Pongalo Pongal - Thai Thirunal Celebration! :)

Wish you all a very happy Pongal!!!! :)

Thai Thirunal Valzhtukkal!!


Miniature of traditional pongal setting that I did

Pongal is a very traditional and interesting festival that we love to celebrate. This year, just as ever we had a lot of fun.

The extra fun that I had this year was to decorate a miniature mockup of the ethnic pongal celebration. :) hey of course the pongal in it is true and edible. :)

The pic above is a set of small earthen pots that I got from Valluvar kotam. I pained it to make it look more special and ethnic. :) Loved making the sand base and miniature kolam too. :)

The entire scene setting is just within half feet measure. :)

It was hard to balance the sugarcanes that way. But I loved this pic :)

And yeah.. Kolam is one other thing that becomes mandatory for any traditional celebration. :)

Here is my first try on color kolam. I enjoyed doing it though it was a little time consuming. :) Yet to master the tricks of using color in kolam. :)

My Interview on webneetech.com :)

All smiles again!!!!

Little happenings add loads of josh to our life, that too I get all the more excited when it is on a weekend eve :) :) :)

I have been featured on webneetech.com.

One fine day, got a mail from the technical department of the site saying that they were really impressed with my blogs and they wanted to feature me in their site. I was of course very much excited about it. This interview was on a lighter side and I enjoyed answering their questions.

Take a peep into it :)

http://webneetech.com/2010/01/08/a-foodie-and-an-artist-blogger-nithya/



Wish you all a happy and leisure weekend :)



Hugs,

Kolam Contest

Kolam is my favorite art as you all know. :) But I have never been to a contest of this kind before.

Few days back, when I was gazing at the local news paper I found a column reading as

"Kolam Contest"
Lions club and Exnora sports club conducts a mega kolam contest at 10 Am on 3rd January, at Kasi Vishwanathar Temple, West Mambalam.

I was kind of tempted to participate but was equally scared too. Was wondering if I can really make a competitive one and make it finally. But I always had the courage to give it a try. So registered for it and my mom was a constant support for me always. She encouraged me so much and gave me ideas too.

The competition started at 10am and the given duration was 1 1/2 hours. They had allowed every participant to bring along a helper who can help them to complete the kolam.

But since I put in my own creativity in my kolam, I did not take my mom's help rather she participated as a contestant opposing me too :) That added little more josh and made it more interesting for me to do a better job than mom. :) :) :)

So now here it is...... This is the kolam that I did for the contest. Its absolutely an abstract well designed free hand kolam. :)

Contestant no.28 - Nithya's Kolam :)



A side view :)

Mom did a great job too. I loved this peacock kolam of her's and she was flawless in her attempt at the contest too.

Mom's peacock kolam :)

There were around 43 contestants and all of them did a great job. Infact most of them used colors and made it really attractive. :)

here is a long preview of the other entries for the contest.

Loads of hard work and group effort went on for an hour and a half.

Flowers, birds, symbols and so on....

Dark colors, light colors, jatang colors, dull colors and so on :)

Loads of people visited the show and enjoyed the tradition of Kolam :)

This was the practice session that I had attempted the day before the contest to check out my speed. :) I completed this one in 20 mins :)

Practice Kolam at home

And of course my hard work dint go waste.. I WON the contest too :) :) :)

All Smiles!!! :) :) :)

A Flash Back

Long long ago.. so long ago... But I know how long ago!!

Yes 18 years back when she was a little too naught kid, who all thought would be just way too naughty and good for nothing, discovered something that can make her sit in a place for a while and fascinate her too. :)

The stunning interest was the love for color pencils. Though the first thing that interested her was to shave the pencils and play with the wooden shavings, later she realized that the pencils could be used on paper to make wonders too :)

Once she found that out, she never left a page on any book, news paper and even walls. Its said that zero was the discovery of Indians.. And I guess it was this little girl who could have done it decades back. This girl drew all sizes of zeros everywhere with color pencils.. :)

Hmmmmm.. that was when her parents came to know what she was going to be doing years later... aaaahaaaa ppl.. come on.. stop thinking.. their realization was not the fact that she was going to score those zeros in her academics but was her interest in art and crafts. ;)

Then on her parents and her favorite teacher Anni miss encouraged her to draw and color.

Yes!!!!! its my little history and this post is all about my kid time trials of art.:)

Today I was digging my treasures and found an old file with all these worn out art works of mine. So thought these deserve to go on my blog too.

Welcome to my KG collection.

All of them were drawn by me when I was between the age of 6-12. You will notice the improvement gradually. :)

This is the first star that I felt was good looking and preserved :) Guess I would have scratched the sketches till they said 'I am done' ;)

Boats have always been the easiest ever thing to draw.. :) Look at my perspective with the large one closer and small one at the end.

He he he I just wonder why that hot air balloon is trying to land there in the mid of the sea????

I always start off any picture with utmost enthusiasm, but it would just last for a while. This is one such. I would have planned to draw a garden of sunflowers, but got bored with just 7 of them and rushed up with a yellow background. :)

Do sunflowers have a pink center part?????

