After following an old lady and a monk as they did kora around Boudhanath stupa, I climbed the narrow staircase to the roof terrace of Saturday Café for a masala omelette and a bit of coffee. While I was sketching after my subjects, scurrying just steps behind them, I soon realised I had gathered my own handful of followers— the curious, who were wondering what on earth that foreign girl was doing. I was very pleased with the sketch, and decided whilst enjoying my breakfast,
to play around with the background. I wanted to capture a sense of the billowing monsoon clouds, to incorporate some gold from the stupa, and the deep blue pastel I bought specifically for this trip, as I feel that it reflects a certain state of mind and being.
This little cow was lying in the shade of the great stupa, so elegant and pitiful in its starving curves. I sketched it so quickly, I don’t think I captured the reality of its situation, but rather how I wished it could be, fat with health and happiness.
Old monk, old woman
Clockwise, circle the Stupa
The flicking of beads.
See the photos, read the story on my blog Harika.