The Small Town and Vendor Series
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I love street vendors. Their unique hacks, techniques, food prep process, color, characteristic sounds, the hawking of their wares loudly and rhythmically, intense street energy swirling around them, all of it. My recent trip to India left me saturated with imagery. I also recognized that I have been drawing and painting street vendors for a long time. So we decided it's time for a dedicated tab to street vendors and small town shops.
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Soppu
Digital Products coming soon... This drawing of a lady selling a wide variety of greens is based on a photo I took in Malleshwaram Market, Bangalore, during one of my India trips. |
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Flower Power
Soft, clouds of colorful, impossibly fragrant strands of flowers nestled in sturdy baskets, woven from natural strands of plant fibre. A checkered fabric soaked
in water to cover the flowers when the sun gets high in the sky. And a scissor to cut the strands for morning hair decorations or devotional offerings. |
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My sisters and I had just enjoyed our ‘once in a blue moon' pampering at a lovely salon in Bangalore.
We did not want our bonding time to end and we dawdled on the sidewalk. We found a Pani Puri Walah at the street corner and enjoyed this delicious street food. That evening we mostly distracted ourselves from imminent parting. |
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‘PaanWalah’ who rolls a bright array of condiments into a green betel leaf and creates a spicy, sweet, bitter, coarse, smooth, chewy, sometimes medicinal fiesta in our mouths. A digestif that is an integral part
of the Indian post-meal scene. |
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“Fix-It Shop”- People still spend time fixing things that break down. This shop fixes blenders of all sizes, stand-fans, and other kitchen appliances. The dusty, pre-monsoon arid air was best expressed via chalk pastels.
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One sultry afternoon I walked for a long while on paths around my friends home in Auroville. I picked up seed pods, cashew fruits, the Nungu fruit stem
(ice-apple) and more. Dried to a crisp in the blazing sun and very beautiful for ink drawing. |
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Chota Dukan
Watercolor, 11" x 14" SOLD Small shops in tropical countries are designed almost like a food cart/outdoor kiosk. This little store is the quintessential store found in many little towns
in India. It has a large enough space on the inside for all the products and everyday items like eggs and milk and soap. And a small trap door in the back allows the shopkeeper to enter the center of the shop. He sits inside perched on a platform. Everything is within arms reach. |
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Notice the beautiful, bright and bold Red postbox! Used creatively by the shop owner to store long sticks of sugar cane. I am fascinated by the small stores and street side vendors.
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Chai Wali
Watercolor, 9" x 12", $150 - SOLD A street side tea maker and I struck up a conversation one morning. Standing at her little stall under a tree with the morning light filtering thru, I held my
little glass tumbler of tea and learnt about her dreams for her children. |