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“All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites.”- Marc Chagall
Happy Doodling!!!
ART PEACE
tapping the creative 'right' side of my brain
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“Change is inevitable, but transformation is by conscious choice” – Heather Ash Amara
Did an arts and craft project this time for my aunt, these are made of porcelain. I wish I had take a better before picture to show the transformation 🙂 I had to kill my fingers trying to squeeze the glitter out of the tube however it was totally worth it
Happy Arts!
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“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” – Pablo Picasso
This season it was just 3 rangolis on the major festive days and that too small ones as we have moved back to the city 🙂
Happy Rangoli!!!
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“Ït’s better to be late than to arrive ugly”- Anonymous
That’s the best excuse I got for now that its better to be late than to be ugly :). I started this painting exactly 5 months back. I have a penchant for detailing and self-torture probably, the reason why I keep choosing paintings with such fine details. With this one I am happy that I am done. Hopefully I will see you guys soon with another painting, keeping my fingers crossed !!!
Happy Painting!
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“Beauty is the shadow of imperfection.” – Simon Van Booy
With the onset of festive season, this is my first rangoli for the season. Though the lines are crooked and imperfect it does capture the festive vibe.
Happy Shankranti to everyone celebrating it!!!
Happy Rangoli!!!
Birds
“Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious” – Oscar Wilde
The little birdie brought me back to my colorful life. I tend to keep my promise if 2 paintings per month moving forward.
Happy Painting !
Footprints
“Take only memories, leave only footprints” – Unknown
I came across this chick the other night, frightened and shivering on my stairs. I knew if I left it there the cat would eat it so I got it in. It took me on a roller-coaster ride since then. All it did was eat and climb and poo. I looked more like a tree to it and I didn’t mind 🙂 Finally after a couple of days we had to part ways….
However it brought me back to my art and I love it for that. I refer to it as “IT” becoz I couldn’t figure out if it was male or female 🙂
Stay Safe little chick!!!
Colors & Smiles of Nepal
“I choose to collect memories instead of things” – Elena Levon
This one is long due.
We went to Nepal in 2018 during the Dushain festival; ie in the month of October. We knew most of the establishments would be closed as Dushain is the most auspicious festival there and everyone would be on vacation and would spend time with family rather than tending to guests. However, that is what we wanted to witness and experience.
The trip was filled with a splash of red color, beautiful smiles, worshipping people and high swings.
I will do an entire post to show all the beautiful places we visited, this one is dedicated to the beautiful people we saw and met during our journey and the color RED 🙂 . Red was the color of the season, people in red dresses, red ornaments, red tilak(vermillion) on foreheads, on statues, on walls….
Dashain the greatest festival for Hindus, honors a great conquest of the gods over the evil demons.
The faces are covered until the 8th day, however from day 1, there is night long prayers and bhajans.
Durbar Square – where people enjoyed feeding the pigeons, running among pigeons and a saint trying to find peace among all the chaos.
Just some random clicks of happy people
Sadhu’s at Pashupatinath temple in their exotic appearances
Sadhus are almost entirely dependent on the alms of others for survival. But, many of them also support themselves by begging, singing, serving as spiritual mentors, interpreting dreams, telling fortunes and reading palms, making amulets, tattooing, performing exorcisms, casting spells, conjuring, or selling medicinal herbs and potions.
Evening bhajan and aarti at Pashupatinath
The famous Sel Roti of Nepal – made of rice flour. it is sweet and deep fried and mostly sought after snack during festivals. The vibrant market place. People finding their future in stars. The royal guard at the Durbar Square. And finally the funky musician selling music in all forms.
Amongst all the craziness, this topped it all. You get to see a web of entangled wire all across Kathmandu. I wonder how they fix it when there is a problem!!!
Prayers to Buddha in his birth place – Lumbini
Lighting a butter lamp in one of the largest stupas – UNESCO world Heritage site – Boudhanath Stupa
Bhanjans(musical prayers) and recitation of the holy text Rama Charith Manas @ Janakpur, the birth place of Sita.
Dashain is, in fact, a festival in Nepal which reunites the families and is the ceremony of reunion and joy. Every house is filled with happiness and delicious foods. The sky is filled with the Kites, the grounds are filled with swings and the people are filled with joy and memories and so was I.
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The trip was filled with long rides across valleys and river side, hot Nepali food, visit to the many durbars of Nepal, meeting and greeting smiling Nepalis, paying oblations in the various religious places, breath taking views, taking walks in the festive filled busy streets and shopping, of course… 🙂
This is my favorite pic among all !!!
Somewhere out there is Mount Everest which we couldn’t see due to fog … some other time maybe 🙂
Happy Travelling !!!
Stay Safe n Stay Happy !
