Ken School of Art, Class No.8 of Discover Bengaluru through sketching

28th August 2011

As most of them wanted to practice in indoor (studio) for a change. I thought of  aproaching    a art institution for studio  space.  When I approached Ken School of art, principal Mr. Umesh was kind enough to provide us a space for our class.

Ken School of Art started in 1968 by R.M.Hadpad.  Ken means knowledge (to know), Ken shifted to its present venue in 1972.  From then Ken remained an active cultural centre to the present day.  Ken School has produced lot of artists who are recoginised nationally and internationally,  Chandranath Acharya, Sheela Gowda, Surekha, Raghavendra Rao, P.S.Kumar, are some of them.

On request of  all participants I decided the days subject as still life and life study.  I was at Ken school at 09:30.  I was given the main hall, I had brough some fruits and drapery and started arranging the same.  After some time a group of people came and said that they had already booked the place much earlier as they had a feliciatation programme and I was told to shift, by then even Senthil had come and also some of the participants came, by 10:10 most of them had come.  We arranged the still life with the fruits which I had bought. The place was dark with out the electricity.

I invited all our participants to the studio and told to them to take their seats and to sketch.  I was happy as the class room was filled of students and only a couple of them were absent for the class. As the place was too small Senthil was not able to give a demo, instead he did the same for one group and the same was shown to all of them so that they can understand how a composition should be. Also he took regular rotations to see if anybody had any problem in drawing or shading.

Everybody enjoyed the days session, they started concentrating more along with some live music which was a part of the other programme happening next door,  and came up with beautiful compostitions, some gave importance for the drapery, some for the pots and some for the bottel which was arranged in front of them. 

 Senthil demonstrating

Still life by Leena

 Ravi Kavli, Sakshi, Leena and Smithi seen sketching

Rakhi, Chanakya, Apoorva, Senthil, Sakshi, Leena, Smithi, Vikram Ponappa seen  sketching

 

The still life session went on till 12'o clock there after we went to to near by cafe to have coffee, after having coffee and pakodas  we came back and started working in ink and brush only this time was studying from life model.  After the demo each one posed for other to sketch.  The session went on  till 2:15pm.

Anitha posing  while senthil sketches her 



 Vishanth's Sketch by Pooja

Sonia's sketch by Vishanth



Jayanagar, Class No.7 of Discover Bengaluru through sketching

21st August 2011, Sunday Discover Bengaluru through sketching class No. 7 was held at Jayanagar 4th block.

Jayanagar is a residential and commercial neighbourhood of the city of Bangalore. It is sub-divided into ten blocks, most of which comprise residential areas. A prominent shopping complex is located in Jayanagar IV Block. It was one of the first planned neighbourhoods in Bangalore and at the time, the largest in Asia. Since then, Jayanagar has expanded significantly. 

Sketching Scene at Jayanagar

I selected shopping complex area for sketching, as we have plenty of space where one can come across with various subjects.  On one side we find a vegetable market, and other side a bus stand and on either side one would find various shopping malls where one could find a whole range of hosiery's, shoes, Home decors, gift shops etc., also the area is always filled with decent crowd in all generations.  Our fellow members would easily get a models for their sketching with out paying them and also one wouldn't mind posing for them.

After almost 2 weeks we met each other at the sketching class which was at Jayanagar to sketch the city squares / shopping street.  Its been raining heavily since past 3 weeks in Bengaluru, some of the participants  missed the class, as some of them were unwell, some busy with their work and for couple of them  it was their exams in school.

We were there by 09:30 and were waiting for everybody to come, Sonia was the first to come as she lived close by.  By 10:15 most of them had come and they started sketching the street, like always each selected their own subject. Instructor Senthil had told them to do a complete compostion and to shade them.  Each one came up with different subjects, some sketched the shopping malls with their window displays, some scenes from the street, some with lots of trees and vehicles.

Most of them had lot of doubts, which I think they got it cleared. At this point what I think is each participants work has improved and their way of see objects / materials have changed.  I am sure even our participants are pretty satisfied with the kind of guidance given by us. 

The class was with lots of demonstrations and corrections by Senthil clearing their doubts.  He also showed them how to sketch using brush and Ink,  he sketched a groundnut seller who was nearby.  After he had done  Sonia and Apoorva were happy to show him his sketch.  He replied with a blush which resulted  a good business.  We all had round of steamed groundnut which was hot and  and was tempting for more.  After groundnuts Ravi took us all to Maiya's to have coffee which was down the street.  The class ended with a coffee and a picture.

 Sketch by Aporva

 Sketching street by Ravi Cavale and Vishanth

 Sketch by Ravi Cavale

 Ink Sketch by Senthil

 Sketch by Leena

 Happy moment with a groundnut vendor

 Group photo at Maiya's CoffeeVishanth, Senthil, Leena, Vijaya, Apoorva, Sonia, Ravi Cavale and Sarvotham

Gandhi Bazaar Market, Class No. 6 Discover Bengaluru through sketching

07 August 2011 Class No. 6 at Gandhi Bazaar Market

Gandhi Bazaar in Basavanagudi is one of the oldest areas in Bangalore. It is the replica of the Bangalore of yore, with wide tree lined avenues dotted with houses. Commercialization has taken a toll in this area with excessive tree felling to introduce residential and business structures.  This area is the cultural capital of Bengaluru with predominant kannadigas population and lot of festivities. It had very old traditional houses. The area is surrounded with  lot of temples like Bull temple, Ramakrishna ashram and Shankar Matt.

