Indian Art Gallery Wall Reveal

I had been working on transforming one of the walls in my living room since last year and

it's time for the big REVEAL!!

Yes, it took me quite long to give a makeover to the focal wall in my living room and it's due to the fact that I have so many things to do and sometimes I find it really hard to manage everything single-handedly. Now coming to the wall decor, I have this focal wall in my living room that makes the first impression as one enters the home. So I decided to decorate it in a way that it reflects my love for my country India and its rich cultural heritage. I think I did justice to the wall and was able to bring out the true essence of India which is happy, warm, vibrant and inviting.
Before we go ahead and read the entire story, I request you to watch the video below that I shot especially for 3D readers and don't forget to like, comment, share and subscribe it will give me immense pleasure to connect with y'all there too. I am coming up with one more useful video quite soon :)

I hope you enjoyed watching the video. Now let's move on to the story of this transformation. First I will show you the before image of the same wall. It will give you an idea how my design sensibilities have improved and how my decorating style has evolved over the time and how a simple change in wall decor can make all the difference in overall look and feel of the space. Below is a before picture of the same wall.

Here is a recent look and did I spend a fortune in decorating this wall. No, not at all!! I am a huge fan of DIYs and my eternal love for Indian art forms led me to paint all these exquisite folk paintings which cost me nothing and the only money I spent in decorating this wall was getting all the paintings framed which cost me around 1k bucks!! Yes, so I spent only 1k in giving a makeover to this wall. Pretty amazing, isn't it.

[My OCD is making me restless after realising that one of the frames in below image is a bit tilted and how I want to fix it]

Here is one more old shot from a different angle.

And here is the recent one from the same angle as above. Yes, you noticed it right, I have given a makeover to my sofas also and it turned out pretty well too. 

The color burst that these paintings have added to my living room give me the opportunity to play with colors and quite often I just pick few colors from the paintings and match them with the cushions for beautifully color coordinated and well-composed look of the room. Don't you agree!

If you are craving for more wall decor ideas click right here.
That's all from me. Coming up next is an extremely beautiful home tour so stick around!!

Happy Decorating!!

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Mirror Work Cushion Cover And Its Companion

Hello my favorite people!!

 Hope you all had an amazingly wonderful festive season. Diwali is over, vacations are over, I have overcome post-vacation blues, it's Monday and it's time to get back to work.

One of my cushion covers that I designed and stitched got so many compliments on Instagram. This yellow mirror work cushion cover is my personal favorite too and it was a blingy addition to my festive decor.

Blooming Calandiva in my garden tempted me to bring it indoors and then clicked the idea of giving a makeover to the pot that holds Calandiva. I thought of painting a pot in a way that complements my mirror work cushion.

So I just painted the pot in color matching to the cushion and stuck mirrors on it. Voila!! The cushion cover now has a companion. A pot that is perfectly complementing the cushion and making the arrangement in my living room so cohesive and pulled together.

Here is a closer look for you. Isn't it cool and easy-peasy color coordination idea. Fresh and lovely blooms of kalanchoe are popping beautifully against the yellow color.  

This festive season I dared to mix cool and warm colors together. And instead of shimmering brass, I opted for shiny silver this time around. It sure was a perfect and happy color scheme. 

I added greens in abundance to give a jungalow style twist to my festive decor. Fairy lights hung here and there completed my festive decor. Will share some images soon.

My "Indian Art Gallery Wall" is complete though beautification is an ongoing process and I promise to post about it soon. Till then here's a sneak peek :) 

Hope everyone is having a great Monday!!

So how did you like the companion of my mirror work cushion!!

You can check out more some easy and fun DIYs here and some of my artwork here. 

Indian Art Gallery Wall: Pattachitra Painting

My Pattachitra painting is ready and I could not believe my eyes when I saw the completed painting. Let me first tell you all that this painting was the most difficult one among all that I painted for my Indian Art Gallery Wall. 

Pattachitra is a famous art form of Odisha, India. Traditional Pattachitra is made on Patta or cloth/canvas and chitra means painting hence the painting got its name Pattachitra.

The theme of this painting style is inspired by Hindu mythology like many other Indian art forms. I chose Dashavatar (ten incarnations of god) for my Pattachitra painting theme. Earlier I had attended a Pattachitra painting workshop and I had made a small Pattachitra bookmark on dried banana leaf. You can check out the tutorial and my first Pattachitra painting here.
I stuck the same bookmark in the center of the drawing sheet to start the painting and then drew Dashavatar around it. 

Only main figures and bigger motifs are drawn using pencil/pen and rest of the detailing like filling gaps and border with patterns are done using a paint brush. Figures in Pattachitra are always well defined and motifs are quite detailed. 

Main colors used in Pattachitra paintings are yellow, red, blue, green, white and black. While filling colors, choose complementary color scheme as you go from the center towards the edge of the painting and choose analogous color scheme or tints & shades of the color to fill the patterns in a particular design. This practice makes the painting look vibrant and detailed. 

