Lakshmi sculpture - Somanathapura Temple

I wanted to post this on the day of Lakshmi Puja (Deepavali). But could not, due to several reasons. We will have several reasons "not to do a work" , but not a single reason to complete a work. :-).

Lakshmi, Hindu Goddess of Wealth , is worshiped, on the second day of Deepavali. Not only on Deepavali, everyday Lakshmi is worshipped, because she is the one who gives wealth, money :-).

OK , Jokes apart. Few months back, we visited Talakadu and Somanathpura. It was really nice trip.Somanathpura has lovely temple, which is built in Hoysala style. The main idols inside the temple are broken, hence not being worshipped. I had clicked lots of photos of the temple and the sculptures, which I will share in coming posts. All sculptures are very beautiful, each tells a story. I found , the following sculpture   very interesting.
Here is the photo:

 Lakshmi is sitting on Vishnu's lap and her right foot is on a lotus.

Here is the closer view.

You can see, an elephant is giving support to the lotus. When I asked the guide about this, he explained, the imagination of the craftsman behind this. His explanation was "Due to the tremendous energy of Lakshmi, the Lotus is bending. So the elephant is supporting, the Lotus". I was really stunned. What a wonderful imagination!. Don't know whether the craftsman imagined this or someone else had explained his/her imagination to the craftsman. As I understand,for any artist, its very difficult to put some one's imagination in any form of art/craft. Was the person , who shared the imagination  satisfied with the creation? I had lots of questions, but no one to answer. Do you know the answer?

Happy Deepavali

Deepavali , the festival of light, is being celebrated across the country. Depavali- means row of light. Almost all know about significance of each day of Deepavali. People celebrate this , by lighting lamps. In south it continues till end of Kartika Maasa . In Hindu culture Deepa (Lamp ) has lot of significance. Deepa is lit always in front of idols of Gods, in temple as well as in homes.

Everybody knows how and why Deepavali is celebrated. I thought this is the right occasion, to share the collection of lamps I have. Every year, I buy a new lamp and add to my collection.

Here are the lamps I have.

This is made of brass, the peacock, holding the lamp, in the beak. 










The below two are of same design, lady holding the lamp, but made of different materials. This is the new lamp added to my collection, this year.

Few more are here :

Also I painted these terracotta lamps to give it as a gift to my sister. Have a look:

Hope you liked them all. Do share your comments.
"Wishing you all very happy Deepavali. May this Deepavali bring brightness in your life."

Two more sarees-screen printed

I  bought a cotton  Saree for my mother in law, as she always likes to wear cotton sarees, when she is at home. It is a hand loom Saree in Maroon color with copper color border and pallu. I had some left over paint, so thought of screen printing this Saree. Chose the elephant design for the borders and paisley designs for the body. Printed both in green and copper color. Copper color doesn't look bright. This happens sometimes. Some colors do not come out bright on some clothes. Or may be because  the copper powder concentration was less. Don't know. Anyhow , next time I will keep these things in mind. Always Practise makes us perfect.

Here is the saree:

This is the closer look of the elephant design. Isn't it very cute?

The below saree is my Attige's ( sister in law). This is an old cotton saree, for which she wanted a make over. I thought screen printing is the quickest way to make over a saree. This is again maroon saree with, golden color border.



Before



Selected peacock design for this. Printed small and big peacock motifs on the border and attached kundan. On the pallu, printed, simple straight vine design. On the shoulder, you can see, three peacock
 motifs around a circular motif.

 

After

I think peacock has inspired almost all form of visual arts. I've some good peacock designs , which I will share in the coming days. Now have a closer look of the peacock motif:

Also , my friend , from Australia, has sent , threads, which will be used for Brazilian Embroidery and a packet of beads.

I was thinking of learning Brazilian embroidery, but stuck, because the threads are not easily available in India. Knowing this, she has taken strain to send it to me. Thanks to her. I will start learning Brazilian Embroidery. Look at the beads, different shapes and nice colors. 

So many Craft work and materials! Isn't it a crafty week?  

Quilt With Applique work and Painting

I love all kinds of Crafts , my first love is always embroidery, that too hand embroidery. But due to lack of time , recently I could not do anything in hand embroidery. Machine embroidery also has its own elegance, but needs too much of practise. But, we can finish the work fast. The applique work , if done using machine comes  out very well.

