I am visiting my family India, and having the time of my life.
I will come back next year ;)
Everyone reading this...have a great Christmas and New Year.
Laurel Burch
On a beautiful evening of 30th Dec, I was with a lovely bunch of friends on the fabulous streets of Key West-Florida, we were rustling our way through the crowd of people and number of shops on the street and there I saw a cloud of most beautiful collection of colors looking at me through a shop window. When I took a closer look, it was actually a hand bag with a beautiful whimsical cat on it.
When I went inside the shop, I saw a lot of handbags, with similar pictures, all of the same artist. I instantly bought it. Its like my souvenir of Key West. And then inside it I found a card stating the artist name - Laurel Burch and a little information about her.
I googled her and saw her work and absolutely loved it. After that I saw her products all over and could identify them, just by looking at them.
Her paintings, the color scheme its all like a happy party. I will try and make some work inspired by her. Also today I searched her on you tube and came across these videos, which made me kind of sad, and also made me appreciate her spirit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ6Je19_POQ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZTkm7OwuTE
When I went inside the shop, I saw a lot of handbags, with similar pictures, all of the same artist. I instantly bought it. Its like my souvenir of Key West. And then inside it I found a card stating the artist name - Laurel Burch and a little information about her.
I googled her and saw her work and absolutely loved it. After that I saw her products all over and could identify them, just by looking at them.
Her paintings, the color scheme its all like a happy party. I will try and make some work inspired by her. Also today I searched her on you tube and came across these videos, which made me kind of sad, and also made me appreciate her spirit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ6Je19_POQ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZTkm7OwuTE
Random wisdom
Yesterday we saw a movie -"The International". No comments about the movie.
But heard some nice dialogues in it.
"Sometimes the hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn..."
"Sometimes a man can meet his destiny on the road he took to avoid it."
I have a habit of writing down quotes wherever I can pick them from.
From now on I will try and blog about them.
So now I will carry on with my lazy Sunday and continue denying the mess in the house.
But heard some nice dialogues in it.
"Sometimes the hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn..."
"Sometimes a man can meet his destiny on the road he took to avoid it."
I have a habit of writing down quotes wherever I can pick them from.
From now on I will try and blog about them.
So now I will carry on with my lazy Sunday and continue denying the mess in the house.
bIRTHDAY cARD
Today is my dear friend Pr's birthday.
So I made her this card.
I love making hand made gifts, and specially cards/letters.
Me and Pr share a lot of hobbies, and spend a lot of time doing these things together...
Like pottery, shopping during sale, working out in gym & swimming (lately I ve not been very regular though) , painting, eating/drinking chocolate& ice-creams, and like all other girls...we luv pretty pretty dresses and shooz and perfumes and cosmetics... :) and spend a lot of time talking about it.
And inside I wrote....
So I made her this card.
I love making hand made gifts, and specially cards/letters.
Me and Pr share a lot of hobbies, and spend a lot of time doing these things together...
Like pottery, shopping during sale, working out in gym & swimming (lately I ve not been very regular though) , painting, eating/drinking chocolate& ice-creams, and like all other girls...we luv pretty pretty dresses and shooz and perfumes and cosmetics... :) and spend a lot of time talking about it.
And inside I wrote....
"Out of all the things we like and share
our friendship is my favorite.
Thank you for being my friend!
Happy Birthday...!!!"
our friendship is my favorite.
Thank you for being my friend!
Happy Birthday...!!!"
...Thiiiis much
Lately I am talking an art course - "World of Whimsy" which is by Tam.I adore Tam...she is very funny...and is an awesome artist.
So yesterday I tried some of my newly learned lessons...and this came out.
I have much more to explore but "I am enjoying the process".
p.s. can you see she has two left hands...lol...it was really unintentional...and not related to my earlier post.
What do u do with two left hand rubber gloves
Caution: You might find following article overrated*. :)
Disclaimer: You might already know this. Just sharing my idea. ;)
Alright does the title sounds bizarre...no really I have a reason...
