Volunteering for Art at The Rainforest Retreat

Rainforest Retreat is an eco-lodge in South India which practices agro-forestry and responsible tourism. I had gone there as a volunteer and while I hand-pollinated vanilla flowers in the mornings, I painted the wall of the cottage where I was put up during the rest of the day. I took reference from the beautiful bio-diversity that is found in the lovely place. The mural was 13 x 7 feet and covered almost the entire wall. :-)

Painting the coffee berries.

The civet cat is a nocturnal creature and feeds on coffee berries amongst other things.

The Crested Bulbul.

Different kinds of mushrooms abound in the rainforest.

The common swallow

Vanilla beans.

The Nephila spider is one of the biggest spiders in the world and the female grows to almost 6-7 cms in size and weaves webs which are as strong as nylon thread.

The purple flowers are called Purple Rain

The Atlas Moth. 

The Malabar gliding frog

The hawk moth caterpillar.

That's me posing with my mural! 

Wall Art at Just-Being Counselling Center.

Last week, I did a wall-art with a Mathematician friend, in a counselling center, Just Being, (http://www.justbeingcenter.com/). They expressed their desire to have some blue in the art for its calming effect, so we drew a mermaid, dolphins and other water elements.

Wall Art in KHAMIR, Kutch.

During my Kutch trip, I had an opportunity to spruce up the dining area at Khamir (www.khamir.org), which is where I stayed. Khamir is an organization that works to promote traditional Kutchi crafts and arts. Every year they archive one craft, and this year it's pottery. Interestingly, while I was there, there was a presentation by Prof. R.S.Bisht, an archaeologist who led the excavation, at Dholavira, of the ruins of the Indus Valley civilisation. I was amazed to see the rich motifs in the pottery of the Indus civilisation that existed 5000 years ago. When the Director of Khamir suggested that I incorporate pottery motifs in the wall-art, I included the motifs of the pottery found at Dholavira. The motif of the fish especially interested me.

Wall Art in a Pune school- Sayajinath Maharaj Vidyalaya

When I was working on the earlier mural, a gentleman stopped by and introduced himself as the Principal of a Marathi medium school near Alandi. He said he would love some artwork in his school and he would arrange for our transport to and from the school (from Viman nagar), food/tea and also the paints. We would just have to gift our time and service there. I thought it was a great deal. It was super amazing when an anonymous sponsor appeared to supply art material too. This being a government aided school receives little funding and we were happy to cheer up the walls, the students and everybody there. I was again accompanied by my dear friend Urmila this time..:-)

Wall Art opposite Symbiosis College, Viman Nagar.

This one is 6 (h) x 20 (w) feet. This is diagonally opposite Symbiosis college in Viman Nagar, Pune, bang opposite the water tank. A big thanks to my dear friend Urmila for being such a support right from identifying the wall to cleaning the wall and right upto the finishing touches. And thanks also to the other volunteers who dropped by to add colour to the wall.!