Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The Seven Links Project

Hanging Fire watercolor 16x12 

Here it is, 'Hanging Fire' selected by my husband as my most beautiful  painting for my Seven Links Project. As mentioned in my previous post,  The Seven Links Project is courtesy of Crystal Cook who tagged me to post seven links in my blog for

Your most beautiful post
Your most popular post
Your most controversial post
Your most helpful post
A post whose success surprised you
A post you feel didn't get the attention it deserved
The post you are most proud of

The idea behind the project is "to unite bloggers(from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of the day again"  

I could never settle on any of my paintings as my most beautiful one (being partial to all of them (-: ), so,  I finally asked my husband for his pick.  I agree with him that the peppers in Hanging Fire look gorgeous in their luscious red. Please let me know what you think is my most beautiful painting -- I know that is  a very subjective selection !

Resplendent  Watercolor on Yupo 11x14"

Resplendent on Yupo is definitely my choice for 'your most popular post'  if going by the number of hits it gets every single day.  The blogger picked it as my most popular post for the side bar! This painting gave me confidence to continue my experiments on Yupo paper.

Ignorance mixed media 12x15" 

'The post you are most proudest of '  has to be my mixed media painting  Ignorance.  That particular day I had picked up one of my failed paintings of a street scene of a town in India to see if I could salvage it.  Listening to the news about wars in various parts of the world, I started  a collage  on it from torn pieces of rice paper from another failed calligraphy attempt about "Truth alone triumphs.' I was guided by a photograph from one of the newspapers from couple of months before that had etched in my memory - even today I see clearly in my mind's eye the dark figures in a chaotic city scape with blue smoke from a bomb blast.  I am proud of how I channeled my frustration with the violent world out there, my failed paintings and brought together various mediums and styles to express myself.  I am also proud that my daughter within minutes of my posting the painting e-mailed me to ask me if she could have it!

Collateral Damage  water media 9x12 

'Collateral Damage'  surely qualifies for  the 'your most controversial post'.  I consider it controversial for the artistic liberties I took in painting the  disaster caused by the Gulf oil spill. The scene is from my imagination and I closed that post with the thought :  'My hope is that the message doesn't get swept away in the debate about realistic depiction'.

Sketch of a sculpture, white Prismacolor pencil on black paper

The honor for 'A post whose success surprised you' goes to Negative Drawing  showing the sketch of a sculpture done with white Prismacolor pencil on black paper.  I am pleased that I was successful in sketching the sculpture from Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, VA  as well as how according to Stats it has become the second most popular post on my blog!

'A post you feel didn't get the attention it deserved'  goes to Show-off time :

Bangle Pedlar  color pencils 14x10" 

I wavered between Bangle Pedlar and Mandala Meditation - both color pencil portraits. I settled on Bangle Pedlar  from my second blog post but very first post of a painting  -a portrait in color pencils. I guess it is understandable that I never got any feedback on the painting as my blog was still very new :) The painting hangs in my living room and always elicits a happy reaction from all who see it.

At the Art Institute of Chicago digital Photography

As for the 'most helpful post', I would like to think that all my posts are helpful in some way as I strive to include a link or two or some information that one might find useful or worthy of contemplation :)  I consider  my post on 'Universal Acceptance' most helpful - as my attempt at shining a light on how important it is to accept one and all and find  unity in all our diversity.

Now, I pass the Seven Links Project challenge on to :

I really enjoyed doing this challenge - wonderful way to go back and see how my blog and my artistic abilities have evolved  :) 

10 comments:

Egle said...

Your "Hanging fire" is really gorgeous. I like everything about it, especially combination of colours and the brush strokes,expressive :)

Meera Rao said...

@Egle, Thank you! I too am very happy with that painting!

Kathy Staicer said...

It is a well deserved honor for you being chosen for the Seven Links Project. I do love Hanging fire but I really love many of your paintings and your photos too. You really have a good eye and are able to capture moments that others do not even see.

Meera Rao said...

Thanks Kathy! you made my day :)

padmaja said...

It is very interesting to see the artist's perception of her own paintings in various categories.. I loved your hanging Fire a lot!I had missed the bangle seller some how.. deserves a lot of appreciation for the character you achieved in the subject..
Thanks a lot for remembering me to pass the challenge..it had made me think of what I have done in the past and not really aware of my own thoughts on them.

Meera Rao said...

Thanks Padmaja! My husband and person art reviewer really knows what he likes :) I hope you will enjoy the project too!

Heera said...

Hanging Fire is a great choice. I like all of your paintings and it is very tough for me to pick one. The negative drawing looks like thiliMy when she was 12. Thanks for passing the challenge to me.

Meera Rao said...

Thank you, Mangala :) Thili might like that comparison! And have fun with the project!

Crystal Cook said...

Meera this whole post was a delight. I agree with all of your selections. I'm SO glad you did this, it was great fun to look back and see your thoughts on your work. And I saw a few paintings I'd never seen before, like your hanging fire, which is GORGEOUS! I love those highlights on the peppers. :)

Meera Rao said...

Crystal, Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to do this :) I appreciate your comments and support a lot.

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