Painting a Deepa (Diya) for Deepavali

Deepavali celebration is going on. Today is second day of Deepavali. Hindu's celebrate this by performing Laxmi pooja(worshipping Laxmi- the Goddess of Prosperity) The other tradition like lighting the lamps and bursting crackers are going on.

Deepavali means row of Deepa ( lamps). In all the houses lamps are lit. It is wonderful and colorful to see the view. I have collection of different types of lamps. In some places there are exhibition of different kinds of lamps(Deepa). I also  prefer to gift Deepas(lamps) to my friends and loved ones. This year also continued the same tradition. I had some terracotta lamps with peacock design , which I had bought last year. Decided  to paint these lamps  and gift those to my friends.
Here is the terracotta lamp:

Terracotta lamp  

As a first step, painted it with primer.

After applying primer

Painted with different colors:

Applied color

And shaded with copper color. Here is the painted lamp:

Hand painted Terracotta lamp  

For Deepavali, what else can be better gift than a hand painted Deepa(lamp) ? :)

Happy and safe Deepavali.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Theme Saree- At last my Deepavali saree is designed

This is what happens with me! For any occasion I wish to design a saree or dress, for that occasion, it will not be completed :-(. This is the saree, I wanted to design and wear on last Deepavali. But as usual could not.
It has screen printing, machine embroidery and Kalamkari patch work on it.
The cloth and the lace I bought are here:

The cloth is fine crepe. Liked the lace,it has unique design!Isn't it?

I wanted to design the saree with a theme. As the lace has design of pots on that, decided paint it with" lady bringing water in pot" design. In some handicraft shop I got Kalmakari and embroiderd patches of lady holding water pot. I had screen with motif of " lady holding pot" , design. Used all of these and the final outcome is below.

Stitched  both the laces  along the border and screen printed with the lady holding the pot design along it.And also attached antique Gold color chamkis in between.

Here is the closer view of the border:

The pallu has Kalamkari patches and embroidered patches along with antique Gold Chamkis:

Closer view of the patches:

 

The blouse is Khadi silk.

As it has earthy  color , I thought of Terracotta jewellery , but could not get proper one. So going ahead with Silver Jewellery with brown stones:

I don't have a mannequin to display the Saree. Trying to display it on the floor :-)

I've named this as theme Saree, since complete Saree is designed on a theme. This is liked by some of my friends, some of them have asked me to design theme Sarees for them.  Hope to design some more theme sarees. Hope they don't have to wait long for that!  :-)

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

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."