6 Lotuses

Aloha! I'm back from Hawaii and super tanned! 

We were in Hawaii for the last 2 weeks and it was fantastic. It has to be the most beautiful and happy place on earth. And the people are so nice and friendly.  

We went to 3 islands : Ohau, Maui and Big Island and did a range of activities from deep sea dives (scuba), hiking on a volcanic crater, admiring the acres and acres of lava fields,  snuba (Like scuba but with a hose instead of tank), snorkeling at the gorgeous hanauma bay, getting kissed on the lips by a beautiful macaw (really!), midnight strolls on the beach, drinking lots of Mai Tai's & passion fruit drink and of course eating really sweet tropical fruits - pink guava, mangoes, apple bananas (my now favorite fruit), pineapple and papaya... YUM!!

The best part was swimming with the giant sea turtles and not so good part was missing the lava flow. 

Now I'm all charged up and ready to get back to work. Let's talk about today's illustration. This lotus illustration was created before I left for my vacation.  The inspiration came from one of my favorite quotes from Bhagavad Gita - "One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus is untouched by water." I'm not a very spiritual person but, I think it's a beautiful way to live and possibly one of the few ways to a contented life. 

What do you think? Do you have favorite quotes that you live (or try to live) your life by?

6 Lotuses, available for purchase here

PS : Guess what? Turning 30 = Piece of cake!

Sing from your heart

On this fine day, I'm day dreaming of all things musical. It's incredibly quiet in here now (Bunny bee is taking a nap) and this illustration on my wall looks like the most appealing thing ever. I first read this 'sing from your heart' phrase on a Yogi tea bag (they have these inspiring messages - a unique one with every tea bag) and drew the illustration as a reminder to sing my heart out (in the privacy of home, when I'm alone) and not worry if I got the tune wrong. It is truly liberating.

What about you? Do you need a reminder to sing from your heart too?

I hope your day is amazing in every way!

Sing from your heart, available for purchase here.

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.

Amour

Hi there! I hope the beginning of this week is treating you well so far :)

I completed this illustration at the start of the month and I see my style shifting once again - I'm using words more frequently in my illustrations. This is something I began doing after working with words for some round  MOO stickers (Bunch of colorful stickers with one/ two word messages on them that turned out nice).  I have quiet a few word (and love!) illustrations lined up in the next few weeks. I'm going to try and space them out as much as I can. 

Sometimes it's more fun communicating through written words, than drawings :)

I hope you all have a good week!

Amour, available for purchase here. 

Bird with antlers

It’s hard to believe, but another week is over! With the end of summer fast approaching (Just a couple of weeks left to enjoy the warm weather!) time has been flying for me.  This weekend we are heading down to Lake george with a bunch of friends and spending an exciting day at Adirondack Extreme! I'm hoping to sketch a lot, take plenty of pictures and gather material for my next series of illustrations  on extreme adventures.

The past few weeks have been super productive. I have been illustrating a lot of glass objects, some flowers and a bunch of antlers (on snails, a wee little tomato and birds of course). Today's illustration is from the antler experiments.  I think the bird looks pretty cute with antlers. Don't you think?

Bird with antlers, available for purchase here.

Bulb Terrarium

When we were in Longwood Gardens a few weeks back, we spent hours sitting in the beautifully landscaped courtyard and gazing at the outdoor water lily display. Curved pools filled with inky water, slight breeze and the lack of mosquitoes (they use some cool fish in the ponds, that eats mosquito larve!) created the perfect setting to look at the exquisite water lilies, relax and get lost in thought. 

I came back wanting to create the same tranquillity at home with  my own lily pond or the next best thing - a lotus terrarium. Is that even possible in real world? Dunno, but in my world all it takes are a bunch of strokes and voila! 

Bulb Terrarium, available for purchase here.