I have a habit of wearing rubber gloves when I am washing dishes. We have a dishwasher, but I end up washing some by hand, specially the pots and pans. Also while doing the usual kitchen cleaning, I use them.
Not that I am very skin conscious, well its partly the reason, but also I like the shield when my hand is in water/hot water.
In this process after couple of months or so,the left hand glove would remain intact, but the right hand glove would be torn. I guess because I am righty.
I tried all gloves in every price range, and ended up with a collection of left hand rubber gloves because all the right hand once were torn.
I also tried wearing the left hand glove in my right hand, and that was not a good idea, it stressed my hand. The way these gloves are built, they are meant for specific hands.
So in the cycle of buying and using and collecting odd gloves...
It finally hit me...I got the perfect idea, to use them...just turn the left hand glove inside out...!!! and there you have a right hand glove..!!!!
...Taa Daaa.... :)
See..! I warned you about overrated*.
Never mind...for a change here's a idea that has helped me a lot...and I have been using it every single day...more than 3 times a day and there.. its worth it!!!
Warm pottery from the kiln
Alright not very true to the title,this is not my latest work. I got it sometime back,but did not get a chance to post it.
Having said that, a couple of days back in the clay studio, my instructor took out some fresh pieces from the kiln and they were still "warm"...ohh it was soo ammazing to touch it.
Every time the pot that serves the hot food is warm...this time the pot it self was cooked and hence was warm.
Here are a few pieces that I made for Enn's family..
This is a mug for his dad, in our native language Marathi father is called baba...
and this one is for his Mom... in marathi Mother is called aai...
Also for Enn's brother...I made a mug with his nick name on it.
Also I tried my hand in making vases ...these are really itty-bitty, like 5 inches in length..
This one has pretty plum color...the photo is not doing justice to its color.
And also made a jar with lid. Now that i look at it, I think I could have given the lid a different color.
For the man himself...I made a beer mug (he kind of asked for it)...its pretty big and really heavy.
Take a look at its handle...originally I had added only one handel but later I realised that it too thin for the mug...by then it was too late to remove it, so I added two more supporting handels to it. Kind of gave it a fancy look :)
And this one's for me...pretty polka dots...
Having said that, a couple of days back in the clay studio, my instructor took out some fresh pieces from the kiln and they were still "warm"...ohh it was soo ammazing to touch it.
Every time the pot that serves the hot food is warm...this time the pot it self was cooked and hence was warm.
Here are a few pieces that I made for Enn's family..
This is a mug for his dad, in our native language Marathi father is called baba...
and this one is for his Mom... in marathi Mother is called aai...
Also for Enn's brother...I made a mug with his nick name on it.
Also I tried my hand in making vases ...these are really itty-bitty, like 5 inches in length..
This one has pretty plum color...the photo is not doing justice to its color.
And also made a jar with lid. Now that i look at it, I think I could have given the lid a different color.
For the man himself...I made a beer mug (he kind of asked for it)...its pretty big and really heavy.
Take a look at its handle...originally I had added only one handel but later I realised that it too thin for the mug...by then it was too late to remove it, so I added two more supporting handels to it. Kind of gave it a fancy look :)
And this one's for me...pretty polka dots...
Lady GaGa Paparazzi
So lately I have been listening to this song...I luuuvv it when she says..."papa...paparazzi"
It happens to me every once in a while, that I listen to a particular song day and night, and in a while complete forget about it.
And in the video of the song Paparazzi, in the end she wears this very interesting yellow outfit, with a make up which reminds me of Geisha make up...probably because of the the painted pout of the lip...
So I thought of making a little illustrations of it.... :)
It happens to me every once in a while, that I listen to a particular song day and night, and in a while complete forget about it.
And in the video of the song Paparazzi, in the end she wears this very interesting yellow outfit, with a make up which reminds me of Geisha make up...probably because of the the painted pout of the lip...
So I thought of making a little illustrations of it.... :)
Happy Diwali...!!!
Diwali is a Festival of Lights...!!!!
And this is my first Diwali away from home.
Back home its all about dressing pretty, eating lots of sweets, meeting and greeting everybody...
