Jumbie Works

Jumbie Works follows the artistic exploits and creative interests of Trinidadian born artist & intern architect, Lisa Rajkumar-Maharaj.

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Finding Time

When I thinking about finding time to do my creative work, I think about walking on a long, sandy beach, picking up seashells that are filled with golden light. They aren’t all filled with light, so I really have to look for them. I imagine that sometimes when I go on this early morning walk, the light is just right and I can see the glow from the shells as they sit on the sand. Their glow…

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The Ebb

Perhaps it goes without saying, but the process of artistic creation fascinates me. There’s an aspect of ebb and flow to it that feels like a natural rhythm. The act of creating a piece of Art is much like the action of the tide. There’s the momentum of surf rushing onto the shore. The Flow. It’s full of energy and direction. The water follows as a force that comes from the ocean depths.

Then…

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Don't hold your breath

Don’t hold your breath

Inhale: One, two, three, four, five – hold for two beats; exhale: five, four, three, two, one – hold for two; then repeat.

Concentrating on controlling my breathing creates space inside of me. Like wind blowing a sail, I am buoyed. In the space between breaths there is the peace of a placid ocean. When I greet that space there is a deep sense of homecoming that I too often deny.

I find that…

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It’s Art Market time again! I’ve taken part in a couple of art markets. Before now I’ve mostly shown paintings & drawings. This year however, I will be showing jewellery.

I started working with air-dry polymer clay a couple of months ago, experimenting with thickness, strength and hand painting techniques. I hadn’t worked with clay before, but I did a lot of research along the way. After a few…

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The Toddler Art Critic

The Toddler Art Critic

Yesterday, on the bus, while I was taking my daughter home from daycare, I had need of my sketchbook. My daughter was fretting and starting a major fuss because our trip was taking a long time due to rain and traffic. I had already read the books that we keep in the stroller for her. I had already given her snacks and water. We had even sang a couple of songs together (to the chagrin of the other…

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Asleep

My Instagram followers would have seen that I’ve been experimenting with portraits (to varying degrees of success). A friend of mine showed me a drawing that she started with pencils. I haven’t used pencils in a while now, so I thought I’d give them a try. This sketch, I worked on in 15 to 30 minute bursts over a 2 week period. As a source image, I used a photograph that I took of Mauri and Maya…

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Knock Knock

Knock Knock Knock. I hear rumblings and thrashings from big, galumphing creatures behind the door. I try to peak through the curtains, but all I see are the shadows and silhouettes of varied and strange creatures. They’re having the greatest party I’ve ever not been invited to. I’m knocking on the door with hopes that my gate crashing will be accepted. I mean I have no recourse if they don’t let…

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If you’re in Toronto next Sunday…

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Sharing

On May 28th, my friend Tara Keens-Douglas and I are taking part in the Christie Pits Art Crawl. In light of this, I’ve been thinking a lot about communication and how best to present my Art. In addition it’s made me think more closely about the dilemma of exhibition and sales. The last time I did an Art Market, I got too focused on the idea of selling my work. I don’t think that’s how Art Markets…

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When to Stop

Every now and again, if you’re lucky, you experience a rare gush of creativity. It erupts out of the blue and when it does, you drop everything and dive for the brush, pen, or whatever so you can seize the magic. When you’re riding this wave, each tone you pick is the right one, and inspiration flows like an open stream. It is lovely, perfect, sexy magic. Under the influence of this rare tide,…

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Inner Thirst

It sneaks up on you. Especially when your life is basically in service of another person. It starts with mild irritation at seemingly normal things. Then, that ever present irritation dips and rises throughout the day leading to cycles of negative thought. For me, it also manifests as a hunger for decadent food or shopping- though neither of those things ever fill the void. I think it’s a…

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We are all light and shadow

We are all light and shadow

I’ve been thinking about white pigment. When it comes to racial politics, I can give no merit to any view that holds race as a concrete thought form. For me, it comes down to pigment. We̵… Source: We are all light and shadow

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We are all light and shadow

We are all light and shadow

I’ve been thinking about white pigment. When it comes to racial politics, I can give no merit to any view that holds race as a concrete thought form. For me, it comes down to pigment. We’re all just variations of similar tones. No matter how hard I try to see it, I simply wasn’t raised with the mental hooks onto which to hang ideas of racial superiority or inferiority. Perhaps emboldened by my…

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Drako

For most of 2016, I’ve had this canvas on my easel. I worked on it very slowly, adding layers upon layers of colour. For long stretches of time it just sat there in a semi-finished state while I looked and it and thought about it. What was nice in working on this piece was that I didn’t rush myself into shaping it into ‘something’. I let it be what it grew to be and only in the last stages did I…

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Screamers

Between night time feedings tonight, I got to thinking about my first forays into art. Oh, how to describe Screamers to someone who has never seen it… I’ll try by starting from my introduction. When I was 12 or 13 I started going to the mall as a social excursion. It was the beginning of any sort of independent narrative. I had never cut my hair before in any way other than my mother approved…

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And so we continue...

And so we continue…

I started this piece in the last week of my pregnancy and I finished it off in the past coupe days. Maya will be 2 months next week! I cant say that pregnancy was particularly fruitful for me in the art department – my lack of blog posts are testament to that. I suppose my body was busy working on my greatest creation. In the period since Maya’s birth, I’ve felt a resurgence of creative power.…

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Mid Sea

Inspiration is a funny thing. This blog in a sense is a chronicle of my struggles to understand / cope with the nature of creativity. The act of creation is an interesting thing as well. Any single person can create a hundred things in a week and not consider any of it to be artful. It is still creation though. Day to day life management has forced my creativity into different veins that depend…

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