Kalighat Patachitras

Kalighat Parachitras are one of my favourite folk-art forms from India.

Rooted in Bengali themes, their styling and details

have inspired so many artists over the years.

Scroll painters or 'patua's originally hail from rural Bengal,

artists that breathe life into narrative scrolls in the midst of,

often, hostile life situations and rather limited resources.

Here are some Kalighat pats from an exhibition going on at Tejas Gallery in Kolkata:

Ganesha

''The name “kalighat pata” is applied to a class of paintings and drawings on paper produced by a group of artists called ‘patuas’ in the neighbourhood of the famous Kali Temple at Kalighat , in Calcutta in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The art activities of these ‘patuas’, which shared some common technical and stylistic characteristics, developed into an industry, turning out a great number of pictures to meet the popular demand of pilgrims and others visitors to the city. The artists selected as their themes for delineation popular Hindu deities, incarnations and saints, epic and Puranic anecdotes, historical events, incidents of daily life, social skits and different species of Indian fauna.

In recent times, one artist belonging to a family of patuas, Bhaskar Chitrakar of Kalighat, is reviving this style. Inspired by his grandfather, he has decided to create paintings in the same tradition. The artist is very young but the style is old.''

- Aban Desai, Tejas Gallery, Kolkatta

Maa Durga

*SOLD*

The Goddess of the temple 'Maa Kali' is the subject of many of the pats.

The next painting is really close to my heart;

resembles the calendar art depictions of Goddess Lakshmi

that I referred to for my earlier Lokkhi paintings.

I am collecting this one, she will reside in one of our kitchen walls :) !!

*RESERVED*

Religious themes often inspire Kalighat paintings and

the next one is a rather cute rendition of two of Bengal's most celebrated

saint duo: Nimai-Nitai of the Vaishnava traditions of Bengal.

All of these are painted on handmade paper with vegetable dyes.

The next is another one of my favourites, little tota perched on a saadhu.

''The charm of the Kalighat paintings lies in the fact that

they captured the essence of daily life''

In the next painting, we have a zamindar with his professional ear-cleaner :)

The 'henpecked' husband (!); humour has always been characteristic of these paintings.

The Kalighat tigers and cat-with-prawn paintings are ever-popular and

I find them - stylistically - brilliant.

If you are in Kolkatta, do not miss this exhibition for many more

delightful kalighat pats.

[**Bhaskar Chitrakar's works are available at TEJAS Gallery, 11 Mayfair Road,

(Opp Ice Skating Rink), Kolkata 700019.

Ph:+91-9830049825.

The gallery is open from 12.30 to 7.30 daily except Sundays & public holidays.**]

Here is a video that by Tara Books that showcases scroll-painting beautifully.

Tara books used scroll painters to illustrate their book on Tsunami.

That such a beautiful art is now being referred to as a dying art-form is unfortunate.

The artists in the villages struggle to hold on to their work,

often finding it difficult to afford the paper and materials required to make the scrolls.

Pat-painting has empowered, and still, is empowering many rural woman,

who continue to churn out colourful narrative pieces that

often address social issues and even help spread awareness.

I dedicate my post today to all the patuas of Bengal, past-present and future;

especially my ladies who continue to bring to us such delightful work

and sit down to paint at the end of each day of being a mother/wife/home-maker.

first few captures

Last Sunday, we had a musical 'baithak' (बैठक in Hindi means lounge,

in this context means an informal function where musicians get together and sing/play),

at a friend's place in the quaint Swiss countryside.

The Geetobitan (referred to as 'Boi' or 'THE book' by Bengalies),

the collection of poems/songs by Rabindranath Tagore.

The harmonium is the traditional /popular/favourite instrument for most

Bongs when singing any genre of folk/Tagore's songs.

Arnab's been playing the sitar since he was about 6-7.

He has got back to playing after almost 17 years

(since he performed at one of his college events)!

These last few pics I took at home at one of his riyaaz (practice) sessions.

Here is a short video I found on Youtube

of a beautiful bandish in raag Hameer

rendered by one of the finest Sitar players of our times:

Ustadji Shahid Parvez-ji

A little update from my Etsy shop is that I have some new listings,

take a look here. Hope you're having a good week :), keep well.

New friend

Will post photos soon :)

~Have a great week ahead~

Maa Saraswati

'Maa Saraswati' (Goddess of Knowledge and Learning)

Medium: Acrylics

Mount: Canvas Board

Size: 22cm x 27cm

Varnish: Matt + Glossy

Commissioned work.

This was the sketch for the painting.

Here are close-ups of the detailing:

'The Goddess Saraswati is often depicted as a beautiful, light-skinned woman

dressed in pure white, often seated on a white lotus

(although Her actual vahana is believed to be a swan), which

symbolizes that she is founded in the experience of the Absolute Truth.

Thus, she not only has the knowledge

but also the experience of the Highest Reality.

She is mainly associated with the color white,

which signifies the purity of true knowledge.'

