The most Precious Drawing of my Lifetime...

The oldest of my Drawing

Of all my Art works, the most precious one is- this drawing of a Horse which I did when I was a child. It was done on a typical hot-summer-day at my Grandma's home in Kavali, Nellore, AP, India. This is the oldest of my Art works that I could save and preserve through all these years.

I just can't imagine how fast the life moves on. It's been 37 years already since I did this. It's no surprise to me, when I look at any of my Art works and think of those moments when I did it, I go back in time and recollect all moments around it. When I did this, I had my brother Sridhar Pottepalem sitting with me on the floor in the middle room of our Grandma's house watching while I was doing it. After I finished it with a pencil outline first and then with blue ink pen, I wanted to make it in black ink. When I tried to put black ink over the blue ink lines, the thin paper I used started to spread the ink. So, I did not proceed any further. The little black-ink-line that spread over blue-line can still be seen on the forehead of the horse.

After I finished it, I showed it to my uncle Sudhakar Jaladanki who was a wonderful Artist. I always used to take his opinion and he used to encourage me a lot. When I showed it to him, he took a red ballpoint pen out and showed me how to do shades of lines. All red line shades seen in this drawing were done by him. I used the same red ballpoint pen to sign it afterwards. I still remember, next few days, how proud I was of my Art work, looking at it numerous times in joy. I would have not known at that age, how much love I was in with Art, but I remember how happy I was with the outcome.

It was based on a full-page colorful Art work done by Artist Sankar published in Mar, 1978 edition of Chandamama monthly Telugu magazine for children. Those days, Chandamama used to have a monthly running serial of Indian epic stories. The epic Ramayana was published around that time with the name Veerahanuman. Today, I found the original beautiful drawing that I did mine based on after googling long enough before I found a site in which all scanned Chandamama monthly magazines were made available. I went patiently through each page of several months of archives to finally find the following original picture which inspired me so much at that age. Like many children of those times, Chandamama was a big part of my childhood life. It played even a bigger role in my Art. The beautiful Drawing illustrations by all wonderful Artists: Vaddadi Papayya, Sankar, Jaya, Chitra and Razi were all early inspirations to my Art.

Chandamama - 1978 March - Veerahanuman
Artist: Sankar

I can't pay my respects any better than dedicating my Art work to those two Telugu Legends B.NagiReddy Garu and Chakrapani Garu and all above mentioned Artists of those days. I dedicate my Art work to these two Telugu Legends and all Artists who were behind the beautiful Telugu magazine Chandamama!

Long live Art! Happy Drawing!

Details

Mediums: Ink and Ballpoint Pen on Paper
Dated: July 9, 1979
Inspiration: A beautiful illustration by Telugu Artist Sankar in Chandamama, Telugu monthly magazine for children

Size: 6" x 8" (15 cm x 20 cm)

Find ways...

Kuchipudi - Indian Classical Dance

After hectic weeks of work, one needs a break to regain energies and get going in life. For Artists, Art  helps more than anything to refresh mind, body and soul. Just attempted this to be in my own world for a couple of hours. As long as Art doesn't leave me, I am just fine ;)

When you lose energies, find ways to regain. Never give up!
Happy Painting!

Details

Mediums: Ink and Watercolors on Paper
Title: Kuchipudi - Indian Classical Dance
Category: Portraits
Inspiration: A picture I took at a recent Rangapravesam by one of my friend's daughter

Size: 11" x 17" (28 cm x 43 cm)

This Day that Age...

Coastal Andhra, India - Ink on regular Paper

My vacation days, 30 years ago were filled with nothing but Art. At that age in life, I didn't have any sources around me for learning drawing or doing painting. But, I just used to draw and I just used to try hard to get into painting. I didn't even have any good Art material with me. All I had was just regular fountain pen ink (Camel or Bril, Indian brands), a couple of tiny cheap quality watercolor brushes, regular but not a good quality white paper and access to some newspapers and weekly magazines like Andhra Bhoomi.

Just the desire to Draw and Paint was strong enough which made me try numerous drawings with Pencil and Ink. Taking a step further, I think, I discovered my own way of painting in black & white with just ink and water. This one is one of such drawing-paintings done with ink and water on paper. As always, the moments and time I spent alone at our home with my Art are still fresh in my memories. When I look back now, all those good-old drawings make me feel happy. My efforts didn't go waste. They still make me happy even after 30 years.

Have a strong desire to do anything, and keep doing. A job well-done always gives pleasure!

Happy Painting!

Details

Mediums: Bril Ink with brush on Paper
Title: Coastal Andhra, India
Category: Landscapes
Dated: July 5, 1986
Place: Kavali, AP, India
Inspiration: A picture published in Andhra Bhoomi Sunday Special Edition Newspaper

Size: 11" x 16" (28 cm x 40 cm)