For Lunch Today: Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Coconut Sprinkles

THIS =

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THIS = DELICIOUS AND HEALTHY

Sari Wall Art: Summer Autumn Winter Spring

Energy. Warmth. Hope. Love. Happy. Morning. Midheaven. Sunset. Summer. Autumn. Tomorrow. Light.

These are the words that come to mind when I look at this artwork. It pulls me in and makes me want to stay in its warm glow forever. I think you will feel the same when you see it in person. The photos don't do full justice to the vibrancy of the colors.

Papers and handwoven sari silk pieces were painted, stamped, stitched, embellished to create this one of a kind mixed media art. The artwork is mounted on an 8" by 10" back stapled canvas. It can be hung as is without framing.

Available here on Etsy.

Thanks for visiting.

Four-in-one Micro Journal Tutorial

4-in-1 Micro Journal

Inside view

If you are like me, you probably have tons of bits and pieces of scrap papers left over from your other projects. The idea of converting them into four-in-one micro journals came one day when I was thumbing through Shereen LaPlantz's Cover to Cover. I tried different versions (see below): thick papers, color coordinated papers, stapling, stitching etc. The version I have chosen for the tutorial is quick and easy and can be completed in an hour. I call this four-in-one because there are four micro journals stacked together and bound into a folder folio cover.

Materials:

1. Five coordinating scrap papers of the following sizes for the covers
    12"x 6" (folder cover)
     8"x 4 1/2" (journal cover)
     7"x 4" (journal cover)
     5 1/2" x 3 1/4" (journal cover)
     4 1/2" x 2 3/4" (journal cover)

You can change the cover sizes but keep in mind that a standard stapler has a reach of only about 4".

2. 10-12 standard size  ( 8 1/2" by 11") printer paper
3. Velcro closures
4. Stapler
5. Glue stick
6. Pair of scissors

Materials

1. Take the largest scrap paper  (12"x6") and create a triple fold with the following measurements: left flap 4", center flap 4 1/2", right flap 3 1/2". This is the folio folder cover.

2. Fold the remaining cover papers in half on the wide side. These are the covers for the micro journals.

3. Now prepare the signatures. Since the journals are small, you can create multiple sheets out of a single paper by folding, cutting and trimming to fit the cover. See photos below.

When done you should have roughly twelve sheets (24 pages counting both sides) for each journal.

  
4. Now prepare each journal by matching the sheets and the journal cover and stapling them together. When done you will have four journals of four different sizes.

5. Now you need to stack the journals together and this is how you do it. Take the smallest journal and apply glue on the back cover and glue it to the top of the journal next in size and so on till all the four journals are stacked and glued together.

6. Take the journal stack and apply glue on the back of the largest journal and glue it to the center flap of the folio folder.

7. Attach velcro to the inside of the top flap and outside of the bottom flap and fold them close.

8. If you choose you may embellish the cover. Here I have added a charming bird picture from the Graphics Fairy.

Thanks for visiting. Hope you find the tutorial useful.

Note about copyright: You are welcome to create your journals using this tutorial for personal or commercial use. However, the ownership of the tutorial with all the contents and the images rests solely with the author of this post, which is me.

Sari Wall Art: Born Free

The theme of "Born Free" is depicted in this mixed media art. The background created using vintage sari fabric on a water color paper painted in shades of yellow evoke the freshness of the open green. It makes a perfect setting for the colorful bird and the lovely butterfly to feel at home and to fly freely without constraints.

The images of the bird and the butterfly are been given a 3-D effect with glazes. I have machine stitched four sides of the watercolor paper and affixed it on a gallery wrapped stretched canvas. I have added filigree embellishments above the artwork on the canvas and have added the words "Born Free" at the bottom.

This mixed media piece is available in my Etsy shop.

Thanks for visiting.

All That is Solid Melts Into Air

It was a rainy day in Miami when we visited the Miami Art Museum (or MAM) for short. We were not allowed to take any photos inside. Without photos or any publicity materials it was hard to remember everything one saw.

What I remember most powerfully is the two-screen video installation of Mark Boulos' "All That is Solid Melts into Air". Boulos' video is a dialectical exposition of the oil fields of Niger delta (exploitation) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange where the oil futures are traded (commodification). The title of the show comes from a passage from Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto: "All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind". When Marx wrote that two centuries ago the western Europe was being swept into the bourgeois revolution, but, it might as well been a manifesto for the 21st century with the world ever more sharply divided between the haves and the have not, the powerful and the powerless, the rich and the poor, democrats and republicans.

New Sari Art

These sari art are a fusion of design and colors from many saris that I have worn in my adult life.

This art is composed of two layers. The smaller central piece is an embroidered leaf appliqued on to painted watercolor background. This smaller piece is then adhered to a larger background which has been first painted with a contrasting watercolor and enhanced with delicate vine like patterns. The overall effect of the colors and the patterns is striking and pleasing at the same time.

The art is mounted on a framed back stapled canvas and can be hung just as is (staples will not show).


The sari which measures approx. 7" by 8 " is mounted on an 8x10 canvas.

Thanks for visiting.

Enshrined: Women of Power

I am reposting this post for Seth Apter's Buried Treasure 2011. Enjoy.

In a place where sex-selective abortions are a fact of life across all segments of society, the latest general elections in India has produced four female chief ministers governing over a combined population of 400 million people. As if that is not enough, an Italian-born woman is the head of the historic party that led India's independence movement, the President of India ( non-elective position) is a woman and so is the speaker of the Indian parliament. Middle aged or older, widowed, single, never married or "married" to a woman, these top-dog politicians are not hot babes. (They will never make it to the style section of the Huffington Post.) Their ascension to top positions has less to do with gender politics than with the caste politics. Skilled politicians all of them, they can play dirty as well as any of their male counterparts. Yet, their popular nicknames ground them in the typical Indian family structure: one is called "bahu" (daughter-in-law), another is known as "amma" (mother), a couple of them are referred as "didi", "behenji" (sister), yet another is known as "auntieji" (aunt).

The mixed media art above is a tribute to these women as well as to the system that produced these remarkable politicians. Mimicking the grimy, tacky and the garish nature of Indian politics, the background is a wall graffitied with election slogans. Acknowledging the fact that Indians can create a sacred space anywhere, the shrine is a hole in the wall decorated with plastic and paper flower garlands. The image is and could be of any woman seeking political power and the thin screen covering the shrine can be pulled back anytime by her to step up to the podium.

If you are interested in knowing more about these female politicians, here is a link to an excellent article by the Globe Mail of Canada

The fun part is  of doing this piece is that every material used in this art came from the members of the Etsy melange swap (canvas and paints excepted), consisting of images, embellishments, vintage papers, die cuts and scrabble tiles from Artsnark, Whyte, Elenamary, Midwestielady, JBguess, LDphotography. Thanks ladies!