Annapurna Maa

Title: Annapurna Goddess feeding Shiva

Size: 25 cm x 40 cm

Medium: Acrylic paints

Mount: Pre-stretched gallery wrapped canvas

(Commissioned piece)

Anna means 'food' in Sanskrit, and purna means 'filled completely'.

Annapurna is a Hindu goddess of food and nourishment.

Maa Annapurna is traditionally depicted as below,

giving out rice to Lord Shiva who is shown with a alms bowl.

Read the mythological backdrop to this rendition here.

Here is the calender-art style depiction of baby Shiva

Archana, who had commissioned the ''Lalita Sundari'' painting,

wanted me to render this one for her sister, who is named after the Goddess.

She wanted this composition to be along the lines of the 'Lalita Sundari',

therefore, Lord Shiva as a baby on the Goddess's lap, she feeding her.

Click to see the sketch that we had before I started the painting.

***These are some beautiful snaps of Archana with my paintings,

this was when she had moved to her new apartment***

Here are some close-ups for details:

The rice-grain hangings from the wall behind have a little story.

I remember this one time, I was probably in school then

and we were in our ancestral home near Kolkata.

Our gardener Insaan had come back to join work after a holiday in his village.

He brought with him this beautiful one-of-a-kind wall hanging for us

that his mother had hand-crafted from rice-grains.....my inspiration for the design.

It still hangs in my mom's kitchen in that house, and Insaan,

still lives in that house and tends to our rose-garden there.

This will be my last painting of 2009.

As an artist and entrepreneur, it has been a very interesting year for me, full of surprises.

...Quite a bit of learning, evolving as an artist, understanding the medium better.....

what is precious is the interaction I have had with you all.

For all the lovely emails that I received,

all the paintings and prints that you have collected,

all the support and love....and approval ....thank you !

I hope that the next year will be even more interesting for us and for Deezden,

here is wishing you all, my friends, a great 2010!!