2011 Art Dairy

I had a lot of fun putting the covers on the diaries. I got the printing done at my campus print shop who did a very nice job. The covers are handmade papers from India, Nepal and of course, my favorite chiyogami. Looking forward to sharing these diaries with families and friends.

Spread out like that, I noticed that there are two covers with paisley designs. Both papers were made in India and Indians are partial to paisley!                        

This is the artwork I did for the diary.

 Another page from the diary

Here is the link to my previous post on the  diary project.

Without Borders

 Since the beginning of this year, I have been working on and off on creating artwork based on South Asian literature. Early in the year, I did this piece on Shakuntalam, Kalidasa's classical love story. This new piece, Without Borders, inspired by Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, is very post-modern. I was trying to respond to Melange team's November challenge "Home" and the idea came when I spent one whole Saturday morning hunting for documents to apply for Indian visa. I felt much like Ashima, a borderless nomad, straddling a 10,000 miles wide Asian Indian boat. The power of Lahiri's book lies in the fact that global themes of dislocation, loss, and the longing for roots are explored inside the particulars of one Bengali woman's immigrant experience. This point was most poignantly brought to me when my Brazilian born aerobic instructor asked me if I had read the book. Ashima, derived from the sanskrit word asima, means "without boundaries". The book may have well been about Miguela, Ivana, Habiba or even one Indira.

Melange Team on Handmade Spark!

Vegetarian Thanksgiving

 From the New York Times: A delectable collection of vegetarian dishes for your Thanksgiving dinner

Mixed Media Challenge: Boxing Clever

This is my submission for Mixed Media November Challenge: Boxing Clever. The design on the top is based on South Indian kolam (rangoli) lotus pattern. Lotus is considered a sacred flower in the Eastern religious traditions and while kolam drawings are decorative, they also mark a sacred space. I added a finial on top to evoke the cupola of a monastery or a temple. A micro handmade accordion journal tied to the finial evokes the palm leaf bindings of ancient sanskrit and buddhist texts.

More details on this box can be found here

A Pageful of Craftgawker Submissions

May be I have a future in product photography! I now have a full page of photos in Craftgawker. Here is the link to my photo gallery Dharmakarmaarts Gallery. As you know, Craftgawker is a highly curated craft photography site and it is a challenge to take photos that are CG worthy. I take a lot of photos of my art ad craft items and whenever I find something that looks good I submit to Craftgawker. It is always a thrill when my photos get accepted. As of yesterday, I have a full page of accepted submisisons. Hopefully, the streak will continue.

Natural and Energy Giving (2)

In my last post, I wrote about the energy giving properties of copper and turquoise. Through many ages copper was considered the common person's metal. Richer folks opted for silver which, though having the same properties of copper, was considered a precious metal (along with gold) and therefore pricier.

Silver is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity and therefore an excellent conduit for the energies of the gemstones with which it is paired. In and of itself, silver has long been regarded as having beneficial healing and anti-microbial properties.

Sometimes, good things come in small packages. The pair of earrings pictured above  is one of them. Turquoise beads, African "opal" stones, copper beads and brushed sterling silver rondelles are strung on a copper head pin and hang from a sterling silver ear wire. All the components of this pair of earrings are made of naturally occurring materials.

You wil find these earrings in my Etsy and Artfire stores.

Once again, thanks for visiting.