Dancing Queen

Growing up in Mumbai, one of my earliest inspirations to become an artist were the hand painted movie posters that were displayed all over the city. Sadly they are now giving way to photography but, in my opinion, they were works of art in their right. The quality of painting in some of the posters was exceptional but more importantly, they captured the colourful fantasy and heightened melodrama of Bollywood films better than any photographs could.

For a long time now, I have wanted to emulate this style of painting and I think I have found a way of doing so within the format of portraiture. By following some of the techniques of poster art, like having soft focus backgrounds contrasted with sharper details and a generous scattering of decorative stars and flowers,I think I can make glamourous heroes and heroines of anyone!

This painting was done on canvas with acrylics and glitter, for an extra touch of glamour!

More flooring.

Following on from the previous image I came across another illustration where the floor, ignoring the rules of perspective, makes up a lot of the background pattern.

The Symmetry of Geometry

I thought it would be fun to contrast the rambling foliage of the previous post with the strict geometrical lines of Moorish mosaic patterns.

A Vision of Eden

With it begining to feel like Spring at last, here is an image celebrating the joys of Nature and of being surrounded by scented flowers and fruits.

This was originally a cover for a book about an idyllic childhood in a Middle-Eastern country (not sure if it's ever been published though ).

Floral Dress

Initially a pencil drawing, which I coloured and manipulated on Photoshop. I really like the layering/ out of focus effect which gives the image an almost cinematic quality.Also like the juxtaposition of the graphic background with a more realistic forground.

The Chinese Sky - Details

The four compass points are represented by a specific animals beginning with The Blue Dragon of the East,


The Black Tortoise of the North,


The Red Bird of the South and


The White Tiger of the West.

The Sun and Moon have their own animals too.
The Sun is associated with the colour red and has a black crow in it....


...while Moon is associated to the colour blue and has a white rabbit or hare within it.

The Chinese Sky

This wall chart is based on the Chinese view of astronomy. The four directions are associated with four animals, while the central, or polar region relates to the Emperor of Heaven and his court.

This was created for the International Dunhuang Project - based at the British Library - which promotes the study of The Silk Road and it's related cultures.

Femme noir

I enjoy looking at fashion and how it's illustrated. I want to move away from my usual style and find a new way of rendering the human figure and fabrics etc. Thought I'd start off by experimenting with drawing , for it's immediacy and colouring/sfx in Photoshop.

The Mathematics in Fairy Tales - 3

The final cover in this set of three and the most intricate too!

The Mathematics in Fairy Tales - 2

The second cover in this series of maths books is again, a selection of traditional characters mixed in with some more modern creations.

The Mathematics in Fairy Tales - 1

This is the first in a set of three books that use fairy tale characters as the basis for maths problems. I'm sure they sweeten the bitter pill of arithmetics!

From a tiny acorn....

....well, a tiny coffee cup...comes a mighty car!