- wikipedia on Goddess Saraswati Iconography

The requirements out of this rendition for the collector was

not a heavily religious undertone, but an imagery depicting Saraswati Maa

seated in the lap of nature, playing the Veena in the full bloom of spring.

In the traditional depictions and descriptions of the Goddess,

she is believed to be adorned with pearls.

I have added a very Bengali touch to her jewellery with the Gold earrings

in the shape of, and named after, 'Kaan's or ears.

Though this one is a small painting, it has a lot of detailing.

The Veena, for instance required some research in getting the structure right;

a majestic instrument indeed.

The varnish, to my mind, has added more depth to the painting

in terms of how it reacts to light differently in certain areas than in

some others. I have worked with both matte and glossy varnishes this time.

You can see what I'm talking about here:

This is one of the only two paintings I've been working on last month.

Personal life and social commitments had completely taken over.

This piece was requested by family friends

who wanted to gift this for their sister's PhD thesis defense,

which was around April end.

Originally timed for then, I have taken much longer to finish this piece :(

However, I am really happy with the end result.

This forced break may have extended some deadlines,

but I think I've got back to work with a fresh mind and renewed energy.

For all of you who have written to me over the last couple of months,

including mails with commission requests,

I am really sorry for not having responded yet.

I'll take up all my pending responses and try to answer your requests by and by.

Many thanks for your patience and love.

Missed you all - a LOT and am SO glad to be back :)!!

Femina feature

Easter holidays were spent with friends, sumptuous Bengali food and adda!

While I am still recovering from all the fun we had,

had to blog to share with you a fabulous update.

Chandana Banerjee (writer, journalist and CEO of

Pink Elephant Writing Studio) interviewed me for Femina recently.

The article has been published in the Spotlight section,

am totally loving the way they have called it 'Painting her love'.

I am a happy girl today!

Thank you Femina and Chandana for this precious gift :)

one more sketch for an upcoming commission

'Maa Saraswati' (Goddess of knowledge)

20cm x 25cm

Pencil on paper

preparing

Sketch for the first in a commissioned series.

Ganesh-ji

30cm x 50cm

Our home featured

Hello beautiful people!

How was your weekend?

We had a lovely time with friends feasting on

delectable Bengali delicacies!

Weekend was also spent in taking snaps around our home.

Hop over to Aditi's inspiring design and decor blog

Once Upon A Tea Time..............Design Stories

to take the home tour over a cup of ginger-chai!

Thank you Aditi for the feature

Ganeshji at home

Over the last few years, we have brought home 'Ganesh-ji's....

This is from one of our early morning visits to Sidhhivinayak temple

in Mumbai, the beauty of the murti (idol) at the temple is captivating.

This next one here is a tiny silver Ganesha

that was a gift from the lady at Chamba Lama,

the most famous curio shop in Kolkata.

Not just us three sisters, even dad received a tiny Ganesh-ji

after one of our generous shopping sprees at the store!

It has a beautiful Bhutanese mantra intricately carved all around.

Some of my jewellery and artifacts from the shop in the backdrop :)

I have been visiting this store from my college days..

spent hours (and most of my pocket money at that time) at the store,

which boasts of an awesome selection of

silver jewellery and Tibetan curio.

Even now when I go back to Kolkata,

a visit to Chamba Lama is indispensable.

This little Ganesha is made of sandalwood and gifted to us by Mr. Suryani when

we visited his store/factory in Mysore to purchase

a Ganesh-murti (photo later in this post) with my first salary:)

This is Ganesh-ji carved in stone, from Orissa craftsmen,

collected at a handicraft fair in Mumbai.

Arnab and I had gone with my mom. I loved their detail and form

so much... I had to take home one; it was only after

I had picked Him up that Maa looked and said,

'You picked a Ganesha with his trunk bent towards the right!'.

We are not superstitious but she could not help remark that

apparently it is supposed to be lucky and is very difficult to find

(most Ganesh idols have their trunks bend towards the left,

Siddhivinayak is another exception).

This is the Ganesh-murti we brought from the

Suryani brothers' factory in Mysore in 2004.

And here is the latest addition to our family of Ganeshas,

I painted him on a little block of wood.

Size: 14.5 cm x 24 cm (rounded corners)

Medium: Acrylic paint and acrylic ink

The vahana (mount) of Lord Ganesha is referred to as 'Mooshika'.

In the Hindu pantheon, each deity is seated on a mount(vahana)

which always has a symbolical meaning.

The mouse is apparently used as a symbol of greed and inquisitiveness.

Our mooshika here seems quite controlled and poised, thanks to Ganesh-ji!

The text reads ''श्री गणेशाय नमः '' (Shree Ganehsaya Namah)

(Meaning: 'Gan': people, 'Eshaya':loved by; He who is loved by everyone)

which is so true for Ganesha!

And the winner....s(!) are......

Wow that participation was amazing guys!

It was so moving to see the response...... I have picked not one but two winners!

So, the lucky winners are: Divya and Megha Chhatbar,

congratulations!!

