Pushkar and A Piece of the Pattern

I visited Pushkar with its blue Brahma Temple and its crumbling painted havelis. Despite its dust-covered dissolution, this colourful and richly-patterned world remains visually compelling.

I am interested both in the geometric regularity of repeated pattern and in its disruption. I have been block-printing on papers that I have first painted with acrylic. The painted paper surfaces don't take the printing inks cleanly as would pristine cotton or silk fabrics. Instead, the overlaid printed patterns interact with my irregular grounds to create a more weathered space.

I have painted and printed on heavy Khadi papers, on the last of my fragile cilantro paper, on rice paper and on indigo and betel-nut burnished papers with their lovely dark grounds and smooth surfaces. I have been printing on both sides of the papers, leaving open the possibility of later using them as elements of an installation that could be viewed from multiple locations.

I have run out of time in Jaipur just as the printing was getting really interesting!