Intricate patterns are filled in every figure and motif. Fine details like features of gods, goddesses, animals and birds and detailing on clothes are done meticulously using a fine paint brush. It took me three days to complete this painting and I was in awe once it was done. 

Dashavatar you see in the above painting are Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Ram, Balram, Krishna (sometimes replaced by Buddha) and Kalki from the top left to bottom right respectively.  

My family and lots of my friends and readers are thoroughly enjoying this Indian Art Gallery wall series. Sometimes I receive emails and messages from my lovely readers saying how they are inspired to create one such wall in their homes too and how they keep checking my Instagram feed and blog just to check whether I have posted my next painting in this series. And some of them are so sweet that they even sent me some beautiful Indian folk paintings to complete the gallery wall. I will be posting about it in my next blog and that's not all, I have a big news to share with you all too. So...........

Stay tuned!!

UPDATE: Embedded a video of Pattachitra painting tutorial below. 

Indian Art Gallery Wall: Warli Painting

I am so happy that my "Indian Art Gallery Wall" is taking shape beautifully. You have already seen four different Indian folk paintings that I have painted for the gallery wall. Here is the fifth one, Warli painting of Maharashtra. 

I love and admire all Indian art forms but warli is the one that gave me lots of opportunities to enhance my skills, to interact with different creative and intellectual people and to excel in the creative field.

I had made this Warli painting three years ago. After I published the images of my First Warli Painting, one of my readers from the USA found a certain part of the painting so moving that he wanted me to paint and sell that painting to him. I painted the same and sent him happily. Below is the image of that painting. 

After that, I received another request from one of my blog readers to paint warli painting on her balcony walls and that was quite an interesting, adventurous and fun project. You can check out the complete project of Warli wall painting here. Below is the image of that warli wall painting. 

Warli is the simplest and beautiful Indian art form. It is Introduced by warli tribe of northern Maharashtra. Warli means "a piece of land" and this art is inspired by nature. Style of the painting is very simple. Only geometrical shapes are drawn to make figures, like circles for head, triangles for body and lines for limbs.  

The theme of warli painting unlike rest of the Indian art forms isn't based on mythology. Instead, it depicts day to day life and celebrations. I chose marriage celebration in a village as the theme of my warli painting. 

Warli isn't complete without some birds, huts, trees, carts and villagers performing everyday tasks like farming, pottery, getting water from the well, feeding chickens, cooking, grinding grains in grinding stone and kids playing around, a complete village scene that gives this art its true essence. 

My collection of various Indian folk paintings is growing fast and I am getting lovely messages, words of praise and encouragement from my dear readers. Thanks to you all for your love and encouragement. 

Keep watching this space for more!!

Have a lovely Sunday!

Indian Art Gallery Wall: Madhubani Painting

Hello dear readers!! 

We bid adieu to our beloved Ganesha yesterday and the day was filled with a flurry of activities. But somehow I managed to write this blog as I want to complete this series as soon as possible so that we can do some festive DIYs too. 

Here is my Madhubani painting, the fourth one in my Indian Art Gallery Wall series. You can read the complete story of this Madhubani painting here. 

Madhubani paintings originated in Sita's birthplace Mithila region of Bihar hence these paintings are called Mithila paintings too. In olden days women in the villages used to drew these paintings on the walls. Gradually the paintings started crossing the national and international boundaries and became famous. 

These days it is made on almost all surfaces like clothes, walls, canvases, pots and furniture too. Figures drawn in Madhubani need not be sharp and well defined. Theme mostly revolves around Hindu deities.

I painted it on drawing sheet and chose fishes and turtles as main figures for my Madhubani painting. 

Colours are obtained from nature like the black colour is made by mixing soot in cow dung. But these days acrylic and oil colours are used. Unlike Mural paintings no shading is needed in Madhubani paintings instead, figures are filled with lines and geometrical patterns.
I used natural dyes to fill the main figures though I used acrylic to fill the background.

Did you like it!! Let me know what do you think about my Madhubani painting.
In the evening I will publish the blog on my Warli painting. Stay tuned!!

Indian Art Gallery Wall: Mural Painting

Here is the third painting in my Indian Art Gallery Wall series and it's Mural painting.
Many of you were waiting desperately to see it. I had painted this few months ago(Check out here) and sharing it now. 

Mural is an age old art form having roots in Kerala, India. Mural paintings are usually drawn on the walls of temples and churches. Though gradually the paintings made their way into houses too.

Rich colors and delicate designs make Mural paintings awe-inspiring. The theme of the paintings are inspired by Hindu mythology and mainly the figures of gods and goddesses are drawn. Sometimes bird like peacock can also be seen as the main subject. I chose peacock because I have already painted an elephant in Kalamkari, birds in Gond and fishes in Madhubani.

Some main colors that are used in Mural paintings are white, black, yellow, green, red and blue. Each character in the painting is given color based on its virtue. To read more about it click here.  

