Summer is a time for all things bright and beautiful. And, amid the sun and shine, the capital is booming with summer exhibitions and workshops on different forms of art. This summer, take part in some unique workshops. Learn new skills or revive the latent skills in you.

There are plenty of options to choose from, one being a workshop on Gouache painting. Gouache, a unique medium of art, rarely used in India is a magnificent, water-based paint used for creating rich, opaque, and velvety surfaces. The magic of light in nature can be captured with different moods successfully using a limited palette.

The workshop, to be held at The Stainless Gallery on 25 June, aims to help participants explore the creative possibilities in painting.

Meanwhile, there is a slow, yet conscious art movement in the city in varied forms, be it painting, photography or performing arts. One is the Art Fair, an initiative towards harmony and community living by the residents in the capital.

In view of the complete endless traffic and parking woes at Lajpat Nagar, indifference on the part of local authorities and the residents alike to the ever deteriorating living conditions, air and sound pollution, and poor upkeep of the area, the residents came together to address the issues through art.

"We felt the need for the residents to feel proud of the beautiful colony and needed to bring them together as a harmonious community," one of the organisers of the initiative, said.

"We decided to put on our walking shoes and…said hello to those around…. and slowly as the numbers increased and people came out of their shells, we started meeting over cups of tea calling it 'CHAI PE CHARCHA', " Poonam Bhasin, a resident said.

To achieve a social change, a common ground and a human network is important.

"We need to mobilise ourselves to bring about a change in our immediate surroundings and our neighbourhood. Adopting the Munna Bhai and Jai Ho approach of 'Do good, spread cheer and make a human network', we agreed to bring about the said change in an harmonious way," the organisers said.

Cultural concepts work the best to bring harmony, hence, the idea of the Art Fair came about, Bhasin said, adding, "We recreated the Mohalla culture of yore" to bring about the much needed beautification of the place and make people "stop and notice".