THE KRISHNA SERIES - JOURNEY UNLOCKED

It was on a hectic day in my college working towards preparing notes, checking on students designs, assigning test dates,question papers:p I got a call from my friend.

I barely could concentrate on her call while i heard some words like exhibition..Be ready!

After a deep long call along with our casual talks,i realized I had just 15 days to work on for a upcoming exhibition to be held for a kindergarten annual day function. 

She wanted me to do some products on Lord Krishna and the products would be a part of her booksale.

With the limited time,I could just think of  making something interesting and creative with variety of options to choose from.

Today, am gonna blog about two of those collection.

1)THE GOVINDA - FRIDGE MAGNET

These are made with thin wooden strips symbolizing the namam on lord Vishnu's forehead.
The theme was blue with golden finish, completely handpainted and varnished with the chant "HARE KRSNA"at the bottom.
It could also be customized to key hanger and flexible enough to be used however one wants to.

 2) RADHA AND KRISHNA

This dreamy Radha lost in the enchanting  love of Krishna was however manifested in the artifact.
This was completely handpainted on the wooden strips which can be kept anywhere that your heart desires and am sure, the blessings will shower upon wherever it is.

The sides were also painted according to the colourful warm theme, and to your surprise you can find a quote best suited to make your day blissful.
Stay tuned on the coming week for the rest of the Krishna series.
Love and lights to all!!!

FLY YOUR SENSITIVE WINGS

Yes you read it right, "SENSITIVE WINGS".
Wondering if u had come to the wrong site article!!!?
Today's article is not exclusive for sensitive people or the so called termed "HIGHLY SENSITIVE people."Its about what the world needs to heal itself!
If u wonder what is a" highly sensitive " term ,you can browse up on the internet and will find thousands of research papers and bundles of information.
And yes.. dont puzzle your minds with these  terms, as today's article is completely an attempt to show you the other perspective of your inner self  no matter if your sensitive or medium sensitive or completely a practical buddy.

"SENSITIVITY" is not a term, its a "EXPERIENCE "that you have to feel from inside.
Its not a word to fear about or even you might have said someone to stop being sensitive.
But there is a chance to experience god beyond all the negative assumptions of being sensitive.
As energy flows into where your thought leads to, the same way sensitivity needs to be channelized onto the right direction.
On a simple note,

On a scale of 1 to 10 how much sensitive are you?
Oops..stop counting the ones where you got bullied and cried, instances where you got hurt almost everyday by a friend etc
Yes these do count on, but the sensitivity what am talking about is different.
Take a look at the quote by the American novelist and recipient of Pulitzer and Nobel prize expressing on what it means to be a highly sensitive person.

"The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create—so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating."

Sensitivity is Creativity

Most of the artists, poets ,musicians ,actors are said to be sensitive people.
One common platform that connects all of them is sensitivity,
Sensitivity to their character,sensitivity to the musical notes, sensitivity to the colours etc
But don't worry if you aren't one of them.
Even a person who has a job of looking at his computer screen all day long would be creative, the one working as a beautician would also be creative,the small kiddo in your neighbour's house would also be a creative Dexter..who knows!!!
The fact is its all inside us,without any partiality.
Sensitivity ignites the creative process inside us.
Use your sensitivity to lighten up your inner world and in the meantime that lightens up your life.

What do u feel when u see this picture?
Dont say this is a beach..and at the far you can see some mountains and a sunset..:/
The moment you see this picture, it feels refreshing and peaceful but there is more beyond it.
Put your sensitive nerves to work and try it out!!!
An artist starts to mix his/her colours on the palette sensitized by the varied colours and hues and tones,texture of the sand, sizzling waves and the beautiful shades of orange shown by the nature.
A poet starts to write metaphors, rhyming words on his/ her  diary,
A small kid tries to make his hands orange keeping it buried under the waves sensitized by the sunset's magic.
We need  sensitivity to feel and express god's creation through ourselves.
Did you just say, I wanna be there right now!
This is sensitivity!!!
Yes you cant go in search of the exact location,but you have the same frequency around you,your neighbourhood,your city and everywhere and inside you.
It will still make you feel joyful amidst a huge concrete jungle, still make your  hopes high and destiny joyful even when your bound by the stress around you, still make u happy identifying a butterfly amidst a huge traffic jam in simpler words.
If you are stressful, pickup your sensitive wings and walk through the busy streets .You will find happiness along the homeless kid's face with his companion street dog, the beautiful smiling roses waving at you along the nursery shop, the wonderful shades of blue shimmering on  a unknown bird which u try to figure out, ringing of bells at the small temple along with the church bells and mosque prayers, the smiling baby on her mother's lap feeling millions of joy in her mother's eyes and not the least the vendor who sells posters of hope and happiness all the day carrying his hopes high that it would be sold at the end of the day.
Does it seem so long..yes i know,at the end of this you had witnessed God's energy through all of them at no cost.
Just go to the  nook of your room where sunlight fills up every morning with your cup of coffee or just step out to your balcony where the plant kingdom welcomes you!!
Experience your sensitivity whatever scale you are!!!
The world needs sensitivity to heal its wounds.
Love and lights to all !!!
Fly your wings high up!!!
This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

