This too Shall pass.
Living in India, we are so used to having house help to do all our mundane daily chores, which we take so much for granted. During the lockdown, all helpers were banned entering the society complex and we were forced to take up these jobs head on. With mixing color clothes with whites while doing laundry and everyone looking like 'work of art' by me, the next day, to cooking and burning food and making all different creatively carved chappatis to turning into professional chefs ultimately, brought us so much gratitude towards our helpers and service providers and made us realise, every small help is a big help, from running our house to our professional growth.
I also learned to take my fitness and health in my own hands and not depend on only fitness centres. Now I exercise daily with the help of content and guidance available on internet by experts in the field and have managed to become fit and healthy, which was an absolute necessity to fight this virus.
As a family, we bonded, took care of each other and cooked and cleaned together, helped each other in every possible way. The house suddenly converted into online school, college and office, with everyone on their desks taking up online classes or lectures to taking zoom webinars and conferences. In between all this choas kept each other motivated and encouraged, to hold on and hang in there with a motto of ' this shall too pass'.
This situation also guided me and other artists looking for alternative options to showcase our Art on different online platforms. This included learning technological skills, showcasing art on multiple social media networks and participating in online art fairs and shows. It was a new experience altogether for me as I had to come out of my comfort zone, learn a few new programs and realised the importance of social media interactions.
During this pandemic I also updated my website with my latest works and also my recent exhibition pictures and stories. This way I could reach out to more people around the world and reach artists and art collectors doing some awe inspiring work. Fortunately this increased the sales of my art works and wearable art silk scarves and sarees. This motivated me to create some of my new works for my collection and helped me overcome my emotions, uncertainties and insecurities by indulging myself in art.
Past few months I did a lot of soul searching and read art related articles, enriching my knowledge about self awareness, philosophy of art in self healing, how art helps in anxiety, how to channel negative energy towards positivity through art, balancing our chakras through art, color therapy and also yoga and meditation.
All this led me to come to a realisation and an urge to start my own blog ' Art Retreat by Nandita Richie' to share my years of experience as a practicing artist, online and offline. Also be a motivator, since an artist learn early to self motivate and work independently.
This blog will be an 'Art Retreat' to reach out to
1) Upcoming artists looking for guidance and directions at various levels.
2) Children interested in art.
3) Parents who want to raise creative souls by learning art themselves and introducing Art at an early age to their kids.
4) Corporates who want to introduce Art to their executives to help stress management and team building.
5) Understanding chakras through colour therapy and doodle art.
6) To one and all who want to learn art just for fun.
7) Art curation and advisory.
I am creating my programs and will start my 'Art Retreat' shortly. You can connect with me on my social media platforms or directly if you want to know more about these topics or any other topics related to art or self healing through art which you want to be covered.
Do reach out and let us create an Art conscious society.
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