Sunday 6 October 2013

An Artist's Voice

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 42; the forty-second edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is "COLOR"
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Visitors were arriving at the exhibition hall in large groups.

There were students from schools, who were being brought in as a part of their one-day excursion. There were students from the College of Fine Arts, who came to see the paintings, to inspire the projects they had to submit as part of their curriculum. Some representatives from reputed firms of architects had also come, to purchase the paintings for their new residential projects. Some of the visitors were art connoisseurs, who had come to while away their time in the company of some thing they loved.

She stood at the corner, inhaling the intoxicating fragrance of the roses that had been arranged to welcome the visitors, and to add to the décor of the hall.
She was the artist.
The one who dipped her brush into the soulful colours to produce these paintings which had recently hit the headlines as “ The Best of the Brushes in Modern Art”.
She had recently won the ‘Artist of the Year’ award, instituted by the leading art and architecture magazine, The Designer.
She smiled to herself, as she thought of the editor of the magazine, who had asked her to send him a portrait of herself, painted by her, to publish in the magazine. No photograph of hers had been published before, and none knew the story of her life. He wanted the honour of publishing it.
She had said, she couldn’t do it.
That wasn’t simply her way of working !

Somewhere along the hallway , a group of people were discussing one of her paintings.
“Where do you think she draws inspiration from?”, someone asked.
“ The world around her, as every artist says,” someone replied.
“ Or may be her own dreams”.
“ It could be from travelling also, you see. Probably she paints what she sees in her tours”.
“ They are excellent, anyway.”
“ Yes, so soulful. See that ? The painting , ‘The Lady in Pink’. Look at the way she has painted the smile on her face?  A secretive smile. I bet she’s been inspired by the Mona Lisa..” , the voices dropped to a whisper as she approached them in carefully measured steps.

She heard an ‘Oh’ from some one….

The crowd turned silent as they saw her approach.
She stopped and turned to ‘The Lady in Pink’.
She stood there for some time, smiling at the painting.
She spoke to ‘the Lady in Pink’, as she did to all her subjects.
She smiled as she thought of the way she painted, inhaling the fragrances of her paints, to know the effect of their colour.

She turned to go.

The crowd looked on, as she tapped her way with her stick, to go back to her corner with the roses.
They now knew her life had only two colours.
Black and White.

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The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Participation Count: 01

36 comments:

  1. Sreeja, you have woven a beautiful story from the yarns of different colors.

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  2. The last line made this a masterpiece. Beautiful debut Sreeja. Keep writing for BAT. Good luck!

    Someone is Special

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    1. Thanks SiS :) A special comment from the Marshal himself ! :)

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    2. Congrats Sreeja on winning the BAT 42. Keep writing for BAT!

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  3. artists are indeed strange creatures..very difficult to understand them! black and white...The sum of all the colors of light add up to white.When there is no light, everything is black...u summed up the artists life so very beautifully!

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    1. Thanks Titli :) Yes, and I believe this 'strangeness' is one of the eccentricities that contribute to an artist's fulfilment !

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  4. Brilliant. Simply brilliant post. :) Loved it absolutely.

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    1. Thanks a lot, Harshal ! Welcome to my space ! :)

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  5. The last line created the perfect picture for me. I had all along imagined a young woman and your imagination took me somewhere else in the end. Bravo!!

    Richa

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    1. Thank you dear :-) Yes, stories are open for interpretation !

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  6. beautiful....perfect :)

    All the best

    My entry for BAT: Yamini Meduri-Color..!!!

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    1. Thanks a lot, Yamini :) That's indeed a surprise visit ! :)

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  7. by the way welcome to BAT....first entry shows how much we missed you here..!!

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    1. Oh wow...I'm flattered and honoured, dear !! :) Yes, I'm relatively an infant in the blogosphere....still learning to walk :)

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  8. Beautiful..and unexpected twist :)

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  9. बेहद सुन्दर रचना श्रीजा जी

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    1. बहुत बहुत धन्यवाद , शशिप्रकाश जी.
      खुशी है की आप इधर आए, हमारी कहानी पढ़ने के लिए !! :)

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  10. Wow Sreeja. What a debut. Welcome to BAT!
    Wish you all the luck.

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    1. Thanks a lot, Animesh :) Wish you all the very best, too !

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  11. The ending was a rocker Sreeja Ji. The last lines were absolutely amazing. Kudos to you over this piece. This makes an incredible first BAT post :)
    Good luck :)

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    1. Thanks Kirti ji for the nice words :) It's a surprise and a pleasure to welcome you to my space... :)

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  12. Very well narrated. Sweet debut

    All the best for BAT 42

    Here's my entry

    CRD - HOLY WAR

    Cheers
    CRD

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    1. Hi CRD,

      Thanks a lot for the nice words !

      I enjoyed playing holi too :D

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  13. The ending was beautiful. A lot of stories regarding the sightless this time, but this was the best of the lot. Welcome to Blog-a-ton, Sreeja. :)

    I had left a comment last Sunday itself, but it doesn't seem to have come through :( Hope this one makes it. Could you check if it has gone to spam by mistake, that old comment? Thanks.

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    1. Hi Leo,

      Thanks a lot for the visit, and the nice comments on Blog-a-ton!
      No, the comment hasn't gone to Spam. May be some error..
      Evide poyo aavo :)

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  14. That's very nice. The end was too good... just a para before the end, I started anticipating her to be blind. But that does not take away anything from this good piece.

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    1. Thanks, Kshitij....
      Yes, it was predictable, was it not ?

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  15. beautiful ^_^
    i'm a newbie :D need some help. waitin for opinion abt my blog ^_^
    http://jrnywithprabhu.blogspot.in/

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    1. Hi Sachin, Welcome to my blog. Pls do keep visiting.
      Sure, shall surely drop by. Thanks for the link :)

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Speak to me here :) :)