Category Archives: sketchbook

Life, sketchbook

To new beginnings

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This is what 2018 looks like in my life. Almost 8 journals finished, though there were days and weeks when I couldn’t bring myself to draw. It’s natural sometimes when going through moments of great change, that it takes a while before you find yourself again.

In between all the drawing life unfolded. And in September we moved to Hyderabad, where I started a new job with Microsoft, as one of their design leaders of Microsoft Edge (the browser). Now sixty days in we’re still settling down and coming to terms with a new city and new people.

 

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If you’re around, don’t hesitate to hit me up!

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Books, Design, Life, sketchbook

Reading “White” by Kenya Hara

Like I posted earlier, I read White last year and loved it. Here’s a drawing I made during that time.

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[WHITE
Every morning I sit and drink my coffee and read a few pages of White in silence and calm, and it’s a beautiful meditative experience reading this book. I feel thankful for life and everything that is still left in this world for me to wonder at.]

Read it for the experience as well as for the content.

From the sketchbook called Captivity (Feb 2017).

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List, sketchbook

Welcome to inktales

In May 2018 this blog inktales completed 12 years. That’s a really long relationship in my life, second only to the brown boy! At 10 years I found that I had nearly 120 sketchbooks – those have contributed to nearly 600 posts, despite the ebb and flow of sharing. And after a gap of nearly 3 years, I’ve started posting again a few weeks ago.

For new friends and new visitors, here’s a list of my favorite posts over the years:

About inktales

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A guide to inktales

Zones of privacy and The slow art of bookmaking

The brown boy and how we got together

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The story of us

Living in Mumbai 1: First attempts & Living in Mumbai 2: The designer’s solution to all problems

The hero complains

False Representation & Epilogue

My year of spirituality

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My friend the anteater

In which I try

Creative Block 2

Anteater wisdom

Conversation – part 9

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My family

Losing sweets

A fish tale

The Mumbai chronicles

Our labor story

Studying in Sweden

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Things I miss about home

Leaving | Leaving the film

Food & Travel

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A divine collision | What happened in Dharmsala

The brown boy in Paris

A book’s tours | In which a book I bought in Seattle sends us to Paris

Soapbox wisdom

parenting

Parenting and your sense of self

Motivation

Metaphysical | Deconstructing feelings and change

Paris, not me | Thoughts on romantic love

Being happy

Alternative careers

Some more

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The body rebels

Always answer the phone

Dog on Friday

Unwelcome visitor

Getting where we’re going | Living everyday

Not drawing

Holiday Journal 2 | How drawing saves me

Friends

Girl, one, Pacificleo, love

The Big Joshi

The one and only Parsa

Fan, one and only

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People, sketchbook

To new friends

Two people, who have since become dear friends, began their entry into my life with the following introductions:

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What pressure, now I see, for me to be the messenger of “new things” in their lives. Novelty, thy middle name should be “Soo”.

Have you ever given a thought to why you become friends with someone?

From the sketchbook called Captivity, Feb 2017.

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sketchbook

Monday with the anteater

Most of you know that the anteater suddenly landed up in my sketchbook way back in 2009. I like to think that he is the representation of all my absent friends, and for me, drawing a conversation with him is like getting a hug!

Here’s one from a Monday:

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[Anteater: What are you up to?

Soo: I’m being exasperated.

Anteater: Aha. I’m being zen.]

His smugness kills me. And here’s another one (drawn for you, pacificleo!)

waiting

[Soo: I’m waiting for you to talk to me…

Anteater: Hmmm…?]

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art, Books, drawing, Life, sketchbook

From Sojourns in the parallel world

A year or so ago, I used to have a morning ritual of waking up and reading some poetry with coffee. Once in a while I would read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and during that time, I also read White by Kenya Hara. (It’s such a meditative, beautiful book, and it was rather a spiritual and other worldly experience for me.)

One of those mornings, I read this poem by Denise Levertov. Though it’s about immersing our human consciousness in the natural world, to me the last few lines evoked how we continue to voluntarily lose ourselves in the virtual world.

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“No one discovers

just where we’ve been, when we’re caught up again

–but we have changed, a little.”

From the sketchbook called Finding Soo • August 2016.

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art, drawing, Life, parenthood, sketchbook

Chasing a medium

Back in 2015, I faced a serious identity crisis. Most women sail through these transitional times like swans, I however was more sinking than swimming. Eventually I found a sense of self but it took almost a year.

In those days, I felt cramped by my earlier visual language, and struggled to evolve my usual ink lines into something else.

Friends recommended all sorts of media, but I just couldn’t break out of line.

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I explored drawing with brushes, ink and pastels but the cloud wouldn’t budge.

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The only benefit after all that, was the brown boy was happy.

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