The below quilt is also made using Applique work. I like to gift quilts to new born babies. I feel that's the best gift, that can be given to new born baby. These will keep them warm and when they grow and start exploring or looking at the world through their little eyes, the colors will attract them.

I made this quilt , as my mother in law wanted to gift it to a new born baby. I had very less time. The design was from free coloring pages, which I downloaded . Got the design enlarged. 

The girl in the design is made of applique work using different color clothes. The flowers are painted using fabric paints( To save time :-)). In the edges of the quilt, you can see, the finishing is not so good. We learn from our mistakes!

But I got lots of appreciation from the proud mother of the baby!

I'm making one more quilt, for my son. Not completed yet. While making the quilt, I've undergone lots of stress :-). Soon I will share that with you.

Oh! I got an invitation for Gombe Habba

Gombe habba ( dolls arrangement ) is celebrated in Navaratri , in some parts of India, especially in Mysore,Bangalore , Andhra and Tamilnadu. We don't have this tradition. I had seen this , in some Kannada Movies, and always liked this.
Once Navaratri starts, in some of the shops the dolls are sold. As a preparation of the Dolls Arrangement, people buy the dolls from  shops and add it to their existing collection of dolls. Every year, I  visit these shops, just to have a look of dolls. Its really nice to see people, excitedly buying the dolls for the dolls arrangement.
Even though, we don't have this tradition, I could not resist myself from buying a miniature of house. I have collection of miniatures, about which I will share in the coming posts.

Last year, one of my friends had invited to see the dolls arrangement. This year also I was eagerly waiting, that someone would invite me. But didn't get any invitation :-( . So I was little disappointed. Yesterday morning, one of my friends called and invited for the same. "Oh! Finally I got an invitation" .I was very excited. Though I reached home late from office due to traffic , I visited her house, accompanied by my  son.

It was really fun to see the  lots of dolls arranged. The dolls are arranged on steps, and the number of steps varies from 3,5,7,9 etc, depending on the collection of dolls.

Such a colorful view!. You can see, dolls of different sizes, colors. Dolls of Gods ,Goddesses, sets of dolls depicting different cultures, different customs etc. I don't know much , about how this tradition started. The dolls are collected over the years and every year few new dolls are added to this. My friend told me, when girl gets married, she gets the Pattada Gombe ( dolls of King and Queen) , from her mother. And the girl continues this tradition.








Here is the decorated  Pattada Gombe

There were many dolls of Krishna. 

 Kalinga Mardana doll, which had brought loveliness.

Below row has Vishnu with Laxmi, Nataraja , Gayathri devi and Varaha with Bhoodevi

Oh! Shiva and Parvati seated on their Vahana( vehicle), Basava , have come on earth to bless us. Beside Maa Durga , giving assurance to protect us .Vishnu on his vehicle Garuda. Don't you feel heaven has fallen on earth!!

The series of dolls, Krishna playing different musical instruments caught my eyes.

Below you can see, very pretty set of dolls, which depicts Shashtipooti .

Beside Krishna, Meerabai , singing a Bhajan. But I could not understand , why is the Teddy sitting there :-)

Krishna's Bala leela; Definitely they are taking us to Gokula.

Do you want to buy vegetables and grocery for the festival. Here are the vendors selling them:

                              

Most of us played, with dolls, Do you remember, Dolls marriage? Our favourite one!We used to play making, one doll as bride and another as bridegroom. These dolls cherish your childhood memories of dolls' marriage.

There were many more like this . Looking at the dolls,I had become like a kid. At least for half an hour I was lost in this wonderful world of dolls. I asked my friend, how do they keep these dolls after the festival. She told, the dolls would be wrapped in cloth or paper and kept in a box. I imagined, the dolls will be waiting for the next Navaratri to show off their charms. Do they talk to each other? If so what would be that? Oh, just imagination! Remembered the movie Toy Story? :-)

Hello, are you lost in this world of dolls? I knew this!

Wishing you all Happy Dasara.

I could not post all the photos here. Some of the photos you can view here.

And also while browsing about this tradition, I found , even in Japan, they celebrate something like this, which is called   Hinamatsuri- Ref : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinamatsuri