BLOG OF THE WEEK: A CHAT ABOUT ART WITH SREEJA

Today, my friends, we are chatting with Sreeja Harikrishnan, who lives in Mumbai. Sreeja blogs at writing on just to write, where she shares her wonderful poems and beautiful paintings. We last spoke with Sreeja in 2017, focussing on her poetry. This time I thought it would be nice to chat about her art. Let's not wait another minute!

Sreeja's slideshow

Sherry: Sreeja, you have talent in all of the arts, as you are a poet, an artist, and also a violinist. You have such a rich cultural life. Would you talk to us a bit about this? Were you exposed to the arts in your childhood, and encouraged to explore your gifts?

Sreeja: Oh, this sounds so good. Yes, I love all those three titles, but I couldn’t continue my violin classes due to allergy-like health issues. So I am still at the initial stage of learning and the title violinist won’t match me. I want to start it afresh soon and hope to do so.

All I remember what influenced me as a child is that my mother used to do sketching and writing. It was kind of self-expression for her. 

She encouraged me to do paintings when I was a kid. When I grew up my father bought me a lot of art materials whenever I demanded. Anyway it was only a hobby, like, spending your free time meaningfully. It’s recently, after I started blogging, that it got attention and I too felt much drawn to the art, as it enriched me personally.  

So I must say, actually it is the blogger world that encouraged me to explore my gifts. 

The girl and cat were made as a token of love to my niece, who loves cats so much. She is such an innocent soul.

Sherry: When did you first begin drawing and painting? Was there someone you feel was a significant influence on your becoming an artist? Tell us about this beginning, won’t you?

Sreeja: During school days I used to go upstairs to the open terrace with my diary and pen whenever I felt strongly about something. I was and am a silent person when it comes to expressing emotions and thoughts. I enjoyed being balanced without too much noise. So diary writing was my way to keep that balance. I scribbled everything in my diary and left those emotions behind. And all around the writings I would do a lot of doodling and the pages will look a mess after that. Frankly, no one will understand what I conveyed there. Those are the moments I enjoyed most because after all those doodling, hours will be spent on watching sky, be it night or day. I and my friend used to make small tents on the terrace and use a torch for lighting it. She won’t read my writings and that was my biggest assurance of not being exposed with my thoughts.

I still stagger when I have to express myself… so writing, painting and sketching are all about being me. There too, I think, I am cautious not to be too open. 

So I must say, to some extent, my nature, my mother’s talent, and finally the encouragement from friends and my husband’s family influenced me.

Sreeja: The horse is a big canvas, larger than my daughter.

Sherry: It is spectacular, Sreeja. Just beautiful! In our interview in 2017, you explained that when you went to college, you left art behind for a time. When did you come back to art, after the time you were away, busy with school and family? What drew you back to the world of art?  How did you feel, picking up your paintbrush again?

  

Sreeja: During graduation I used to do paintings and that’s when I got the first chance to exhibit my paintings at college. Even though it was not that much of a big event, I got a lot of encouragement from friends and even from students I have never known personally. 

After graduation I don’t remember doing anything creatively. And when I got married and was alone at home during day times, I did some paintings as a time pass. One of the paintings I gifted to my aunt on her house warming, but not much happened after that.

Sometime after my second kid was born, during a family time with our cousins, my husband talked about my paintings and his cousin challenged me to paint a scene from Bhagavath Geetha on a big canvas. 

Sherry: I remember it, from our interview. It is so incredibly beautiful.

Sreeja: I was totally clueless about how to paint on a big canvas, but there is something about painting and writing that makes me feel that I am part of it or maybe it is part of me, so I said ok, will try. It’s only when I have to talk about writing and painting in public that I become conscious about its technicality and the fact that there are innumerable masters around you who may judge you for your shortcomings and ignorance. Otherwise it’s part of me and if anybody asks, “Can you do this?” I will immediately say yes, I will try.

I totally enjoyed all those hours when I painted Geetha with all its lights and shadows and colours.  That’s when I realized the exhilaration I feel when I put the brush dipped in colour on to the canvas.

  

Sherry: It must be a wonderful feeling. What is your preferred medium? Excuse my ignorance of art terms, but is your work considered representational?

Sreeja: Oh no, Sherry, I too am equally ignorant about the technical side of this art. I am attached to its personal or emotional side. Yes, I mostly do representational types, but there is another reason for that. After the Geetha painting, most of the paintings I have done were done on order. Personally I like to make rich textures and patterns. That is what I am trying to do now.  I paint over old paintings and the layers of paint on the canvas give me textures I love. I like to use figures and textures together.

