Creative Art

A DIY glass painting adventure sparked by a shattered prayer cabinet panel. Our reluctant artist Rachna channels her inner Van Gogh, armed with third-grade art credentials and family's skeptical support. 🎨Spoiler: She becomes "world famous" at home!😁

Dr K Srikala Ganapathy's poster colour painting expresses the concept of true life — one that has passion and goals to give it meaning and beauty.

Painting with water colours is one of the fiturs of Rachna Rajesh. A fitur typically does not last more than a year for her but even in that span of time, she manages to create some excellent expressions.

Young budding artist Parth is fascinated by Anime and Manga series since his childhood and has been sketching his favourite characters in meticulous detail. LnC had published his sketches when he was a child and now we present the teen Parth's new sketches on Naruto characters and other members of the anime world.

Fifteen-year-old Maimoona creates artwork that comes to life, almost emerging out the canvas. Even a still life looks as if it can be picked up in real.

Satyajit Ray's Apur Sansar, considered a classic of world cinema, has inspired many a creative mind. Soumitra Chatterjee played Apu in the film. Young artist Souryadeep draws Apu in a pensive mood.

Over the years, the education system has been in a process of transformation. But never before in history had there been such a massive shift from traditional classroom to virtual digital classroom Learning. In Rajamundhry, Laurel High Global School pioneered a Virtual Summer Camp “Laurel Summer Enclave – 2020” for students to write and paint their impressions of Life In and After Lockdown due to Covid-19.

Capturing the beautiful moments of life and nature brings immense peace to the artist's soul. Young budding artist Pratishtha takes to her pencil and paper to soak in the joy and peace of mind that the sketching brings with it.

Forever Meera is a book of poems by noted author-poet and Silhouette Editor Amitava Nag. Piu Mahapatra unveils how she created the artistic and evocative cover.

In the absence of any formal art training, Rekha Dey, a housewife from Kolkata, chose the internet as her teacher, making optimum utilization of it, thus opening herself to a new world of art and craft. The DIY videos on the internet inspired her during the lockdown. She used scraps to craft idols of Ma Durga along with idols of Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik to celebrate Durga Puja.

Manobina Roy carried her Rolliflex wherever she went "because wherever I went, I might find something, an incident, or people I might want to remember years later." Ratnottama Sengupta reflects on some outstanding shots of Manobina, the talented wife of legendary filmmaker Bimal Roy, woven in a heartfelt tribute to her 'Bina Jethima'.

An extract from famed author and screenplay and script writer Nabendu Ghosh's autobiography Eka Naukar Jatri, translated by Ratnottama Sengupta as a special LnC feature on World Dance Day.

Drawing inspiration from a photograph clicked by Antara, Lipi Bhattacharya brings the fuchsia blossoms to life in a painting, using acrylic colours.

A bird couple wonders whether to peck at the ripe apples or just let them be. Acrylic and mixed media on canvas sheet and cardboard by Lipi Bhattacharya.

Its fun to dress up in fancy costumes, especially during festivals. Anantha loves to design costumes and also wear them to dress up as a witch on Halloween or Santa Claus on Christmas.

A beautiful Ganpati idol made by Vandana Subramanian from paper pulp. Preparation of the lagda (Marathi word for paper pulp), getting it into the die, drying, initial coat, final painting and packing have all been done by her. We wish our readers a Happy Ganesh Chaturthi.

With a massive repertoire of 400 films between 1967 and 2005, Amrish Puri is one of the most successful character actors Indian cinema has ever seen. Especially he excelled in the archetypal villain roles and turned Mogambo of Mr India and Bauji of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge into iconic characters, immortalising lines like "Mogambo khush hua" (Mr India) and "Jaa Simran, jee le apni zindagi" in DDLJ. He was a known face in Hollywood and in the theatre circles. He won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1979. Playing Khan in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982) and Mola Ram in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) won him recognition in Hollywood. He won the Best Actor Award for his role as Mahesar Dalal in Shyam Benegal's Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda at the Sydney Film Festival (1994) and picked up three Filmfare awards for Best Supporting Actor (Meri Jung, Ghatak and Virasat). LnC pays tribute to the legendary actor Amrish Puri on his 87th birth anniversary with a portrait painting by Saurabh Turakhia.

Think of India's bestselling author for children and the name Ruskin Bond pops up in your mind before you can blink. The octogenarian Ruskin Bond's books have never lost their space in the bestseller lists. They are prescribed in school curriculum. Kids love them and so do their parents. He has also written books for grown ups, two of which have been turned into critically acclaimed films - Junoon (based on A Flight of Pigeons) and 7 Khoon Maaf based on Susanna's Seven Husbands apart from the children's film The Blue Umbrella. Ruskin Bond has recently come out with Coming Round the Mountain, another look at his past, on the heels of its two predecessors Looking for the Rainbow and Till the Clouds Roll By. Saurabh Turakhia's portrait celebrates the unassuming, consistently popular writer, Ruskin Bond.

