Contemporary Warli on a vase...

Lately I have come across some pics of Warli painting on vases, totally fell in love with the colors and composition. This one I made as a gift to one of our friends.

I bought the vase from Joann fabrics and used Martha Stewart stencil tape to make lines, I have never used the tape before,so was a little concerned on how it would turn out, thankfully there was no adhesive residue
and the lines have come out really clean.

Wait a couple of seconds after you apply the paint and then peel off the tape slowly, hola! perfect lines.I used normal acrylic paints from Michaels.
I would suggest sanding the vase a little as the surface is really smooth an not very absorbing, after finishing the whole painting I sadly realized that the paint can be easily scratched off from the vase, a little sanding might make the surface more absorbing, but I must say, I love the way it has turned out.

As Warli is a folk art I was not really careful while doing the painting, I feel the beauty in this particular art form lies not only in the simplicity and form but also in the crude style.

Ajanta motifs inspired by Kerala mural painting...

A very good friend of mine will be moving to Houston shortly, and I want give her some thing that I have made as a parting gift. She is a person who loves my paintings more than other stuff that I make, so I have decided on giving her a painting. As they are taking a flight, I did not want to give her any thing big to carry and at the same time did not feel like giving her some thing small, as I definitely know that she is going to cherish this gift for a long time. So I have  finally decided on doing a set of two or three small paintings for her.

I have been planning to do the Ajanta motifs as a set from quiet some time and felt this is the best occasion, and decided on doing  Ajanta Hamsa, Lotus and Elephant as a set.

The post title says everything about these paintings.

I have always loved Ajanta Pantings ( These are the paintings done on the walls of  Buddhist cave monuments in the state of Maharastra,India. to learn more about the caves  Click here) The gracefulness in the paintings is one thing which always inspires me.
Lately Kerala murals have caught my eyes with their bright color palette. the idea of painting Ajanta motifs in Kerala mural color palette has come to min and ventured the same, the result I feel is stunningly beautiful and bright. With the beautiful results my fascination for Ajanta painting has grown and I'll definitely do some more paintings in this style.
I wish I would have done these paintings in water color and framed then in a dark color frame with a white matting, but instead did them on 10"x10" wooden panels as this will be easy for my friend to carry.
I know I have said enough for one post, here comes the pics.

Set of three Ajanta motifs

Ajanta Elephant

Ajanta Lotus

Ajanta Hamsa

I have painted a contrast color on the sides of the panels.

Radha Krishna with a small change...

 After finishing the stained wood Radha Krishna, I was not totally satisfied with the result, there was something that was bugging me, the finished picture was not giving the mood I was looking for.
Radha's eyes were looking drowsy, and there was no way I could fix them as it not a regular painting made with other media (like oils or acrylics) which can be fixed, resin and clay lines once dry  become hard like rock and can not be changed, and if I paint over resin the glossy ness disappears, yet I could not help myself from the urge of fixing them.
   I finally decided on changing the outline color of Radha's eye balls to black, which if did not work out can always be changed to white as the out lines were painted with acrylics. The minor change has changed the entire look of the painting and i'am pleased with the result.

                                                                          Before

                                                                         After

Some how the pictures are not doing justice to the painting, I have added glass pieces on the leaves,Krishna's head band and the peacock feathers and the look like white dots, so I took some closeup's
to show the details.

Broken glass pieces on Krishna's head band

Glass pieces on peacock feathers

Transparent glass beads on Radha's blouse