Lakshmi Mohanbabu, Artist, Architect & Fashion Designer, Tells Her Story

Having grown up in Afghanistan seeing all the destruction and chaos, cultivated a keen desire in me to create rather than to destroy, thus started my sojourn of design. I studied architecture at the Manipal Institute of Technology. On completing my degree in Architecture I joined a prominent architectural firm, Benjamin and Benjamin, in New Delhi.

However, I allowed myself to grab any chance that would give me an opportunity to draw, paint, or just create. I got work illustrating books with the World Health Organization, the Voluntary Health Association of India, and the National AIDS Control Organization, to name a few. The subject was very interesting and it gave me an insight into yet another aspect of life. My unconventional approach led me in yet another direction when I decided to study Fashion Design at the National Institute of Fashion Technology in New Delhi, a premier design school and the only one of its kind at the time.

The way I saw it there was no real departure from my training as an architect. Both Architecture and Fashion deal with the design of a protective space -- Clothing is the immediate space around us, and Architecture is the bigger space. Paintings and sculpture create focal points in the larger interior, or architectural space, just as jewelry and accessories create areas of focus in Fashion. The fundamentals of designing a painting a sculpture, a building, or furniture deal with an understanding of function, form, structural and material properties. Over the years I was able to connect the dots and delve into all areas of design.

Traveling and interacting with people from across the globe instilled in me a desire to share my worldview with a message that I believe would have a positive impact on people. As an artist, I feel I could spread a message for the betterment of society. Having extensively traveled in Europe and Asia, studying architecture and fashion design I was able to incorporate various cultural aspects into my world of art and design.

My experience teaching at NIFT Delhi and Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore has made me a perpetual student of Art, Architecture, Jewelry and Design for it is my belief that learning never stops. Having traveled the world with significant time especially in Europe and the Asia Pacific has enabled me to incorporate cross-cultural elements, philosophies and interactions in my designs, be it in painting, jewelry or art.

I believe I was born to study the history of art techniques and explore the unexplored reaches of fine art - not restricting myself to painting  - but in the design of jewelry, furniture, sculpture, shoes, building, clothes, etc. and create a new world. 

Over the last few decades of my journey, I have created a plethora of work in various mediums such as Pen and Ink, Pencil Color, Charcoal, Acrylic, and Watercolors. My paintings and jewelry have been in circulation with private clients for the past few decades. I currently have design studios in both Singapore and India.

This is Week 2 of 52 Artists in 52 Weeks. Thank you for reading and sharing Lakshmi's story today. To connect with Lakshmi and see more of her work, please visit the following links:

Video: https://vimeo.com/172568345

Video:  https://vimeo.com/user53798248

Web: http://www.lakshmimohanbabu.com

Web: http://www.lakshmimohanbabu.net

FB: https://www.facebook.com/LakshmiMohanbabuPaintings

IG : https://www.instagram.com/lakshmimohanbabu/

LinkedIn: https://sg.linkedin.com/in/lakshmimohanbabu

Email: Lakshmi@lakshmimohanbabu.com

Dan Waltz, Author, Artist & Illustrator, Tells His Story

I considered myself a retired artist, or at least a semi-retired one. I’ve had a pretty good career in the arts, lasting over thirty years. I say semi-retired, because due to time, I don’t paint very often anymore, but rest assured, when I really do retire, I will pick up the brush once again. 

I’ve sold a lot of paintings and prints over the years, and illustrated a few books. I even did a few book covers for others, as well as my own. When I’m painting, I specialize in realistic wildlife. I’ve worked in all mediums, oils, acrylic, pen, pencil, but prefer watercolor for the detail I can get from them.

About eight or so years ago, I laid down my paintbrush and picked up a pen and started writing again. I wrote as a teen back in the 70’s, then started drawing and painting, and well, 30+ years later I end up here. “Writing again.”

I really enjoy it. It’s like painting with words. It’s just another form of communication and another form of art; I guess I’m not really retired after all.

I write whatever kind of story that comes to mind. I really don’t want to be stuck in one genre.  I write horror, fantasy, drama, it doesn’t really matter. I would like to say I have something for everyone. If you like zombie fiction, I’ve got it, but I also have a bullying story that everyone should read. I have written a book on an adventurous garden gnome, and even one on a haunted corn maze, which I’m in the process of rewriting. I prefer to write novels over short stories, but I have started a collection of shorts as well.

My latest novel came out almost a year ago. I wrote the first draft in the 2013 NANOWRIMO and published it last year after about a year of polishing. It’s titled, ASH, Like a Tattoo. The book was never intended to be a bullying story, but that’s what it turned out to be, and I love it. I want to do more like it, which is why I recently purchased http://www.bullycidal.com in hopes to add to the story or create new ones along the way, and to help promote bully awareness. You may have already guessed that I was bullied as a child.

                      

Well, that’s in the works, but so are a lot of things. I tend to work on many stories all at once. In fact, I believe I have about 11 of them going as I write this blog. They’re all different genres and I work on them as the story comes to me.  I like to let them write themselves and I never force the issue. Sure, I have an idea in mind from the start, and most of the time I have an ending as well, but by the time I get there, the ending has usually changed. That’s just my style.  I’m just as much surprised at the end of the book, writing it, as you would be reading it. That’s what makes it fun.

My books are available on my website and on Amazon. To learn more about my art, my books and more about me, please visit my website at www.danwaltz.com and of course, I’m on all the social networks.

This is Week 42 of 52 Artists in 52 Weeks. Thank you for reading and sharing Dan’s story today.