'Along the Reflections 2' featured on Milliande Art Community for Women :)

Milliande gave me the Rakshabandhan gift by selecting my painting 'Along the Reflections 2' to feature on the home page of Milliande Art Community for Women .

The source of inspiration remains the same as for the first one Along the Reflections. Yes, it is Margaret Evans' 30 Minute Art : Oil Pastels.

Coming to Milliande Art Community for Women... it is a group where women from all walks of life come together to share ideas, discuss their current projects, interests and above all, appreciate other's work. Some of the community members are professionals while most of them have taken up art as a hobby. We share with each other the joy of creating. Looking at what an artist has created is the first step of know her. Every time I log on to the site, i get hooked to it for hours, caught in the web of beautiful art pieces.

What keeps the community going is the active participation of all the members especially Milliande, who loves to interact with the community members. Fridays are always fun... we all are fimiliar with girls' passion for chattering and that's exactly what we do on our Friday chats :)

A lot of people saw this painting... some liked it and some just passed-by but there was one person who took the pain of letting me know, how it could have been better... thanks Mayur!! Also, I appreciate  the kind comments from all of you. Keep pouring in your love, it gets me going :)

Reliving Rakshabandhan!!

Happy Rakshabandhan to All of you!!

Hope you all had fun with your loved ones. For some it might have been a family reunion, while others must have missed their brothers and sisters. 


For me, it is a bag of missed emotions. I am hundreds of kilometers away from my sister and cousins but the new relations have added to the happiness. This is my first Rakhi as a 'Bhabhi' :) :)


Though, we are two sisters with no brother, we never missed one coz we had our Darling Daddy's wrist to tie the Rakhi and what's more we always got gifts from him as well. Not to forget... our Rakhi brother, Shray!! The excitement began months in advance. Discussing the plan for the day, sweets and gift :)) Missing him today, more than anyone else :)           (Update: I just had a conversation with him...yayyy!!)


Buying the Rakhis and posting them was the best part of this festival. Standing at the shop and selecting rakhis for all my brothers was a wonderful feeling. Akshay-Aayush being the the youngest of the lot always got the funny ones with cartoons on them. The size of the Rakhi got smaller every year coz my brothers wanted it that way. Writing letters to Siddharth Bhaiya was fun. As a kid, i did not understand what to write except "We are sending Rakhi, please get it tied by Supriya Didi on our behalf" ;)


Bua brought true colors to this festival, whenever she was in India. I led the 'KA' sisters... RitiKA, RadhiKA, DeviKA and KaniKA to the much awaited Rakhi tying ceremony followed by 'forcing' the brothers to touch our feet and giving them 'ashirwaad' in return :D  Ohhhh... I miss Ritz's Ladoo :(


How can I forget the Rakshabandhan of 2006!! Noopur Didi, Pari and I became each other's brother while Poojan sat in one corner, happy with his hand full of Rakhis :) What a proud brother he was, that day!!


It's true that the festivals can be best enjoyed with family but I am glad I could talk to all my brothers on this auspicious day. Be it any medium... voice chat, phone call, email or a message on FB... I know I have conveyed my love to my brothers and sisters!! 


Didi, Jijs and Sanket... i am glad to be a part of this family... you guys don't make me miss anyone or anything. Thank you for everything. Love you !! :)

Happy Birthday to the sweetest Sister!!

Happy Birthday, Ritu!!

It's your birthday today, sister!!  Dad's dearest... mom's maniacal... G's gallant and my militant... you know that you are an all rounder!! No day can be better than today and no medium can be better than this blog to let you know how much we love you and cherish the fact that you are a part of our lives, making it all the more wonderful!!

Delighted with the way things have been set up for the party ;)

Ritu, you keep telling us that there is fun and laughter in our lives because we have YOU!! Though, I have never agreed with you on this (at least when you were around), i'd love to tell you today, how true it is. It's always fun to be with you. Nothing can beat our late night gossip sessions that left us laughing like crazy and made mom-dad wonder what's going on in the house. 

Smiling in new birthday dress or happy that mom let you put her lipstick?

There is always something special about the 'sister-bond'... you are friends and you are family. Sharing this bond with you is God's gift to me. I can discuss all the idiotic and not-so-idiotic stuff with you. There have been times, when you have been like an elder sister to me, telling me... "Didi, don't worry, I'll see what can be done". And there have been other times when you did not respect the fact that I was elder among both of us. 

Decked up and ready to 'slaughter' the cake...

Our fights over trivial things like who would close the main gate, switching off the light at night when i used to study and you wanted to sleep, who would ride the scooty or drive the car, who would help mom in the kitchen, your going mad while i took time to get ready to go out... go on till today!! But I must say that you are slowly mastering the art of giving me missed call on my LL. Good.... there's atleast something to feel good about on this b'day!! ;)

Inspite of all the fights there are certain areas that remain exclusive to either of us. Like, I always let you play the music of your choice (coz i would rather go by your selection than waste time on searching songs) and you never question me when it comes to decoration or packing. Wait, did I ever tell you how happy I used to be when you followed me like an obedient, younger sister?

