Maa Kamdhenu painting

Title: 'Kamdhenu Maa'

(Hindu Goddess Kamdhenu, the wish-granting cow)

Size: 60 cm x 80 cm

Medium and mount: Acrylics on gallery wrapped canvas.

She has the head and torso of a woman,

a cow's body, an eagle's wings & a peacock's tail.

Her eyes are the Sun and Moon Gods.

Her four legs - the scriptural Vedas.

Her horns are the triune Gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

Her eyes are the Sun and Moon Gods,

Her legs contain the Himalayas.

She grants your every wish :) !

The textile painted on her back has

patterns & colours inspired by MORA

(beautiful designs by the wonderful Ritika Mittal).

My 'tota's/parrots sit on her wings

as your wish-granting angels.

This piece has taken 3 weeks of

painstaking work, well, hope to have done justice

to the awe-inspiring form of this most beautiful Goddess.

Holi है

Happy Holi readers.

More colour, joy and peace to everyone.

Kamdhenu WIP

Just a sneak peak into some of the details

of my painting-in-progress.

Also, there are new prints in the shop.

Etsy Treasury (n) Feature

Just got featured on Etsy today:

This is my 21st treasury feature on www.etsy.com !

Made me really happy, so I went ahead and curated

a 'Chai' treasury for my lovely friends and readers:

hop over and take a look :)

Have a good weekend!

texture

studio sneak peak

Just posting randomly at 00:01 hours.

I have been working on these handmade tags

to be packaged with my prints.

They are printed with

wooden hand-printing blocks

originally from Rajasthan

that I keep picking up from Anokhi.

There is a peacock, a flower, a fish

and some cool Hindu deity blocks - love 'em!

Cute little handmade thank you tags

for my lovely collectors, each piece is unique :) !

The flowers have dried up beautifully,

their colour and form - brilliant.

Here is how they look by the soft candle light.

Now it is time to get back to finish

processing these orders, post office tomorrow morning.

Thank you God :) !

Kaamdhenu Maa sketch

'Kaamdhenu Maa'

Mixed media on my favourite

clairfontaine watercolour paper note book.

Now am going to start work on the painting,

which will be in a much larger format.

See you soon!

just another update

Some snaps from 14.02. evening at home:

One of the many wonderful birthday wishes that

i received from you all on Facebook,

was this one message that bore this image of Kamadhenu Maa:

This one was from the wonderful photographer

and my FB friend Katya Peshakova.

I remember seeing some photos of this Goddess

while browsing books on Indian Folk art

at a Kolkata book store and being totally fascinated and

awestruck by her form and beauty.

This just had to be my next painting.

So, while the sun is making patterns on my walls today...

......and all birthday flowers are hung against the kitchen window to dry ......

.....while my FB friends keep me entertained

and the most amazing sufiana music plays on the laptop...

i am having a brilliant time sketching for my next piece.....

বাড়ি ছাড়া (away from home)

'বাড়ি ছাড়া '

(Bari: Home; Chhara: Left, leaving, without)

Acrylic on mounted canvas.

Size: 18 cm x 24 cm

I am back from India after 2 months.

I had the most wonderful time with my family,

loved ones and my wonderful friends.

The home in this painting resembles the home

I grew up in, near Kolkata, the home that is filled

with countless happy childhood memories.

Geneva is being nice to us with the sun

shining through, letting me hold on to

and reminisce the good times spent in Kolkata.

I have loads of photos and experiences to share with you all,

it'll all come - by and by.

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes,

you really made my day so special.

Have a lovely love filled day.

Shubh Makar Sankranti

Happy Makar Sankranti.

May this day mark the beginning of a sweet and

fragrant time for you and your family.

As the days become warmer and longer,

let all the darkness and the cold fade away

and give in completely to the light and warmth

- of goodness, love and positivity.

Today is a day that is marked

with the festivities of harvest,

an auspicious day for us in India.

We Bongs celebrate the day

with 'peethe' and 'patishapta',

(special sweets filled with coconut, jaggery or kheer)

to be relished with generous helpings of

'jhola gur'- one of the treasures of the season.

The unique woven hangings that you see

are handmade by rural women in Bengal with paddy,

the first photo is of one of the artists displaying her work.

We tie them to the kitchen door and wardrobe handles

to welcome Goddess Lakshmi into our homes.

Thank you all for your wishes and blessings.

Keep well, be happy.

thankful

Remembering you all from the land of spices and sweets.

Am thankful today:

for art to have come into my life,

for all you wonderful people -

for your love, support.

Am inspired,

to go forward and explore:

there is so much more to be seen and felt.

The date on the canvas changes again,

for whatever happened

and whatever did not;

no regrets,

no expectations:

there is a long way ahead;

the journey is the destination indeed.

Am thankful today.

Best wishes for the new year,

as Coelho says, 'May the universe conspire

to make all your dreams come true'.

Random nice 'Kolkata' things

As you can guess, I am indulging shamelessly in the

little pleasures of home, here are some snapshots

from what life is like right now :) :

This was the first photo I took after coming home,

fresh roses from our garden in a vintage vase.

The glorious morning sun kisses the walls in my room every morning,

a welcome change from Geneva's snow and harsh winter.

Leisurely evenings spent with friends and family,

with delicious Bengali food and adda....

...with only one rule to follow - one must completely lose track of time.

Speaking of food , below is one of the gems of Bengali cuisine, the Luchi.

Mom's luchis are the world's best, I had 15 of these in one go, shhhhh.

As a thank you for your feedback on the last post,

here are the photos of the good stuff

that I picked up from the Saras Mela.

Ethnic character dolls from the Katwa region,

Bardhamaan (my home) District (West Bengal)

quite the family tree there (with the family pet - the wise owl).

A cute little Maa Durga patachitra by Tapan Chitrakar

from Naya, Midnapur district. I think

I'll take Her back to him to have the Goddess's weapons added (!).

Here is my favourite, a Durga painting (the second one from left)

that I collected from Madhu Chitrakar. Love his work.

Handmade and painted tiny wooden temple of

Shree Jagannath, form of Lord Krishna, from Orissa.

This is another rendition of Lord Jagannath, hand-painted on a coconut shell.

A leather puppet from Andhra Pradesh, I like how feisty she looks

and holds her hair - almost as if she is getting ready to fight.

Here is nice post on Tholu Bommalata,

(Tholu – leather, Bommalata – puppet dance).

Handmade papier-mâché masks from Orissa:

faces of Gods and Goddesses painted in a traditional folk style.

These I collected from an Christmas special exhibition

called Burra Din organized by the

Craft Council of West Bengal.

Meeting all these artists and now being surrounded by their art

is hugely inspirational. So I made a quick trip to

my favourite art supply store in town.

This is the first drawing. Ganeshji with four hands,

seated in a lotus with the backdrop of

water, trees and snow-capped mountains.

Details:

Shot in different lights,

the first snap is truest to the original page colour.

Hope all of you are enjoying the holiday season.

Live it up and stay safe.