Bunny Bee, everyone loves it!

Late afternoons, after Ayan is back from daycare, I cut up tiny pieces of watermelon and put it on the palm of my hand. He’ll grab one and run after a toy and come back and pick another tiny morsel and run again. Every time he grabs a piece, his eyes light up and his cute little face, dripping with sticky juice breaks into a smile. My heart stops for that one second and I think this is the best moment of my life so far.

Both of us in exactly the place we’d rather be, more than anywhere in the world.

Watermelon Love - available for purchase here. 

I hope your summer is as full of joy and twinkling eyes as ours is.

XO

Yummy Mangoes

This past November, in our local library I picked up a beautiful book called The Mango Season by Amulya Malladi. The library was celebrating India month perhaps because of Diwali and they had a wide selection of books from Indian authors on display.

This one sentence from the book has stayed with me since - "When she was growing up, summer was all about mangoes—ripe, sweet mangoes, bursting with juices that dripped down your chin, hands, and neck."

This is exactly how I remember summers by! Unending supply of juicy-sweet-fragrant-mangoes. One couldn't have enough of these lip-smackingly delicious fruits. We always plan to go home during the mango season but alas, it's not happend yet :)

Meanwhile, here are some Mangoes for you!

Mango Kitchen print, available for purchase here.

Mr. Beel

If you go to The Cafe Rint this lovely morning (and every other morning) you will see Mr. Beel sipping Iced-tea with Melma and Joz. (The couple is at present standing next to the juke box picking a song.)

Regarding Iced-tea, the other day I came across this home brewed Mango Iced-tea recipe. The hint of ginger totally seals the deal for me! While I was reading the recipe my mind wandered to a year spent in San Diego. Back then, we were having an Iced-tea phase. We always had a pitcher full of green or lemon Iced-tea ready in our fridge. I drew today's 'Mr. Beel' illustration to commemorate those days.

Now we are more calorie conscious and Iced-tea has become an occasional indulgence.

Mr Beel, available for purchase here

Grapes

I’m constantly amazed at the healthy diet ideas out there, especially all the fun stuff my gym buddies know. While at the gym a few weeks back I heard an interesting piece of advice - frozen grapes to cure a sweet tooth!

I enjoy grapes, but freezing them sounded weird at first!  I gave it a try and amazingly, when frozen, grape becomes sort of creamy from the inside. The sweetness also seems to increase a little bit. Now I also enjoy purple grape smoothies -  one cup frozen grapes and one cup milk blended on high until smooth.

And this is how grapes in my world look like :)

Grapes, available for purchase here.

Cherry

With summer in it's final chapters I'm savoring the last batch of sweet juicy cherries - It's one of my favorite fruits and I always have a ton of them in my fridge all summer long. It sweetens my summer like no other!

Cherries trigger a lot of happy memories from when I was a child. I must have been 2 or 3 and it was my Aunt's (mom's younger sister) wedding. All I remember from the day are the boxes and boxes of cherries I ate, the red juice that dripped down my face staining my 'good' clothes and the pits I swallowed in my eagerness to eat. I couldn’t get enough of cherries then, and I can’t get enough now. And I'm OK with that :)

I like my cherries fresh from the bowl. How do you like yours?  

Cherry, available for purchase here.

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend :)

Potatoes

Hello Monday! What do you have planned for the week? 

I have lots of (last minute) work to catch-up on, before we leave for Hawaii for  two (yes!!) weeks.  It's my 30 Birthday on September 1, and we are going to celebrate it with sun, sand and a little volcano lava (maybe). Yay!!

I want to share a new food illustration with you today. It's the most versatile vegetable known to us (at least in my book!) - The Potato. What food illustration series could be complete without the Potato, right? I have been working on these Potatoes for  a month or so, somehow I couldn't get it just right. They would either look like spotted eggs or rocks or just big blobs of colors! Well until now :)

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. They are in the same color palette as all my food illustrations too!  

Available for purchase here. 

Peas

How are you doing? I hope all is well in your world : )

I have a very special story to share today. Last week a new mom got in touch with me (via etsy) to share her story and request a Peas illustration for her daughters room. Why Peas?  Well, I'll let Mariana (the new mom) tell you in her own words . "... my husband and I love our big backyard vegetable garden and were out picking peas this June when my water broke and our daughter decided to come two weeks early. So we like to say that she came in with the peas."(awwww!!) She went on to say "I hope perhaps your next one will be a rainbow of spring peas." 

