Robert Markey

Ten Days in India Robert Markey

In February and March of 2012 I was doing mosaic mural projects with kids in Sri Lanka and India. When the projects were finished, my wife, Julie, came to India to do a little traveling and she brought a sketchbook for me. In the next ten days we traveled through the southern state of Tamal Nadu - hill country, nature reserves, and temple cities. I drew some of the incredible plants and flowers growing there. All the sketches were done in pen and ink, and colored with watercolor. My first trip to India was in 1980 when I was studying the sitar and went to Calcutta to study with my teacher's teacher, Gokul Nag. So as a link between my visual art and my music I have put on each page a reflection on the god or goddess of some of the ragas that I play. These poetic descriptions are part of the ragmala paintings from old and ancient manuscripts.