Beading experiment - Anklets

I have been experimenting with beading, so started with something simple . My daughter has outgrown her silver anklets and she wanted to wear anklets 'urgently' ....!!!

So i just made these with some pale pink and silver coloured beads, linked them on a silver-coloured wire and attached the hook and chain clasp. I have no idea of the gauge of the wire and the shop attendant had no idea. If there is a way to accurately find out the gauge of the wires, please let me know.

Also added a few bells I detached from a pendant I had for ages. What's an anklet without bells for a little girl?

So what's the verdict?

Vaishnava Ganapati - Charcoal on paper

This is one of my creations done about 12 years back and has pride of place in the drawing room at my parent's home. There are a couple more of my works here.

This painting was done with charcoal powder and I had initially thought of doing some charcoal stumping when I came across picture of entitled Vaishnava Ganapati... I just thought I would try drawing it, and since I had the charcoal powder at hand, I used that.

Mural work - 2

This is the second one of the three mural pieces that I had taken classes for. Though the earlier Jharokha had been done with a lot of help from my instructor, this has been done almost by myself. I just got the instructions and then I started work on my own.

Of course, it is a bit different from what my teacher would have envisioned, but I think for a first effort it is not too bad.

I was asked by a few of my friends for the instructions on how to do it . and I will be making the tutorials when I have some free time..

right now, life is a little busy with shopping and such for going to Chennai as well as Kerala ..... Not to mention the fact that my little one is at home and keeping her from being bored is taking all my time and energy..!!!!

So I would really like to know your opinion on this particular piece.

Jharoka

This is one of the projects that kept me busy the past weeks.. I had been going to learn how to make the three dimensional art work.. this particular one is called Jharoka and is said to be very popular in Rajasthan , Jaipur etc

I have seen many versions made from wood, with stone inlays, as mirror frames, etc..

this one was made with plywood as base. It was great learning how to make it. I learnt many techniques and I really love the bronze color.

Let me know what you think..

Meanwhile, I have two more works in progress, and am really enjoying myself.

'Zentangles' , and the Beautiful Blogger Award

This is my first attempt at the art of Zentangles. The origin of it is mentioned here. Though, without this specific name, I am sure that thousands of people have been doing it and are still doing this....

Basically, this is just doodling, given a nice name... it is really addictive, and I am sure that even doodling can be a work of art.

Check it out and let me know what you think of this.

Also, I got an award from Thess, you can visit her blog here . She has a lot of blogs and lots of interests. Thanks Thess, for considering my blog for the award.

But the conditions of the award are the same as two that I have done before, so I won't be stating 7 things about myself yet again..!!!!

Warli painting - acrylic on paper

Warli art is said to have originated in Thane - Maharashtra, of India a couple of centuries ago. It is said that the villagers, especially the women folk used this type of art to decorate the walls of their houses . Most homes had thatched roofs and mud walls. So Warli paintings originally had a mud brown background, and they used to paint with a mixture of rice paste and water.

It is a very interesting form of art and can be completed in very little time. Also, even people who cannot draw very well can do this . I did this painting today, in about 50 minutes...!!!

It is a great way of depicting day to day events, festivals , marriages or other occasions...

There is no need for symmetry and the figures are very easy to draw.. with a few bent limbs, it is so easy to denote movement ....

Try it out and have a great time

Knitted head band, crocheted flower

This is the headband I crocheted this weekend, simple and very basic garter stitch. I crocheted the ends close. My little one was more interested in the pink yarn I had, so I crocheted a flower and decorated the band with it...

Both of us were pleased with it :)

Shiva Thandav - water colour and acrylic

Ever since I saw this picture of Shiva, I have been wanting to paint Shiva in his 'Thandava' pose. However, though I do get inspired from other works of art, I am adamant about my work being as different from the inspiration piece as can be... I can safely say that the end result is a very different thing altogether !!!

A reason why my painting turned so colourful is because I happened to catch a documentary about the lovely temple art of Kerala.. it was almost a lost art, but is slowly experiencing a revival... the very colourful images remained in my mind.. so the painting finally looks nothing like either type of work... But I am happy about how this has turned out..... and frankly, this is one of the more colourful of my paintings..

I would like your opinion too....!!

I did use a lot of brown while painting this picture....and it seems when her teacher was asking all the kids about their favourite colours, my daughter answered brown. The teacher told me that was quite an unusual choice for a child of three... she was very impressed though.... so when I asked my daughter about her choice, she told me "brown is used a lot for painting and it is also mamma's and my (skin) colour.. so Ichu likes 'baraoun' a lot" ...!!!

