Diwali Craft & Home Decor Inspiration- I

Do you have those plain white tea lights and wanted to make them a bit more interesting. Here are some easy and interesting ideas to add some drama to your decor and I am sure you all will going to love it. I made these tea light candles (in picture below) in different colors but wasn't happy with the way they turned out. So I decided to spice them up. There are few ideas I am sharing though you can go wild with your imaginations and creativity.

1. Stick designer stones around the tea light let them dry and then glitter them. This is the simplest thing to transform plain tea light candles into glamorous one and looks fabulous.

2. Make a motif or design of your choice with different colors, stick stones and then add some glitter. That's it your tea lights have turned into elegant piece of decor.

3. One more simple idea is to paint the tea light in linear gradient color and mark the color separation with glitter.

4. We all love satin ribbons don't we. Stick one lovely satin ribbon around the tea light and it's done. You can add glitter on tea light's rim to give it a festive look.

Now lets talk about how to decorate your home with tea lights:
1. To make a table centerpiece: take any tray put some pebbles with flowers or petals then put tea lights in any fashion linear, circular or random then put some pearls around each tea light. You are ready to greet your guests :)

2. For decorating walkways or entrance: Place the tea lights on entrance or on walkways put petals around each of them and then make rangoli around petals.

3. Floating tea lights: Float them in water with flower/ petals, shells, pebbles or glittered thermocol balls. You can use wine glass also to float them.

4. Make a cluster of pillar candles and tea lights put one decorative mirror behind the arrangement. This setting will double up the charm and glow of your space.


Hope you liked the inspirations and please do share your ideas and inspirations also. I would love to showcase your work here on my blog.
Stay tuned for more on Diwali crafts and home decor inspirations.


Word of caution: After lighting diyas and candles treat them with great caution don't leave them unattended, keep them out of reach of children.

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Indian Art: Pattachitra (Odisha Art)

Pattachitra is an age old  traditional painting of Odisha, India. Paintings depict Hindu mythology and are inspired by Lord Jagannath. It is one of the oldest art form of Odisha. Pattachitra is a Sanskrit name, patta -cloth and chitra- painting. Thus its a painting on silk or cotton cloth filled with rich color that portrays Hindu mythology.

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                                                       Pattachitra
Origin: It is said that these paintings were substitute for worship on days when the temple doors were shut for the 'ritual bath' of the deity. This form of art still survives in places like Puri, Raghurajpur and Sonepur in Odisha. Artists also called 'Chitrakars' who mastered this art are Mohapatra and Maharna

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Style: The style is mix of folk and traditional elements. Mainly depicting stories of Lord Jagannath. Paintings have very intricate designs and lines are bold and sharp. Background on which figures are painted is always filled with floral motifs. Mainly red, yellow, black & white colors are used for filling in. Borders mainly in red is an essential part of every painting. Colors used are all natural.

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Process: Painting is done on canvas. Canvas is prepared by applying glue (dried and powdered Tamarind seeds and chalk powder) then it is dried in sun. Canvas is then rubbed with the khaddar stone to make it smooth and then rubbed with chikna stone to make it shine. Then the motif or figure is drawn on canvas directly with the brush by chitrakars who have mastered this art. Then natural colors obtained from vegetables and various stones are filled in. Brushes used are very fine and made of mouse hairs. Final coat of lacquer is applied to protect it from weather and to make it last long.

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Hope you enjoyed reading about Pattachitra. Want to say something leave your comment, love to hear from you :)

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Indian Art: Kalamkari (South Indian Art)

Here is an update. Some of my dear blog readers requested me to elaborate more on different arts I publish under "Indian Art" series on my blog. So from now on posts on different art forms will cover every possible detail. Thanks to all my blog readers for their feedback and lovely comments.
                                                            Kalamkari
As the name suggests kalamkari is an art done on fabric mainly cotton & silk using pen (kalam) and kari means craftsmanship. Kalamkari is an exquisite art of hand painted and hand printed fabric.

Origin:  
It evolved in two villages in Andhra Pradesh  Srikalahsti and Masulipatnam/Machilipatnam.  In Masulipatnam, the weavers took to this art so they used block to print the fabric, while at Srikalalahasti, the Balojas (a caste involved in making bangles) took to this art and it is characterized by freehand drawing using the kalam. 
Kalamkari is a popular art form in the Mithila region of Bihar in India, where women in mostly rural areas paint mythological characters and depict stories in their paintings. These range from flowers, birds and animals to indian god and goddesses, including Rama, Krishna as well as Buddha.