THE MYSTIC SHIVA

After working on the colourful antique cloth hanger, its vibes seems to catch up everyone who admires it!
So was Samyucktha, trapped by its positive vibes.
A good friend of mine , she wanted me to paint her  old book rack in the same way as the cloth hanger.
At first i had no idea what it would be like, but when i saw the book rack it totally kickstarted my creativity.
It had its own features and great wooden carved designs.
In a single word "ETHNIC"




















I was so conscious starting up with it, as it had its own beautiful designs and carvings.
Anything that we work on it shouldn't spoil its earlier grace.
And so, i asked her about her interests and that's when the interest evolved to an concept.
As her family has a common passion for books and reading, she also fell under that branch.
At  that time,her favourite book series was the "SHIVA TRILOGY" by Amish.

So the bell ringed at my heart !!!
I started the work by reading the series completely and yes i travelled into the deep tales of Mahadev becoming enlightened.
The idea was to put the storyline onto the bookrack.
There were two flaps that can be folded when needed, and the base can be slided enough to create the length needed.
Perfectly designed in wood and flexible.
The book rack was conceptualized as a book within itself.
According to the plot of the series the main characters are,
Shiva , Sati , Ganesha and Kali.
The front flaps was dedicated to Shiva and Sati while the rear side was adorned with Ganesha and Kali.

Each of the sides took a lot of thinking and many elements were needed to describe the character.

One of the best part that i loved was finding some appropriate verses from the book

and wrote it in the silhouette of the character describing it as Sati!

I depicted the silhouette as Sati praying on Mahadev filled with water world and peacocks on either side.

Next was Lord Shiva the NEELKANTH!
I conceptualized him with a blue  shimmering silhouette, at the backdrop of handwritten book verses.
Beneath him is the Ganga matha flowing under the lord's glory, serpents around.
The majestic mystic symbol Aum on both the sides,which plays the most important role in the book.
And never can one forget Nandi dev and he adornes the bottom edge.

What took me by awe is the way the flaps were carved and the way the elements matched perfectly to it!

The ganges, elephants and the serpents looked as though it was meant to come up on this bookrack.

Kali matha, the most powerful goddess was conceptualized with the iconic silhouette of four hands and skulls  beaded around her neck.
It represents the dark world of Nagas according to the plot.
Serpents and heads of humans fitted perfect onto the design.
Abstract tiger at her feet and the powerful mantra, OM NAMA SHIVAYA at the end completes it.

Ganesha the saviour , with the elephant head and a human body was conceptualized abstract with his vehicle mouse.
Elephants adorning him with flowers, he showers his blessings!!!

The base of the book rack was designed with the important landmark Meluha.
Map of meluha on one side  and the symbols and artifacts collected  from the Indus valley civilization
covers the rest of the base.

 Here is the completed book rack fitted all together ready to tell its story.

This was one of the detailed and large scale handpainted wooden antique i had the blessing to work on!!
Not without the Neelkanth's blessings.
OM NAMA SHIVAYA!!!!

Love and lights to all!!!

THE KRISHNA SERIES- THE UNCONSCIOUS BEGINNING

 “ENERGY FOLLOWS THOUGHT”

My next commissioned work was a classic beautiful cloth hanger.

It had its own artistic designs of elephants as its hooks and was around 60years old.

Initial process took a lot of effort,as it had a strong old green paint all over it.

When the cloth hanger was made into a new canvas ready to work on,finding a concept was the next step.

I bumped upon my old books once,and when i was looking at a  book called "FESTIVALS"which  had been given as an award during my fifth grade, a clear spark ignited the concept.

It was LORD JAGANNATH, LORD SUBHADRA AND LORD  BALRAM.

The energy inside them paved the creation of the cloth hanger's concept.

LORD JAGANNATH,SUBHADRA AND BALRAM  IN THE CENTRE DEPICTING THE SHRINE

VASUDAIVA KUDUMBAKAM - world is my family

I wanted to paint the whole cloth hanger with a twist of contemporary elements embedded within the traditional setup of the cloth hanger.

 So, the centre of the wooden cloth hanger was visualized as the shrine filled with light and divinity.

Left side of the hanger was visualized as a common man house filled with elements of celebration and joy.

Right side of the wooden cloth hanger was visualized by scenic potrayal of the city overflowing with divinity and search for blessings -Puri, Orissa

As a whole,it depicts Celebration, Joy , Happiness and purity metaphored by Lord Jagannath's 

identity

The elephants were given a contemporary twist,one of the faces had pop art,while the other side of the face was designed traditional.

Lanterns, lamps,decorated pots,flowers,thoranas make a common man's soul lighted and happy

The city flourishes by the energy of the god and people climb towards  the ladder of divinity through unity amongst themselves.

Even the back side of tthe cloth hanger was adorned with motifs and represents the same colourful theme.

The whole gratitude of this work goes to Lord Jagannath!!
Let this world be the place of light and happiness!
Love and light to all!!!