~Send me your addresses ladies at happydithi@gmail.com ~

A big thanks to all of you for the lovely comments.

The festival of colours is now being celebrated all across India,

a very happy holi to everyone!

I have made a gallery of some of my favourite holi images from Flickr just for you,

do you have a favourite holi image to share?

I would love to see your picks, you can leave a link to your image after this post!

Holi hai, enjoy :)

A thank-you-giveaway!

Hello beautiful people!

Here are some happy updates from Feb-so-far...

I designed an ad for my shop that went up on craftcult.com all of last week;

a very popular place for almost all Etsians to hang out,

browse through interesting picks,

check the heart-o-matic

and even promote their items!

The shop sales crossed 100 in Feb and, that too, in my birthday week !

The shop-hearts crossed 250 and the blog now has

192 lovely readers who follow the posts.

I have been slightly laid back (to put it mildly) in 2008-09

so far as the listings were concerned.

That is not a bad thing considering the fact that I focussed more on the painting,

slightly more than the shop make-over, promotion and stuff like that.

So far as tending to my shop goes, all that will change this year

...the new banner and new listings are only a part of that change-for-the-better.

I love operating through Etsy for of many reasons,

one of them being a format and some unique features

that are so helpful for the buyers as well as the sellers.

The option of leaving a feedback on a shop being one of them.

A great way to learn how your clients feel about your product

and a great reference point for future prospective collectors.

If you are an Etsian, I would highly recommend making full use of this feature;

it is the best way you can encourage a seller, thank a buyer,

highlight the positives and even upload an appreciation photo!!

I love to see photos of my artwork from

the homes and creative spaces of my wonderful collectors

and I want to thank all of you who have been so kind as to share with me the same.

Recently, I received this photograph in my Etsy mail:

I love the way the print had been matted and mounted.

I could not resist requesting Judy, the collector,

to send a snap of her with the framed print if possible.

In this photo: Judy with her grand-children and the framed 'Naani's Lullaby print.

I was really touched when I saw your photo Judy,

there is so much love in this capture.

I felt really bad for having given you the trouble,

for any inconvenience that this may have caused,

but I can't tell you how much I will treasure this.

Thank you for your love and kindness.

Now, as promised in my previous post, I have a give-away for you my readers!

It is a print of my 'Lalita Sundari' painting on A4 archival paper

(watermarks will not appear on the print)!

To enter the draw, enter your name and a comment after this post.

You have time until next Sunday, 28 Feb, 8 pm Geneva time, best of luck!

I will announce the winner, take your address and ship this print out soon after!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!

***Comments are now closed , I'll announce the winner later today***

Turning 31!

Hello beautiful people!! How are you enjoying the love season?

It was my birthday on the 14th, I turned 31 this year!

My eldest sis, brother-in-law and darling niece visited us from Oxford over the weekend; it was so much fun! I am the youngest of us three sisters and reasonably younger to both of them to have always been pampered silly. I vividly remember the day before each of my birthdays; my sisters would act so funny, huddle up, go into our grandmother's room to be talking to each other in hushed tones, give me a silly smile if I bumped into them, wait for me to go off to bed; only to secretly prepare the prettiest birthday tray for me with hand-drawn cards and goodies.

This is what my birthday tray looked like this year....a darling red pull, a bag of MAC goodies and the prettiest hand-drawn birthday card from my niece....to name a few.

They call me 'Tota' at home (tota in Bengali means parrot):))

It was a beautifully bright and warm day.....

we had a sumptuous Cantonese lunch at a restaurant overlooking lake Geneva,

followed by a visit to the Musée d'ethnographie de Genève

to see 'Le regard de Kannon' or the 'Kannon's gaze' exhibition. The show was sublime, the budhhist chants would go off in the hall every time we turned the prayer wheels installation.

The 'Kannon' has such a powerful and awe-inspiring form; the statuetes, the ancient Japanese thangkas, the Buddhist artefacts collected from all over the world and the prayers in the background and completely transformed the energy of the show.

It felt like we were in a Buddhist monastery in Tibet.

A generous sprinkling of La Durée macarons made the Valentine's experience complete!

Moving on, here is an interview that I did recently with creative writer Barnali Saha

based in Nashville; it was published in the online magazine 'Palki'(Bengali for palanquin).

.

Thank you Barnali, Kausik and the Palki team for doing this!

I am off now you guys, I have some printing and shipping to do tomorrow morning!

Stay tuned for a give-away in my next post!

**Love and hugs and big thanks to each one of you for making last year so precious**

New Etsy shop banner

Here is my new banner for the Etsy shop you guys!

Of course it is busy and over the top...that's just the way I like it!

I am going to work harder on the shop this year;

changing the banner was a first step.....

hop over to see how it looks on the shop page and check out my new prints listings!

Also, a big thank you for all the support on the IP violation matter

(on facebook and here on my previous post).

I am going to go through with the legal procedure, will keep you all posted.

Have a great week ahead!

xxHUGSxx