My ARTiST JOURNEY SiNCE 2017
As a Cancer Survivor I am very thankful to God, family and friends. Art (which I call as dot painting by chopsticks) has become part of my life. It gave me a new life as an Artist in 2017; in 2018 as art teacher, motivational person and fundraiser for cancer patients. Initially my focus was ART as MEDICINE to support healing of people suffering from cancer, then I realised that it could be anyone dealing with health issues.
Planning to extend to children living in orphanages and people living in old age homes. ART for WELLNESS is about focusing on people suffering from stress and anxiety.
Art as medicine supported my healing/recovery, in addition Art for wellness is supporting me to deal with stress from work. Both are my own experiences.
After my brain surgery and during my treatment I was confined to my house as I had partial paralysis on right part of body (leg, hand & eye). I could slowly walk with support, scribble but could not write clearly, had double vision. With these issues my mobility was limited. I was getting bored watching TV and moreover it was difficult to watch TV due to double vision.
I dwelled back to my interest in painting. The mobility issues which affected my ability to write and draw anything, even my name clearly. Drawing and painting with brushes was a distant dream. Chopsticks came to my aid which were lying around and thought I could use it to paint, which was a new technique for me. I stated painting simple circles of dots using chopsticks on small canvas boards. As I progressed, my painting skills improved form simple circles of dots to different art designs and bigger canvas boards. The painting fully engaged me and filed my life with positivity and hope which supported my recovery. I would like the same to be experienced by other people with health issues.
How Art Helps:
Art encourages self-expression, and it is particularly helpful to relieve stress in people who are undergoing treatment or facing health issues. `Any Art (music, singing songs, dance, plays, poetry, or visual art) is an important part of the healing process. The availability of artistic therapies in healthcare settings, sometimes called ‘Arts in Healthcare/ Art as Medicine,’ can be a vital resource in helping patients to cope with an acute illness. Art and healthcare go hand-in-hand because art enhances the healing environment and treatment experience. Both patients and their caregivers to experience the therapeutic benefits of the arts during a challenging time.
One thing I want to share that if you look at E-ART-H word, Art is part of it, it means everyone born on this Earth is a ART lover by default. Art can be music, dance, singing, acting, poetry, painting etc, You can't find anyone on this Earth who is not associated with Art, this is the power of Art.
Art is therupatic, which can support healing for people with health issues, which is much needed when go through tough times of life. Art/painting (music to some extent) came to my aid when I was going through tough time, recovering from cancer, helped me in my recovery which i would like to share with others who are going through similar situations. So everyone benifits from this divine gift to humanity from God.
Dot Painting with Chopsticks:
This style of painting is simple, pocket friendly (all you need are acrylic colours, canvas boards and chopsticks) and easily adaptable by anyone interested in doing creative work. There are no rules or set patterns/designs to follow, no drawing skills required and can paint whatever comes to the mind. As a kid I learned to paint which it helped me after a gap of 24 years. Chopstick have two sides, one is small circle compared to other side. Sometimes I use one size circle though out my painting, sometimes different sizes. Most of my initial paintings were circle of dots. Later I created 2 more different sizes of circles using chopsticks. Now I have 4 different sizes of chopsticks to paint.
Over the time my paintings skills developed and had more designs than simple circle of dots. The design and colours were decided on fly. It was like a meditation/ connection between mind and body for me, to think how to create the design patterns and which colours to use. If a painting takes x amount of time, thinking about design patterns to draw and which colours to use takes 3x-4x time or sometimes more. Painting has kept me occupied as it was my passion. I could spend long hours doing it. Slowly it reduced my hours of watching TV or urge going out. Art/painting connects my mind and body in supporting healing, wellbeing and positivity.
Most of the events that happen in life, you don't have any control but how you react to that event is in your control. Most of the people tend to react to an event not in a positive way as they look for instant results but people with positive outlook think
WHAT EVER HAPPENS..... eventualy HAPPENS FOR GOOD...... GOD NEVER DISAPPOINTS....TRUST ME.....I LEARNT FROM MY EXPERIENCE
Three Intresting Facts:
When a glass is half filled with water, rest is filled with air. You can’t ask the air to get out of the glass; you have to fill the glass completely with water so there is no room for air. When someone is going through a lot of hardships specially during cancer recovery, they will get a lot of negative thoughts and go into depression. One cannot ask the negative thoughts to get out of ones’ life, One needs to fill that space with constructive hobbies or by giving back to society. So there is no room for negative thoughts or depression.
In 2018, Ex-ATS chief of Mumbai who was getting treated for cancer committed suicide due to depression. It clearly tells that no matter how stong you are but you scumb to tough situatios/ health issues. We don’t want such things to happen to cancer patients and survivors or people with health issues. As they face very tough situations. The brain should be your friend, not the enemy and guide you to move in the right direction.
Ship never sinks because of the water around them, they sink because of water gets in them, Never let the negativity that’s around you get inside and weigh you down.
I approached various cancer hospitals and societies in India with my art story but only Indian Cancer Society (ICS) responded positively. In December 2017, impressed by art journey they invited me to Mumbai to talk to meet in person and conduct a dot painting workshop with brain cancer patients, so they could take benefit from it.
The workshop (blog about workshop written by a occupational therapist working at Tata Memorial Hospital) consisted of 20 brain cancer patients from Tata Memorial Hospital, who participated on World Cancer Day (4 February 2018). It was well-received by them and their caretakers, both were engrossed for next 4 hours and produced beautiful paintings which surprised me. We had participants from 8 years’ old to 35 years old, with minimum or no painting skills. I received overwhelming positive feedback from the paticipants. This gave me the confidence that this style of painting can be easily adaptable by anyone with or without painting skills.