Pencil drawing :) I am still thinking hard to recollect what I was trying to draw??? was it ships??? or trying to transport buildings by boats??? ha ha ha.. not sure :)

A BIG decorative flower pot :) Symmetry is really difficult at any age..

Anni miss taught me to color within borders, but then I was dreaming of the lunch hour when I was doing the red portion :)

Ufffffff I am here with an eraser now.. :) It was fun to know that anything can be undone with a rubber.. ;) Anything?????!!!!!!

Look at the remark. That is the secret behind preserving it.. should have felt like being crowned :)

Paints into action. Camlin Water color tablets(orange box) used to be the best ever gift I would ever enjoy those days.

Spray paint was all the more interesting because at the end of the day I would look like a colorful dalmation dog with loads of spots on my white uniform :) Thats when we say "Kara Nalladhu" :)

I am growing up with colors :)This is called Chinese painting. I am proud of my neat work and the remark too. :)

My favorite pic. Me and my sis drew the same pic competing with each other. :)

There is something really funny with this pic.. Okay lets have a game out here..

GUESS WHAT IS WEIRD BUT FUNNY IN THE ABOVE ELEPHANT PIC???

Karthikai Kolam

Wish you all a very happy Karthikai Deepam :)

Karthigai is essentially a festival of lamps. The lighted lamp is considered an auspicious symbol. You would surely see a long of cute lamps arranged in various styles in every house. :)

This year, as ever I made a nice big Kolam in the entrance and decorated it with lots of velaku. :)

Kolam with lamps

A row of lamps

Crepe Paper Rose - A Perfect Imitation :)

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose!!! :)

This was a poetic line said in Gertrude Stein's poem Sacred Emily, written in 1913 and published in 1922.

I still don't understand how many interpretations that line has.

All that I want to say here is, a rose is a rose even if it is made out of paper. :) :) :) as simple as that!!!

And you know why I have posted this one today????

Today as it is childrens day which is Nehruji's Birth day, I wanted to dedicate his favorite roses to him :)

Happy childrens day to all!!! :)

My passion for paper art is still on its go.. :) Crepe paper is one versatile version of paper that best suits for making flowers.

I just gave it a try and was absolutely impressed with the outcome. Hope you all like it too.

Made this large bunch in a marathon stretch of 6 hours. :)

A closer look at the shy flowers :)





This pic alone was shot by my sis. :)





A welcome bunch of red roses :)





I love red and roses! :)





Royal Yellow Roses :)

Google is my guru for lot of my crafts and so is this one. Find the tutorial for this flower here.

I am happy to send this to the Arsty-Craftsy event.

Grandma - More than just an Inspiration !!

For most of us our grandparents would have been a great source of inspiration or their love and affection would have kept us going to reach our goals. For me my grandma is really special in all ways.

Those days most of the ladies used to attend schooling only till their primary or at the max they would have reached the middle school. My grandma was born and brought up in a little village where none of them studied more than 7th class. They get married right away and their lives change drastically. All that they have to do at home is to cook and then spend their time doing some art work or so. No television to entertain and no time killing serials to cry over. So she used to tell me that each and every lady she knew in her place had learnt at least one fine art. :) Wow.. Thats interesting isn't it.

My Grandma is a super active person who always wants to keep her brain and hands busy. She learnt loads of fine arts and also created lot of artistic things herself. Remember its all with the minimal facilities that were available those days.

She is in her late seventies now and she is still active with her creativity. Thats exactly what amazes me always. I love her. :)

She is good at Crochet, Matty, Hand embroidery, Bead work, Wire work, Flower making, knitting etc... the list goes on..

I am presenting few of her creations here for you to take a look. Most of them are around 50 years old. :)

Wire and Bead work

Wire flower vase and flowers

Bead work on a glass vase and cloth flowers

Bead table mat(I really wonder how good she was in mathematics)

Suitcase covered with beads (This is an amazing piece for sure)

Purses and Bags

Those days there was this fashion of carrying matching bags and purses. Here is my mom's collection that grandma made. :) I preserve them as my treasures.

Pinky bead purse :) ( I don't think you would ever get one of this kind now)

Woolen purse

Bead purse again (Too much of fashion trends those days na!!)

One more Bead purse ( I can't dare to try all these! )

Bright red bead purse

One more (A very cool combination and looks so neat isn't it!)

One other master piece ( Detailed designing)

A hand bag made of wire

Crochet and Knitting

Woolen Table mat

Crochet Sweater set(oops got to learn patience from her!)

Crochet frocks and sweaters (Some are that I wore when I was a kid and others are for my kids)

Crochet table spreads

Matty work

Matty work incorporating beads for the parrot

Matty bedspread(I remember her teaching me all the items in the spread when I was a kid :) )

Miscellaneous Creations

Aarathi plates that she made for my sister's wedding

Bride and groom decorated by grandma :)

Ufffff.. This is just a sample of her creations.. There are loads more of mom's and grandma's works.. Would surely collect more pictures and feature them later. :p