I drew the sketch first and outlined it with black acrylic color. Then I began to fill color with lighter color first followed by darker shades for shading. I completed this Mural painting in two sittings and totally enjoyed painting it. 

Hope you all liked my Mural painting as much as you liked my Kalamkari & Gond paintings.

I'll be coming up with Madhubani and Warli back to back tomorrow so keep watching this space.

Indian Art Gallery Wall: Gond Painting

The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated. And I would like to thank my dear readers to satiate my craving. Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is definitely not a good thing so I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all of you for making my blogging journey all the more special and beautiful. I got an overwhelming response when I announced that I am creating an "Indian Art Gallery Wall" and posted first painting in this series in my previous post. In case you missed going through that post here is a link for you. 

Here is the second painting in my Indian Art Gallery Wall series and it's Gond Painting.

Gond art is a famous art form of central India i.e. Madhya Pradesh. Gondi or Gond Tribe are Dravidian people and they are the second largest tribe in central India. In Dravidian language "kond" means "green mountains" and it is where the word "Gond" comes from. 

Gond paintings depict local flora, fauna and gods. Celebrations, rituals, everyday life and nature is the main theme of this art form. Dots and lines are the main characteristics of Gond painting. Hence I chose to draw birds and used lots of lines and dots to fill the figures. 

First, I drew the design on the canvas and then filled the shapes/figures with solid colours. Next was the fun part of filling the shapes with lines and dots in different colours. 

Bright colours used in Gond paintings impart beauty to the paintings and I used them in abundance to make my Gond painting striking. 

Did you notice the branches forming a shape of heart and giving shelter to two little birdies inside it. That's my favourite part in the painting. What did you like the most in my Gond painting!!

In my next post, I will be coming up with the paintings I have already painted some time ago. Stay tuned!! 

Till then you can check out the images I share on my Instagram account. 

Indian Art Gallery Wall: Kalamkari Painting

If you are a regular reader of 3D then you might be aware of my passion and love for Indian art forms. I have said it earlier also that I am creating a gallery wall in my home dedicated to various Indian art forms like Kalamkari, Madhubani, Warli, Pattachitra, Mural, Lippan, Tanjore, Miniature, Pichhwai and Gond to name a few. And you will be glad to know that I am creating it from scratch. I have decided to paint all the famous Indian art forms myself that I plan to put up on the gallery wall. Half of the paintings are already done still, long way to go but I am thoroughly enjoying this work in progress phase too. Can't express the excitement of painting and putting together these beautiful paintings to create an Indian art gallery wall in my home.

From now on I'll be sharing some important updates on how my Indian art gallery wall is shaping up. So first in this series is this beautiful Kalamkari Gajalakshmi painting. This is actually a print I won in a blogging contest ran by a very talented friend and fellow blogger Deepa Gopal, who paints really well. I must thank her as I just needed to fill the colours in the print and one more beauty is all set to add charm to my space.

This is Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari which is characterised by the excess use of red, green, blue, yellow and mainly figures of Gods with round faces, big eyes and stout bodies are drawn.  

Though I have worked with brush no. 0, 00 and 000 earlier too but this time I found it quite hard to fill the colours meticulously. The design was so intricate that I almost thought of using magnifying glass while filling colours. 

Here's a closer look for you to admire the detailing of this piece. Painting an intricate piece of art has always been equivalent to meditation for me. It was a soul-satisfying experience to paint this Kalamkari art print. Next, I am planning to paint Gond art and I have the canvas ready for it :)

Stay connected with me on Instagram for regular updates. Soon I'll be sharing the details on another Indian art form. 

Rock To Rocking Rock

Last weekend I gave my garden TLC after almost 10 months. Which is very very long time and unusual for me to stay away from my garden. Well, after spending few hours there in my garden re- potting, manuring, pruning and dead heading, not only my garden looks neat, clean and reinvigorated  now but it was a soothing and therapeutic for me too. 

When I was re-potting a plant, I found a rock in soil and the very next moment I wound up all my gardening work, got the rock on my desk and began playing with my imaginations. 

Though there are lots of inspiration available on various sources on internet for rock painting but what satisfies me the most is when I paint my own imagination. I thought I will make a bird then I though a flower then peacock was in my mind but then I saw a butterfly in my garden and that's where I drew my inspiration from.  

Painted butterfly in vibrant colours and gave background a mottled effect that I learnt from my mother when I was child. Whenever I paint I always think of her :)

Then the top of the rock was looking little blank and my butterfly was lonely too. So I painted everyone's favourite frangipani flower and on the other side of the rock painted some tiny yellow flowers. 

Now it was time to bring it back in the garden and see.....
it has added charm to my garden.

So what if my dwarf Ixora has stopped blooming, I can add colours this way :)

Now can someone please give me some more rocks and pebbles. My hands are still itching to paint more...!!

Would love to hear from you. Did you like my painted rock. 

Stay tuned to know what's exciting coming next.