Artists’ Sketchbooks 03: Annushka Hardikar

Annushka is a visual recorder of sorts – friends and passerby, meals, rooms, desks, feet and flora all find their way into her sketchbook and lets you peer into what she thinks, see and experiences. Whether its patterns, line art, portraits or scenes, Annushka’s compositions tend to either utilise each page from end to end or has a centrally placed subject juxtaposing an empty background.

Who?

Annushka Hardikar is from Pune and is currently in her fourth year studying Visual Communication at the Srishti Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore.

Tell us a little about your work and artistic practice.

Having always enjoyed drawing as a kid, I believe that’s probably where my love for illustration came from. It became a great way to tell stories and record memories – I’m obsessed with keeping memories alive and hence enjoy recording events, feelings and experiences through my drawings. My work is hugely inspired by nature and things I see around me, it also features a lot of organic forms and spaces. The music I’m listening to, places I visit and questions in my head often creep into my work. Other than that, I love all kinds of flowers, kaju katli, yellow light, the smell of books, organized spaces and silly animal videos.

What does your sketchbook mean to you?

My sketchbook is an extension of me – it’s almost like a documentation of my life. My dream is to have a shelf full of my sketchbooks with the dates marked like encyclopedias. I carry it around everywhere due to my insecurities about it getting stolen, and also to record everything I see, think and feel. I draw when I’m happy, motivated, unsure, bored, saturated, and blank too. It helps me think better, and I love revisiting old sketchbooks to see if and how my work has evolved.

Could you share one piece from your sketchbook that means something to you. Please share an image and tell us a little about why you’ve chosen it.

The image I have shared is from a recent monsoon-inspired series I made as a part of a 365 days project my friend and I started last December. I particularly like it because despite having saturated and bold colours, it all comes together as a composition. Also it really reminds me of the rainy season with the delicious smell of mud, the gorgeous colours of the flowers and happy green trees.