Happy 2014

“May Light always surround you;
Hope kindle and rebound you.
May your Hurts turn to Healing;
Your Heart embrace Feeling.
May Wounds become Wisdom;
Every Kindness a Prism.
May Laughter infect you;
Your Passion resurrect you.
May Goodness inspire
your Deepest Desires.
Through all that you Reach For,
May your arms Never Tire.” 

 D.Simone

Happy New Year To All My Friends and Arty Folks...to One n All!

Please do not use/reproduce the  image without the written consent of the author.

Merry Christmas

Leaving you with just Loads of wishes...Have a wonderful time with family and friends...

Will be back soon :)

Image Courtesy: wide-wallpapers.net

Happy Janmashtami

Wishing each and everyone an enthralling and magical Janmashtami!

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.

Happy Independence Day!

Wishing All My Fellow Indians A Very Happy Independence Day!

Work In Progress!

Hello friends

It's been a while...I have taken up a temporary job as a Guest Lecturer in a Higher Secondary School. So it's taking up all the time but I am enjoying it though. I love the the scenario (it's a bit rural), liked my colleagues and most of all the children there. I was told that they find English extremely difficult. That's true but they can not be blamed. They don't have the base and after reaching Plus 1 and Plus 2, it's difficult to teach them that. It's not impossible though; need time which we lack! However I find a sparkle, a innocent glint in thier eyes which is so very appealing to me. I don't know how they find my class, but I am enjoying it...my time with them. They are the hands stretched out to the sinking ship i.e. me  :P

I wasn't able to join the last SOC challenge...I have missed a couple of PPF's...I don't enough time to create anything new these days. Let me complete this and I will try to nudge a post once in a while. My Facebook page has reached 500 likes...Thanks to one and all for all the love and support that you have extended (both to my blog and FB page). THANK YOU!

Work in Progress

Started this almost 3 years back and it's still a WIP... came across this while arranging my boxes. I should complete this sometime soon.

As said earlier will drop by your place as and when I get some spare time which has become rare these days.

Until then adieu :D

Linking it to PPF...

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.

Hanging Umbrellas and Cute Birds

Friday is around the corner again and it's PPF and SOC...since I do not wish to miss it...posting it on Thursday night. I will be off the grid for a few days...a very short break! I may also appear after a week as usual...uncertainty prevails...need a few days off for a few personal matters to be met :)

Hanging Umbrellas - Digital

The colour combination for this week was Candy Apple Red and Yellow. This is inspired from a picture by Patricia Almeida and this represents the Agitagueda Art Festival of Portugal. I loved it the picture so much so that I decided to try it in digital.

Cute Birds - Digital

One more attempt with the same colour combination on the birds. Linking it to PPF and SOC...

Adieu for now :)

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.

Rains, Blossoms and Dreams

It's raining cats and dogs here!!! So much so that the Collector has declared holiday for educational institutions. Some times it's so hot that the earth develops veins and craves for a drop and some times the earth is so full that it fails to contain it! Poor Mother Earth; suffering at the hands of us....mean Humans!On a brighter note...everyone has enough water now! And children can play with paper boats! :) Anyways the earth looks beautiful and really Green!

This week's SOC colour combo is Charcoal Grey and Pale Pink. Since I am doing digital pieces for the challenge I am revisiting many areas I hadn't done for long. It's a sort of revision :)

 Cherry Blossoms - Digital

Anyone who knows me will also know that I LOVE blooms (among other things :)) Cherry blossoms are ones I had been wanting to paint for a very long time. Finally I am doing a digi piece...not satisfied though. I will be painting one soon with all those wonderful feel of the colours in ones hands...

Pattern Paper - Digital

Personally I just LOVE this quote....very inspiring! I dream a lot...even day dream and that's so typical of Pisceans I hear. I don't talk much about my dreams as I fear they may not come true...all the same I hold them dearly and each cell in me keeps wishing that it turns true and of course I do work towards it too but at times I am stuck as I do not know which path I should take (reminded of Frost!) or which step is the next one. My dreams are a bit Big! (understatement!!!) but I do hope to reach there sometime soon!

 ATC - digital with the SOC color combo

 ATC with inspirational quote - Digital

Linking it to PPF , SOC and Show and Tell Saturday..Do come over to visit a variety of artists...

Ref images of cherry blossoms, lady & sunflower from google.

