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).

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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

Stolen

This is a painting that I did on September 2008 as part of a two-painting Bengali couple set.

You can read the post about this set from my blog here.

I sold the set through Etsy subsequently.

One of you readers informed me on this blog a few weeks back that one of my paintings have been used for a book cover. I had no idea and initially thought this might have been a confusion. However, more confirmations from the reader(s) and subsequent googling led to us finding this:

The book is called ''That Calcutta Those Bongs'' by

the very well known publishing house Rupa Publications.

All my work is protected by a Creative Commons License

that is mentioned right on top of the blog.

Any use of my images without an authorization from me is not permissible.

Anyway, a result of this unfortunate and unnecessary development means that I will be watermarking all my work from now on....

something that I really dislike doing.

I will be writing to Rupa & Co. about this and post updates for you.

A BIG thank you to all of you readers who informed me about this.

What would I do without you guys?!

The ''Batua''

Title: ''Batua'' (or the little pouch bag)

Medium: Acrylic

Size: 18cm x 24cm

The 'Batua' or the little pouch was a bit of a fashion statement in the olden times.

It was used to carry money, betel leaves or 'paan' or other valuables.

My grandmother had quite a collection of these, in a myriad of colours and materials;

some made of velvet and gold embroidery, some were beaded and yet some others

that would have been handcrafted from beautifully hand-printed colourful Indian fabric.

Here is a beautiful example of the batua.

I have been doing quite a bit of shopping in this winter-sale season and

I think she is going shopping too, all made up and

carrying her little fashion statement with her!!

She is wearing the 'Taant' or Bengali handloom saree in the traditional style of drape

with a puff-sleeved blouse to go with it. The black and white checkered floor is also quite a significant design element in the old 'Banedi' Bengali houses.

This painting is not up for sale but I will make prints available at the shop soon.

snowy update

let me take you through snowy Geneva...

As we stepped out yesterday, to our surprise, she greeted us, right in front our building

There is a primary school in the neighbourhood, now the swing is quiet

It was wonderfully bright today, after a blizzard yesterday evening, I wasn't the only one who came out to enjoy the snow in the sun....

Right in front of a series of cafés, which, to my surprise, were all open

(in Geneva, most places shut down) and full

I was so tempted to take snaps of people inside these warmly lit pretty places

but realized that I am too shy to be a good photo-journalist :(

So, got snaps of the cars on the street right in front, instead...

Here is the post office, where all your prints and paintings are shipped out from :)

I have never lived in a place that saw this much of snow .... it is quite something

can you see the mountains at the back, we are not very far away

''un...deux...trois...'' and a collective push

and passers by kept gathering and trying to help.....

several times .......but no luck till then.....

took this snap rather nervously and felt guilty about it

well, some others, were doing just fine, moving around with a dollop on top

and this, my friend, is my pick from what I got this weekend

.....some people sure know how to party....no matter what!!!

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!!

Commissioned artwork

Title: ''Maa-meye'' (Mother-daughter in Bengali)

Size: 30 cm x 50 cm
Medium: Acrylic on pre-stretched gallery wrapped canvas

Finished with a mix of matte and brilliant acrylic varnish.

The text in Bengali says:
''মধুর আমার মায়ের হাসি চাঁদের মুখে ঝরে''
(Madhur amar mayer hashi chander mukhe jhore)
(Transliteration: My mother's smile, sweet like honey,

drips from her face as radiant the moon)

I have used brilliant varnish only on the text and the jewels so that

the rest of the painting has this matt effect, letting these elements stand out .

This was the photo that was sent to me from the Collector, Arnab,

of his beautiful wife Sunita and their lovely daughter, the reference for my composition.

This is how my mom used to tie my hair when I was a little girl,

with a generous dose of warmed coconut oil (which is considered to be the age-old-Indian-secret-potion to long-healthy-shiny hair)!!!

The hair-do is called a ''kala-binuni'' (binuni in Bengali means plait)

and very popular even today (more in towns and villages)

for little girls in many parts of Bengal.

I thought this goes beautifully with our folk theme.

Arnab had a suggestion and asked me,

during the conceptualization of this portrait, the possibility of adding

a "....half-open red lotus with stem in the mother's hand...''

as ''....the symbol of love, protection, purity & fertility/eternity...."

The parrot in the background was also something he had proposed initially.

Both, I was happy to add.

Bengali elements in this portrait:

White saree with a red border worn in the traditional drape

(a bunch of household keys were tied in a knot at the end of the saree

behind the left-shoulder), the bangles,

the red 'bindi', the style of the blouse with lace border,

text taken from a very popular Bengali poem,

the hair-accessories seen from behind the mom's chignon and of course the little girl's hair-do,

the ''Tiya'' or parrot on a bird-perch is also a favourite Bengali household pet.

A BIG thank you from my mom for your wonderful wishes,

this Sufi song is for you guys!

**new painting soon**

For you Maa......

Sketches for the two commissions that I am working on now......

''Maa-meye'' (which in Bengali means Mother -daughter)

Mixed media on paper, 30cm x 50cm

Here is a close-up of little birdie:

The second sketch is also a mother-child portrait:

Goddess Annapurna feeding rice to baby Shiva,

Mixed media on paper, 28cm x 42cm.

These two sketches are *not for sale*,

they will stay with moi in my home-studio :)

It is my mom's birthday today:)

I wish I could fly back to her to plant this kiss in person,

she will have to make do with this for now

Here is one of my favourite photos of her, just for my readers :)!!

This was taken by Baba (dad) on their honey-moon, on a Shikara in Kashmir.

Love you Maa

Happy birthday!

Maa Lokkhi with Owl

Title: Maa Lokkhi , commissioned piece

(Bengali school rendition of the Goddess of Wealth Maa Lakshmi)

Size: 35 cm x 45 cm

Medium: Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

Varnished, signed and dated

The jewellery and crown is rendered along the lines of traditional temple jewellery.

The owl comes back as the vahana as I did this for a Bengali collector.

This was the photo of an antique basara pearl nose ring

that I used as reference for painting the Goddess's ornament.

I found this beautiful piece here.

last days of fall