My 100th Post: My musings, my memories; my favourites in art, literature, cinema and music; & my own artworks from more recent years

Is it my 100th post already? Wow! I guess it should have come much earlier, considering the fact I started this blog on the 20th of March 2012. But I did procrastinate a bit more last year, so far as my blog was concerned that is. I took a blog sabbatical from May to September 2012. Instead I made quite a few lists and wrote critiques on IMDB last year. Read a lot of books too last year, and blogged about a few; and this year I read very few books, comparatively, and blogged about none.

Paris Sydney through the balcony (Nuwan Sen)

So my musings. I do have a very vivid imagination. I have soooooo much in my mind I’d love to put to words, but don’t seem to be able to. When did I start writing? Definitely at a very young age. I loved writing short stories, poems, even wrote a film review once in school, when I was about 10 or 11. But I loathed writing essays for some reason. I still do actually. I even remember writing this looooooog interesting short story, inserting many a fairy tale characters and aliens, again when I was about 10 or 11. Became a journalist too, for a short while, just over a decade ago. But being a journalist and a creative writer are not necessarily the same thing. I tried my hand at writing novels. First aged 12½/13, I started a book called Exciting Eight, Ha!! An adventure story about seven cousins aged between 8 and 13, and their lovable dog/common mongrel, who track down a villain in the guise of a milk man who stole Princess Diana’s crown jewels. Sounds silly and somewhat familiar to Enid Blyton books. Well!!! When I was 19 I found the book so childish I threw it away, something I kind of regret today. My next was in my mid-20’s. That was an epic titled English Spring Indian Winter. Which too I couldn’t complete. And now, thanks to my blog, I actually do get to write on a regular basis. Still, I might get back to English Spring Indian Winter someday, who knows. I just need the peace of mind, pure silence, my own personal space, and nothing to distract my thought process.

My oldest nicest memories. The oldest, is that of my 5th B’day. I remember, my cake of a wall with Humpty Dumpty nicely perched on a it. And running out to the flat balcony with my friends to see a beautiful rainbow.
My memory of the most beautiful place I visited as a kid, was just after my 11 birthday, visiting Kashmir, staying in a boat house and the first time I saw snow. Still aged 11, when we went to Singapore, the realisation hit me that I have actually been residing in a another country for the last 11 years of my life. A fact I always knew, that I was born in another country, but when we went, for a holiday, to yet another country, that’s when I actually felt that I was born, and have been living, in a foreign country. Then 1994, as a teenager, revisiting New Delhi, after a six year break, and visiting my old school, The British School in New Delhi, and walking past the corridor of lockers, bending down to see my name still scratched on my old locker, that year was a uniquely memorable, though somewhat unsettled, year. Ah!! The age of innocence.
And Then I grew up and happy memories seem to start to cease.

My favourites in art : Salvador Dalí, no one can beat this surreal master, as far I’m concerned. Most of my own artworks are inspired by his work.

My favourites in literature : My favourite novel happens to be City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre. I bought it when I was 19, read it when I 20. And hundreds and hundreds of books later, City of Joy, till date, happens to be my favourite. My favourite childhood books: The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton, I read and re-read a number of times between the ages of 8 and 12. And Roald Dahl’s The BFG, a book we did in school, in S-I (Senior I), when I was 11 years old. My first adult/mature book, Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, aged 12½/13. And that remained my favourite book, till I read City of Joy, seven years later.
My favourite author : Christopher Isherwood, since I discovered him a couple years ago, when I read Isherwood’s Mr. Norris Changes Trains (prior to Isherwood, Agatha Christie and D.H. Lawrence were my two favourite authors). And then last year, I read a few more of Isherwood’s beautifully stylized works of inventive literature. (and I still have one more to read, which too I bought last year). Speaking of inventive literature, I have to mention my two favourite novellas. Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (a book that found me, in 2009) and Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange (a book I had been looking for sometime, and finally located in 2011). My favourite two short stories, Anton Chekhov’s The Lady with the Dog, which I read when I was about 14/15 years old and fell madly in love with it; and Daphne du Maurier’s The Apple Tree, which I read two years ago as well.

