Kerala Mural-Paintings of Gods from Gods own country

Most of us, are familiar with Kerala Mural Art. It is originated in Kerala. These paintings represent the rich and colorful  heritage of Kerala. Earlier these were made on walls of temples, depicting many mythological stories. The colorful paintings now has taken a special place in design world. It is becoming popular in dress designing, jewels designing , interior designing etc.

I have already shared about the Kerala Mural paintings made on Bamboo.

Kerala Mural on Bamboo

In Kerala mural paintings, the bright colors  and the right combination of the colors make you awestruck. The right combination of colors, paired with fine lines with black paint and white background, beautiful and big eyes of the figures and the special technique used for ornamentation of the figures are specialties of Kerala Mural painting.

Recently I tried it on canvas too. Here is the outcome:

Kerala Mural on Canvas

 Closer view:

It took many days to complete the painting. But really enjoyed while painting this.

I always suggest  learners of arts and crafts to get trained under experts or professional trainers. Still will post about a tutorial on Kerala Mural painting soon. Hope that will give you some knowledge about the techniques of making Kerala Mural.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Chitrasante-2017 - some interesting paintings

About my visit to Chitrasante-2017 I have written in my previous posts.I have shared the glimpses of Chitrasante 2017 and Bhuddha paintings exhibited there. In this post sharing some unique paintings which were exhibited there. There were loads of paintings, each one was unique. I can share very few from those.

The below ones  are the paintings of ghats of Kaashi. When I had visited Kaashi, I had seen many artists were painting sitting in a boat. This artist must also have painted in the same way. Such paintings require a lot of concentration.

Ghats of Varanasi

Ghats of Varanasi

These are paintings of wildlife. These look like photos rather than paintings. Hats off to the artist for his perfection.

Wildlife paintings

This is very interesting, different versions of Monalisa. The rightmost one is Indian version, wearing ethnic jewels. I could not guess about the painting in the middle. If you can guess please share your opinion.

Different versions of Monalisa

I can't resist sharing this painting. Painting of Krishana in color and black and white. Which one looks better?

Paintings of Krishna

These are collection of some contemporary paintings. Each one is beautiful!

Collection of paintings

Chitrasante happens only once in a year and for one day. But in one day we can see and enjoy thousands of paintings. Every year it makes us to wait for next Chitrasante.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Visit to Chitrasanthe-2017

Chitrasante is an event which happens every year in Bangalore , organised by Chitrakala Parishad. About my last year's visit to Chitrasante, I have already written a blogpost: Chitrasante 2016 at Chitrakala Parishat- Ocean of paintings. 

Chitrasante is like an auspicious event to art lovers. This year there were more than 1300 artists exhibiting their paintings. One can see everywhere paintings- the magic created by artists on canvas. It is not possible to post all the photos I have clicked in one post. Let me start with paintings of Bhuddha:

Peaceful face of Bhuddha:

Side view of Face of Bhuddha

This is face of Bhuddha with different shades of color:

Face of Bhuddha in different shades

The below are paintings of Bhuddha in meditation:

Bhuddha in meditation

Bhuddha in meditation

These are just glimpses of the paintings exhibited there, like a drop from an ocean. There are thousands of paintings, in which we could see the efforts and talents of the artists. I have more to share about Chitrasante in coming posts.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Tanjore paintings- Rich heritage of a small city Tanjore

Tanjavur or Tanjore is a small city in Tamilanadu, famous for Brihadeeswarar Temple, one of the largest temples of India. Tanjavur art / paintings originated from this city. Tanjavur paintings are known for its richness in color and ornamentation. The paintings are embellished with semi precious stone and thin gold sheets.
Themes used in Tanjore paintings majorly include, life of Krishna. Nowadays many artists use different themes like Shiva, Vishnu, Laxmi etc. Not only painting with colors, also embossing technique is used in Tanjore paintings.

During my visit to Chitrasante 2016  I could capture some images of Tanjore paintings. Each painting was unique.
Here sharing the photos of the paintings exhibited:
The below painting is on theme Krishna's life. 

Tanjore painting with Krishna theme

 Another showing Rasha Krishna.

Radha-Krishna- Tanjore painting

As I have written, Though most of the Tanjore paintings are on Krishna's life, nowadays artists are trying different themes. Here is one such painting:

Tanjore painting - Devi(Goddess)

And the richest God :) Venkateshwara (Balaji):

Venkateshwara- Tanjore painting

As real gold foil is used in Tanjore paintings,these are very expensive. The small sized ones are affordable:

Small sized Tanjore paintings

Tanjore painting- Parrot

The below paintings show the artists creativity, mirror with Tanjavur painting:

Mirror with Tanjore painting

I had learnt this art a few years ago and here is the painting I made.
Though the  making of Tanjore painting requires guidance from an expert, I will share tutorial in coming posts, for enthusiastic art learners.

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Paintings of Buddha- at Chitrasante 2016

I have shared about my visit to Chitrasante-2016. There were lakhs of paintings made using different media, and different canvas. I could see many paintings of Buddha. Captured some of them in my camera, sharing those with you.
 This painting of Buddha in meditation posture , on lotus.

Painting of Buddha sitting on Lotus.

 Another painting of meditating Buddha:

Painting of Buddha in meditation

 This one is only Buddha face , with texture all over the canvas and hair. The usage of different colors on face is very unique and attractive.

Painting of face of Buddha, shaded with different colors

 This one is also with texture all over canvas

 These are also paintings of Buddha face.

 This is with stone texture all over the painting :

Painting of Buddha face with texture

This has Buddha face on background and a young Buddhist monk, very interesting!

Every artist imagines and puts the thought and imagination on the canvas. I wanted to ask the artists of these paintings about the thought / imagination behind each painting. But could not, as there were lakhs of visitors and the artists were busy selling the paintings.