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Nature's Call and Butterflies

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us as universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” - Albert Einstein

Recently I saw an interview in one of our regional news channel about Rita Panicker, a lady who overwhelmed me with her tales of street children. She is the Director of an organization called Butterflies - a programme for street and working children. It's a voluntary organization that runs in Delhi since 1989 and focuses on safeguarding and protecting the rights of street and working children. They include children even in their decision making. They even have a bank called Khazana run by children and is not restricted to India alone. Bal sabha's are engaged monthly to discuss the childrens' issues. The most stricking part in her talk was the couple decided not to have children so that they can serve the children of the world. Rita says that's following the religion, that's serving God! Isn't that True and so Noble? Visit Butterflies :)

This week my pictures are from nature, again, and I am embracing nature and all the living creatures :)

 Chameleon - Acrylics

Ref picture

My SOC submission is a digi art as mentioned in my previous post. This week's colour combo was Lime Green and Purple. I have used various effects on my Perching bird image...Tell me which one looks good...or is everything unpalatable???

Perching Bird - Digi Art

Do you feel -a-sort-of-optical-illusion- in this one?

Everyone hop over to PPF and SOC...A world of art and artists are waiting there for you :D

See you soon!

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Hornbill and Harbingers

"Faith is a bird that feels the light, when the dawn is still dark" - Rabindranath Tagore

Ornate Bird - Coloured Pens on photo paper

"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that can not fly " - Langston Hughes

Hornbill - Acrylics, Watercolour and Pen

Hornbill is our State (Kerala in South India) bird. I am a great nature lover and I know many of my friends are too. We think of visiting serene, calmer places to Find Peace! 

Yesterday in one of the spiritual orations I heard that Lord Krishna while playing with Gopis ( cow herd girls) asked River Yamuna to come closer. On refusal to do so he brought it closer with his silk over clothing. This would puzzle almost anyone!!! The guru then gave his explanation that it was a time when nature was the slave of man and not vice versa. Man had a will of his own and it didn't budge or waver with his surroundings and that was His inner strength. Like wise we need to rise above from the indulgences around to over come all physical and mental restraints. So what do you think? Do you agree?

I feel light, ready for a flight

along the lanes and by lanes in sight.

Earth damp and eyes wet

Air moist, yet I set...

To free the fetters

Liberate from the shutters!  :)

Felt like expressing something in verse! All of a sudden :)

Coming on to SOC....this week's colour combo is Orange and Hot Pink. I am planning to do everything digital this year. Finally I will all digi papers...ready for display.

Harbingers - Digital (Illustrator)

Why Harbingers???

Harbinger - One that indicates or foreshadows what is too come; a forerunner

This is inspired from one of the photographs I came across in the Net.

The flower girls are harbingers of the Bride...they all are gorgeous and yet our eyes search for the Bride who would follow them...and in the midst, we tend to forget or ignore these beauties :D

So this piece is dedicated to all those beautiful girls who felt that at some point or the other.

PS: We don't have this tradition...ours is completely different and in my community our prime marriage ceremony is over in 5 minutes and that would be covered by the backs of the videographers in the present times :) So we have to wait for the CD to have a good look of the ceremonies!

Linking it to PPF, SOC and Show and Tell Saturday@AIB...so what are you waiting for??? Head forward and check out the links.

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.

"Beauty Surrounds Us"

"Beauty surrounds us" - exactly what I feel these days! Showers have started in my hometown; am enjoying it unlike the past years when going out during the hols used to turn terrible coz of the damp cluttered and pooled roads. But this year the page has turned anew; I am in no hurry nor do I have to finish my visits or anything else for that matter apart from shopping for day to day stuff which can even be postponed (at times!!!) the beauty of watching rain through the glassed windows is something I enjoy and have visualized a lot when in Dubai. It has a misty, vague and yet a soothing feel about it. Even Krishna has started enjoying the rains...yester' she went walking in the rain with an umbrella (she had congestion) to feel the drizzle and the coolness :)

The morning song, the blue sky, the cotton clouds, the bees and birds, the flowers and trees...I can see beauty in each and everything here. I think even the paper boy with the rhythmic ringing of his cycle bell, the walking aunties with intermittent laughter, the splitter-splatter when a vehicle passes, the dangling coconuts and their intermittent fall ( which I am really scared of:)) and all nature's music is so soothing to my ears...