This a picture from back home...around two years back...of Diwali pooja.
But me and Enn tried our best to pump up our spirits and n'joy.
We have decorated some lights on our front door....(I will upload the photos later)
Because of my busy schedule, I woke up at around 6 Am, called up my mom, and then my mom dictated me step-by-step, the recipe of beasn ke laddu , and I cooked it as we talked.
The other day , again I woke up early, and called up Enn's mom and she dictated me step-by-step, the recipe for Chivda and I made that.
This is how I could manage to make some traditional snacks for Diwali....
Thanx to both the mom's....
On the day of Diwali (17th Oct)...I woke up with a horrible cough and cold...and it was worse than last time... (well I am a cry baby, specially when it comes to sickness)
I somehow managed to pull the day...cleaned the house. Did preparations for the evening...
In the evening...we did the Diwali rituals...and then went to a friends place where we had pot-luck dinner followed by a cool dance party...and then there was the after party at our place. A couple-couples came back with us, and then we ended up gambling (with fake money) till like 4 AM in the morning..I could not believe no money was involved but we were playing sooo seriously , ..huuhh crazy...i know...and at the end i won all the plastic coins...he he...The House Always Wins..!!!
And this is my first Diwali away from home.
Back home its all about dressing pretty, eating lots of sweets, meeting and greeting everybody...
This a picture from back home...around two years back...of Diwali pooja.
But me and Enn tried our best to pump up our spirits and n'joy.
We have decorated some lights on our front door....(I will upload the photos later)
Because of my busy schedule, I woke up at around 6 Am, called up my mom, and then my mom dictated me step-by-step, the recipe of beasn ke laddu , and I cooked it as we talked.
The other day , again I woke up early, and called up Enn's mom and she dictated me step-by-step, the recipe for Chivda and I made that.
This is how I could manage to make some traditional snacks for Diwali....
Thanx to both the mom's....
On the day of Diwali (17th Oct)...I woke up with a horrible cough and cold...and it was worse than last time... (well I am a cry baby, specially when it comes to sickness)
I somehow managed to pull the day...cleaned the house. Did preparations for the evening...
In the evening...we did the Diwali rituals...and then went to a friends place where we had pot-luck dinner followed by a cool dance party...and then there was the after party at our place. A couple-couples came back with us, and then we ended up gambling (with fake money) till like 4 AM in the morning..I could not believe no money was involved but we were playing sooo seriously , ..huuhh crazy...i know...and at the end i won all the plastic coins...he he...The House Always Wins..!!!
6-7 things
7 things I have done in the past that nobody knows about...
umm no body...that's difficult...but i can try...
1. I would sneak big pack of potato chips in my room and eat them all in a single shot.
2. I never use to share my evening snack.(I am a changed person now:)
3. Every time I look lost in deep complex thoughts...actually I am really blank (yes that state of mind exists.)
4. For a long time I kept up with many uncomfortable pants/jeans...until I realized-all I have to do is get a bigger size.
5. At any point of time I am reading at least 7 different books. Let me put it differently - I start reading a book...then somewhere I loose it, then I start reading another one...again I loose it...and this goes on for approx next 7 book (where I came up with that number-I don't know)..until I realize...I should finish the first book I started with.
6. I take bed tea. (I don't get it everyday.... only when Enn's generous.) which means I skip the "brush your teeth" part.
7.(i am so glad this is last) I never remember any birthday/anniversary. All the once I had so far, either there is a reminder, or my friend R had reminded me.(Its her job we have a mutual agreement). If I missed to wish somebody, its not me its actually her or my reminder who forgot to remind me.
6 things I love
1. When a brush full of color glides on a canvas...
2. The first hug, when you meet your loved once after a long time.
3. Teasing Enn and finding nasty nick-names for him.
4. Warm chocolate brownie with vanilla ice-creme.
5. The feel of moist clay on wheel.
6. Sitting on the kitchen platform of my mom's kitchen, talking to her non-stop and eating hot food.
Also wonderful Gloria...gave me another lovely award...
The Deborah Award
Its soo pretty , and had a beautiful msg..."Friendship is'nt about who you have known the longestbut who came and never left your side."...soo true...