My favourites in Cinema : My all time favourite film director, Alfred Hitchcock.
My all time favourite movie, Roman Holiday (1953); my all time favourite film star, Audrey Hepburn.
My two favourite stars of the 21st Century, Jude Law & Kate Winslet.
My favourite British movie : Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971)
My favourite European movie (non-British) : The new-wave French classic, Jules et Jim (1962) directed by François Truffaut.
My favourite European movie (non-British) from the first decade of 21st century : The Spanish film, La Mala Educación (2004) directed by Pedro Almodóvar.
My favourite film from the last decade : Mike Nichols’ Closer (2004).
My all time favourite Indian movie (non-Bollywood) : The art house (Parallel Cinema) Bengali/English bilingual film from the state of West Bengal, Aparna Sen’s The Japanese Wife (2010)
My favourite Bollywood flick (Indian commercial cinema, Hindi language film, from the state of Maharashtra) : Arth (1982)
My favourite Asian film (non-Indian) : Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002)
My favourite film from down under : Gallipoli (1981)
My favourite film from down under (from this century) : Ten Canoes (2006)

My favourites in music : Being a child of the 80’s, I grew up loving pop stars, Madonna and Michael Jackson. They are definitely the last two pop stars to make such a strong impact in the music industry. Nobody since, has come up to their level of fame. But as a teenager I started loving the Beatles more, and more specifically John Lennon. Not just for his music, but also his peace activism. Especially, Lennon’s post Beatles activism, alongside his second wife Yoko Ono. My favourite English song happens to Lennon’s Imagine. My favourite Hindi song : Kabhi Kabhie by Mukesh. The tunes I tend to hum on a more regular basis though, since I can remember are : English songs, Gene Kelly’s Singin’ in the Rain and The Beatles Hey Jude ; Hindi songs, Nazia Hassan’s 70’s disco number Aap Jaisa Koi, Asha Bhosle’s Hippie number from the 70’s – Dum Maro Dum, and again Bhosle’s 70’s romantic seduction that is Churaliya.

Places Places :  The most beautiful country I’ve seen : Switzerland
My favourite city : Paris (As a country Switzerland is definitely the most beautiful, but when it comes to concrete jungles, Paris is the most beautiful, with it’s old architecture, Art galleries, Artists houses, and other museums. The Champs-Elysées, the cinema’s, the Cinémathèque Française, and just losing yourself walking along the River Seine, on those brick laden roads.
Most beautiful, scenic, warm climate, location : Definitely the South of France, the French Riviera, Côte d’Azur; including Monaco.

My own artworks :-
I’ve never got a chance to blog about my works of art, except for a couple of posts, where I attached some of my works in relation to that particular post, but besides that I haven’t posted anything about my art. Makes sense, cause the last time I held a paint brush was just over two years ago. And so far as my sketches/drawings go, I haven’t touched a pencil for some months now. So, this my opportunity to showcase some of my artworks in my blog. Thus, since I should limit the amount of works I can post here, here are some of my works done within the last five years, starting from the latter half of 2008.

Right on top, you can see Paris Sydney through the balcony. The last painting I’ve done so far. A painting I did between June-Oct 2010, and completed it, giving it, it’s final finishing touches, in a day, in Oct 2011. I haven’t touched a brush since.
Paris Sydney through the balcony, is a painting where I’ve incorporated the six countries I’ve lived in, till date, since childhood. And named it after two cities I loved living in for two different reasons. Sydney, I had a great group of friends and was the most happiest, and Paris, I fell in love with the city of love itself, for it beauty, artistic vibe and historical significance.

The concepts behind majority of art, happens to be based on Cinema.
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So, my works on Cinema

Sex & Literature [The Reader] (February 2009) : I waited for Kate Winslet to win the Oscar, before I worked on this drawing. Finally my favourite actress of today won the Oscar she deserved to win. Of course this drawing does not depict Kate Winslet, but the character of Hanna Schmitz, Winslet played in the movie The Reader (2008). I hadn’t read Bernhard Schlink German novel, translated into English by Carol Brown Janeway, that the movie is adapted from, at the time. I read it, and loved reading it, only the following year, June 2010.