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Style:
Under the influence of Muslim ruler, the Masulipatnam Kalamkari was influenced by Persian motifs & designs,catering to the Islamic aesthetics widely adapted to suit their taste.It involves both printing and painting.This style is characterized by intricate plethora of motifs and forms including the tree of life, creepers and animal figures. Use of flora and fauna were common in this style.

Masulipatnam Style
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Srikalahasti, on the other hand, owing to Hindu rulers, flourished under Hindu temple patronage, and exclusively drew inspiration from mythological figures. Characteristics of this style are excess use of colors like Green, Red, Black, Yellow and Blue, figures of God's like Krishna, Brahma, Ganesha, Durga, Kiratavinyaarjuna, Lakshmi, Rama, Shiva and Parvathi, round faces, long and big eyes, stout figures, motifs with no shadding.

Srikalahassti Style
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The artists use a bamboo or date palm stick pointed at one end with a bundle of fine hair attached to this pointed end to serve as the brush or pen.  

The dyes are obtained by extracting colours form parts of plants - roots, leaves along with mineral salts of iron, tin, copper, alum, etc., which are used as mordants.


Process:
The production process for both the styles of Kalamkari painting is similar to a large extent and is very time consuming. The technique consists of a painstaking process of resist–dyeing and handprinting.  It involves 17 meticulous steps for the Srikalahasti style and 12 laborious steps for the Masulipatnam one.
The fabric is first treated in goat or cow dung to be whitened. Milk is mixed with the solution called Myrobalan to inhibit the color to spread to the next step. The iron acetate solution is filled in for solid spaces or as outlines using brush/kalam in Srikalahasti style ans using block in Masulipatnam style, and all the areas intended to be red are tinted or printed over with the alum solution as a mordant.
The cloth is kept in the same manner for a day and excessive alum is then washed off the cloth under flowing water.
After this, the areas on the cloth that are not meant to be blue are covered with wax and then the waxed cloth is immersed in the indigo solution. In Srikalahasti, the blue is painted with the kalam. The wax is then removed by boiling the cloth in water.
The yellow is dyed on to create the yellow and green motifs.Yellow and green colors are the last ones to be painted on the cloth. After each treatment, the fabric is washed. The piece of Kalamkari undergoes at least 15-20 washes before the final colors become apparent. A complex piece can take up to 9 months to be completed. 
The dyes are obtained by natural resorces liike extracting colors form parts of plants - roots, leaves along with mineral salts of iron, tin, copper, alum, etc., which are used as mordants.

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These days lots of variations can be seen in kalamkari. Artists are mixing this art to various other arts to form a masterpiece. 

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Though Kalamkari in its simplest version (i.e only outlined figure/motif on fabric) is a masterpiece.

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Leave your comment and let me know what do you think about this art and hope my blog readers will be  satisfied with the more elaborated and detailed post on Indian Art.

Linking this to ShowAndTellFriday @ MyRomanticHome

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Art To Me Is........

Art means a lot in my life. Its everything for me and its everywhere around me. As I said earlier "I find solace in Art". So whenever I'm sad or disappointed I create. Saying that doesn't mean that I create only when I feel down but Art has such impact in my life that it revives my inner-self, it oozes confidence in me, it kills negativity in and around me,it charges my soul,  its sort of energy booster. I find myself as a very new me. 

After a month long sabbatical I'm back and such long vacation made me lethargic.........So to lift up my spirit I created. I wanted to stencil one of the wall in my living room but before that I gave it a try on this pot and it  turned out so well that I'm confident now and soon I'm going to stencil wall also.
This stencil I got free with my acrylic color pack and was wondering since then where I'll going to use it. Then saw this blank and dull pot and decided to give it a new look and here it is............

Now that my creative juices started flowing again stay tuned for more exciting DIY and inspirations.



P.S : All images are blur and dull because I used my VGA mobile camera and these are night shots.

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Indian Art: Lippan Work(Gujarat & Rajasthan Art)

Today I'm sharing with you is a decorative art form of western India. Lippan Kaam, Mud Relief Work or Mud Mirror Work is done inside huts in Kutch in Gujarat.  Lippan work is done mainly by women of Rabari community of Kutch. Women are so expert that they don't even trace or draw motif on wall.
The mud is prepared  by mixing clay with camel dung(as a binding agent as it contains fibers) and then kneaded with water. Glue is used to stick mirrors of different sizes and shapes like triangle, diamond, round and sometimes embroidered mirrors.
Work is usually done inside the huts called bhungas. These huts are made of mud and are known to be earth quack resistant.
If you want to explore more about this art click here. It's a very informative and interesting article.