The Kiss of Corona
“The first kiss can be as terrifying as the last.” ― Daina Chaviano
So last month I met this naughty guy, Corona and without my permission he just kissed me and from there the two week romance started. Sleepless nights, loss of appetite, weakness in the body. Oh boy, I was head over heels in loathe with him. One moment of negligence and I lost 9lbs and my sanity. I realized what a fool I have been and didn’t let this love get to my lungs. So lucky me, here I am writing yet another post.
Thank God, family and friends who helped me get out of this mess!!!
Stay Safe, Stay Healthy!!!
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“We do not want to possess a faith, we require a faith that will possess us” – Swami Chinmayananda
This one I did on the exterior wall, lets see if the colors survive the summer heat. My peacock obsession continues 🙂 . I need a pot for my jade plant.
Happy painting!!!
Gardening & Healing
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need” – Marcus Tullius Ceciro
I have been bitten by the gardening bug lately hence soaking in a lot of Vitamin D in my small apartment garden. Some researchers say that gardening helps reduce stress and anxiety. Some others say that the more you involved with mother earth the clearer your skin gets :). I don’t mind having all of that !!!
Happy Gardening!!!
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“Do small things with great love” – Unknown
This is the last of the lot. I was just lazy to post it!!!
Is anyone facing problem with WordPress? My notification section doesn’t load on laptop. It only opens in mobile app.
Happy Rangoli !!!
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“Cultures grow on the vine of tradition” – Jonah Goldberg
The above rangoli represents abundance with pots brimming and overflowing with milk. The festival Makar Shankranti celebrates the Sun God entering into Capricorn(Makar) constellation thus Sun starts its journey in the Northern Hemisphere. This is also a harvesting festival(since most of our ancestors were farmers) so people pray to Sun for abundance and prosperity.
A chariot for the Sun God 🙂
Happy Rangoli!!!
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“Fly high but keep the soul connected to root” – Amlan
Sankranti is also a festival when kids and adults alike fly kites. So I decided to make kite my theme. Actually.. the truth is I just kept making a square rangoli but still wasn’t satisfied because it didnot look complete. Then my husband came to my rescue and suggested I make the tail to make it look like a kite. If not for him I would have broken my back on day one of the festival. And for what ??? so that the cow can eat it in 15 mins. I used rice flour and flower petals to make it and the cows might have thought that I was serving breakfast …. uffff
So much for my eco friendliness!!!
Happy Rangoli!!!
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“Have no fear of perfection, you will never reach it” – Marie Curie
Peacock has been my recent obsession…. for no reason what so ever. Trying to draw all types of peacocks and in different ways 🙂
Happy Rangoli!!!
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“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life” – Wayne Dyer
It’s festive season and one of the main traditions about Shankranti is Rangoli. Rangoli is one of the folk art in which patterns are created on floor, courtyard or living rooms using rice flour, colored powder, colored sand or flower petals. Its done daily for a month. I couldn’t do it for the entire month so I plan to do some rangolis during the last week.
You will have to excuse my free hand drawing skills with rice flour and colored sand where there is no room for mistakes. If you want to correct your mistake all you have to do is wash the entire thing with water and redo it again. Phewww…..
Happy Rangoli !!!
Srimad Bhagavatam
“A lack of knowledge creates fear. Seeking knowledge creates courage.” Candice Swanepoel
I have been reading this book since 8 months now, with my job, blog, artwork and a lot of cooking cleaning I could only do 5-10 pages a day. Srimad Bhagavatam is a book from the Vedic Literature. The original text is in Sanskrit language which I tried to learn but couldn’t make it. So I picked the easier path of reading the English translation by Kamala Subramaniam. Her summary is in simple yet appealing language yet she uncompromisingly managed to maintain the essence of the book.
As mentioned in the book it helps seekers get rid of all that is troublesome to the heart.
The cover page inspired me to use mandala for my various art work.
Milestone achieved…
Happy Reading!!!
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“Without the element of enjoyment, it is not worth trying to excel at anything.” – Magnus Carlsen
2020 has been one of the most productive years for me. Hoping the same and many more adventures in 2021. keeping my fingers crossed for outdoor adventures 🙂
Wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Stay Healthy and Stay Safe!!
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“You can’t resolve a dilemma with all the very same mind that made it” – Albert Einstein
So I like effect of the first one but I am also in love with the glowy mandala of the second one. then again I didn’t like what the glowy thing did to her skin color. So there you go ….
I have to be more creative next time. I am done with mandalas and pouty model.
Happy Photoshopping….
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“Faith is – to believe what you do not see; the reward of which is – you see what you believed” – Swami Chinmayananda
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“When this oneness with the Universe is not realized, you are fooled by your own name!” – Swami Chinmayananda
It’s been a roller-coaster ride since Corona started. I realized I was wasting so much time and energy just to get ready for office and driving to & fro. I get to use that time so productively now for the things I love to do. I get to read, learn a new language, paint, cook, clean plus office.
Trying to get back to my commitment of 1 post per 2 weeks :). Let’s see if I can make it to 1 per week!!!
Interesting Blogs
ART PEACE 