Learning and Creativity presents a series of portraits done in poster paints and water by artist Saurabh Turakhia. Saurabh's portraits have been featured in prestigious magazines, including the cover of HT Brunch. The first portrait in the series is of legendary poet-lyricist-author-filmmaker Gulzar.

Felicity is a celebration of existence. To us, they’re Radha & Krishna, but as nebulous entities, they’re wind and music and many more unseen by mortal eyes.

Joydev Majumdar has a passion for photography. He shares some of his pictures with Learning and Creativity.

Renowned author Dr Ampat Koshy met Vinitha Nair, an upcoming painter in the realist mould on Facebook and eventually in real life. When he saw her two paintings with which she burst on the scene, he, like others, was astounded at her aesthetic acumen. Wanting to dig a bit deeper, knowing that such finesse, observation powers, concentration, focus, and eye for detail as well as craft could not come out of nowhere, he interviewed her. Excerpts:

Two pencil sketches that look at a woman's life - in its times of anguish and celebration.

When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Beautiful moments of solitude - alone in the rain, alone in the star-filled night. Captured with water colours on canvas paper by law student Pratishtha Majumdar. She enjoys doing illustrations for thematic concepts, book covers, posters, etc.

Talented artist Paridhi, a student of Std IX, brings to life Krishna playing the flute among his mesmerized cows in Vrindavan with acrylic on canvas.

Brilliant artworks by Joyita Basak, a Kolkata-based blogger and artist to commemorate the Women’s History Month in March. Along with a short poem and a note for the Women's History Month in March, written by Lopa Banerjee, Dy. Editor of Learning and Creativity e-zine.

Dr. Aditi Bandyopadhyay, a physician of medicine with a parallel identity as an Odissi dancer and as dance and movement therapy, practitioner, has been actively involved as an advocate for rights of persons with Autism and other neuro-developmental delays. She speaks about the new vistas opening up in dance and movement therapy and music for helping children with Autism and special needs.

Birds speak with their eyes, gestures and melodious chirp. TJ Natarajan captures some close up moments of birds to understand their thoughts.

An in-depth interview with acclaimed painter and visionary artist hailing from Uttarakhand, Monica Talukdar, who has recently exhibited her stunning paintings in Hewitt Public Library, Waco and also Plano, Texas, USA.

Acclaimed as doyenne among Uttarakhand artists, India, veteran artist of repute, Monica Talukdar is exhibiting her works at Dallas, Texas, USA from 1st to 7th October 2017. Monica has already showcased a selection of 25 paintings and prints , ranging from water colour wash on paper to acrylic and oil paintings on canvas at an art exhibition held at Hewitt Public Library and Art Gallery, at Waco, Texas, USA. from 15th July to 21st September 2017. Learning & Creativity is delighted to showcase some of her paintings and artworks.

Silhouette editor Amitava Nag catches up with young, talented Bengali stage actors Manas Mukherjee and Keshob Bhattacharyya on theatre, cinema & more.

On 16th March 2016, the Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi witnessed their most recent rendition as the festival stepped into a glorious fifth year. Strings N Steps festival is one of the most coveted Indian classical music events which lures music lovers from all over India during its annual stage show.

Gunjan Khandelwal's passion for gardening has created a haven of pristine beauty that offers ‘a feast for the eyes and succour for the soul’!

Lopa Banerjee delves into prominent classical, traditional and folk Asian dance traditions, including India, China, Japan, Korea, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand.

For a deeper insight into the philosophy behind this unique All Creatures Great and Small Series auction to be held on December 2, Learning and Creativity presents an essay ‘Loving All Creatures Great & Human: Today, the Stray Dog’ by Neville Tuli, Chairman – Osian’s Group.

Myriad thoughts, concepts and abstract expressed in acrylic paintings done on canvas by Abhik Das.

Nature creates the most beautiful moods and moments. You need to have the eye to capture those priceless moments. Tejasri peers through her lens to catch some of them.

Rain creates some of the most beautiful and musical moments. Amitava Nag captures some of them through his lens.

Glimpses of the historic and vibrant city of Kolkata through the lens of Amitava Nag.

Different hues and moods of dewdrops captured by Amitava Nag.

The groom escorts his newly wed bride to her new home, as the musicians play along (emboss painting)

Expressing creative thoughts and ideas through Shades and Sketches.

Quilling or quill art is an art form involving the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs.

Every heart has a story, similarly every sketch has a story! Sketches by Manish Uniyal.