... and here it goes.... guppp!!

I know that there have been times when i have disappointed you but I also know the person you are. You'll forget and forgive your sister for all her wrongs and get back to her with all the love and affection in the world.


Anyways... howz it been so far?? It's your b'day sweetheart... your favorite day of the year!! I know you are excited... like a kiddo... well... you are one!! While I say this, the days from childhood flash before my eyes... the countdown to your next birthday started from every 17th Aug and there where times when you used to be  sad on your b'day coz it would get over in a few hours... hehehe... crazy girl!! Counting and recounting of the toffees a zillion times... new dresses for both of us... mom toiling in the kitchen for the whole day but all smiles when she saw us in our new dresses!! Dad making sure that everything was in place for her princess's birthday party and your heart beating fast for the gifts that friends would get. A pencil box with a pencil, rubber and a few candies was as good as a brand, new Barbie house set!! :) :)

Your favorite part... collecting gifts :)

There may be no balloons or streamers... no pencil boxes as b'day gift... the friend circle has changed... but i am sure you had a great day today... coz no matter what... mom is still making tasty food, dad  has made sure that you are a happy girl today, your G has sent his wishes across the miles and your sister is missing you like hell!! Love you a lot Behan....

Trash to Life

Remember the SUPW (craft) classes at school? How we used to collect stuff to create something new out of the things that mom no longer needed in the house. I remember, my younger sister and I, along with some help from our grand mother, made a bedroom set for our doll with the trash lying around in the house. We had a round piece of thermocol that came in the audio system box to keep it safe and an old dress. The round shape of the thermocol gave us an idea to make a round bed, which in those days was supposed to be very royal by both of us. Anyway, I dont remember much to talk about that and neither do I have any pictures (alas!!) to show you guys, so I better come back to the present.

I guess the seeds of creating life out of trash were sown in me at a very young age. Like I say, it's in my genes!!

I am back to giving life to trash in this second phase of life. I have made a name plate, a side table and a piggy bank to fit my needs. Not that these things are not available in the market but the joy of making your own is limitless... just like sitting in your 'own' car gave you more happiness than sitting in your dad's. Yeaahhh.. you got it!!

This is the name plate that is up on the front door which is a closed area and hence, sunshine, rain, winds or snow...nothing can harm it. The fine design within the alphabets is done using an ordinary black, ball point pen.
You wont even believe what the surface is... The box in which the Vonage device came!! I liked the color and thought it would save me the addition task of painting the surface. Also, since the surface was very smooth the ball pen worked on it well. Did the outline of the alphabets using a permanent marker. 

Now, this is another 'trash to life' creation. A carton/paper box made into a side table. Thankfully the box was strong enough to hold things when kept on it. The carton was covered with simple brown paper and a paper towel at the top. The big, blue mango shape is a collage made with the fliers and the blue net is the garlic bag. Acrylic paints and ball point pens where used to make the design on the four corners. Finally laminated  the top with cellophane paper and put to use!!

And this is the latest on the list... a piggy bank. Coins were rolling around the house and i had to stop that. Used an empty Mortan Salt container, cut off the lid ( the yellow part as seen in the pic), removed the metal part of the box coz i had to make a bigger cut for quarters and dollars, painted it and now it has coins rather than salt in it's belly. 

The way I collect trash scares my husband but when he sees the end result, he feels giving life to trash is not all that bad!! I have an order for a new side table from him!! :) So, my 'Trash to Life' project is still on!!

Participating at

 

30 Minute Art Pastels by Margaret Evans

The first thing I did today was to complete my painting 'Along the Reflections'. I started it over the weekend and just could not find enough time to go back to it. I came across this wonderful painting in Pastels (30 Minute Art) by Margaret Evans and decided to make my version of it, keeping in mind the techniques taught in the book.

I picked up this book at the Portage District Library and read the entire book in one go. It teaches you the simple lessons of making a beautiful picture. A must read for those who have not tried Oil Pastels before or for those who think Oil Pastels are no better than Crayons.

I am yet to try a few things like the damp brush effect and the wet pastel technique. I am sure it wont take me long to try those out.

Sharing my work with all my readers :)

Happy Creating !!

Strength of Acrylic Colors

OK... this is not intentional but yes, the first post is going to be related to art. Why? Simply because that is the only thing going on in my mind these days.

I had this porcelain mug with some XYZ company name on it. I have never liked being a marketing agent and just don't like things with brand name lying around in my house. I always think of ways to hide it. So, what I did with this poor little mug is: 'painted it'!!

'S'... S for Sanket, my husband and the flames coming out of it because he just loves hot and spicy food. Though. the reason I gave him was a bit different ;-)

Coming back to the title of the post 'Strength of Acrylic Colors'... this mug of mine just passed the 'microwave test'. The color remained intact even after coming out of the microwave. Yaayyy!!

I'll now go ahead with the next mug :-)