My India trips took me to Chandigarh, in the Punjab region north of Delhi.  This city, home of my guru, is also home to many interesting and beautiful parks as well as Lake Sukna where I spent time walking and people-watching.  On one of my trips, I visited the Stone Garden, a famous park built 50 or so years ago by Nek Chand, a well-known Indian sculptor, who used rocks, cement, ceramic and clay pieces, and even broken glass bangles in his construction of this fascinating and beautiful haven which covers several acres.  Two of my paintings feature elements of this Stone Garden.  I have taken liberties in combining features of two or three elements into one scene, largely because they all have meaning for me but I didn’t want to do individual paintings of each element separately.  For instance, the white horses are located in a different area of the park, perched on a different ledge, but added to the interest of the painting in which they appear.  I even borrowed a flowering cactus tree from the Cactus Garden and set it into this painting.  Ditto for the stacks of clay pots.  The flowers in the picture came from Lake Sukna and my guru’s neighbourhood; the yellow/orange tree came from the village scene, and the stone monkey “jumped” into the picture, leaving his buddies in another area of the park.

In the Stone Village, I took the liberty of moving the stone women sculptures to a village setting located in a different area of the park.   It is a lot of fun constructing these compositions and seeing them come to life with lots of colour and decoration!

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a lovely photo video on the amazing Chandigarh rock garden if you are interested in seeing the real thing!