Ready made saree for a Tiny Tot

This is an outfit I made for my daughter, and it resembles a saree.... somewhat... ! I bought the silver fabric with the idea of making a dress for her, but when I just draped it on her , I thought that it would look good as a saree.. All I had to do, was figure out how to make it look like a saree with a blouse, with minimum fuss.

Finally, instead of making a separate blouse, and then a skirt-like part to fix the drape, I decided it would be better to go for a one-piece dress.

I did not attach any sort of fastening since the material is very flimsy. But anyway, all it needs is a couple of pins.

The dress has a few pleats stitched in the front to duplicate that of a saree and also to give some room . Just pasted on a strip of lace flowers to cover the stitches. The 'sleeve' is a bit of silver-colour ribbon attached to the fabric to hold it in place.

The fabric comes half-way to her back on her right-side. The rest of the material goes round her left side . Fastened it behind her, in the exact middle of her shoulder blades, with a pin. The remaining fabric comes around the right side underneath her arm.

The rest of the material is stitched into ready made pleats and pinned just behind her back shoulder on the left side.

Pasted a few of the lace flowers on her pleats to give it finish.

She wore it for my sister's reception. The pictures were taken by a cousin while she was playing...and the photographer we hired took some amazing pictures, but so far my sister is having a tough time sending them to us........(hint....)

Accessories - Silver shoes with beads and a white and gun-metal bead necklace that my mom got for her.

Art - Inspiration

A couple of absolutely beautiful things I clicked, though I did not do them justice. Pictures like these gladden my heart and inspire me to create ..

This is a calendar I found at my uncle's and I loved it... It is Shiva in his Natarja (dancing) pose. It looked absolutely 'divine ' and I just can't stop looking at it...

This fresco was on the ceiling of a restaurant we went to. Sadly, my camera was full and I could manage to click this one snap while my daughter sat on my lap ....

Crayon and acrylics - Mixed media

An experiment with mixed media.. the central figure of Goddess Saraswati and the border has been done in wax crayons, while the rest of it has been painted in acrylic. 

An artist in the house...!!!

Hmmm..... having to stay at home recovering from earache and a slight fever is no picnic for a two-year old... or for her mom...!!!

The climate is awful so can't go out, can't visit any friends for fear of spreading the boo-boo, and to top everything off, Acha takes this time to go out of town on business(which is a rare occurance - thank God !!)

So Amma does her best to entertain baby ... and both of us are pleased with the results.. The last one was done first.. a few drops of paint dropped here and there... yellow, red and blue.. it was a bit extra watery, so for the next effort, I mixed less water and handed her a brush instead of a straw...

She told me the green was 'geen leaf' and the red spots were 'favos' .. :)

The only trouble was when I had to put the paints away.....................uh..oh................

Crochet cap all done! - Tuesday Toot

This is indeed something that I feel I should toot about!! . I finished my very first crochet cap. 

Other that a doiley with lots of unexpected holes, I have not had anything to do with crochet...and this was done in school..a very long time back.. 

I actually had to re-educate myself on the basics and then go on from there...

Found this really nice crochet video online and followed it.. I started it one week back, but wasn't very sure how sucessful I'd be .

But as you can see, here's proof,... and I have embroidered a tiny silver leaf on it...

For my tiny 'Giant Panda' lover.......

My daughter loves the Giant panda. It started with a squeeky story book my sister-in-law bought her. She started pointing and jumping whenever she saw a panda on TV. Then came the 'Kungfu Panda'..and she got the toy from McDonald's some 6 months back. It is still her very favourite  thing ... 

So when there was a promotion for the Kungfu Panda Cds and such at a nearby Mall, we took her there... she couldn't get enough of 'Kumbanda' as she called 'him' then!!! This is a picture of my husband holding her up to receive a Giant Panda hug.....

A few weeks back we watched Samantha Brown's trip to China on Discovery, travel and Living..and the highlight of that trip was her visit to a Panda nursery...guess who was jumping for joy on my lap??

Now mostly every day she brings her magic slate to me, and makes me draw 'Kuffu Panda' ..so I thought it is better to have a painting hung soon, rather that draw one everyday!!

This one is done in watercolours and a ball-point pen .....

A couple of old sketches...

I was just digging up a book on crochet that I had bought a few years back, when I chanced upon this book with a few of my old pencil sketches.. 

These two pictures were drawn 10 years back, in February 99, to be exact. 

The first is of 'Unni Krishna'...

Second one is a sketch I did from the photo of a warrior, in an old edition of National Geographic..

Have a few more of these lying around.. also discovered a couple of incomplete fabric paintings.. One was done atleast 6 years back!!!

I may complete them before posting..or not!! 

Christmas tree ornament - Handmade from scratch!

I was sure that I wouldn't be posting any more till we came back from Jaipur, but i couldn't resist this... 

