Grandchildren (2015) 5ftx2.5ft acrylic on canvas. Hangs in my art studio.
In 2015, I felt that I had to celebrate the milestone of having grandchildren in my life and represent them in one of my paintings. Since all four grandchildren, myself, and Satish love animals I decided to honour this unifying factor in this painting.
Not only do we all love animals, they surround us on our farm. There are many types of animals. We have geese, dogs, and wild monkeys and cobras. We also have all sorts of birds. This includes parakeets, flycatchers, woodpeckers, Indian rollers, coppersmiths, hawks, owls, hoopoe, cormorants, peacocks, and birds of paradise.
There were was one bird when we first moved to our farm.
It was an Indian roller that flew over the mud piles that labourers had dug up to see if it could find some bugs, which it did.
This farm is now teaming with life. There are monkeys all over the place. Sometimes they are so naughty that they jump on the people walking by or catch the peacocks by their tails.
On first entering the farm you cannot see anything but trees. However, when you walk around quietly and take your time you might encounter some of the animals and people depicted in this painting including, a wildcat!
In this painting, our grandson, Ronan, is depicted as a leopard, he is graceful, lithesome, imaginative and very alert.
Our grandson, Ryan, is depicted as a fox since he is quite political, diplomatic, and a good friend.
While our grandson, Tahir, is shown as the coppersmith, the bird we hear all the time around the farm. The coppersmith is just like we hear him, he is no nonsense, and knows exactly who he is, nobody will make a fool of him.
The youngest is Vanya. She is half poodle (like my dog Dolly) with natural black ringlets. She is adorable, artistic, bohemian and has a talent for sarcasm, she keeps her own counsel.
Satish is shown as a bear, he is relaxed, warm, and strong.
I am depicted as a parakeet because I was instrumental in freeing captured parakeets in the area.
The painting has many animals with their symbolism and shadows. The dog is our fantastic guard dog, named Harsil for the town from which he came. Harsil is protecting all of us as long as the painting lasts.
Technically, I used air spray, outlining, detailing eyes, and dancing with small brushes all along the surface.
My mother, who is a tapestry weaver, really liked this painting. She made a beautiful tapestry based on it that is just the same size as the original. It is included here.