Acrylics

Looking through the rainy glass...tried an effect :)

The cargo arrived 3 days back with our dresses, books, my paintings and the art materials. As I am unpacking I am stumbling upon my old works which I hadn't posted before and I feel a joy, a high to see and feel it and to think of the time I created it.

Watercolor

This is from my Jamini Series which I couldn't complete and I deeply regret it!!! Albeit I still have time and I NEED to complete it soon :)

 And now to Summer of Color's Artist Choice...

These are patterns paper I created just for fun....not thinking, not planning....just letting it be, it took shape on it's own... :)

The color combo for this week was citron green and turquoise.

 Digital art

That will suffice for the day!

Have A Great Weekend My Lovely Friends From Around The World...

Linking the post to PPF and SOC...hop over to meet and greet loads of wonderful artists.

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A Happy Week!

Getting settled after a move is something that takes a lot of time even if it is your 'one time home'... :) So in between all the arranging, start of school, dance class (my daughter's), errands to town for each and everything and all the other umpteen work...I am trying to establish myself in my hometown. Thanks to my neighbour and guide, Jayanthettan, for being a great help to get me 'a launch'... I finished a logo and visiting card job and I am glad that my client is glad! Amid my exciting schedule, I didn't get enough time to create anything new on canvas coz my work space isn't ready yet! 

I would like to announce that Kristin's Summer of Color has started this year too with some exciting line-up of some gorgeous color range...choose the colors, vote for it and create...any art form of your choice. You could even win some fabulous goodies. The color combo that I had voted (too) has won this week!!! For more details, click here.

I am super glad to mention that our postcards have made a small appearance in Featuring Magazine's Issue 4. Page19 (preview page) long picture on the side...can you make out my Gond Birds, Madhubani Fish and my daughter's Duck and Duckling???

Finally I am leaving you with a few of my earlier works which I had created while practice :

 Brush of Passion - Acrylics

 Lighthouse - Watercolor

Lilypond - Acrylic

Lilypond is one of my very ol' work :)

I am linking it to Paint Party Friday and Show and Tell Saturday.

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.

Mohini

  Do you remember this sketch I had posted some time back...?

 Moha, the innate desire of man which causes man to discard all his rationale plays a prime part in his life. Manav (human) derived from manas, the mind, is never detached from it. It is to play with this quality of mind that Lord Vishnu, the one who pervades, transformed into Mohini, the ethereal beauty, starkly flawless and fabulously feminine enchanted and deprived the asuras (demons) of reason by infusing every particle with desire according to the Hindu Mythology.

Here is the finished work of Mohini...a humble attempt:

 Watercolour and pitt pens

Linking it to Paint Party Friday and Mandarin Monday

Disclaimer: This is a representation of Kerala mural art. Please consider this as just an art and do not let it hurt any sentiments and hinder the joy in enjoying an art form. This is a humble request.

The mural design is not an original. I do not know the artist, in case anyone does -please let me know.

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In Between A Big Move

There has been a long silence from my end and undeniably all of a sudden. It was so necessary, I assure it. I was in between an unexpected move from Dubai to Palakkad, Kerala; my hometown. It was both a glad and a sad decision, at the same time! I miss my good old friends in Dubai and all the arty souls whom I adore and ARTE where I exhibit once in a while. All the same I am pleased to be with my parents and meet my school-college friends and all the pleasantries associated with it. My daughter is never tired of enjoying and exploring the 'outside world' after remaining in the 'confines' for a long time. The saddest part is she misses her Dad a lot; every day, every moment!!!

I haven't been able to engage in arty work since I arrived here. It would take another couple of weeks to get into that 'self-searching' and 'soul-stirring' lane; at the least 'get-inspired' mode!

I have been in between searching an appropriate school, taking admission, running errands for various other things, meeting people, making a new visiting card etc etc etc. I love my colony environment which I feel is a world in itself; with advantages and disadvantages :) I had some Great time being an audience of a few captivating performances...giving you all a glimpse of the Music and Arts Festival held at Puthur Bhagavathy Temple during April.

 

A performance that has to be seen to believe it...Fantabulous duo; one excelling the other! The feeling that Remaji imparted and evoked is indescribable...Fab Performance!

There are even more wonderful pictures of varied and colourful events...will post it in my next post.



Adieu for now :)
Take Care Folks!