Every year two day fair of peanuts is held near dodda ganapathi temple of Basavanagudi which is just 400 mts from Gandhi Bazaar Market,  called Kadlekai Parashae   (Groundnut Fair). Lot of different kinds of groundnuts are exhibited and sold during this time.

Many scholars, writers and musicians lived and are living in this area. One of the roads in Basavanagudi is named after great writer and philosopher of Karnataka D.V.Gundappa called DVG Road. This road is the commercial center of Gandhi Bazaar. Also on this road is Bangalore's traditional restaurant  Vidyarthi Bhavan which is know for its crispy Masala dosa and Kara Bath.

It was a cloudy morning, rain was also playing hide and seek. as a organiser I am  always early at the location, Vidyarthi bhavan was the meeting point, as it is famous for his dosa's I had texted all my participants to taste the dose's, Its always rush and i told everybody to be there by 9' Oclock incase they wish to taste the dose. I was there by 9, there was a long list of people waiting for there turn at the restaurant.  As I was only one I got an opportunity to get inside and had my seat. It was 9:30 and I started getting sms one after the other, most of them were not comming for the days class, some were unwell, some had a meeting and some due to friendship day.

I came out of the restaurant only to seek 5 participants, few of the participants also tasted the dosa, at Vidyarthi Bhavan. We began the session  by rapid sketches.  As everybody in the batch are aware of human anatomy by now, we went further to sketch compositions.  At the market one was told to sketch overall with human in their work.  As usual Senthil gave a demonstration and everybody started to work at different places at gandhi bazaar market.

Nithya and Pooja at Gandhi Bazaar

Rakhi sketching composition

Vishanth,Anitha, Nitya &Pooja seen sketching

Dr. Venkataraman sketching

It was really disappointing  that only a few were able to make to the class.  But who ever were present enjoyed sketching and were able to do some good work.

We had to finish the class at 12:15 as it started dressing.

Cubbon Park, class No. 5 of Discover Bengaluru through sketching

Discover Bengaluru through sketching, Class No. 5 was held at Cubbon Park, campus.  First of all let me tell you about the Park.

Cubbon Park is located within the heart of city in the Central Administrative Area. Originally created in 1870, when Major General Richard Sankey was the then British Chief Engineer of Mysore State, it covered an area of 100 acres and subsequent expansion has taken place and the area reported now is about 300 acres.  It has a rich recorded history of abundant flora and fauna plantations coupled with numerous impressive and aesthetically located buildings and statues of famous personages, in its precincts.  This public park was first named as “Meade’s Park” after Sir John Meade, the acting Commissioner of Mysore in 1870 and subsequently renamed as Cubbon Park after the longest serving commissioner of the time, Sir Mark Cubbon.  To commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Sri Krishnaraja Wodeyar’s rule in Mysore State, in the year 1927, the park was again renamed as "Sri. Chamarajendra Park", in memory of the 19th Century ruler of the state Sri Chamarajendra Wodeyar (1868 – 94) during whose rule the park came into existence.  The landscaping in the park creatively integrates natural rock outcrops with thickets of trees, massive bamboos, with grassy expanse and flowerbeds and the monuments within its limits, regulated by the Horticulture Department of the Government of Karnataka. The thick  green area of the park has many motorable roads, and the well laid out walking paths running through the park are frequented by early morning walkers, artists, sketching groups, photographers and the naturalists who study plants in the tranquil natural environment. 

Among the prominent buildings in the park includes, Bal Bhavan, Attara Kachari (Karnataka High Court), Archeology Museum and  Venkatappa Art Gallery.  

As I entered cubbon park campus, I saw Mr. Lokeshwar Rao,  enjoying the weather.  It was awesome in the morning when we visited.  By 10'o clock most of them had come, as usual we started with rapid sketching session.  Most of them sketched the nature around them.  Some also worked bamboo tree which was in the vicinity.  Senthil corrected their sketches and we proceeded for the days schedule.

Two weeks back at CKP, we had studied Head,   we continued the session with anatomy study.  Using a manikin as a example the participants were show the measurement of human body.

We made 2 batches while one batch went to our teacher to learn how to sketch human form, others were busy sketching from the model, where I was modelling for them.  There after the other batch went to Senthil for correction and demonstration of anatomy.   

Also I showed them some sketch from our teachers and some books which could be used as references.  The session continued till 12:30 where everybody were tired and wanted to leave early.

 

 Lokeshwar rao, observing while others busy sketching one another

                                                                                                                Krishna Prasad presenting sketches
Sonkia, Vikram and Rakshi discussing with Venkateshwara rao

 

Some happy moments  during the session

 Vijaya sketching Lokeshwar rao  

       

 

                                                                             

Sketch of Smithi and Sonia by Vishanth 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sonia's sketch by Smithi 

Krishna Prasad's sketch by Leena