CHENNAI: If you ask any full-time artist about how they are spending their time at home these days, most of them would likely say, ‘this is how our every day looks like’. We are surrounded by paints, brushes, sketchbooks, and canvases. We have conversations with them. They are our colleagues and collaborators. My brother Akash and I are freelance artists and this lockdown has given us time to bond with each other. Our lockdown routine involves doing yoga, having healthy meals, doing household chores, and painting all day.

I feel there’s always an invisible option of binge-watching TV shows as well but Akash loves to help mom cooking. His lockdown- period goal is to learn how to make aloo paratha and many other recipes. This period can be considered as a wish granted to both of us. We can create art whenever we want to with no deadlines in mind. We can focus solely on the craft and develop our skills. But, there’s always a flip side to everything. COVID-19 has hit the economy hard and this has affected small businesses.

And art is a luxury, not a necessity. We are utilising this period to understand how art can help during a crisis. One of them includes sharing tutorials on different topics online. Looking at fellow artists and ourselves, we made sure that we convert this difficult time into something productive. We’re doing all this to ensure that we can extend support to our community.

Now is the time we can all come together and create art. Artists are moving to conducting workshops online, going live, etc. So all you need is just a pencil and paper to start. Art is not just a hobby but a roadmap that helps you discover yourself. — Sneha Parakh (Instagram handle: sneash_artspace) (Write to cityexpresschn@ gmail.com and tell us how you are spending this quarantine)