Digital Strokes
“The Devil’s Dream” - A surreal depiction of a narcissist’s dreams.
Art, catharsis, and colourful calamities—Tamizh Ponni shares a collection of original digital paintings created over the lockdown.
It’s been twenty years, but I still remember this incident vividly. I was 8, and was anxiously trying to scrub off the crayon scribbles on the blue concrete wall before my parents got back from work. It had started off as a manageable stroke, light as a tendril of a creeper, but quickly evolved into this monstrous abstraction filled with shapes, lines, curves and colours. It didn’t make any sense, but my eyes still admired the work. Grabbing the half-used Vicks Vaporub bottle, I scooped out a glob of the substance and applied it aggressively all over the surface, hoping that it would rapidly vapourise this colourful calamity that I had created. To my disappointment, it only formed a glossy sheen and highlighted the mess even more.
I gave up and waited for the worst to unfold.
However, I got a surprisingly happy ending. Mom was the first one to notice the scribbles, and she did a good job of hiding her bewilderment. After a series of Q&As and a long lecture on house rules, I was forgiven. Later during that week, my parents gave me a big box of letter-sized papers, colour pencils, sketch pens, pencils in all sizes, poster colours, watercolours, palettes, erasers, and sharpeners. “Here,” they said. “Do your art on this. The walls are always off-limits”
From then on, I figured out an easy way to attain catharsis. Experimenting with papers, cloths and canvas surfaces helped me explore various mediums and to identify appropriate tools to create an acceptable piece of art. Thanks to technological advancements and my quick adaptation to digital tools, it became quite effortless to create graphic arts.
Nowadays, Autodesk Sketchbook, Tayasui Sketches and Procreate are my go-to apps—and they offered me a new form of catharsis during the lockdown. Here is a collection of my digital paintings over the past year.
“Sway”. Dreamcatchers bring good energy because they have mastered the art of going with the flow.
“Reverie”. Sometimes it’s nice to duplicate the creator’s creation.
“Carpe Diem”. Shine as bright as you can, for the flame can fizzle out at any given moment.
“Persona”. Hypocrisy is in our DNA; let’s at least make an effort to regulate it, now and then.
“Zen”. Still Life paintings… A depiction of our emotional numbness through lifeless objects.
“Handle with care”. Flowers have the superpower to make any part of the Human anatomy look tasteful.
“The Outlet”. Imagine how many of us would have chosen to remain mute for good, had talking been the only form of expression that existed.
“Bitter-sweet”. Moon, the cruel shapeshifter that stirs up buried, sour memories.
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Tamizh Ponni worked as Design Facilitator in an International School, Bengaluru, India. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, an MBA in Human Resources and a Masters in English Literature. She is currently pursuing her M.Tech, PhD integrated course in Data Science. She has worked as a Professional Development Coach and as a Tech Integrationist.
