Friday 21 August 2009

Introducing Artist Anu Madhu.....

Hi Readers,
It is my pleasure to introduce an artist whom I have admired as a teenager. There are many ways that I have been inspired by her. Her love for life, her ability to look cheerful always, her looks, her personal ways of conducting herself and last but most important..........her creative skills. Anu Madhu and myself lived in the same neighbourhood. Although she is a sister to my close friend amrita, I have had some very interesting talks with Anu during those days........which probably anu does not recall. I silently admired her works which were proudly displayed by her parents. Today, Anu lives in Redding, Connecticut in a beautiful house with all her works on display. It seems to me that every corner of her house would have something of interest. A few of her works are here for you all to see.











INTERVIEW WITH ANU MADHU.....................
1. When did you realise you had a passion for art...at what age?
I realised I had the passion to draw and paint from a very young age of 5,ever since I was encouraged at home and at school to achieve my passion. I have not looked back ever since !!

2. Have you undergone any formal training in this field?
I have done a diploma in Fine arts from Kalamandir School Of Arts in Bangalore .

3. What are your main interest areas in art...like (oil on canvas or water colour etc.,)?
I love working with all the mediums, but my favorite by far has been oil and acrylic. Most of my paintings are oil based.

4. Do you teach somewhere?
When I used to live in India, I did conduct summer camps for kids from home. Here in the US did conduct drawing classes for kids every now and then.
5. Is there anything that you are currently working on....or trying to discover a new form of art?
I continue to work on paintings, I also love learning different crafts. So I work with salt dough and make salt dough ornaments like fruit baskets, wreaths, christmas ornaments,tealight candle holders, center pieces for tables and so on. I am also trying to learn to work with clay and would love to create forms with clay.

6. Would you like to share something with my readers?
Art has been the driving force behind me personally for what ever I am today. I understand there is a world of art, out there that I am trying to still learn about. I have only unturned a few stones, but I know I have a long way to go and I am so looking forward to the journey ahead and learning all that I can along the way. I have had so much fun creating all the works I have done so far and I hope all of you enjoy my creations as much I had creating them for myself and for all of you.
The best gift to an artist is when he/she is complimented on their works. I request every reader of mine to identify one picture from the above set as their favourite. Anu can be contacted for any of her works on the following email address anu.madhu@gmail.com.

Thursday 20 August 2009

A Kid Chair Makeover.....Decoupage....

I am back with the promise I made regarding decoupage. Here is the chair that I was working on. Phew....Its finally over and my daughter has been using it. She is very happy and feels like she is on the throne.
This is a wooden chair made of teak and is about 40 years old. A look at the chair before the makeover.

After the Decoupage.....




To do this.....you need to.....
1. Sand the wooden chair using a sand paper. Fill any holes and cracks using some wax.
2. With a flat brush, paint the whole chair in oil paint (black). I used a bit of red to break the monotony (for the legs and the openings in the back rest).
3. Once it is dry, decide on your motifs. In this case, since I was doing it for my daughter who is just 4 years old, I decided to go in for some pictures of different flowers, flags, means of transport, fish, birds and their nest as the chair could act as a part of her learning. I finely cut out all these pictures from the charts, soaked them in water for some time. If the pictures are too thick, then you need to smoothen it from behind using a sand paper to reduce the thickness of the paper.
4. Once these pictures are ready, stick them using fevicol at the desired places.
5. I then gave a few rough strokes in copper acrylic paint and wrote out text like Birds, Flowers...etc.,....just to add some glamour to the chair.
6. Now, using a flat brush, give the whole chair a coating using the decoupage liquid. (As an easy method, I generally dilute the fevicol a little by adding water and use it).
7. Give generous coats (4-5 layers) of this liquid in such a way that the pictures smoothen out on the chair and look as if they are painted on the chair. Ensure that every coat thoroughly dries before you apply the next one.
8. If you want a shine, then give it a coat of varnish.
In these days of recession, please do not throw away any of your furniture........Instead, think of innovative ways to using them beautifully. Please let me know if you recently did anything that you would like to showcase on my blog. Share a picture or information at vasudha.dilip@gmail.com.

Tuesday 18 August 2009

Bringing Tribal Nagaland into your Homes....

Nagaland is a hill state located in the far north-eastern part of India. It borders the state of Assam to the west, Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam to the north, Burma to the east and Manipur to the south. The state capital is Kohima, and the largest city is Dimapur. With a population of nearly two million people, it has a total area of 6,401 sq mi (16,579 km²)—making it one of the smallest states of India. (Information Courtesy: Wikipedia)
(Picture Courtesy, click here)
There are 14 tribes in Nagaland. Tribe and clan traditions and loyalties play an important part in the life of Nagas. Weaving is a traditional art handed down through generations in Nagaland. Each of the major tribes has its own unique designs and colors, producing shawls, shoulder bags, decorative spears, table mats, wood carvings, and bamboo works. Naga Tribal dances of the Nagas give an insight into the inborn Naga reticence of the Naga people. War dances and other dances belonging to distinctive Naga tribes are a major art form in Nagaland. For more info on Art and Craft of the Nagas, please click here.
(Picture Courtesy, click here)
Inspired by the red and black shawls of the Nagas, I have created 2 collages here. Please take a look. This picture displays a contemporary style of design inspired by the tribal theme and the red and black costumes.

