Hi dear readers! I hope you had a really good summer and enjoyed doing your favorite things, whatever that might look like.

This year is going by at a ridiculously fast pace and I wonder if there are those little moments that come to drag us into a slow pause. I have been constantly getting a feeling that the work of our generation in the post pandemic society is to slow down and be conscious of our life choices.

Let me recap the week of Aug 14th that went by, the imagery shows a moment in my day which perhaps leads to a pause, or a somber appreciation for all that went by.

I must share that I love the creative community I have found on Instagram. I recently signed up for one with Draw Together for Grown-Ups with Wendy Mac.

My exploration in this week included an art piece and a small discussion about the delightful pauses in my day and how I wanted to include some words with the pictures. I loved going down this path, can you tell? It reminds me of The draw your day book by Samantha Dion Baker, please check it out!

Some explorations from week 1 shown above of #drawtogetherGUT are moments of delight in my day. The conversation, inspiration and curation of these weeks are led by WendyMac, with lots of inspiring resources and articles to go down a deep dive into! Absolutely wonderful group! Am so glad I signed up! Please do join me, click here.

For the final day with the draw together for Grown ups yesterday, I created abstract lines and blobs which brought me a lot of joy! Despite the busy morning at home, when I sat down to paint for an hour, I was able to see so much of calm and quiet, which was delightful.

I also joined a group of artists at an all day virtual drawing/painting event with San Francisco based Caseformaking friends’s 2nd anniversary. I have taken some classes with them in fall 2020, during the initial formation of this group! It’s yet another space where creative community and bonding can be found!

Here is wishing you all a good paced week ahead, and sending out some nasturtium love, from my garden to yours!

In my other world outside of painting, we had two big festivals for South Indian community that kickstarted the next few months of festivals and celebrations! The first Friday was an ode to goddess Lakshmi, the second was quiet while the 19th was a celebration of Lord Krisha’s birthday on Ashtami! India also celebrated her 75th year of her well earned Independence! lots of our parents who are part of the senior citizens club have been actively hosting Independence Day celebrations back home but news articles show a bitter and sad aftermath of leftover and strewn plastic and trash everywhere. I celebrated my day with a love showcase of my sketchbook project which I completed. More information is available in this link – click here.

Cheers!

Radha