Thank you soo much Gloria...for this.. :)
umm no body...that's difficult...but i can try...
1. I would sneak big pack of potato chips in my room and eat them all in a single shot.
2. I never use to share my evening snack.(I am a changed person now:)
3. Every time I look lost in deep complex thoughts...actually I am really blank (yes that state of mind exists.)
4. For a long time I kept up with many uncomfortable pants/jeans...until I realized-all I have to do is get a bigger size.
5. At any point of time I am reading at least 7 different books. Let me put it differently - I start reading a book...then somewhere I loose it, then I start reading another one...again I loose it...and this goes on for approx next 7 book (where I came up with that number-I don't know)..until I realize...I should finish the first book I started with.
6. I take bed tea. (I don't get it everyday.... only when Enn's generous.) which means I skip the "brush your teeth" part.
7.(i am so glad this is last) I never remember any birthday/anniversary. All the once I had so far, either there is a reminder, or my friend R had reminded me.(Its her job we have a mutual agreement). If I missed to wish somebody, its not me its actually her or my reminder who forgot to remind me.
6 things I love
1. When a brush full of color glides on a canvas...
2. The first hug, when you meet your loved once after a long time.
3. Teasing Enn and finding nasty nick-names for him.
4. Warm chocolate brownie with vanilla ice-creme.
5. The feel of moist clay on wheel.
6. Sitting on the kitchen platform of my mom's kitchen, talking to her non-stop and eating hot food.
Also wonderful Gloria...gave me another lovely award...
The Deborah Award
Its soo pretty , and had a beautiful msg..."Friendship is'nt about who you have known the longestbut who came and never left your side."...soo true...Thank you soo much Gloria...for this.. :)
Back with an Award :)
Had an awesome vacation, and was back a while ago...but I was horribly sick. I was really afraid I got the flu, after going through all kinds of (painful and uncomfortable) tests nothing was found.
And I found that I got a lovely award from Gloria ...
Thank you soo much , I really appreciate it.
now I feel fully recovered. ;)
So Now I have to talk about 7 things I have done in the past that nobody knows about.
Also from my past award, I have to list my 6 fav. thinkgs ....
Umm I promise I will do in my following posts....
And I found that I got a lovely award from Gloria ...
Thank you soo much , I really appreciate it.
now I feel fully recovered. ;)
So Now I have to talk about 7 things I have done in the past that nobody knows about.
Also from my past award, I have to list my 6 fav. thinkgs ....
Umm I promise I will do in my following posts....
My tutorial Featured on Totally Tutorials..!!!
Yeahhh...!!! My tutorial about Making Picture header for a blog using Paint Brush , was featured on Totally Tutorials
I am soo glad.. :)
Also on a side note...I am off on a long vacation with Enn and family... celebrating Fall and togetherness...!!!
I am soo glad.. :)
Also on a side note...I am off on a long vacation with Enn and family... celebrating Fall and togetherness...!!!
Organization & Updates
So my husband Enn's family is here to stay with us for a while, they came yesterday.
Its amazing. We just live day in and day out, thinking about our families,talking to them over phone, and wishing they were here, and when they are finally here its such a complete feeling.
Since they were coming, I was on a cleaning spree. Cause my house was in a very sorry state. I don't know how it got there. Wish I had more energy at the end of the day to clean the mess we make everyday. We have just one guest bedroom, this means all my art stuff is in this bedroom, and its out-of-control. I really wish I had a little studio of my own. But well, we wish for a lot of things. So I cleared everything, and in that process I came across these clear drawers, at pretty reasonable prices. I think they were not the prettiest, but they serve the purpose well.
The green one is pretty long, so it holds all my large painting pages well. The other one has 7 layers, that's a lot...and organizes my stuff as per category too.
Let's see how far does this goes.
Also yesterday was my first class of clay studio, after summer. It was wonderful. It been almost an year, since I am trying to do pottery, and I will say that its still not in my control. I will start throwing something, and it simply not in my hands what it will end up in. A bowl, mug or nothing. I think I need a lot more practice, to actually achieve what I want.
