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.

At One Kings Lane!!

Good Morning friends! I have really exciting news! :D

If you ever wanted HUGE (18x24, 30x40) framed prints of my illustrations for your walls then head over to One Kings Lane now! They are offering them at 51% discount (!!) and the sale ends on March 2nd at 11am EDT.

I'm super psyched!! 

Tulip Forest

Happy Thursday to you all! How is the week already over? I guess I spent way too much time outside and loved every minute of it! The mixed flower seeds we planted a few days back have germinated, yay! Now I'm waiting for the Cilantro to sprout. I'm told, good things grow for those who wait :D

Today the grass in the front yard is dotted with bright yellow flowers. Tiny flowers packed with hundreds of slim leaves. It is a beautiful sight! But, I guess they are weed flowers and will be mowed off pretty soon. What a pity. I'm playing around with the idea of doing a series on weed flowers. Bring the wild inside?

On the work front, I'm continuing to draw more flowers. I love how effortlessly graceful the blooms are and how I can almost smell their fragrance while drawing. Today it's Tulip time. This tiny little bird is taking a walk in a Tulip forest. 

Tulip Forest, available for purchase here. 

Have a great weekend!

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.

She turned 1!

Our sweet little Bunny turned one on Friday and we put together a fun Birthday party for her! The colors  we picked were green, blue and white with a pink accent.  I decorated the walls garlands made of  polka dotted, green and blue cupcake-cups and had green, white and pink balloons strewn on the floor (She loves chewing on balloons!). She also got a 'real' carrot cake and a baby bunny plushie. 

Since, carrots are here favorite food ever,  I framed my 'carrots' illustration in these adorable mini picture frames from Michael's. 

Her Birthday Present 

 Loves = Chews

Our little girl is tall enough to reach the 'cake'. Sigh.

The three of us.

Finally she gets to eat her cake.

 Party hard - Nap harder!!

Bonjour!

Bonjour!! It is a beautiful day. The rain is all but gone, squirrels are back to running up and down the tree trunks and I can see new green leaves unfurling. It's so lovely this time of the year!

This saturday I'm looking forward to The Container Herb Gardening workshop with Master Gardener Peggy Rastiello. It's a part of the earth day celebration at our local library and can't think of a  better way to greet spring. 

With gardening on mind for the past few days it was inevitable that I would end up drawing a bunch of flowers. The flowers had to be poppies coz they are my all time favorites.  Bonjour Spring!!

Bonjour, available for purchase here.

Nice Things Handmade

I was in Nice Things Handmade the other day to drop off my prints, and I couldn't resist taking a bunch of pictures (It has such a happy feel to it!). This wonderful shop is filled with bright, cheerful and unique handmade creations from clothing, jewelry, wall decor to bath and body products. 

Elissa, the shop owner and an artist herself, has curated a beautiful collection of new and interesting products that you'll love to browse. 

You can also stop by and visit Nice Things Handmade's facebook page to learn more about new happenings in the shop.

The beautiful Elissa.

I totally fell in love with this gorgeous table. The artist also offers customization of  the legs to any color!

The Bird Gardener

I'm so grateful for the trees that surround our home. I get to watch a variety of birds just by looking out of the french windows. A robin couple have become frequent visitors to the garden.  Their ever changing activities keep me entertained as I draw or keep accounts. Unlike the other birds this pair is wonderfully energetic, playful and a tad noisy. They feel like a old married couple. Squabbling, talking and pecking... I'm hooked to this birdie soap opera :)

We have beautiful weather today - 81 Degrees and very sunny. I have brought out my gardening tools, potting soil, seeds, bulbs and a bunch of very colorful pots ready for intensive planting today.  I hope I have better luck this year. Last year all of my seeds grew to about 6 inches and died :( 

So this year I'm thinking of enlisting this little birdie to take care of my plants. What do you think?

  

The Bird Gardener, 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.