Balmy Alley, Mission District in San Francisco.

We thawed ourselves in sunny San Francisco during our Easter break. A city that lured us with it's weather, landmarks, historical places, food and it's happy colours! 

San Francisco city is best explored on foot especially the Mission District. As we emerged from the 24th St. Mission,  BART station we were welcomed into a lovely Latino neighbourhood with vibrance in the form of street art, cafes, bakeries and architecture.

Mission Pie Cafe.

The colourful murals take over large walls.

As we started our walk, there was so much to take in, the architecture with the deep blue sky above and  the multi- coloured art splashed on the walls.

The houses saturated with bright colours.

Art, patterns and colour play.

My friend's little daughter was completely taken in by the colours.

Each alley. Each lamp post seemed to be covered in art!

Patterns in the network of cables!

The buildings formed lovely angular patterns against the blue sky.

We finally reached Balmy Alley where Mission District artists have transformed the walls of their neighbourhood with huge murals.

The murals of Balmy Alley are examples of expressions of the history of displacement and marginalization  experienced by Mexicans and Chicanos of the United States.

These eyes reminded me so much of Aarohi Singh's work.

The walls are covered with Latino and South American murals portraying images of political struggles, artistic movements and their cultural heroes.

The famous mural  Naya Bihana by artist Martin Travers.

  

How about some Outer Body Experience? 

I was completely blown away by this world of colours and art. The murals keep changing and many are added over time.

 Art in every nook and corner.

I found this interesting link to San Francisco Mural Arts.  You can find your favourite mural artist here.

If you are traveling to San Francisco, do visit the Mission District and also the Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitors Center.  (We ran out of time but it does come highly recommended!)

I re-lived all those beautiful moments while I put this post together. Hope you all like it:-)

( Images by Arch. Reference: Wikipedia, Fodor's California 2012)

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Monthly Round Up

I am glad to share with all you lovely readers that now you can read my article on Magicbricks here. Have a read and I'll wait for your genuine feedback. 

Now time to check out what all has happened here on my blog this month.
Read and know about Traditional Interiors. Find more on interiors here.

Some charming Bougainvilleas and outdoor spaces 

This month I started new series on Indian Textile on my blog. This was part 1. Stay tuned for more.

Inspiring interview of a very talented Madhubani artist Deepti Mittal. Read her complete interview here. Read few more inspiring interviews here.

DIY of this month- 'Mineral water can turned into pretty planter'. Some more easy and fun DIY here.

Online furniture store RegencyShop offering discount coupons exclusively for 3D readers. Read more about it here.

I shared about very easy painting technique. Cracked effect painting technique. You can have a look of my artwork here

New month new beginning. Lets see what this month brings to share here :) Enjoy your week!!

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He Flew on Over ...

While I love birds, I've never been one to incorporate "coastal" birds into our decor.  That was ... until I spotted this tall, handsome fella at HomeGoods last week:  

I let him fly all over the house, landing here and there until he found just the right spot to plant himself!

I wonder if it was the crisp, white coral (from Pottery Barn) that enticed him?

Or, maybe it was the picture of the ship floating along that seemed familiar:

Maaaaybee, it was this tall wheat grass as it's a good place to hide:

Whatever the reason, this little family is enjoying his company:

He's a fun, new addition to the "coastal-themed" vignette on the accent chest in our sitting room, for sure:

Annnnd, speaking of additions to our sitting room ... these beautiful chairs from World Market have joined the gang, too!

As has more bling!

Will share completed pics soon ...

Thanks for stopping by, friends!

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Birdcage Table

Do you ever run across something



  

That just



  



Steals your 

 

 



Heart?






Well, that is what happened when I found this huge bird cage table! Who ever sees something like this? I know I don't.


I just had to have it and the best part is, it was very inexpensive since I found it at a garage sale!


But when I got it home, I had to figure out where to put it!


That's

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Cracked Effect Painting Technique

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Today I am sharing very easy and fun to do painting technique - Cracked Effect. Its easy and result is just awesome. It can be done on wood, paper, ceramic, canvas and earthenware. Colors can be acrylic or metal colors for extra shine. I chose terracotta pot and acrylic colors.I had clicked all the pictures from start to end of the project but sadly my gadget wizard kid deleted some of them. I'll try my best to make you understand the complete process.

Supplies: 

Object (Which you want to paint like I chose clay pot )

Acrylic/Latex Paint

Brush

Crackle Medium or all purpose glue

Step 1: Wash terracotta pot and let it dry. Choose two contrasting colors. I chose Pink & magenta.

Step 2: I always prefer to prime the surface as it gives better results. You can skip this step though. 

Primed pot

Step 3: Now paint the pot with chosen color and let it dry completely before proceeding.

Step 4: Now apply crackle medium or all purpose glue on the pot. Thicker layer of glue will give larger crackling effect. to achieve fine cracks apply thin layer. Apply it evenly on the surface.
Step 5: Apply top coat immediately as crackle medium dries very quickly. Apply the second chosen color lightly with soft brush or you can spray paint to make it fast. Keep in mind here that you should not use hard brush strokes as paint can run through the glue and you can't achieve cracked effect then.
Now let it dry completely. Cracks appear as soon as it starts drying.

Night shot 

Here is my finished product. Looks cool. In the last I applied lacquer to give a protective coating.

Potted verbena that has magenta blooms and looked perfect.

Happy indoor as well as..............

Outdoor.

My Rainbow terrace garden has few more colors now :)

Wish you all a very happy and creative weekend!! Keep creating!!

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