Sherry: That sounds very intriguing. The layers must add such richness and depth.

Sreeja: I am still learning, Sherry, so I don’t know to name my art. I love both oil and acrylic. For the time being, acrylic is practically suitable for me, as kids run around, especially my daughter who comes and touches the paintings, as she loves to do it herself.

Sherry: Another artist coming along! Smiles. You are very accomplished for a beginning artist. You have real talent. Is there a connection between poetry and art for you? What are your feelings on completing a poem, and on finishing a painting? Are there similarities? Differences?

Sreeja: For me both are so closely connected. That feeling made me write the phrase ‘Words&Colours’ wherever I put my poems and paintings.

At times it is so easy to put your thoughts through words and colours. But mostly it is difficult for me. The problem with me is, thoughts rush through my mind, while cooking, bathing and be it anything---small stories, textured images and poetry-like lines do reel through the mind.  By the time I sit to put it on word/paper or canvas, I have no clue where to start and how to proceed; I feel exhausted. I think I have got no resource to give them shapes of existence.  I think I need daily practice for a long time to be successful in catching all thoughts and imagination with effectiveness.

           

For the same reason, every time I sit to finish a poem or a painting I feel like I haven’t finished. But somewhere I try to put a full stop, at least with some ellipses. 

 

I know unless I put some effort, I am a half-baked bean.

Sherry: I love that! A half-baked bean! But I beg to differ. You are a fully blooming bean, whose leaves climb high - a Jack and the Beanstalk bean! Smiles. Where do you get inspiration for your paintings? How do ideas for your paintings come to you?

Sreeja: Images influence me, nature influences me (especially rain), emotions influence me, and moments of bliss and unfettered smile influence me. Most of the ideas come when I go to sleep. For the same reason most of them are dropped as I don’t take the effort to pen it down then.

I am addicted to watching images of nature; images of textures; and images with rich colours, and light and shadow. I think images give me a craving to make paintings. 

Most of the ideas come when I go to sleep. For the same reason most of them are dropped. I am addicted to watching images of nature, of textures and those images with rich colours, light and shades. I think that’s when I make paintings.

This is one of the paintings dear to me; it is the memories of travelling in one canvas.  The sun stands aloud when you shut your eyes at the end of a trip. Everything else falls to the background, but none liked this painting. So I think I was not able to convey it.

Sherry: I think it is quite wonderful. I love where you have placed the sun, like a beating heart of the mountain. Do you have support and encouragement from those close to you for your creative life? Who is your biggest fan?

  

Sreeja: Yes, of course I get encouragement. Well, I don’t know who my biggest fan is, I never thought about it…but my family and friends equally encourage me. Recently, one of my dear friends really pushed me to commit to an exhibition and, on the same hand she warned me that it’s just a normal bazaar and may not be an instant success, but that I will learn to come out and be more committed toward art. I must say, it was a one of a kind experience. During the exhibition, at times I felt like crying as I was standing in the middle of a bazaar, literally lonely, that too with not enough space to display the paintings. 

    

I felt like I was trying to sell my dear ones in a market; but like oasis, a bunch of people came, stood there and enjoyed the paintings…some even asked for the journal and went through it, even though it was made in haste and was not up to the level…and encouraged me a lot. I think this experience will make me a bit bolder. One of the positive things about the bazaar was that I saw a lot of energetic, confident women who are out there to help each other promote individual skills and organize events accordingly, giving them a platform to prove their worth. A marvellous group of women!

A few days back a friend enquired about how to buy my paintings and I said you have given me a very encouraging good morning wish by asking…she said that actually I am inspiring them with my art and it was a pleasant surprise for me. From the bottom of my heart I thanked her because that’s the kind of reward that fuels my passion. That feeling of being liked or loved will never be enough…that’s the best thing you can ever get.

  

Sherry: Good for you taking your work to the market! I am so happy you are receiving such positive response for your work, for it is very good.   

Have you written a poem about what art means to you, how painting makes you feel, that we might include here?

 Sreeja: It is all about the balance, peace and blissful feeling.

Street Art

the ringing in my ears echoes your unuttered words;

the hesitantly lingering petals of yesterdays’ throngs;

the gaps between undecided moments infect my ears,

in which street would I find the cure for this relentless pain?

