Written by Today’s doodlewashes are from the visual diary kept by Rukmini Poddar, while traveling this summer (follow her on Instagram @rockinruksi). She’s a doodlewasher and urban sketcher from Gainesville, Florida. “Basically,” she says, “I’ve been an art nerd for most of my life.”
Rukmini has also been lucky enough to channel that passion for art pretty early on in life towards a career in graphic design (you can view her portfolio here). And although her specialty is in design, she’s always considered herself “a messy artist of sorts.” She’s multi-disciplinary (photography, illustration, drawing, animation) and eager to experiment with any medium she can get her hands on.
In early April of this year, Rukmini challenged herself with the #100 Day project – a social media project that encourages artists all over the world to make something new every day for 100 days. Little did she know that accepting this challenge would change her entire perspective on art-making. Since then, she has posted something nearly every day on her Instagram account.
Rukmini says, “At first I would do abstracted line drawings with splatters of colored inks. Slowly it evolved to large oil-pastel drawings and eventually to portraits of inspiring women. It was quite a journey, and although the 100 days came to an end, I realized that I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to it just yet.”
Fast forward to her recent watercolor drawings. The 100 day project taught her many things about daily dedication within an artistic process. She used those skills when traveling this summer as a way to document her travels, but also “capture and live in the moment.”
“It is so easy to take a photo of a beautiful place,” she says, “but I feel that painting the landscape has helped me really capture the moment that a photo couldn’t… from Mt. Rainier, Washington to Lake Louise, Canada… there were so many incredible places I had the privilege to see, and being able to paint them just added to the experience.”
Thanks for sharing your journey with us, Rukmini! It’s inspiring to see the world through your eyes, and definitely something that I hope more people try when they find themselves exploring new places. We’ll be watching you on Instagram, and can’t wait to see where you’ll take us next!
I love those pieces that extend her feet and the landscape!
I try doing art every day for my 365-day blog but it is hard! I imagine it doesn’t get easier to do 100 days, especially if you make yourself do complete works rather than quick sketches. 🙂
Yeah…30 days of full on sketches kicked my butt! Lol Glad you like these. Rukmini is awesome and I love the foot sketch too…it’s so cool!!
These are wonderful! I’m so loving your blog, Charlie, because there are so many great artists for me to follow! I’ve been creating everyday, mainly in my journal but also some larger pieces. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks Kari! So happy you like the blog! It’s been such fun to discover and share other doodlewashers! And super happy to hear you create everyday! 😃👍🏻
I like how she shows a little of the background she has painted with her photos. And what a great way to remember the places she has traveled. Thanks Charlie for another awesome post! 😊 So fun to enjoy the talented art of others! 🎨
You’re quite welcome Jill! Glad you liked it! Loved Rukmini’s art when I saw it!!
Great art and what a wonderful way to live in the moment and better than store bought souvenirs….fantastic inspiration! Thank you for sharing this.
I agree! These are the best souvenirs ever! And you can even paint them after your trip from your photos if you want to! 😃