Khairi

Khairi was a angry, confused and petrified cub when she was handed over to the forest conservator of Similipal Late Dr Saroj Raj Choudhury on October 5, 1974 at Jashipur. She was aggressive and was gnawing her claws at everything. But Dr Choudhry knew exactly what to do. He imitated the sound of a mother tigress and within no time the little cub was feeling at home. Thus startred the legend which were to be told and retold in every household in Odisha. It was a legend about forest conservator who dared to risk his life and went beyond the call of duty for a tigress he considered his very own.

Dr Choudhry would record each and every move made by Khari and all the knowledge that he gathered is used today for the conservation of the king of the jungle. And the pug mark based method he invented is used today for tiger census.

Khairi passed away prematurely at the age of six and half years and Dr Choudhry passed away soon after that in grief. But even today one can hear Khari roar in the forests of Similipal for a legend never dies.

This painting is dedicated to Khari, the princess of Similipal.

p.s. You can watch some rare footage of Khairi with Dr Choudhry and Nihar Nalini Devi (foster mother of Khairi) here.

Title - Khairi - Princess of Similipal

Size - 22 x15 inch

Medium - Watercolor on paper
Photo courtesy - Satyesh Naik

Some kinda test..

Title - Karlapat Bliss
Size - 11 x 15 inch
Medium - Watercolor and gouche on paper
Photo by - Satyesh Naik

Generally I plan my paintings beforehand. Compositional sketch, value sketch, and sometimes may be a watercolor sketch and all that. Its not a 100% plan, but yes there is top level plan and while I am painting the entire process follows the plan loosely. I dont exactly stick to the plan, but in spirit I go by the plan.

But sometimes once in a while I just test myself, whereby I just paint without any plan at all. No sketches at all. Sometimes no pencil also. Just color, brush and water. I dont know what am I supposed to test this way. May be its a spontaneity test. May be. But I dont know. Everything need not have answers. Many times in this process I surprise myself. And in most cases I do like the outcome because in the first place I started with no expectations at all. So this is also a 'make myself happy' kind of exercise. :)

Anyway this painting was also done without any plan. I just started directly with brush and color on paper and I did like the outcome. In my last post I felt that I have not been able to capture the feel of the place. In this I think I have captured it. By the way this place is also Karlapat wildlife sanctuary and the photo was given to me by Satyesh.

In my last post Crystal had motivated me to write what I like about my next painting and so here I go.

I think I managed to get the serene feel of the dense forest with a good overall looseness and lighting. So I am happy. Hopefully this painting cheers you up too.

Karlapat

Title - Karlapat

Size - 22 x 15 inch

Medium - Watercolor on paper

This painting is done from a photograph taken by Satyesh and is inspired from this post by him. Karlapat is a wildlife sanctuary in Kalahandi district of Orissa or Odisha (new official spelling). I really enjoyed this post and wanted to paint something that would capture the feel of dense forests of Karlapat resonating with the music of streams. To be honest I thought I was not successful in doing that, but Satyesh said he liked it. Since he is the person who had been there and taken the picture I thought I'll share it.