Saturday, March 10, 2012

Curry in a Hurry




It's been some time since I have posted...and I do not mean to be flip with the title of my new post, but you'll see, it explains where I have been.
The day after Christmas last year, I left, with great anticipation, for a month long trip to India. It was billed as a textile driven trip, with days spent in villages of the north, woodblock classes and up close and personal experiences with textile mills and museums, organized by a self-proclaimed expert researcher, Roshan Houshmand, who was more interested in shopping than the history and art of India. = She could not have been more off-base about her abilities. We spent hours and hours, and hours, and hours, driving from one place to another, brilliantly leaving the day before a kite festival started in one area, only to leave the day before a music festival in another. We would drive all day and arrive in time for dinner, only to have to leave early the next am for another day of fly-by India. What you will see here and in future posts are drive-by glimpses of a country that many say after visiting, changed their life. Well, it did indeed change mine. I arrived home desperately ill and very dismayed to have had my time abused by this organizer. Nonetheless, because I have been trained brilliantly by some of the drawing greats, I was able to cobble together a barely respectable record of my travels. As more time passes, I am remembering the wonderful sights that I will choose to remember. More to come in bits and pieces.

5 comments:

hfm said...

Lovely drawings!

Frank Ching said...

Melanie, Love your drawings, as always. Sorry to hear about your travails but trust our time in Santo Domingo will be more rewarding.

memi said...

Frank, great to hear from you- yes, looking forward to seeing you and Deb in SD- this time for Bachata.....

Thank you hfm!

artworknyc said...

Melanie... i traveled to india in October on a Buddhist pilgrimage... and did alot of drawings - it sounds like your organizer wasn't quite in sync and i very sorry you got so sick... but it is a huge country and my trip also (which was 14 days only 10 of which were not consumed by travel... and of those 10 days in India - 3 were 12+ hour bus trips from Rajgir to Kushinigar... from Kushinigar to Lumbini, Nepal... and then Lumbini back to Varanasi... i haven't posted the drawings i did, but did spend the last 7-8 weeks at the Met - drawing in the renaissance portrait exhibit... congratulations on the FIT banner - you're right keep drawing what you love and magic happens <3

memi said...

Artworknyc- How lovely to hear from you and your personal message. Thank you- I would love to see your drawings and hope that you post them soon- it might be nice to meet in NY sometime to draw!