As days of lockdown began, I began this series of artworks with mixed media. The theme was spring with all its flowers, and butterflies. It was very different from the geometric abstract series that I had been working on for a couple of years. Meditation and focusing inwards was what I had been depicting and expressing through geometry.

But on 26th March, day 1 of national lockdown I woke up with the urge to paint flowers. I picked up the canvas board I had started earlier. After painting a few flowers, I started adding paper flowers to the work. The process of picking up the right colours, textures and the physical involvement in sticking each one of them; and then at each step, contemplating what and how to paint around those got me so much involved that I didn’t know how the day went by. The spring season and chirping birds around me provided just the right ambience while the bright coloured flowers of my garden inspired through their changing hues against the shades of the horizon. I realised how meditative the process of creation of these mixed media works was…as it involved deep attention into two of my biggest loves, art and Nature. During these days of lockdown, when Nature proved to be the biggest leveller that brought all National, religious, and economic disparity to the same level, these works seemed to take me in the midst of the very basic beauty of Nature, soak myself completely into it, caring least for what was happening around me…the unrest and fear on social media, in particular. I was living in the moment, not bothering about the next moment and it’s uncertainty. And I was happy.