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Soon I am going to do this lippan work in my home too (lots of incomplete project in a queue though). It looks so ethnic. and Indian. I totally love this work.

Have a wonderful weeekend and stay creative freinds!!

Linking it to Show And Tell Friday @ MyRomanticHome

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Indian Art: Dhokra Art (Eastern and Central India)

Dhokra also known as the Dokra art form is very ancient indian art form dated back to 4000-5000 yrs. The art form originated from the Bastar in Chhattisgarh(India).Name Dhokra is derived from the tribes(Dokra) who are  metal workers of tribal community in Bastar. The tribe extends from Jharkhand to West Bengal and Orissa.

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Process of making Dokra art piece is even more interesting. Dhokra metal crafts follow the traditional method of lost or vanishing wax technique. First the clay core is designed  and then is layered by wax, resin and nut oil. Wax is then carved and every fine detail is given again this is covered by clay it works as a mould for metal art piece. Clay is then cooked and wax comes out from the drain ducts. Molten metal (that is mainly brass and bronze scraps) is poured inside the mould. After the metal has taken shape and as cooled down, outer clay layer is chipped off. Metal art piece is then polished and finished. Thus this method has a big disadvantage that mould can be used only once and hence two art pieces will not be exactly the same.....interesting isn't it!!
Inspiration is from environment, trees, birds, animals and rituals also.

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Intricate design and every fine detail on each article holds its unique and distinct identity. This art form is indeed the most beautiful art form among ancient Indian arts.

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Lotus Painting

Just finished this painting.  I used soft pastel colors though I used these colors first time.....result is I think good.

Almost after ten years again I'm playing with colors. This is the longest time that I didn't touch brushes, colors and canvas :-(

Image Source: Design Decor And Disha

Now that I have gathered enough courage after making this painting its time for big show. Soon going to paint one big Buddha painting.  Work in progress ....
Happy weekend and stay creative friends!!!

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Artwork In Progress

This is what I am upto these days.......

Trying my hand on painting after ten long years!!

Will be completed in a day or so!!!
Super gorgeous DIY is coming this weekend and I bet you all will going to like it. stay tuned friends.

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Terracotta Love

Terracotta pots and figurines look so lovely. And one such lovely piece I was gifted when I visited Chokhi Dhani (Rajasthani village themed restaurant and fun fair). Though I loved it in its plain form also but then too I wanted to fill colors.

This is how it looked when I received it..........

 I colored it in pure Rajasthani style using colors like yellow, red and orange. And it turned out so well. 

Tadaaa..........

 I found it little difficult to paint bandhni print on turban...but finally I did it.

 Some fine details.........

And painting this pot was so fun. this tiny pot is looking so cute.......isn't it.

Now it looks so Indian....so ethnic and I totally love it.

Wish you all a very happy and wonderful weekend ahead!!

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Indian Art: Gond Art (Madhya Pradesh)

Starting today a very new and interesting series of different forms of art from India and around the world. I have always been fascinated by various art forms. I chose to start with Madhya Pradesh's art beacause this state is known as  'Heart of India' and the fact that I hails from this very state and I truely love everything about MP. Today I am showcasing Gond Art of MP.

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Gond Tribal Painting is done by Gondi people who live in parts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh & Orissa. However, majority of the artists who paint in this style come from a village called Patangarh in the Mandla District of Madhya Pradesh. Patangarh is a place where a seventeen years old boy Jangarh Singh Shyam used to decorate his hut's wall using dots, lines and bold colours. Late painter J.Swaminathan introduced this young artist to the world. More on Gond Tribal Art you can find here and here

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Gond paintings are usually done on mud walls. Artist uses colors derived from charcoal, soil, plant sap, leaves and even cow dung.......interesting isn't it and this painting can lasts upto 15-20 years. Theme of Gond  

painting depicts day-to-day life.Gond tribal paintings are not just mere decorations, but also the expressions of their religious sentiments, devotions and their perception of life.

I found this form of art very very interesting and going to give it a try soon. What do you think about this art and artists....leave me a sweet note I would love to hear from you.

    

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