Do share your imagination/thoughts about these paintings. :)

Between, I also happened to come across some amazing Buddha paintings on Artzolo. Definitely worth a check.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Chitrasante 2016 at Chitrakala Parishat- Ocean of paintings

It's really ocean of paintings! I had missed Chitrasante for 12 years! I used to decide to visit Chitrasante and then missed it for some or the other reason. This year decided and visited too. It is an awesome experience.
Chitrsante is an event that is organized by Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath , every year. Sante (ಸಂತೆ ) means market in Kannada, and Chitra (ಚಿತ್ರ) means paintings. So it really a huge market of paintings. When I visited Chitrasante, started walking  form one side of the road. Everywhere I could see paintings, paintings and paintings! . And like me there were lots of painting lovers. There were thousands artists from different parts of country , lakhs of paintings and painting lovers. The whole event was spread across nearly a km . But I did not come to know when I came to the end of the road!
There were many kinds of paintings, traditional Tanjore paintings  , Kerala Mural paintings, pantings on canvas, leather, acrylic paintings, oil paintings, mixed media paintings ...uff the list is endless. 
Here are the glimpses of Chitrsante,
On both sides of the road I could only see paintings:

Paintings stalls @ Chitrasante

 These paintings attracted me a lot. The specialty of the painting is that, its painted inside a bottle with a bent brush. Hats off to the creativity and  patience of the artist

Paintings made inside bottles

 Kerala mural paintings:

Kerala mural paintings

 Some more paintings. You can see the paintings done on broken wooden pieces. Those are really something special.

Paintings on the wood pieces

Abstract paintings :

Abstract paintings

 Sports and scenery paintings:

 Artists with their paintings:

 Lovely paintings :

 The real Sante:

 

Sketching : 

Sketching

Sketching

 And an oil painting:

 As I have written, this is just a glimpse. Next time if you are in Bangalore during new year, don't miss to visit Chitrasante.
I have captured images of some unique paintings at Chitrasante. Will share those in the coming posts.
Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

3rd-anniversary of my blog. Happy to write about the most talented lady ...but with tears in my eyes.

Today  Ranjana's craft blog completed 3 years and stepping to 4th year. I should be happy for that, but I have tears in my eyes while writing this post. I was preparing to write this post from past 15-20 days. I have a section in this blog where I write about artists. I had planned to write about an artist Smt. Manjula, so I had met her on 12th of Jan to collect information about her works , on 13th of Jan I was segregating the images of her works, I was shocked to hear the  news of her demise. With tears in my eyes , heart filled with condolence towards her family, writing this post with a message to her " We really miss you Aunty".

The most talented lady I met in my life.

Coming back to her works, I'm just wondering about which one shall I write. I can say she was the most talented lady I had met in my life. Sometimes think, let me start writing about her crochet work, then suddenly I remember about her enchanting embroidery works,mmmm...no shall I write about her doll making skills ...really confused. So decided to write about all , but that will require at-least 5-6 posts.

I won't disappoint the readers, just sharing about the batik painting she made, and she was so generous , though this was the last peice she had, she gave it to me as gift. I feel I'm really lucky to have this:

Isn't that beautiful work of art!Nowadays we get ready made batik paints and we don't have to struggle too much to make a batik painting. But earlier it was made with chemicals, and she had made number of batik paintings like this. She told me she used to conduct classes also. Now I consider myself unlucky as I never got opportunity to learn from her. :( .
This doesn't end here dears, if you read the list of arts and crafts she practiced, you will definitely agree with my words, "She was the most talented lady", because she knew making baskets from wires, crochet, tatting, doll making, batik painting, embroidery, mirror work, Banjara mirror work, knitting, baking, gardening, cross stitch, sewing & stitching , calligraphy , cutwork, machine embroidery ...and the list continues. 2-3 days before I came to know she had learnt music also.
So its better to write each of these spreading across 5-6 posts.  I wanted to complete the post soon and very eager to show it to her.But destiny had different plans. She should have been with us for few more years, but may be God wanted some art work from her, don't know...I'm short of words...tears are rolling down my cheeks remembering her...again repeating the most talented and the generous lady I have met in my life. And I'm sure reading my next posts , all the readers will agree with me.

Next 5-6 posts write about her works.

life is very uncertain,
So

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Madhubani Art( Mithila Art) -Art from an ancient city

Madhubani  (painting) art form originated from ancient Indian city Mithila.
This was originated as wall art, means paintings were drawn by the women of Mithila to decorate walls of the houses. Nowadays these are practised on silk, cotton and handmade papers. Colors are natural colors.This is painted with fingers, twine brush, nib pen, match sticks etc.
The motifs normally used in Madhubani paintings are mythological figures, Rama, Sita, Krishna, Radha etc. The motifs are also influenced by nature, so include Lotus, flowers, fish ,snakes etc.
I would love to visit Mithila once to meet the artists there. Recently I could meet a Madhubani artist in a art exhibition. Captured the images of the paintings, to share with you.
Some are here:
This one has painting of Rama , Sita and Laxmana  in forest. So the motifs of peacock , Sun and Deer can be seen there.

 

This is painting of Hindu God Ganesha:

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 Some more paintings:

 A beautiful girl:

 The Sun:

And again my favorite peacock design :

 

The prominent features of  this painting are bright colors and minute black lines to highlight the design. This painting is made only in black color:

  

And the artist here:

Now Madhubani painting is done on clothes also. Blend of colors like Orange, Red,Green, Yellow , Blue etc highlighted with fine lines in Black color makes the painting really lively. 

 You can read about Madhubani art here

 With this painting, I'm adding one more section to my blog: Crafts of India, where I will be sharing about different crafts of Incredible  India.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana