Out of the Sketchbook!

Back from my most recent trip to Coorg! I stayed at honeyvalley and also hiked up Tadiandamol, which had been on my wish-list for 4 years now, from when i started with the idiscoveri programmes! This has been the only exciting adventure -all by myself- so far! Suresh and Susheela Chengappa have always been lovely hosts with their most generous smiles and delicious home-cooked food.

Met some other wonderful backpackers there and every now and then, had some time to get my sketch book out. Of everything that i saw, I guess i formed a more special bond with the moths at honeyvalley! They loved to be sketched and i loved to sketch them too. They sat ever so patiently until i sketched them.. and heh! they kept sitting even after that!!
The trek up Tadiandamol was just amazing, but tiring as hell! From honeyvalley to the peak its about 9 kms and the last part of it is steep and uphill all the way. It was so misty and cloudy when i reached the top and i couldnt see more than 30-40ft from where i stood. to make it more memorable, it showered just so much to refresh me from the hike to the top. Between the showers, i just made a quick sketch of the Ground-Orchid on top, which left me smiling as i had something to take back from there, other than some pictures! As i was heading back, decided to take the other path which is longer but would pass through the Nalkunad palace...It was 14 kms from the peak to honeyvalley! Most of the path in the beginning was downhill or either flatish.. but the last 4 kms were kind of uphill and gosh it seemed to take forever! My legs had almost started giving up on me, i trotted along so slowly at my own pace and finally reached honeyvalley at 6:30pm. Exhausted like never, hungry and wanting to hit the bed as soon as i could.................but if only the Wolf Snake in my room let me! :)

The 7 Chakra's...

The 7 chakra's in the human body!

Well...unlike the wildlife & nature paintings i have posted on this blog earlier, every once in a while i need to accept other commission works too, to keep myself going ! These are the most recent set of paintings that i have worked on. I was not aware about these chakra's at all, until i started painting them. Though its nowhere close to wildlife, i really enjoyed working on this set mainly coz of their design and the colours! I learnt a little more about them as i painted.. i believe, the Chakra system orginated more than 4,000 years ago and are referred to in the ancient litratures of Vedas, Upanishads and in the Yoga sutra's of Patanjali. Each of these 7 main Chakra's in the body have been symbolised by the paintings and their respective sanskrit alphabets, to add to their meaning.
Here are the names of the 7 Chakra's in thier respective order...
1) Muladhara, symbolised by a lotus with four petals.
2) Swadhisthana, symbolised by a lotus with six petals.
3) Manipura, symbolised by a lotus with ten petals.
4) Anahata, lotus with twelve petals.
5) Vishuddha, lotus with sixteen petals.
6) Ajna, in the form of an eye, held as a chakra of time, awareness and light. On the two corners you see the 'sun' and the 'moon'.
7) Saharara, is generally considered to be the chakra of consciousness with thousands of petals.