I have left a part of me somewhere back in dark;

no, please don’t let anybody seek her or ask

for I have kept her a child so mute and unerringly meek;

she won’t make out anything you would like to hear,

will there be any messiah who can read eyes 
for cloud-like thoughts?

the hesitant winter here struggles with a stubborn sun;

the ringing in my ears succumbs to words in my eyes;

I am all, all those who could never speak, decide and step out;

and my thoughts are cloud like; they carry rain, 
river and ocean;

let me paint the streets, write on roads and spill it everywhere

for every mind counts, every tear and every untold struggle

and yet before I spill, the I, the all, yes before I spill, I bow 
to the pain

for I am not going to paint you but the spark inside you

and to write the wings inside you, the beauty of your silence---

                                             oh pain, spread smiles…

Sreeja: I think I have written about brush stroke and paints so many times…but this poem stands for all that I feel about writing and painting.

Sherry: It expresses it wonderfully, Sreeja.  

  

Sreeja: Writing, painting and reading are the things that really make me feel confident and happy. The only other thing that makes me feel confident is when I can help somebody in whatever way I can, even if it is only a trivial matter.  So it’s a kind of excitement and peacefulness at the same time. And it takes you away and still keeps you rooted.

Sherry: I like that combination of excitement and peacefulness. Do you have a poem about the writing or love of poetry that we can include? 

Sreeja: The blue door is made over another painting. Somehow I saw a door there after putting a yellowish color over the old painting and then developed on it. 

Transitions

at the window i untied the yesterdays

and searched outside for words

hanging heavy with rain drops

on trees and plants; puddles full,

reflected grey sky and streaks of sun;

they are heavy,

drenched words with streaks of sun

i am dry, dried out paints of the canvas---

yesterday’s canvas of an abstract;

i am all hesitation to touch wet words,

to get wet; the window bridges,

it bridges the wet and the dry,

i am all hesitation to cross over to the rain,

for i have my own masks

i mask my scorching thoughts with smiles;

i save my rain on brushes and paints,

it dries up so quick;

it’s the hesitation to cross over to the rain,

for i have my own masks

and at the window i untie my masks

for a while, to decide on hesitations…

Sherry: Sigh. I am so enjoying this mix of beautiful art and wonderful poetry. Tell us more about your love for the arts, and your journey through these avenues of self-expression.

  

Sreeja: There is a part of us that remains mute otherwise, if not for art to bring it into life. I think that is the real or the deepest part of our existence. It brings us close to the truth, makes us humble and gives insights about life. Maybe that’s what I love about art and as I said, it makes me feel confident and happy. 

I have learned to forgive, to forget and move on, and to retain happiness after each fall, and this was made possible by art and meditation. So for me life is mundane without the magic of words and colours or any form of art.

Sreeja's art corner,

where the magic happens!

Sherry: Sreeja, is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

Sreeja: I feel so optimistic, and believe that I should seriously try to nourish my art, when the great folks like you give such encouragement. Thanks a lot for being there. You light up many lives.

Sherry: I am happy spreading the joy, Sreeja. I love my job! Thank you so much for this wonderful chat, and for sharing your thoughts, poems and paintings. What a feast this has been!

Friends, the link to Sreeja’s Art Corner is here. There are so many beautiful paintings in there!

We hope you enjoyed this chat as much as we did, friends. We have so much talent in our community, I never have to look far to fill this Monday space. Do come back and see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!

LIFE OF A POET ~ SREEJA

We have a lovely feature for you today, fellow poets. We are visiting the lovely poet, Sreeja, in Mumbai. Sreeja writes at Writing On Just To Write......., and we are very happy she has found her way to Poets United. Sreeja is a very talented artist as well as a poet, so draw your chairs in close and get ready to enjoy some  art, along with some beautiful poems.

Sherry: Sreeja, as you are fairly new at Poets United, would you paint a little picture for us of the poet at home, so we can get to know you better?

Sreeja: Hello, it’s a pleasure to have a talk with you. I really admire the way you are so close to nature. Everything about nature inspires so much in us. So I will say first I am a nature lover. Then I am a wife to a really wonderful man, mother to two ever questioning, ever active lovely kids. Four of us make my nuclear family (otherwise we have large family back in Kerala (India)) and now we are in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra (India).

This is my family

Here we are residing in a rented flat and close to us lies the Kharghar Hills that turns to a marvellous place during rainy season with all its small creeks, waterfalls and marvellous greenery.

All four of us love to walk through the hills getting drenched in rain. My husband’s cousin and family are here in Kharghar, so sometimes we go together out in rain to the hills and enjoy a lot.  Maybe that’s why I am not so home sick for my hometown back in Kerala, where I lived all through the 33 years of my life.  Only a few years back we moved to Navi Mumbai.