Since my daughter was not well the last week ,(Many thanks to all of you who wished her well) she hadn't been to her playschool..and I did not know that I was required to get her a gift worth Rs. 15 to 20, which would then be exchanged...

Now, to get something that would actually be a good gift is almost impossible.. and with kids, there should always be chocolates with the gift or a gift with the chocolates.. otherwise things do become disappointing... 

So finally I decided to make a tree ornament and buy some nice chocolates to add to the gift..

The whole thing was made in 2 hours.. I had to wait for the paint and the varnish to dry on each side, to paint the next layer..

The mould is the cap of Lays Stax... similar to Pringles chips..

I used a ceramic -like powder and glue to make the disk. Poked a hole with a pen refill.

Used acrylic black to paint the base. coated with varnish, painted Holly in red and green for that Christmasy feel.. higlighted with silver and looped some silver threads through the hole..

The thread ends were treated to a coat of clear nail polish to keep it from fraying..

When I finally rushed to my daughter's playschool, I was told they had pre-poned the celebrations and had already distributed the gifts... :(

Anyway, I am happy I made something and can develop on this idea.. 

So my friends, how do u like it?

Another masterpiece.......!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two days back, our daughter brought home worksheets from her playschool, that looked a bit too perfectly colored for a 2-year old. Still we did not want to doubt the achievements of our special miracle.

Finally I could not stand the suspense, and wanted to find out for myself. So I drew an outline of one of her favourites - Tweety, gave her some crayons and let her loose.. well the result speaks for itself doesn't it???

And she insisited I put it up since I frame and hang up my paintings!!! I do think in this instance, she does take after her aunt S !!!

Experimenting with 3D - murals(mixed media)

Finally!!! I got a piece done...

Beginning with getting all the things together, the wood, the glue, the powder that goes into the mold, it was a search that stretched over three weekends in harware shops, art shops etc etc. Then with our baby's start at the playschool, things got delayed further.

So armed with my scribbled notes from an unforgettable meeting with a great artist, and a prayer, I set to work... As I am wont to do, I started with a Ganesha since His form can be made as simple or as complicated as one wants.

I did use the mold for drawing in the Ganesha too, just to find out how versatile it can be. As is clear, I need more practise mixing up the mold since there are a few unnecessary lumps and a few places where the mix has sagged...And the paint is acrylic.

But for a first effort , am not too sorry... :)

A long-awaited visit - A treat for the senses...

I have always been interested in art, and have tried my hand at various types of paintings and mediums,like charcoal stumping, glass painting, oils, watercolours, Rosemailing and though I thoroughly enjoyed them all, and would still keep doing them all occasionally, I did find a certain limit to the thrill it gave me...

....Until I happened to see the work Sangeeta. I am absolutely greatful to Jigyasa and Pratibha for mentioning her work to me...

She has a beautiful shop called Swakrith and after seeing her blog, my only aim was to meet her and see her work in person...

My plans were almost upset with a bad bout of fever, but I did finally manage to make time and make it to her shop, with the cooperation of my husband and his sister!

Sangeeta was a surprise..for such a talented artist, she is so soft-spoken and unassuming, it is amazing. And I felt that we connected instantly... The delightful moments I spent in her company will always remain with me...

Swakrith was all that I had hoped for, and more... the murals displayed in her blog are just a tip of the Iceberg... and when I asked her why she had not done more to post her work, she told me that too many copies were being made from what she displayed... it's a shame that people who take pains to learn an art would just copy work when they can be inspired from them and create something original...even if it would fall short of an experienced artisit's work, atleast they would have the satisfaction of having created something truly thier own.....

I was actually scared to go round the shop too many times coz I was so impressed with Sangeeta and her work, I could have remained there for hours... So I just brought back a souvenir to keep inspiring me... it was one of the simplest pieces there, but still I loved the colour combinations, the texture ...sigh, everything.

Her work gave me a sense of recognition ... as if I had been waiting to see exactly this type of work to give me that added dimension and pleasure......

My hearfelt thanks to Jigyasa and Pratibha for being instrumental in this...

Buddha - Acrylic on canvas

This is the first I am attempting to paint Buddha. Now that I have done one, I think I will do more..Like Ganesha, there are infinite possibilities with the form of Buddha too...

This one has been done with Acrylic on a canvas that I bought ready-made and stretched on the frame. Actually this frame was picked up by my brother for one of his experiments..but when I packed my bags to leave Doha, he tossed it in with my luggage...Thanks bro...

By the way, August is a month I like a lot... both my siblings are leos who celebate their birthdays within 3 days of each other..and to add to that my favourite nephew too celebrates his birthday this month..and THIS month this year, I will be having get-together with my family...so the count-down has begun for me..
And I really intend to enjoy myself and also to gather a lot of inspiration for my blog....