Illustration Friday: Music & NaBloPoMo: Day 26

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

The sitar (Hindi: सितार, Bengali: সেতার, Urdu: ستار, Persian: سی تار ) is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages. It derives its resonance from sympathetic strings, a long hollow neck and a gourd resonating chamber.

Used throughout the Indian subcontinent, particularly in Northern India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, the sitar became known in the western world through the work of Pandit Ravi Shankar beginning in the late 1950s, particularly after George Harrison of The Beatles took lessons from Shankar and Shambhu Das and played sitar in songs including "^[1]Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". Shortly after, The Rolling Stones used sitar in "Paint It, Black" and a brief fad began for using the exotic instrument in pop songs.

Source: Wikipedia

*****

(See Gita play the guitar here.)

NaBloPoMo: Day 25

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

NaBloPoMo: Day 24

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

NaBloPoMo: Day 22

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

NaBloPoMo: Day 21

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

NaBloPoMo: Day 20

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

'Have we met?'
(Watercolour on recycled paper)

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

'Have you heard?'
(Watercolour on recycled paper)

Illustration Friday: Unbalanced & NaBloPoMo: Day 19

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

Burgers, coke and fries do not a balanced meal make.

Inspire Me Thursday: Tree and NaBloPoMo: Day 18

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

"There are some trees, Watson, which grow to a certain height
and then suddenly develop some unsightly eccentricity."
~ Sherlock Holmes (The Adventure of the Empty House)

NaBloPoMo: Day 17

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

NaBloPoMo: Day 16

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

Didn't draw or post over the weekend. Ah well. Here's to day 16.

:)

NaBloPoMo: Day 13

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

Yup, her neck is wonky and could use some fixing. But for now, I'm content to just let her be!

:)

(Also, I'm going out of town for the weekend, so anything I draw over the next two days, I'm going to have to post on Monday)

NaBloPoMo: Day 12

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

I have no idea why I'm drawing all these geometric shapes lately. Just going with the flow. This one was doodled while watching television.

Illustration Friday: Blur & NaBloPoMo: Day 11

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

Without her glasses, life was just one big blur.

Just a sketch this time. I've opened this an innumerable number of times in Illustrator to work on the final vector illustration, but something's just been off. I have a feeling I want to try painting it, but haven't been able to make myself open a tube of paint either.

Maybe it's time just hasn't come yet!

Will just have to update this post with the colour version if and when I get around to doing it.

:)

Below is another sketch I drew earlier today for NaBloPoMo*.
(*Stands for 'National Blog Posting Month'. Basically, you try to post something on your blog everyday in November. In my case, I'm trying to post a drawing, sketch or illustration everyday.)

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

NaBloPoMo: Day 10

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

"For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together.
For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad."
~ Edwin Way Teale, Autumn Across America

NaBloPoMo: Day 9

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

NaBloPoMo: Day 8

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

I've just gotten my hands on this book, and since I doubt I can put it down till I'm done with it, I'm just going to have to see you on the other side of 765 pages.
Till then, I'll leave you with a doodle I did yesterday.

:)

NaBloPoMo: Day 7

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

Today.

NaBloPoMo: Day 6

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

“By perseverance the snail reached the ark.”
~ Charles H. Spurgeon

(Pssst...I've decided to overlook the fact that I'm about an hour and 20 mins late posting this.)

:)

NaBloPoMo: Day 5

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

We've been having quite a few cold and cloudy days over
here lately (Think socks and cozy rooms).

Also, Mr.Yates gets a makeover.

NaBloPoMo: Day 4

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

This is Mr. Yates. He's contemplating growing a mustache. I think.

Illustration Friday: Skinny (Also known as NaBloPoMo: Day 3)

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

"A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise."
~ Winnie the Pooh

***
This is George. He likes snorkeling on weekends.

Did you know Snorkeling burns approximately 435 calories per hour for
an average, 145 pound (65.9 kg) person?

Now George knows he'll never be skinny (not that he needs to be), but he's hoping
to get fitter by shedding a few pounds.

:)

Here's the sketch:


(Posted exactly 5 minutes before it's time for ' NaBloPoMo:Day 4'.)

To do! (Also known as 'NaBloPoMo: Day 2')

© 2009 Radha Ramachandran

The ancient owls' nest must have burned.
Hastily, all alone,
a glistening armadillo left the scene,
rose-flecked, head down, tail down...

~ An exceprt from the poem The Armadillo by Elizabeth Bishop

***

'Mother,' he said, 'there are two new animals in the woods to- day, and the one that you said couldn't swim, swims, and the one that you said couldn't curl up, curls; and they've gone shares in their prickles, I think, because both of them are scaly all over, instead of one being smooth and the other very prickly; and, besides that, they are rolling round and round in circles, and I don't feel comfy.'

'Son, son!' said Mother Jaguar ever so many times, graciously waving her tail, 'a Hedgehog is a Hedgehog, and can't be anything but a Hedgehog; and a Tortoise is a Tortoise, and can never be anything else.'

'But it isn't a Hedgehog, and it isn't a Tortoise. It's a little bit of both, and I don't know its proper name.'

'Nonsense!' said Mother Jaguar. 'Everything has its proper name. I should call it "Armadillo" till I found out the real one. And I should leave it alone.'

~ An excerpt from the story 'The Beginning of the Armadillos' by Rudyard Kipling

***

Posted exactly 4 minutes before it's time for ' NaBloPoMo:Day 3'!!!

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Update
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Here's another (simpler) version (which I must admit I rather like):



And a version of the original sketch for posterity:

I think I'm going to call him Arnold.
Arnold, the amateur skateboarding Armadillo.

To do or not to do? (Also known as 'NaBloPoMo: Day 1'. Maybe.)

Today is the first day of November, and so traditionally the first day of NaBloPoMo.

I've always been intrigued by the concept of forcing oneself to write or post or draw something every day of a month, but at the same time also a little intimidated 'cos let's face it, I'm usually a person of few words and who wants the pressure of having to say something (be it through pictures or words) every single day whether you feel like it or not?

Yet here I am, writing this post, so that if I decide to do NaBloPoMo after all, I can post tomorrow without feeling like I've cheated and skipped a day (Yes, I can be really anal about things like that sometimes!).

Besides, I've been feeling restless lately with regard to my art and work. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to try new mediums and styles and do a little experimentation on a daily basis?

We shall see.

:)