Wall-art in my room

My room was painted in plain light green. Very light. So light, that you could forget that it was green if you got used to it. But it was my room. My favourite. The room I played in, studied in, group-studied (if that’s ever-possible XD), danced in, and a lot more. This house has been our home for more than six years now. And so, has been my room. I have so many memories from the time I have been living in that room.

I have always been passionate about art. For a long time, I have wanted to do something at home. Some of my sketches, paintings, and even a few photographs are on the cupboards at home. Now due to the pandemic I knew I had a lot of time in hand, so I planned to doodle on the walls. When I went into in my room and looked at the wall to think of something to doodle on it, it seemed so huge. It felt massive. Before I could think of something to doodle on it, my mind started to look for alternatives. Well, it found one. There’s a column in my room that stands out. Meaning it protrudes a few inches from the wall. I had just finished sketching hundreds of stick figures in a notepad. Then I thought why not put a few of them on this column, as a trial, before I work on the huge wall. I stuck a notice on the door that said “Please do not enter” and started working. The result was:

I liked it. My parents liked it. A few days later I again started thinking about what I could do in the rest of my room. With the help of my doodles I wanted to tell something about myself. So, my thoughts were aligned with art, photography, engineering, science, cycling, travel and few others. My final thought, after consulting a friend, Paper Press, was to start with drawing a W-16 engine on the wall. I, being a to-be Engineer, was specific about the all dimensions of the engine. Pencil sketching of the engine began. By the time I had completed the fourth cylinder and piston it did not feel right. It looked too messy. Couldn’t understand what more I could do with it. Erased it completely.

Until now the beams were small rectangles, because I divided them into portions of different colours. Now it was time to doodle on massive walls. When I sat down before starting the wall, I did not want to get up. XD. Until now I had watched a few movies and had also listened to a lot of songs. My requirement was to have something interesting to watch, something I had already watched, because I couldn’t focus on it. Re-watching Breaking Bad was my choice. By the time Breaking Bad was over, five seasons, that is 62 episodes, each 45+ minutes long, I had only completed three portions. The two adjacent sides of Buddha, the space on the left of Ganesha:

The other parts of the room just came into life in the next few days.

My parents were constantly asking me to finish it as quickly as possible and they wanted me to open the room. Three days ago, I started drawing the mandapam around the Ganesha photo along with the flowers. Everything was done except for little empty spaces above the cupboard, below the window, etc. For some reason I took a piece of wood, put double sided tape and stuck all my brush pens together on top of it. I made random curves just to fill up the space. By 3pm on the 15^th of September 2020, I was done doodling my room. I cleaned it for the big reveal and stuck a notice on the door that said “Amma Appa, for first time, enter together”. Too much cliché? Didn’t seem like it back then.

Looking backward, every time I finished a wall or a part of it, I thought there may be a little less to do now. But no! I look away from the wall I just completed and there's still so much of empty space still waiting to be doodled upon. Yet, it was a fabulous experience. Now every doodle, every character in that room tells me a story! To every person that observes the walls of my room, there is a new story waiting to be heard!