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(Checkout my list of favourite movies by decade on IMDB. Link:-My Favourite movie by decade)

My Favourite movie by decade – The 1960’s (January 2011)

My Favourite movie by decade – The 1940’s (February 2011)

My Favourite movie by decade – The 1990’s (February 2011)

My Favourite Film on Film Buffs (February 2011)

Hepburn @ cats (Jan 2010)

Marilyn and the 50’s (April 2012)

Priyanka Chopra (November 2008)

The Roaring 20’s, Talking Pictures & Singin’ in the Rain (April 2009)

Equus [The Love Scene] Version A (February 2009): Surreal version

Equus [The Love Scene] Version B (February 2009): Distorted & Abstract version

BUtterfield 8 – Book & Movie (January 2013): Showcasing the difference between the lead character in the book and the movie. John O’Hara’s novel, BUtterfield 8, was written and set in the early 1930’s, and was based on a true story. While Daniel Mann’s movie BUtterfield 8 (1960), starring Elizabeth Taylor in the lead role, for which she won an Oscar, was made and set in the late 50’s.

My works on Paris

Horny Gargoyle watching over Paris (February 2010)

Four artworks of mine paying tribute to my favourite city (February 2010)
–  Horny Gargoyle watching over Paris (same as above)
– A rough sketch of Paris Sydney through the balcony (before I did the oil painting)
– The Girl who stole the Eiffel Tower
– Champs-Elysées & Cinema

Still Life/Miscellaneous

Still Life with Vase & Lipstick (February 2010)

The Hanger & the French Beret (February 2010) : Depicting two of my favourite cities. The French beret, symbolising Paris; and the hanger, Sydney’s Harbour Bridge.

Going French Cuisine (May 2009)

Mental Liberation (February 2010)

Tintin @ Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (April 2010)

Tension Unmasked (February 2010)

Mercury Cloning (February 2010)

Fruity Intimacy (May 2009)

The Third Eye [Man & Machine] (May 2009) : Tribute to Sci-fi works, nothing specific.

Beautiful Legs resting on a footstool (June 2009)

Tribute to (inspired from) past artists/artworks

Après Moreau (January – February 2010) : Two distorted and abstract works based on Gustave Moreau’s famous works. Above – from Fairy with the Griffins. Below – from Galatea and Polyphemus the Cyclops. A lot of Moreau’s works were inspired by Greek mythology and I was a student of the classics (Greek & Roman Civilization).

Van Gogh in Paris (September 2008) : Depicting the Artist, and Rue Lepic, the area of Paris he resided in.

Year 1503AD (May 2011) : Inspired by 16th Century attire; and by photographs taken by photographer Christian Tagliavini.

Fashion 1500’s (May 2011) : Inspired by 16th Century head dresses & ruffled collars; and by works of photographer Christian Tagliavini, titled 1503. Tagliavini, himself was inspired by various artists of the past.

18th Century Royal Indian Elephant (April 2011) : Inspired by a cut-out of a late 18th century Indian miniature art, from central India, depicting Raja Vikramjit riding on a Royal Elephant.

Vanity Venus (May 2009) : At that time (Spring 2009) there was a new discovery of an ancient ruin, which was know as the oldest Venus unearthed at the time. Inspired by that statue, I incorporated the oldest Venus with modern day feminine accessories.

Après Karl Bryullov (February 2010) : Seen on my Art Wall (see My Art Wall section below) Distorted and Abstract Sketch based on Karl Bryullov’s Girls gathering grapes in the environs of Naples.

My Art Wall

My Art Wall (March 2010), in my room (right side)

My Art Wall (March 2010), in my room (left side)

Me in my room (mirror image), opposite the left side of my Art Wall (April 2010).

My Art Wall, in my room, renewed (February 2011) : left side

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Check out some of my older works (2006-2007) at the COFA Annual 07 website. Link :-
http://annual.cofa.unsw.edu.au/2007/profiles/nuwansenadhira/4/?discipline=painting (Link available on my Gravatar page as well)
Also check out my various lists/critiques on IMDB. Link :-
nuwansdel_02 & See all lists by nuwansdel_02 (Links available on my Gravatar page as well)
And my Top-10 all time favourite movies. Link :-
Why I love …. (Link available on my Gravatar page as well)

Nuwan Sen