100-Day Project 2021 Week 5

The stories that take me back – to school field trips, road trips, neighbors, cruises, house-warming gifts – memories are multi-sensory… I can still feel the heat of that day when I walked to Chichen Itza, the feeling of dust between my fingers rummaging in the weekend flea market in Franklin, North Carolina, the fragrance of the vetiver candle… this project is expanding beyond the painted images in its richness for me.

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A Creative Approach Podcast

Toward the end of 2018, I was interviewed by Karen Poirier-Brode for A Creative Approach Podcast. We talked about life and how it led me to where I am at in my artistic journey. Here’s the link to the page where she highlighted what stood out to her in our conversation –

48: Approaching Art Mindfully for Greater Inspiration with Mou Saha

And you can listen to the podcast episode right here –

Listen to “48: Approaching Art Mindfully for Greater Inspiration with Mou Saha” on Spreaker.

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Hello Fall: All Image Collections on SALE

Today is the first day of Autumn and it’s my favorite season! To celebrate, I am offering 15% discount on ALL my downloadable and printable coloring books/ image collections this weekend (9/22/18 – 9/23/18) only. Prices are adjusted, no code needed.

Not only that. I am also launching my newest image collection ‘Hello Fall’ TODAY!

Sweater weather, pumpkin spice flavor and glorious colors all around – that is autumn where I live and I love every bit of it. This gorgeous season inspired me to draw the colorful leaves, the pumpkin gingersnap pie scented candle, the crab apple sprigs, the squirrels that so actively gather acorns, the back-to-school supplies, fall outfits for picture day, the puffy cotton flowers, the strangely shaped gourds, the sunflowers bigger than my daughter’s head, the Halloween decorations, the wreath I made myself for Thanksgiving  and many more. I put these line drawings together in a downloadable and printable collection that you can color as well as use as collage images in your art journals, mixed media art and more. You are also going to get 15 bonus pages with ideas for coloring and art journal pages. Because you can adjust the print sizes of these images, you can even use them in your planners. Print as many times as you need to embellish your personal art projects. Whatever you choose to create, these images will do the hard work for you!

This printable image collection is about all things FALL. You can instantly download the printable PDF following the completion of your payment. You can download the PDF UP TO 3 TIMES just in case the first attempt fails.

No shipping fee, no waiting for the mail.

You can print and reprint as many times as you want!

You would normally pay anywhere between $1.67 and $5 for a SINGLE printable coloring page on Etsy after scrolling for hours to find one you really like.

My goal is to make this easy and affordable for you.

** This is a digital product that you will download. No physical product will be shipped.

**NO REFUNDS on this product.

** Copyright © 2018 Mou Saha. All rights reserved.

You can print these drawings only for personal, non-commercial use. Restrictions include but are: not limited to the following: you cannot resale these drawings, sell them as finished paintings or any art derived from them, submit for publication, teach classes using them, copy and/or distribute them in any form without my written permission.

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Where there’s a will…

Toward the end of 2017, I got an email from Jamie Ridler and Meghan Genge. They had a wonderful plan. They were reaching out to artists to send encouragement to fellow artists who sometimes lose their way (don’t we all?). These notes of encouragement were to be send as emails at no cost to anyone who signed up. It was called Love Letters from Trail Makers and I was invited to create a Love Letter.

Jamie and I came to know each other after my first Creativebug Facebook Live class and she interviewed me for her podcast Creative Living with Jamie. When this invitation came, I didn’t know what to say in words. I wondered what would I tell myself when I get stuck. So I created a visual message: Trust your imagination! When I started creating this blog post about my location sketching, I began to think that maybe my story could make sense to someone and encourage her or him to hang in there, creatively speaking. Mine is an everyday kinda story of a girl who grew up in a traditional Indian family, fulfilling her parents’ expectations and then her husband’s and all along remained attached to a simple hobby of drawing which no one took seriously. Read on and maybe you’ll resonate.

There was a time when I was about 8 or 9 and I drew everything in sight in my homemade sketchbooks. No blank piece of paper was safe if I could get my hands on a pencil, pen or any mark making device! I was not shy and I had no care about what other people thought of my drawings. People carried cameras and I carried my sketchbooks. I sat and I drew. Hours would pass by and I would keep filling the pages of my drawing books.

Then there was the time when I was 13 or 14 and I was shy to sit and draw in public. I restricted myself to drawing what I could see through the windows and balcony of our flat in the city. That shyness evaporated when I visited my grandma in the country and the change of scene was invigorating. My aunt would complain to my mom that I brought with me so few clothes. There was no space in the suitcase after I filled it with all the drawing paper I could fit.

As time went on, life got busier and busier. In my 20s, it was no longer possible to set time aside for reading, sketching and the like. It was not possible to keep drawing without making all the new people in my life – my husband, in-laws, new friends through my husband feel downright ignored. And then bags had to be packed with diapers, several changes of baby clothing, food and more. There was no more space for sketchbooks. Life had expanded in fascinating ways and even though there was no time to sketch, the amazing experiences were marinating inside while waiting to find the thread back to the surface.

Before long, the babies grew up to be children and there were many commutes to places for them to learn to swim, dance, do martial arts, make things in STEM club and there was waiting. It was BEAUTIFUL – pockets of time that were solely mine on most days and right there was the other end of that lost thread. As I packed for the kids, I packed a bag for myself as well with just the basics – a journal, a pen and a water bottle.

As travel became a requirement for my work, I took a sketchbook along and I drew at the airport, on the plane, in the taxi, on the go. I narrowed my essentials down to a no-objection-from-anyone-content-and-size and I resumed sketching on location, aware and unaware of my surroundings at the same time.

I take my time to draw. I don’t always finish on location. I take pictures with my phone for reference if I have to. But I carry on. When I can, I listen to audio books while I sketch. I try to find ways to do all the things that I can’t not do without neglecting everything I must do.

And I don’t judge myself. Or compare with others. They are where they are and I am where I am. That is that.

Some drawings turn out okay, many don’t. I am happy for doing it. And that in itself feels like a gift – the gift of creative expression.

Here are some sketches I did on location.

If you resonate with my story or feel that it inspired you in any way, leave me a comment.

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Flipping through old journals

I started out planning to do some spring cleaning in the studio, sort of in an attempt to clear my mind. Then I found a pile of journals I had meant to put away and forgotten. And then I started flipping through the pages and saw this one. It made me smile! If I didn’t have art and crafts in my life, I’d be a perpetually frazzled person. ART SAVES SANITY.

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New Instagram name

I had been fiddling with this for some time. I joined Instagram in the summer of 2015 to share our move from Tampa, Florida to Chester, New Jersey with my friends. My name was not available to choose and I didn’t want a bunch of random numbers after my name. So, I had picked Color.Happy.Creations after the name of my newsletter.

Slowly, my Instagram feed began to evolve after the move was complete and I had shared enough photos of our new home and the pretty town and orchards. I was sharing photos of my sketchbook every now and then until I made the decision that my Instagram will be mostly about my artwork with some of my life sprinkled in, be it my kids, our vacations, cool finds and such. So, I changed my name to mou.saha.studio.

I think it gives my feed the right focus.

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