Smitha Vishwanath's Blog, page 9

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 7 : Why I’m not a sonnet

Today’s daily resource is the Canadian Museum of History. You can take a virtual tour, or enjoy several online exhibitions, including this one of Inuit prints from Cape Dorset.Finally, here’s our prompt for the day – as always, optional. A few days ago, we looked at Frank O’Hara’s poem in which he explained why he […]

Book Review 09/50, 2025 : Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

This is not the kind of book I’d generally read. But it’s been on my bookshelf; my younger daughter bought it because it’s supposed to  be good. After reading it, I can say it is but it’s a flavor that one needs to get used to like coconut oil in cooking – it’s great for […]

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 6 : Oranges

Painting : by me Today’s daily resource is the online tour section of the Louvre. Not in Paris? No problem! You can still stroll – albeit virtually – through the hallowed corridors of France’s most famous museum, checking out exhibitions on dance, puppetry, royal portraits, and more! Today’s prompt (optional, as always) veers slightly away from […]

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 5: Banks of a River

Our featured resource for the day is the online collection of Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. There’s much to explore here, but just to get you started, why not peruse their images of beautifully designed and varied musical instruments, ranging from a guitar shaped like the moon to a rattle in the form of a bird that is peering suspiciously at […]

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 4: Me and The painting in my living room

Today’s daily resource is the online exhibitions page of the International Folk Art Museum. I have a particular predilection for folk art, in which the strange and boisterous so often finds itself going hand-in-hand with practical objects of daily use. But the museum also showcases work of other sorts, like 100 Aspects of the Moon, […]

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 3 : Why I’m not a baker?

Today’s daily resource is the online art collection of South Korea’s National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. My own art history education is woefully catch-as-catch can, and the little I know of modern art is very much focused on American and European artists. So it was a treat to browse through a collection that is […]

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 2 : Egos, Wars, Winners, Losers

Painting by M.V Duradhar: Draupadi in Kaurava court Today’s daily resource is the online collection of the Georgia O’Keeffe museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The museum’s wide-ranging and eclectic collection includes not only at images of O’Keeffe’s famous paintings, but pictures of things that she owned, photos of her, etc. I’m not sure what particular use […]

NaPoWriMo 2025 Day 1: My truth – I am an Artist, Almost Original

It’s time for another year of NaPoWriMo and I’m tumbling headlong into it after a week’s vacation. I was in two minds about participating this year, given that I’m traveling again tomorrow for three days (unplanned) and I have a week’s travel scheduled for the third week of April (planned). But after having participated in […]

Rishikesh and Haridwar Diaries Part 1: A feast for the senses

Haridwar and Rishikesh are cities in Dehradun, in the north of India. The two cities are popular among Hindus because it is one of the four places in India where the three main rivers ( mentioned in the religious scriptures) – Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, meet. It’s also famous among those who enjoy adventure sports( […]

SoCs 290325 / Tanka Tuesday: Ekphrastic photo poem 250325- A celebration of love

How can you pass by these wild flowers growing in untended grass and not be in awe of nature?