This is the beach nearest

to my home back in Kerala

Back in Kerala I worked as a copy editor for one and a half years, otherwise I always preferred to be at home. Did some freelance here in Mumbai, but I think I enjoy the freedom I have at home, so now I am fully into experimenting with paints and words, experimenting with how to raise two kids as responsible and sensible persons, a lot of reading and a bit of music with violin.

Sherry: It sounds like a full, happy and very meaningful life. I love that you play violin, an instrument I have always wished I could play. When did you begin writing, Sreeja?

Sreeja: I used to scribble out my mind as a child but they were all rubbish things that I never showed to anybody. A couple of times wrote stories and poems for school magazine and competitions. But they were in Hindi.  Actually as a student I never took poetry seriously and avoided reading, it kind of irritated me. I never thought I will start loving poetry or writing.

In 2011 my husband went abroad and I frantically tried to fill that gap. Those days I read daily ‘The Hindu’ like a student who has got exams. There was a feature about Nanowrimo in The Hindu and, just to keep myself busy, I got into it. Believe me, that November was marvellous, and seeing my enthusiasm, my parents took care of my kids wholly and my father even gave me almonds and chocolates at intervals, as if I am kid taking an exam. That year I got my first ever online friends. They are the friends who gave me the first lessons of writing. I wrote the novel about my childhood friend, who is still there for me at every point of my life.

This is the corner where I spend most of my time 

when I am home alone

November was over and on December morning I found myself itching to write. That’s how I started writing. I am a bit lazy person and poetry seemed a better option for me. At first I completed writing poems within ten or fifteen minutes and never read it again. I was sure I will quit writing gradually unless I make some kind of commitment, because with November the euphoria also went. I started the blog and was blank about how to proceed. That’s when I discovered all the wonderful blogs giving prompts for writing poetry. And when I started reading poetry, it seemed to be the most beautiful way to express thoughts. Thanks to all the poet bloggers out there and the Nanowrimo friends.  In a way the blogger world is my poetry school.

Sherry: I think it is that for each one of us, Sreeja. I am so enjoying this visit! What do you love about poetry now?

Sreeja: Poetry is like a romantic rendezvous with your own thoughts, life and nature and finding the apt words and combinations to put it to a physical form, and I like it more when it is short and crisp with depth in it. I am yet to learn that art, when I read some of the poets out there it just makes my brain the happiest part of my whole body. Otherwise to be so much happy I need an outing, especially a walk through some green green place.

The Kharghar Hills

Sherry: I love that description! And your green hills are beautiful!!!!!!!! What a lovely place to enjoy in all weathers. Would you like to share three of your poems with us? And tell us a little about each one?

Sreeja: I would love to share!

Returning to Rivers

Some days I shut myself up

Windows and doors closed

And pour a river song to my ears, uncut

We are like pollen and gale

We tumble a lot and gather piles

Of dead and tender leaves of life, infinite

 Some days I shut myself up

Drink in rivers of thoughts

And soak upside down, inside out

Sieves out dead leaves and thorns

Gathers tender leaves and golden stones

And that needs rivers to dip and rise

Next morning when the sun rises, I will forget

If love was the bird that knocked at the window

I will forget to contemplate so

I have got a river inside me

Now for days I will be rich as a tree

Deep as an ocean and will regret nothing

Sherry: I so adore "if love was the bird that knocked at the window".

Sreeja: This one came straight from heart. I am a sensitive person; anything around me, even from small talks with loved ones to news from all around us leaves deep impacts on me.  And through my experience and the twin heart meditation that I practice, I have learned that we have to refresh our consciousness, thoughts and feelings on a daily basis, taking every bit of weed out and keeping only goodness and wisdom that we acquired on the go. This poem is all about those thoughts.

This painting is dear to me, even though I couldn’t capture

all the euphoria I felt about rain and ocean.

Sherry: I so agree about refreshing our consciousness, especially during times when we are bombarded with so much that is negative. Sreeja, your painting is very joyful! I love the idea of whales cavorting in the rain!
Let's enjoy your next poem:

Putting Some Unorganized Musings…

Morning dew’s freshness drips in here

Dreams and flowers missed are weaved here

All those lonely moments are treasured here

Agonies and fears shared, it’s so secure here

Wisdom shared in lyrics, its only sunrise here.

      And so

Poetry for me is a feeling of growth

Like a tiny tree spreading its roots

To everywhere, where there is water for thirst

To absorb the very essence of truth

To be in the garden of wisdom

Like a tiny tree spreading its roots

In the mud and soil of life

To spread its shade and beauty across

For generations to rejoice.

