9 ratri, 9 raas, 9 rang.............

And the festival of colours is here! I am so excited. It means many things to many people in my country. For some bringing home durga ma, for some kali maa pandal visits, garba, gollu, Ravan dahan, feast etc.. All these excite and interest me. It is a time when generally people are happy and high!

• I love the gollu. I am not a Tamilian hence do not know the rules of the set up. Nonetheless I will not let it dampen my spirit. In keeping with my tradition of having a center piece for every festival in my house, I have made a representation of the gollu. Many things like the kalaash, Marapacchi, Chettiar dolls, Ashta Laxmi, Dash avaatar, lit deepa etc.. are conspicuous by its absence. I have included the kolam by drawing it on a chart paper. Below are pictures of my dolls display.

Pictures of the dolls display at my house this year

• And last but not the least the Garba. For these nine nights my gujju blood surfaces. And I get into a frenzy of the garba raas. Haaalo re!

My Garba outfit and accessories
So ladies and gentlemen enjoy this beautiful festival. Allow the shakti and the demon within ourselves to battle and may the shakti win over our inner demons.

Traditional Rangoli for small spaces ...

An Indian needs no introduction to Rangoli. In India Rangoli is know by many names- Raangoli, Alplana, Rangavali, Muggu, Kolam, Mandana etc..

Traditionally Rangolis were drawn everyday in the front yard and near the tulasi madan. Increasingly people have lesser time to devote for this activity hence its restricted to special occasions and festivals.

Rangoli is believed to bring in positive energy. Hence I try and have a Rangoli pattern outside my house almost everyday. Anything to surround myself with positive energy. Besides it a great decorative and makes beautifies the entrance. 

Different patterns of Rangoli are related to different god principles but this is not the scope of this post. I find this art slowly disappearing from our lives and it pains me. Time and space are the two major reasons stated for this. Completely understandable. With the per sft cost sky rocketing the space available for drawing Rangolis in the metros is getting restricted to just a tile. The post attempts to show you what we can do on a 12 X 12 tile. 

Below are patterns of traditional rangoli designs believe me it takes me less than 20 mins to make these.......

So my humble request let this beautiful tradition not disappear from our lives. Besides the decorative quality it gives me immense happiness to see this outside my house.

If you think the above designs are tough I will soon come up with contemporary designs of my own. In the interim you may hop on to my FB page on: 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.545168972231737.1073741833.320162498065720&type=3

Do take a moment to drop a line. Thank you.

Kids activity

Keeping a child entertained, busy and yet put him through a learning process is a tough job. I cant claim I am good at it, but I try sometimes...

• Below are glimpses of some work done with my son for his teachers. Below is a picture of a card and some bookmarks

Handpainted mini pots

A friend gave me few mini pots and challenged me to paint and beautify them. Below is the picture of the plain pots.

I thought for a while and painted them with acrylic and pearl colours. Then I added jute and some beads to two of them. Below is a picture of the finished product

Do let me know if you liked my work.

Adios bappa ....

So the grand event is over. A little sadness prevails though. Below are glimpses of the Ganesh festival 2014

Pictures taken during pandal visits and visarjan 2014

So long Bappa. Ganapati Bappa Morya!!

Glass paintings

I have always been fascinated by glass paintings. So decided to try some myself. Not very easy I must say.

 Learnt shading here

 tried dual colours here

This is glass emboss. Difficult to take a perfect picture from my mobile camera

This is a key holder made as Christmas gift for a friend

Do drop a line with your feedback. I would love to hear from you.

Madhubani birds

Here's one more attempt with the beautiful Madhubani style.

This is my new madhubani. I say my because I have taken plenty creative liberties here. For instance typically madhubani doesn't carry the name of the artist, but I have undersigned, I haven't used natural colours instead used pencils and ink. I have added my touch to the madhubani style.

This one can be framed and used as a wall piece. Let me know what you think? Would you like one for yourself?