So I did…
Category Archives: sketchbook
The difference between Friday and a fried egg
Monday arrived with Max makes a million. Which of course reminded me of Swami on Rye: Max in India which has one of my favorite love poems.
Tuesday was busy.
On Wednesday and Thursday lunch was even better with Ruined by Design.
Friday began with us reading Who ate my book.
Saturday ended with this insight from Yo-Yo Ma:
“But the mental process, the emotional process, the psychic investment, in trying to make something easy is infinitely hard…”
Yo-Yo Ma
So now you know the difference between Friday and a fried egg!
More people watching
Here’s another trip from last year. I’m one of those people who always reaches early for flights, and now you know why…
Traveling is such a great time to draw. So many people of different kinds and origins in one place.
Also random thoughts: How much does the mouth extend when you yawn? I can feel it but not really observe it.
On this particular day I may have been feeling quite charitable:
Drawing is a way to observe, Watch without judgement. I think you can see the empathy in the lines when you have drawn without prejudice…”
More people watching in airports: Travelers (Del-Mun 2013), Airport people (CPH 2010), More airport people (Del-Hel 2010), Flying (Del-SFO 2017), and the more recent People watching in Kolkata and Own your presence Bengali 2020.
Getting into weekends
Often during the work week I am terribly challenged finding a few minutes to draw, so you can imagine that on Friday evenings I have all these pent up drawings just struggling to be expressed.
But then of course there’s the household calling or your energy levels need bolstering…
But then, there’s always revival after the end – and I usually make a memento.
Looking back at the wilderness years
I spent the week with the early sketchbooks and it was nice to be able to join the dots and see how I found my creative voice. I was cute, so innocent and honest – it’s really endearing. Of course there were periods of confusion, loss of identity – but I’m still here. (Yay for WordPress!) So grateful to be able to draw…Thank you universe.
Fjords & islands
Throughout the summer I read Letters from Tove and dreamt about fjords.
This is where I’m going next.
Things I wish I knew in design school
A couple of months ago I was invited to give a talk to the students of JKLU.
Here are my notes as I was thinking of the content for the talk. As usual, I was supervising some mealtime or the other.
Of course not all of this went into the final presentation. The final talk was well received by the students and they asked really great questions. Here are a couple of the slides.
This is what I heard later: “Soo was so good! So informative but presented with an ease of informality. Loved the sketches.” “Soo cut across generations with her storytelling.” I enjoyed it too and thank you for listening.
These are the days
Those weird lockdown days were strange, so strange…and while the world was coming undone this song by 10,000 Maniacs was playing on loop in my head. I was feeling lucky, so lucky, and still so thankful for every single moment.
Consolations of the anteater
“I should probably tell you there’s never a happy ending in your life.”
“Just go quietly when it’s time to die.”
People watching in Kolkata
A trip back to my childhood home in Kolkata is always a bit disorienting for me.
Home: A constant reorientation of the self. Peeling back all the skins from the past.
In between all the usual socializing, I try to carve out some time to sit and draw the Bengalis, and secretly make snide comments into my sketchbook.
Thinking, how some people are totally unprepared for such close inspection. Including me of course. Flury’s, one afternoon in June 2018.