Pictures from workshop at ICS
I informed ICS that I would like to donate 50 of my paintings (half the size of A4 sheet) which were done by me. They organized an informal exhibition of my paintings on their Founders Day on April 14, 2018 at their office in Mumbai. Surprisingly the people who came to the event showed interest in my paintings that were exhibited and bought all 50 paintings. It raised money (Rs 250,000) for ICS to be used for the treatment of poor cancer patients. With god’s grace I am able to do fundraising every year since 2018.
My paintings were displayed at Yashoda hospital, Secunderabad and Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai cancer ward to motivate cancer patients and survivors to do something creative, keep them occupied and stay positive. Also did a painting workshop at SuVitas rehab center Hyderabad where patients were wheelchair bound. My paintings were also displayed at Sparsh Hospice, Hyderabad, which provides palliative care to terminally ill people who are in their last stage of life. In 2022 I received a request from terminally ill mother who saw my paintings and wanted her daughter photo to be painted in my style (pic below).
At Sparsh Hospice I conducted dot painting workshop with interested terminally ill patitients and caretakes. it was well recivied and I was happy that they had intrest to spend 1-2 hrs doing paiting. I can't expect more from people who are in thier last leg of life.
it reminds me
“People leave this world, but…… ART WORK CREATED by them stays FOREVER”
At Sparsh we are planning to start painting classes for people with health issues, care takers and their supportive staff who could do benifit from it. Patients who are not in a stage to paint could request their favourite pictures of family to be painted.
Pictures from Sparsh Hospice, Hyderabad
These events reinforced that Art as healing tool can do wonders, can give comfort and support the healing process. Fundraising through my paintings to help people in need is a divine blessing. Art has power to improve our wellbeing. In India Art for Health/ Medicine and for wellness remains unexplored, there is need to have a big push.
Since I started dot painting I developed several design techniques to enhance my paintings. Prominent was use of m-seal to draw outline, filled the gap of inability to draw. Never imagined that m-seal would become an asset in enhancing my paintings. I started exploring bottle art with dot painting. Collected empty alcohol bottles from friends and painted on them, the result surprised me. Also, I stared coin jewellery from the coins I collected from my travel.
Pictures of B0ttle Art and Coin jewellery
In 2019 one of my painting was among top 50 paintings that were selected at an All India Painting Competition organised by Hyderabad Art Society, the oldest art society in India established in the 1940's. Three of my paintings were selected by Swiss Art Expo and digitally displayed at an art exhibition in Zurich, Switzerland. In 2022 my painting was ranked 22 among 9876 paintings received across India for competition. These events gave me the confidence that my dot paintings can compete with professional artists.
Award winning paintings
I had a motivational talk on November 2022 to Art students at Pearl Academy, Mumbai, the kids who study there come from rich families and less likely to face tough situations. My friend who is a professional artist/teacher at the college wanted me talk about how Art can help/heal/ support people in tough situations. Why it is important to adopt Art when are are going through tough situations, why is Art therapeutic and can support healing when you face health issues. My journey as a cancer survivor to artist, how I got into chopsticks painting, my designs and colour schemes in my dot painting. Art as medicine and Art for wellness
Apart from dot painting I also create reverse acrylic sheet painting
Reverse acrylic sheet paintings
Art/painting reduces my stress and unpleasant emotions, it promotes positive thoughts/ attitude. Art is a type of healing tool which helps to focus on creating something beautiful and makes us happy and positive.
It is known that ART swings our mood in a positive way and inspires us to do something new and creative.
Dot Paintings with Chopsticks:
I believe ArT iS THerAPeuTIC..........AdD mOrE CoLoUrS To YoUr LiFe, by adopting it
Had a guest lecture at JNTU Architecture (where I did Architecture) for students of first year on ART FOR MEDICINE n my Artist Journey with Dot Painting with Chopsticks. Then we had a class for 2hrs on painting with chopsticks. Thankful to Shilpa, my classmate n asst professor at the college. It was well received by students and was very happy with their response n paintings.
Best n Beautiful Gift received, given by JNTU 1st Architecture students after my class on Dot Painting with Chopsticks, 45 students had their finger prints , very INNOVATIVE, 12/16/2022
MOFFITT ART CENTER, TAMPA, USA
Spent time with Miriam, Double cancer survivor who teaches Zentriagle art at Moffitt Art Center, part of Moffitt Cancer Hospital, Tampa, USA. To understand how they provide art to people with health issues. Participated in their COMMUNITY ART PROJECT and learned to draw Zentriangle art.
Dot Painting workshop with Sunnyside Expressive learning, Chennai 26/10/2023 with 20+ kids
GOODWILL STORES, USA
When you shop at Goodwill, you’re not the only one who gets a great deal. Local Goodwill organizations use the sales from its stores to help change lives of the people served in your community. Last year, sales from local Goodwill stores helped provide job training, job placement services, financial education, youth mentoring, and nearly 2 million people in the United States and Canada. FOLLOWING PAINTINGS WERE DONE ON PRODUCTS PURCHASED FROM GOODWILL STORES
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Credits: I would thank Indian Cancer Soceity, Mumbai for giving me a platform, and Shri B. A Reddy garu eminent artist who tought me painting when I was kid. Above all + blessings from GOD + family and friends for supporting my artist journey.