I'm so happy to honor her request! Stories like these make my work so much more meaningful. Thanks Mariana!!

Peas, available for purchase here.

Tea Cups

Good morning friends! Care to join me for a cup of tea?

When I shared the tea pots illustration a little while back, a reader requested a companion piece with tea cups. I was more than happy to oblige! I'm fascinated with the delicate porcelain and the sensual curve of the handle. Not to mention how easy it is to add a dose of personalized whimsy to a cup. Check out this link to know what I'm talking about. My favorite one has to be the tea bag coffin. I always find myself in a quandary - to store the dripping tea bag in my saucer (yuk!) till I finish my tea or run to the garbage bin and throw it away, while my tea is quickly cooling away. 

I'm waiting for the skies to clear up a little bit so that I can take pictures of both (Tea Pots and Tea Cups) illustration together :)

Cups, available for purchase here.

Tea Pots

I'm a little teapot... short and stout. Here is my handle...here is my spout.. I have been singing this song (off-key of course!) and jumping around making tea pot arms (just like when I was little) for days now. If it weren't so funny Tarun would have passed out of annoyance days ago :)

The reason behind these bouts of singing and dancing are the several tea pots that I have been drawing one after another. It's been almost therapeutic.  I'm offering the first 8 as a 8x10 print in my shop.

Tea Pots, available for purchase here.

Tea Bags

What I love most about tea? The several exotic flavors it comes in! I can pick the one to suit my mood (I'm partial towards unsweetened fruit flavored teas) and feel deliriously happy with each sip :) There's something undeniably good about holding the fragrant cup with both hands and just breathing in the delicious vapors. 

Fun fact - Did you know that all tea, be it black, green or white come from the same bush? The difference lies in the treatment tea leaves receive after picking! You can read more about that here.

This illustration is for you tea connoisseurs!

Tea Bags, available for purchase here.

Bananas

A long weekend makes for a short week! Yay Friday! Did I mention our recent trip to Key West (4th of July long weekend)? Well, we had a fabulous time! The drive from Miami to Key West was just beautiful, powder blue skies, azure waters and mangrove trees running along the highway as we drove along...Sigh! We had a lot of fun walking up and down Duval Street, watching performers juggle axes and swallowing fire, taking the catamaran cruise, snorkeling and on the boat safari. It was really difficult coming back. 

The first thing we did in Key West was buying bananas. Really! Tarun loves them and has to have them every day. It's the only fruit he eats without my prompting.  I, on the other hand am not particularly fond of them.  So here are a bunch of rainbow colored Bananas for my dear husband. 

Bananas, available for purchase here. 

We have no big plans for this weekend other than getting in a little relaxation and trying out a few recipes. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend! 

Tomatoes

Our upstairs neighbor has a gorgeous tomato plant in his balcony, that is currently fruiting. From my studio window (when I crane my neck ever so slightly) I see beautiful, plump, deep red tomatoes. I'm filled with awe and a little bit of longing. You see, I've not had good luck with growing plants, especially the ones that fruit or flower. The only plant that seems to flourish in my care is Golden Pothos (Fun Fact : In India Pothos is known as Money plant) 

Do you grow your own food?

Tomatoes, available for purchase here.

Chocolate Milkshake

Who doen't like chocolate milkshake? Right? It's my favorite kind too! Since our visti to Hershey's Chocolate World a few months back, we have been steadily going through the large bottle of chocolate syrup we brought back. There is something about the smooth, creamy and oh so frothy chocolate milk that screams perfection. Yum!!

Whats your favorite milkshake flavor? 

Chocolate Milk Shake, available for purchase here.

Let's bake

It's funny how our brains work. Monday morning I woke up wanting to draw a stand mixer. I was pretty perplexed, I don't bake nor do I own one. Then why was I thinking about it? Later during the day while I was collecting books to return to the library I realized it was because of the book Emily and Einstein by Linda Francis Lee. In the book Emily bakes compulsively to get over the grief of losing her husband. 

I got the book from the library last week and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I just hadn't realize how much it had seeped in. Do you sometimes see connections between what you make and what you read? Does that fill your heart with wonder? 

Let's bake, available for purchase here.

