The first rainfall of the season…

Rainfall in the Desert

The field and the cloud are lovers
And between them I am a messenger of mercy.
I quench the thirst of one;
I cure the ailment of the other.

I emerge from the heart of the sea
Soar with the breeze. When I see a field in
Need, I descend and embrace the flowers and
The trees in a million little ways.

–Khalil Gibran, from the Song of the Rain (1883-1931)

The first rains of the Indian monsoon are magnificent, even operatic events. As clouds begin to gather, people’s spirits also soar in anticipation; of welcome relief from the heat and dry season. Then the rain bursts. Skies light up as the clouds shed their burden. The sun-baked earth celebrates meeting the first monsoon drops by emitting a heady aroma. Smiles light up the faces of farmers who awaited rain, ready to begin the new growing season. As the rain embraces the earth, a new season of hope and renewal begins. The desert comes alive with the first monsoon in the season. With the showers, shoots will burst forth in the desert and soon flowers will bloom.

Om draws upon his emotions and imagination to record this heady celebration in a vivid and wonderful oil pastel creation. It is not merely the rain and its immediate impact that we can observe in this painting. The artist compels us to see the earth coming alive with the first monsoon. In this sense, the painting brings to life the glorious experience of the first monsoon and the new growing season in one frame – as if he has superimposed a series of time lapse photos to provide a vivid and exuberant picture of what happens to the desert once the first monsoons arrive.

To provide a scale to nature’s drama, and to add a human touch to this celebration of nature, a woman stands to a side, covering her head with a veil to shelter from the rain and the wind. Om compares the first rains of the season to the veil of a new bride – full of expectation, a gateway to realizing dreams and releasing new energy. They both make way to renewal and rejuvenation of life and its limitless possibilities.
This vibrant Giclee print (24″ X 30″) of an oil pastel creation is sure to add positive energy and light to any room it will adorn.

A peacock’s mating dance..

Dance of the Peacock

“My heart, like a peacock on a rainy
day, spreads its plumes tinged with
rapturous colours of thoughts,
and its ecstasy seeks some
vision in the sky,–with a
longing for one whom it
does not know.
My heart dances.

The clouds rumble from sky
to sky–the shower seeps
horizons, the doves shiver
in silence in their nests,
the frogs croak in the
flooded fields–and the
clouds rumble.”

–Rabindranath Tagore, (1861-1941)

The peacock dance by Om evokes the image of a strutting male peacock in its prime, showing off his proud plumes to its mate. Anyone who has seen a peacock dance can instantly read the poet’s meaning distilled in words and the artist’s emotions frozen in time as strokes of color on the canvas. Those flashes of the peacock “eyes” that shimmer, shine and wink in the morning sun or even in the gloom through sheets of rain are unforgettable. No one can ignore a peacock dance, even though some pea hens seem to, they too eventually capitulate to the glorious display, danced effortlessly to how nature dictates. And then, life is renewed for yet another generation.

Even if one has not seen a peacock dance, its rhythmic motions full of desire, radiating life energy and flashes of color that it employs to entice a mate can be easily imagined by the beholder of this painting.

Om, an artist hailing from Rajasthan, brings to the palette not just his observations and artistic skill. He is also an educator who has researched into the role played by the creator in art through an in-depth study of artistic motivation and uniqueness of creativity in the development of artistic talent.

Thus, beyond contemplating the visual image of the peacock in its natural environs, and what the artist tries to convey through his vibrantly executed pastel strokes, we are given the option to explore further. How did each stroke come into being? What did Om see that we did not see, while growing up as a Rajasthani child in the early 20th century. As with most of his paintings, the far away Indian childhood and youth of the artist still inspires and illuminates his creations.

With its dynamic and colorful depiction of the joyousness of being alive right here and now, Peacock Dance, in oil pastel by Om would be an inspiring addition to any connoisseur’s collection.