        And  yes

It is words uttered in silence

Thoughts poured in essence

Like the old vine that is precious.

                      

     And

I am here putting my first steps

learning my alphabets..............

This is all about what I feel when poetry is the subject. I wrote it back in 2012, I think I still have the same feelings….

Sherry: Very lovely. I so enjoy that little tree, spreading its roots through your poem.

Rain, Rain Just Rain…

Yesterday, night tossed with me in strayed lines

Of grey, black and flashing silver screams

Without reason or any purplish wound of worries

And rain tossed with wind high and low, rushing

Like many thoughts that keep on building

Like termite mounds crippling everything, nibbling

On identities, dreams and the veil of doubt spreading

                      greyish

This morning we made a trip up the hill

In the beating rain to see the waterfall

That took birth with monsoon dreams, which till

Then was musing in cloudy fantasies up the hill

And then, the time crept into those rich green leaves

And those washed out spiky grass and tree trunks with moss

And got lost, there little streams were flowing endless

As rain danced upon them mellowing into the wild beats

And then, last night’s grey rain vanished

And so was the ME in me cleansed

And got lost with the time that eloped

To all that was wild and true and vivid

And delusions of past and future washed

And now the rain flowing like blood in the veins sings euphoric melodies

This poem I love because it brings back all the memories of a wonderful rainy day spent up the hills.

Up in The Kharghar Hills

Sherry: Your hills are so very beautiful, as are your poems. I discovered on your ART CORNER blog, that you are also a very talented artist. (Kids, check it out. Sreeja has some amazing paintings.) When did you begin painting? Did you love art as a child?

Sreeja: Thank you for that compliment; I just love painting, the paint, the brush strokes and all about it. But I haven’t yet experimented and explored enough because I took it seriously only lately. I used to do pencil sketches and water colour paintings as a child. I don’t remember if I loved doing it or not but I definitely loved to have papers and colours; I loved to own different types of colours and pencils. My class mates were the first people in my life who called me an artist, and I really didn’t know the power of that word. I just enjoyed the love and attention I got that way. Otherwise I was a silent kid who avoided being noticed.

This painting is dear to me; with this I started painting after a big gap. It is the first big canvas I did, a canvas almost my size.

Sherry: Sreeja, this painting is magnificent.

I think I could express a bit of what I feel about Buddha in this one, so this one is also close to my heart.

Sherry: I love this one, as well. You are very talented. Is there someone, looking back, that you feel played a significant role in encouraging your creativity, your art and poetry?

Sreeja: My mother is a very talented person but she abandoned everything without seriously trying her best. So I owe it to her, it’s her gene. She gave me the first lessons. My father always brought me art materials and was happy whenever I did paintings. One of my mother’s cousins, who is a well-known artist based in Kerala, encouraged me to start with oil on canvas. It was fun to do paintings on canvas. But we took all these things as just another part of life and didn’t give much attention. By the time I reached college I, too, left my passions behind without much thought. Reading was the only thing I didn’t give up.

Things changed when my husband’s cousin challenged me to paint Lord Krishna and Arjuna in the chariot (Bhagavath Geetha). That was the time when I started writing. He encouraged me a lot to do paintings and to write more. The Geetha painting really gave me that most wanted push to continue with my passions. I must say it is my husband and his family who really motivated me to keep going, with their love and encouragement. I am grateful to my school and college friends who believed in me. They are the people who put all the likes whenever I post my poems and paintings on FB. I love the way my kids look at my works and give their own comments which are valuable at times. So I am really thankful to a lot of people in my life to help me find and keep alive the reason and way for my soul to be happy.

Sherry: Sreeja, I am happy you are so well supported and appreciated. Your work is wonderful. It is wonderful that your kids  see their mother pursuing her art. It will inspire them to follow their own dreams. Is there anything you’d like to say to Poets United?

Sreeja: I visit Poets United to read about poets. It’s a great platform out there. I love to read such interviews and I do it when I have got plenty of time.  It is great to know the thoughts and life of real poets out there. It really encourages me to keep going and someday I hope I too will write something great that will bring a happy wise smile on others’ faces, and will get my share of love from everybody I touch through poetry. Who won’t love to be loved the way we love people who can weave magic with words and colours.

Sherry: Well, I suspect that today you have received many of those wise smiles already. We look forward to enjoying your work in the months and years to come. Thank you, Sreeja, for allowing us to get to know you better.

Wasn't this a treat, my friends? I love the interesting lives poets lead and how often they are talented in many areas. We hope you enjoyed this. And do come back and see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!