Peaches

The one thing that I really look forward to doing in summers is fruit picking.  We have Linvilla Orchard a few miles alway, that have the worlds (at least I think so!)  sweetest and juiciest donut peaches. The picking usually begins in July and ends in September.  Since, July is almost here my mouth is watering in anticipation!

Till I can get my hands on those delicious peaches here are some colorful ones to keep me company.

Peaches, available for purchase here

Lemons

I can't believe my eyes! Its 86 Degrees today!! woohoo! 

The past two days have been glorious. We spent the weekend in New Jersey with friends. Apart from great food and wonderful conversations we also managed to squeeze in a visit to Sculpture Gardens. The weather was terrific and the garden was magical.  There were hundreds of gorgeous sculptures, flowering trees, lush green grass, mist sprays (Yes! It was the best part!) and many dancing peacocks trying to woo their mates. I can hardly wait for more fun things this year. 

I really like warm spring. Pass some sweet and sour lemonade please! Bliss! If you are anything like me then you will love these Fruity lemonade recipes. 

Till you stir up this summertime favorite, here is a lemony illustration to keep you company. 

Lemons, available for purchase here.

Bell Pepper

We had a nice quiet weekend at home. On friday as you already know, we celebrated Bunny Bee's Birthday and reminisced about the day we got her home, how tiny and scared she was, how she slowly bestowed her trust on us and how lucky we feel to be part of her life. 

On Saturday we threw the windows open and let the warm spring air in. While I was on the dining table drawing Bell Peppers,  Tarun and Bunny were playing their version of peek a boo - Tarun stomping around looking for her and bunny peeking her head out from under the couch ready to sneak up on him. These two are hilarious !  

Here are the Bell Peppers (or Capsicum as I'm accustomed to calling them). I'm itching to try screen print them. I should enroll in a class and brush up my skills. My vegetable and fruit illustrations will be perfect for screen printing on totes and kitchen towels. One day...

Bell Pepper, available for purchase here.

Asparagus

I hope you are all having a wonderful week. Mine was spent hiding indoors from the rain. But lucky for me, I had spring inside the house. Early this week we brought some red, yellow and pink (really beautiful!) Kalanchoe houseplants. They have been in full bloom all this week and make my heart sing :)

I'm also super excited about being at VIX Emporium tomorrow evening! Join me if you can!

While talking about the Go West! Craft Fest and the subsequent 'The Things Spring Brings' Julia west from from the Philadelphia city paper wrote - "...VIX Emporium's first feature artist of the year, Pragya Kothari, whose illustrations are cutesy and springlike enough to make you forget about all these April showers." Yay! 

Today's asparagus have been on my drawing board forever. I kept drawing and redrawing the scales/ leaves till they felt just right. I also used a lighter color palette on this illustration. What do you think? 

Asparagus, available for purchase here.

Corn

Hello! I hope everyone is doing good and staying dry. It has been raining in philly. One day it is warm and sunny and next it’s pouring outside. It drives me crazy! Rain also makes me want soup. Soups have a special comforting power, I think. 

Anyhoo...we just returned from a beautiful and fun filled weekend in DC. We drove down early Saturday morning and spent the next 2 days walking under the breathtaking cherry blossom trees around the tidal basin, marveling at the flower laden Magnolia trees and spent hours at the Natural History Museum (saw the hope diamond!) and Air and Space Museum (LOVED watching 'Journey to the Stars'). 

I started drawing this monday morning with rain outside my window and creamy corn soup in my heart. I'm so happy with the way it turned out :)

Corn, available for purchase here. 

Mocha expresso maker

Happy almost-Friday! :) How is your week going? 

Mine just passed in a blur...I can't believe its Thursday already! Where have the days gone? This week has been work-crazy and I'm so happy to see the weekend almost here.  I made a lot of progress on a bunch of illustrations including the portrait of 2 Percherons (They are very large but gentle horses), my entry for To Dry For Tea Towel Design Competition and a mocha expresso maker that has been haunting me in my dreams for the past few months (yes, I'm that girl!). 

People tell me that they can't start the day without the smell of coffee in the morning (I don't drink much coffee). It's color, taste and the brain-boosting-get-me-through-the day chemicals make it an indispensable part of their daily lives... today's illustration is for all of you coffee aficionados. 

Mocha expresso maker, available for purchase here.