Of recently I have been observing an upcoming contemporary Indian artist’s works and I must say that I am completely mesmerized by the intriguing feminine designs that leave you with some thought provoking questions and strokes and lines that only want me to know more of her – Seema Kohli. . Seema has recently been facilitated by Lalit Kala Akademi for being an achiever as a woman in Contemporary Indian Art.

Her work seems to bring into the limelight a woman’s world – not just an outer world but a woman’s inner thoughts, dreams, ideas and her reflection. You will find a beautiful mélange of colors so very sumptuously woven that all you want to do is say kudos to the celebration of beauty, individuality and intimacy of a woman.

Seema Kohli’s recent paintings explore certain mantras from the Yajur Veda which talks about the beauty of procreation. Her work is not spiritual but yet it has deep philosophical meanings that stay with you like certain verses.

Her series, ‘The Golden Womb’ is a journey through which she depicts a woman’s life and how she procreates and keeps the world going. Her work evokes deep sense of the thought processes that germinate inside a woman and these are portrayed as a serene picture with the colors that she has used from her palette. Kohli has worked with different mediums in the past eighteen years and has created paintings that seem to find answers to the eternal quest…

A sketch is almost like a beautiful poetry put together. It is magically how a few strokes of lines make such a splendid image! If we were to define a sketch, it would be called a drawing that is executed through the use of strokes and lines. A sketch is one art that can be easily acquired with practice and patience. It is the basics of visual art medium. So let us see what it takes to make a sketch… 

There is no clear cut classification but broadly these are the different categories of sketching that one can think of:  

Based on the tool: 

·     Pencil Sketching

·     Pen Sketching

·     Charcoal Sketching

·     Sketches with brushes and paint

Based on the picture: 

·     Human Face sketching

·     Human body sketching

·     Landscape sketching

·     Object Sketching/Still life

·     Design Sketching

·     Abstract Sketching

·     Any other

You require minimum tools to make a sketch. Sketching is indeed an inexpensive art and not just that it allows the creativity in you to flow like a river!  

Beginners usually start from what is called the ‘pencil sketching’. Just as the name suggests, all you need to start with is paper and pencils and erasers too. However you need special pencils of varying degree but they are easily available. These pencils are called the following: HB, 2B, 4B and 6B. HB is the usual pencil that most of us use. 2B, 4B and 6B are pencils that get darker as the number increases i.e. 6B is the darkest pencil that is used for dark strokes. As far as the paper is concerned, you need an A3 or an A4 size drawing book paper. But there is no compulsion here. For all you care, you can even sketch on a tissue paper!