"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art." -
-- Leonardo da Vinci
I am in the way to the evolution of my spirits....
Its amazing. We just live day in and day out, thinking about our families,talking to them over phone, and wishing they were here, and when they are finally here its such a complete feeling.
Since they were coming, I was on a cleaning spree. Cause my house was in a very sorry state. I don't know how it got there. Wish I had more energy at the end of the day to clean the mess we make everyday. We have just one guest bedroom, this means all my art stuff is in this bedroom, and its out-of-control. I really wish I had a little studio of my own. But well, we wish for a lot of things. So I cleared everything, and in that process I came across these clear drawers, at pretty reasonable prices. I think they were not the prettiest, but they serve the purpose well.
The green one is pretty long, so it holds all my large painting pages well. The other one has 7 layers, that's a lot...and organizes my stuff as per category too.
Let's see how far does this goes.
"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art." -
-- Leonardo da Vinci
I am in the way to the evolution of my spirits....
Free Image Manipulation Program
In the spirits of my last post...here's GIMP..
Its a great image manipulation program...it awesome....
and its FREE..!!!
You can find it at http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
All hail the open source revolution...!!!
Go ahead...download...and explore.....
Its a great image manipulation program...it awesome....
and its FREE..!!!
You can find it at http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
All hail the open source revolution...!!!
Go ahead...download...and explore.....
Making Picture header for a blog using Paint Brush
I thought I have taken so much from the blogging community, its time for some contribution.
I don't know any web designing to program my own blog, so I tried doing something with a handy tool like paint brush.
What I describe below, is just my method, and I don't claim that its the best or the correct one. In fact I am also not sure if its the easiest one, so if you have any questions, or if I don't make any sense please feel free to ask me. :)
Here’s how I have made header picture for my blog using Paint Brush.
1. Get Interesting fonts:
2. Select the picture that you want in your blog header, right click it and Open it with Paint.
3. If your picture looks like this, its probably too big, and needs to be compressed.
4. To compress the picture, Click on "Image"->select "Stretch\Skew".
5. Input the stretch options by 50%, both horizontal and vertical.
6. On hitting OK, the re sized image will be displayed, if that's too big, again click on "Image"->select "Stretch\Skew", and input the stretch options by 50%, both horizontal and vertical.
I am just taking 50% as half the size, you can input any percentage you wish. You will have to do hit & try here, just DO NOT HIT SAVE AT ANY POINT..!!
7. Do it till you achieve the desired image size, if you want to crop the image, click on select, from the left tool bar.
8. Now select the specific area of the image the you want, right click over it and select copy.
9. Now open a new blank Paint brush file, and paste this image.
10. This is how it looks like:
11. The size of a paint brush canvas is determined by the tiny blue dots at the end (very tiny, tough on eyes). When cursor is placed on it, it becomes a two sided arrow. Clicking on this arrow and dragging it inside reduces the size of the size of the canvas. This is what I want at this point.
12. Finally I reduce the canvas to fit my size.
13. Click on Image and make sure "Draw Opaque" option is UNCHECKED.
14. Click on select and, select the white area on the canvas.
15. Now choose the option, "Fill with color", and choose a desired color.
16. If you don't find a desired color, dbl click on any color and a custom color screen will pop, move the mouse around shades to get the right shade. And click "Add to custom color"
17. Just click on the white area with Fill color option,
18. Select the text option.
19. Select the area where you want the headline to appear.
if you don't see this text tool-bar, click on View-> check the Text Toolbar option.
20. Select the desired font and font size, and type the text. You will have to align and format it according to the space available.
21. At a time, only one font and one font size can be used. If you want to change font/size, again select the text option and select the area where you want the headline to appear.
22. This is how finally my header looks like. And Save the image.
23. In your blog in the configuration header, make sure you select the choice - "instead of title and description".
24. The end...!!! Let me know if you have any questions.
ps:Also step 12 is the basic step, like I cropped 1 image , you can crop several images and drag& place on the canvas area.Or first add text and then paste images.
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