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Mural Lakshmi

There were days when I used to engage in artistic activities when I feel inspired...now-a-days, since the past two years I have been creating art almost daily...it has become a necessity; unless and until I am sick or something. It is a part of me I can not separate and I enjoy it a great deal. Also I wish to know and learn more...a sort of craving, a yearning...about art, artists anything and everything related to art from nooks and corners of every bit of the world. I just can't stop feeling it! What interests you? Does this strike a chord  with you???

Goddess Lakshmi - SOLD

Mural style, 6x4 inches, clipped glass frame

Now, this little painting adorns the puja (Prayer) space of one of my friends, Sheeba Aji  in Dubai and that really makes my heart levitate just thinking about it. It's a form of constant blessing!!! Thanks Sheeba :)

Linking it to Paint Party Friday, Show and Tell Saturday and The Weekly Story...more art and artists with some amazing stuff can be found there :)

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Eye Glasses

 Eye Glasses

Linking it to Illustration Friday

It is not every week that I take part in IF but this is something I cherish each week. I do think about it and draw it in my mind's canvas but it's only a rare chance that I really get down to do it and draw it for real.

Also linking it to The Weekly Story@Colours Dekor

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.

Madhubani Lakshmi

Taking Madhubani a step further and trying it out on glass felt good.... I liked the effect of it the lines and paints and the color that got added in it. To give an extra Oomph, I used stones and sequins and I am pleased with the result. What do you think?

Madhubani Lakshmi

Glass Painted, 6x4 inches, clipped glass frame

Available (Within U.A.E)

Linking it to Paint Party Friday.There's an Auction going on for Sandy Hook Elementary School...if interested you can drop by and have a look. There's some Fab Art there :)

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Happy Women's Day

Linking it to Paint Party Friday...check out all the amazing art and artists

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Heart Bookmark and Mail Art Swap

Exams! Its a hectic time! Anu's, my daughter's, exams are on and the schedule has tightened up... It will go on until 10 March. I am posting this after giving a model paper for her to write :) Do you also get worked up? I always like to do everything organized.... plan and be ready for it but my daughter is somewhat different and she has taken after her dad who thinks "I will handle it whatever comes my way as I move along..." So moving along....:)

I love reading and many a times I end up making bookmarks whenever I see left over charts or card stocks or materials suitable for it thinking I would use it. But then after making them instead of using it, I collect and preserve it in my 'bookmark box'. Here's one I made for Anu for this Valentines. She had gone to school demanding something special for her by the time she came back home. I practically made this in 10 minutes...the melted crayon sheet was prepared beforehand. So this is pretty easy to make!

To make this, I used a hair dryer to melt the crayons - red, blue and yellow. After it cooled and settled to form a pattern of its own I incorporated it in the bookmarks by cutting hearts out of it. Add a bit of glitz by using sequins, beads or anything of your choice. I have made use of tiny shiny hearts *L.O.V.E*

Postcards that I sent during the first week of February has started reaching its destination. I received news from two of my fellow Mail Art participants. I received two out of three postcards as well. I had displayed it in my previous post here.

As for my postcards, they are these....made with love and care :) Do leave your ever valuable comments; I do read and cherish them! Sorry, am unable to answer back each and every one as I sit before the laptop with a specific time schedule! Earlier when I wasn't this busy I used to, but now-a-days everything seems to be speeding off like a super fast mono train (that's in Japan, right?)!!!!

 Journey - Gond style (Featuring Magazine)

Life Within Life - Madhubani style (Featuring Magazine)

Neon Flowers (Elsia Choi)

 Friends (Mandy Michehl)

Blu Bird (Manuela Giffels)

 Birds - Chikan kari Style (Hrissi Haldezos...she's not part of Postcard Swap...this was sent as a gift with the art that she bought from me)

 Postcards waiting to be mailed...

Seeing all the excitement and buzz, Anu also wanted to do a postcard for Mail Art and she came up with this...and I think it's pretty Stunning for her age with a folk art. I also think the title is apt for what happened behind it's making :) The first two of my postcards along with this went to the Featuring Magazine office; as per their call for Mail Art.

 

Following Suit.... Gond Art by Anoushka, the Lil Artist! (Featuring Magazine)

Anyone interested to see more of her art can visit her space here....Anoushka's Kaleidoscope.

A big thanks to Artists in Blogland for this wonderful opportunity to connect with various like minded artists.

Linking it to Paint Party Friday, to see more of amazing art please do pay a visit :D


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