This is a country style of design using the same tribal theme and the red and black costumes of the Nagas.
This article has kept me wondering on the amazing creativity of the tribal communities in general. They made use of everything that was ordinarily available in nature to create extraordinary things.
(Picture Courtesy for collage: India Heritage.com, Antique-arts-asia.com, ww.nagaland.nic.in, exoticindiaart.com, chillibreeze.com, webindia123.com, purpleonion.nl, zkta.com, amcsofa.com, edge103.dealsdirect.net, lankalibrary.com, indianetzone.com, rsvpfengshuigifts.com, rhodesigns.com,beadmuseumdc.org, kimchi-icecream.blogspot.com )

CHOSEN once again........

Hi all,
Your constant quest for more from my blog has kept me motivated to come out with interesting posts, one such being "Reviving old board games as a part of Decor....". I am very happy to inform you all that, this post has been selected as one of the top posts of the week by the Tangy Tuesday Picks team of Blogadda. My heartfelt thanks to this group for choosing this post as one amongst it. Please click on the picture to access the link.

Monday 10 August 2009

Using Themes with PLAYMOBIL to decorate your Kid's Room...

I recently bought this from Kaufhof in Germany. This is a beautiful playmobil wedding set that I actually picked up for my daughter...........but have been personally displaying it to showcase my collection. PLAYMOBIL is a plastic toy making company headquarted in Zinndorf, Germany specialising in such theme oriented plastic toys. We initially picked up one set and then realising that we can create a whole wedding theme, we picked all the below shown sets. I must tell you that I am in love with these......Please take a look.....



Some more lovely playmobil sets are....
Advent....
Animal Clinic...
Egyptian Sphinx with a mummy...
Dolphin House....
A Pirate Set....................and many many more.....For more information on this, please visit the www.playmobil.com . All pictures in this post have been taken from this website.

I would love to use them as a base concept to design kid rooms in extraordinary themes. They are also good for displaying during Bombe Habba or Gollu in tamil which means the festival of displaying dolls celebrated traditionally by South Indians during the Festival of Dussera.

Reviving Old Board Games as a part of the Decor...

My best childhood memories go back to the schooldays when we would anxiously wait for the summer holidays. All kids would meet in our Grandfather's traditional home. The ladies of the family would scout for reasons to meet and celebrate. I still smell the smoke of the burnt firewood that was used to boil water in huge Copper pots for our daily bath. Sundays would be restricted for an oil massage followed by an ayurvedic bath. Today, we go to 'The Spa' to pamper ourselves. All kids would line up to eat the simple yet tasty breakfast served on green banana leaves. After all the morning chores, it would be time for us to sit on the beautiful red-oxide floor to play various games which could be easily drawn on floor using chalks. I remember playing games like Chauka baara, pagade, palangulimane (all traditional games of karnataka) for hours together. I really really miss those days.
As I was looking for some pictures and information on some of these board games, I came across this beautiful and informative website http://kreedaakaushalya.blogspot.com/ by Raghu Dharmendra and RG Singh on the various board games of India. I simply loved this site. I request all my readers to please check this blog.
In this post, my intentions are limited to using these board games as a form of deco accessory as well as blending it to our daily lives. Contemporary decor has been the order of the day in India, more and more people are wanting to decorate their homes in a clean-cut, clutter free style. But our day-to-day activities and life-styles are getting more and more hectic by the day. What we need at this time is some fun and relaxation in our own homes without having to step out especially after the office hours. Thanks to the apartment culture, we are able to have some indoor sports and fun activities inside the complexes itself. With all these, there are still some people who would want to enjoy them from the comfort of their own homes. This post focuses on some board games that can be used as a part of the home deco in any style of design and doubles as a deco accessory. Please click on the picture to get complete information on the particular game.

PAGADE......

Simply spread this on a center table for a colourful look. On regular days, one could treat this as a table runner. On relaxing days, pull out the pagade accessories and play a relaxing game of pagade. For the non-Indians, this may sound a bit too difficult, do not worry, simply click on the pictures and this will take you to the link of kreeda kaushalya, wherein raghu and singh have very clear information about the history, rules and guidelines to playing each of these games.



NAVALGUND...






Use these as a form of art and on normal days display them on your wall. Simply remove them off the wall and use it as a board game when you want to entertain some guests. This will act as a deco accessory on the wall, a game board and you dont have to worry as to how you would store them......because it already has a space on the wall. This is ideal for a contemporary style of decor.

GANJIFA CARDS.....



These come in decorative boxes which act as an artefact in itself. Simply keep them wherever it looks good on display.


PALANGULI MANE.....



These can be kept on display on a center table. On regular days, simply fill water in a few, float a couple of flowers, light candles or traditional diyas and dhoop (incense sticks). This will act as your decor scheme. On days when you are relaxed and in the mood for some play, keep some shells handy and use it as your palanguli mane game board.

ROSEWOOD INLAY CHESSBOARD....


MARBLE CHESSBOARD.....


One can use this as a center table or a bedside table top. It will act as a deco accessory and can also be used whenever you want to play.


CHAUKA BAARA... VIMANAM....

Use this on the wall as a colourful art piece. One could simply remove this off the wall and use it as board game. This is a great form of entertainment when you have guests in groups.



This is just a preview of some games, all these and more are available at their showroom RAMSONS in Mysore. All pictures in this post are from http://kreedaakaushalya.blogspot.com/.



Dear Readers, Please share any of your treasured childhood memories with respect to board games. Think about how we can use them as a form of decor as well as use this as a board game in today's stress filled life.