Resurrection

I am back (not from the dead - the title refers to my IGCSE art portfolio which I finally took out from it's 'coffin'!). I realize it's been ages since I last blogged, but i'm back with a new post!

I know I promised to post up my IGCSE Art portfolio ages ago, but I couldn't find the time :(

Well, here it is...

Self-Portrait
Pencil

Page 2

Identity - A Mind Map
Felt-tip pen and Colour Pencils

Colour Me In
Mixed Media

Page 3
(Clockwise from top left)  'Flowers' - Lino-print and Collage, 'Layers of Fish' - Lino-print,  Artist Inspiration, Work by MC Escher (above) and Shepard Fairey, Sample/Example of work by John Singer Sargent.)

DETAILS:

Page 4
(Clockwise from top left) 'Stenciled Self-Portrait' - Acrylic on  white cartridge paper, 'Frida' - Mixed Media on white cartridge paper, 'Stenciled Rose' - Acrylic on white cartridge paper.)

(Clockwise from top right: Self Stencil - Watercolor, Self Saturation - Watercolor, Still life - Pencil, Untitled - Watercolor, Camouflager - Digital Instillation, Prized Possesions - Pencil. )

(Clockwise from L-R: Simple Sketches of human features, Upside-down - Pencil, Self-portrait2 - Pen, Self-portrait3 -  Pencil)

Clockwise from L-R: Big Fingerprint - Lino Print, Prints - Acrylic,  Hands paint - Watercolor, Rainbow - Watercolor, Untitled - Charcoal, Untitled: Digital Instillation, My Hand: Pencil)

Busy for School

Apologies for not having posted for more than just a few days. I've been busy preparing for SCHOOL!! By that I mean I've been shopping like lunatic, visiting people from every corner of Kathmandu, researching colleges, taking weird unnecessary tests [like the TOEFL exam], going 'sight-seeing' with my family, frantically trying to update myself with friends as well as designing carpets for my Dad's business! Yes, I have been up to quite a bit - AND I have approximately 4 days until I catch a plane to Delhi, take a train to Dehradun and then drive off in a huge bus to my boarding school in Mussoorie!
     Correct - a boarding school. To a lot of people, that is just unheard of. I know that in the US if parents 'send' their kids away to 'boarding schools' it either means they need special care, they're being sent to rehab, or they have serious discipline issues and have been punished and made to go to a military academy... Folks, no worries, in my case - I CHOSE to go! Yes, crazy as it may sound to day-scholars, I chose to go to Woodstock School, Mussoorie because I really thought I needed a change. Back when I was studying at The British School, Kathmandu (TBS) I had everything I could ask for: amazing friends, exceptional teachers who were not only really good at what they did but were like parental figures/best friends outside of class. TBS was a home-away-from home, the place where I spent most of my childhood and went through hardships only to have made me who I am today. 8 years I studied at the British School, and yet I do not regret leaving it.
      It wasn't that I was unhappy and it wasn't that my love for TBS began to fade, it was rather that the girl that TBS had molded me into desperately seeked for something beyond the safe boundaries of this country. I wanted to know what other opportunities there could be for me - that could open my eyes and make me view things in a whole new perspective, a perspective that was once covered by the protective shield of a caring TBS family. Initially scared to death of leaving my humble home of around 300 teachers and friends (the place I felt safest - possibly even more than at home!) I entered Woodstock with doubts.
       Eventually though, one thing lead to another, I saw the place, the people of Woodstock, and I realized it was THE place for me to start fresh. Now I am a proud Ex-TBSian (slash)Woodstock-er living in the mountains of Mussoorie.

Here are some photos of my (first) home-away-from-home:

(they were taken by my two friends seen in the photos)

Ms. Ongdi and her $Million smile ^^

Ms. Rapten soaking up the sun near 'Secret Garden'

They're quite peculiar, but i  ♥ them to bits

 

All for now~ The Newari Girl

A taste of wool, a dash of color - CARPET DESIGNING!

"A carpet is a work of art..." 

- my father once told me. I come from a business/trading background, (as do many Nepalese (or more specifically Newari) people), my parents, their parents, and their parents (so on) have been proprietors or entrepreneurs for generations. We traded a mixed range of goods: from Japanese beer to garments from India; nevertheless after many years the family business narrowed down on the things we traded. My parents currently own a business that exports carpets to countries beyond the South Asian periphery.

As a child I remember exploring the room of carpets; running around the labyrinth of piles and piles of towering carpets.I remember the engulfing sensation of smelling wool and watched as people rolled, unrolled and re-rolled the castle of carpets. Each knot, hand woven with extreme care, dictates the quality and the richness our rugs provide. Our family business initiated the notion of custom made carpets in Nepal, customers are free to design their own unique rug that perfectly suits their interior.

Please visit our site, Sakyamuni, to know more (click on the logo):

So I've been getting a taste of carpet designing as, my father believes, I can apply my 'artistic' abilities onto the rugs... Some of these are my designs whilst others are designs done by others. Nevertheless ALL colors present in the carpets below have been handpicked by myself from the ARS color box. 

The following designs were inspired by Bridget Riley, one of my biggest inspirations as well as one of the artists who first initiated the 'Op-Art' movement.

All for now~ The Newari Girl

Another Day Another Stupa

Yesterday I got a chance to play around with a Nikon DX digital SLR whilst paying a visit to the Swayambhunath temple . The weather was just perfect (though it did drizzle a few drops) and there weren't too many people so I got the chance to snap away and experiment with my Nikon without feeling insecure (& boy did I look like a crazed tourist-photographer-wannabe-kid^^!) It was an enjoyable trip and i'm pretty satisfied with my shots too (considering the fact that I've never held an SLR for more than 5 minutes let alone taken a dozen pictures with one). So... enjoy:

Swayambhunath Stupa

The symbolic guarding Lion

Souvenirs

Close-up shots:

Even shrines wear away

Lamps that have been used to such an extent that they are now drenched and covered in oil, wax and other remains of combusted* material
(made up word^^)

Iitaa : pieces of intertwined strings that have been soaked in oil so as to burn an eternal flame... This one must have been put out due to the constant downpour

Colorful Door Knob

An extreme close-up

Chains

Other Discoveries:

Behind Bars: due to theft, these intricate gold statutes are kept behind safe bars

The detailed gold words (click to view larger) are actually written in Newari >> there are very few left in the world who can still understand and read Newari writing ~ it's really a shame so to say that our language is 'dieing' ... :'(

I don't know how you got there, but it sure does look cozy^^

I have a soft spot for dogs. I honestly do not know what it is; could it be that I was a dog in my previous life?

Reflections; large puddles are left behind after the gray clouds decide to move ahead

The pond that was once a lamp

A newly made Buddhist bell!

Close up of the bell's detailed tibetan carving. The words are amazingly minuscule - must have taken ages to make

Black Cat - caught this just before it was about to jump down to where the rest of its family were waiting...

All for now~ The Newari Girl