I dont know if I am an artist or a crafter.Is the distinction important?Not really as long as it doesnt limit my creativity but it is one of the questions that have risen up in the quagmire of my mind in the last few months.I have been painting and attending painting competitions from the age of three,all credit to my mother.Everything I know about painting,I learnt from her.Back then she had never attended a professional class and neither had I.But what she taught got me a huge pile of prizes from all the competitions I attended including a gold medal at the National level Kendriya Vidyalaya painting competition.Ok.Now before you go ooooh,let me tell you that was in sixth grade.And I have not painted seriously since second year of my college which was ...errr....lets see...quite a few years back considering my 35th birthday is coming up next month.
The first card I made was in third grade for my mom's birthday.All I had was a scrap of cardstock and the desire to make something spectacular enough to gain my mom's praise which was a tough task bordering on the impossible even back then.Put together a major lack of supplies and a determined seven year old and I ended up with a card with two leaves from a money plant glued on either side of a piece of the "velvet flower" aka cockscomb which was my favorite flower back then.Yeah!I had taste :D.Today shoe flowers are my favorite.Go figure!
My "stash" contained one tiny golden bead and half of another golden bead.I thought long and hard about using my treasures but love for one's mom and the desire to hear her praise me(which didnt happen by the way) won out and I glued them onto the corners of the card in way of embellishments.There!I had done my best.Looking back,I know it was a very creative card for a seven year old.My mom looked at the card for a long while,didn't say a word and put it in our showcase cabinet in the visiting room.Decade later,even after the flower and the leaves had dried out,the card stayed there.And some more years after the card had been thrown out and I was an adult(yes,that did happen too:p),when we were talking about cards,my mom said "I loved that card so much,It was so creative".Oh!
I was in the sixth grade when a story about a girl and her rag doll ignited a burning desire for one of my own.I was not the kind of child who ran to her parents with a request everytime a whim or fancy struck me.I was the type who hankered after it quietly,desperately.So I cut up an old dress,some really old dhoti and found an odd ball of navy blue yarn.I then sewed it up using the backstitch which was the only stitch I knew.My parents were surprised at what I came up with and I was most pleased that I had a rag doll.I didnt even really know what a rag doll looked like but recently I did come across pictures of rag dolls which look remarkably similar to what I made back then.
My fascination with miniature dolls started with the curios that were in my grandmother's visiting room and the Enid Blyton stories that I read.A thumb sized plastic doll that a generous neighbour gifted me on my birthday brought alive Thumbelina and added fuel to an imagination that already had me thirsting for a glimpse of Brer fox in the shady backyard of my grandmother's house.It really wasn't that farfetched a wish considering foxes made an appearance every night there and all I wanted was for one of them to wear a smart little red coat and peek out at me from behind a tree at a safe distance.
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| One of my amigurumi patterns |
I discovered the world of amigurumi through the internet in 2008 when encouraged by an over indulgent husband I decided to take up crocheting as a hobby while working as a software professional,Soon enough,making what other people designed wasnt enough and I had to bring to existence the little people who appeared in my head.Oh,the satisfaction of being to create what I saw in my head... !But I couldnt make them small enough or detailed enough.Amigurumi had its limitations for me.That's when using the only stitch I knew back then, I made my first miniature doll who was the size of my thumb and gifted it to my mother who gushed over it.She in turn gifted it to her art teacher who is someone I have very high regard for.That lovely lady gushed over it in turn and popped it into her curio cabinet.Annie aunty,bless you and thank you for that.
My doll making skills have grown by leaps and bounds.I have sold my miniature dolls and my amigurumi patterns to people around the world.The feedback that I have received,the delight and joy that my dolls have brought people has been so rewarding and so humbling especially since I am completely self taught.While I dabble in several crafts,designing dolls is where I feel at my element and is the medium that really calls to me as an artist. For the last two years I have been busy looking after my baby.But its time to get back into my groove,to stretch my skills,to create.I can feel the call.Its hard to find the time and easy to make excuses but when I really stop to look at what bothers me,I know it is the fear which dogs so many an artist.I feel it right now when am typing this.The sheer terror.And yet,the knowledge that shines like a beacon that this is what I am meant to do makes me want to be braver than I have been,to connect and to show you what I make.
