Generosity of an artist

So last week has not been very creative for me, actually saying that is slightly incorrect, considering the fact that I as away for an official training purpose. So I was being creative and learning new stuff, but it did not involved colors.
So few days back I was one of the lucky ones to win a give away at - Gloria's blog. It was in celebration to her 300th post. I right off jumped in and added my name in the draw :)
And the next thing I found was...I won..!!! yeahhhh.....
So, Gloria posted the package and informed me that it has been dispatched...and I have been desperately waiting for it...also I somewhere feared, what if it gets lost somewhere....b'coz when it comes to luck I am not that lucky.
It had already been a week and I was wondering if my fears were coming true, and then I receive a phone call from a lady next door and she says, "Dipali thereis a package waiting for you since last week..".....and I am like what..!!!! I asked her why she did nto informed me earlier...and she told me she was away for the week.
Phewww...so I finally got it....what a start of the week...I am soo happy and exicited.

So in the packages was a print of an amazing painting by Gloria - "The dancing Mermaids"

Also there was this lovely lil frame of "GlitterGal"...

And the there was this lovely card....

With a lovely msg.

Wow Gloria....all this means a lot to me...and that you so much for everything....

My First Crochet porject.!!!

I cannot believe I actually did it...!!!
Ok not the best of work, but it looks much cooler in person and it was a lot of funn..!!

These two videos really helped me achieve it.
1. Basic single stitch video.
2. How to crochet a hat.

Also I would really recommend videos by tjw1963 to learn crochet.

All this has opened a new world of possibilities in crochet for me...

Paper Berries (Inspired by HowAboutOrange)

My inspiration was this post.

Few days back after office I was waiting for Enn to pick me.So I was wandering around on a very bright and beautiful early-spring day, and I came across these dry tree twigs around me and immediately I could picture it as my next project.

I absolutely loved the idea, it was easy and the end result was very eye pleasing.

I did not have a paper punch, and after chopping so many berries I was left with a lot of these...

Let's see what I do with that...

Clay whistles

Meet Iinky & Pinky

This week my clay studio instructor taught us making whistles ... and what an experience...!!!! 

I absolutely loved the idea of making this sound equipment, and once you make the basic organ- the technical part is over, now comes the "sky is the limit" part....

Today I spent some more time doing it...I ended up making a horse-giraffe-ish kind of creature...and a turtle. 

All this really made me nostalgic, I recalled as a kid playing with clay, and my dad use to show me making a clay radio, and we use to stick a broom stick in it pretending it is an antenna.  

Hopefully they will be fired by the end of next week or may be later and then I will think of glazing them. I plan to make more whistles. Its a lot of funn...!!

 

My version of "The Kiss" ...

"The Kiss" by Gustav,a master piece that needs no introduction.

It truly intrigues me...the whole golden effect, the oneness of the two lovers, really...I cannot distinguish them...

Clearly you can see that I have skipped most of the details, because I could not handle them.
But I know every time I will look at it...my eyes will be pleased, and I promise to myself not to find faults in it, but rather simply enjoy the feel of it....

Teapot

I really don't have anything to say about this tea pot, rather than the fact that I am really found of tea and in my plan of having some paintings next to the dining table wall...tea will be an element of focus.
When my husband (Enn) saw this, all he said was..."and you are in what grade..?"...

Image source: www.photosearch.com

Painting Bottles....yayy...

This one was a maple syrup bottle, I luved its shape, like an old wine bottle which were used to preserve wine. I gave it to my friend A, she's using it to plant her money plant.

Polka dots is another of my fav. pattern...for the very reason of its simplicity...this one was a ice tea bottle...

Some Upgrades

Lately we did some upgrades in the house. We installed curtains, which we got from India, when we went there for Diwali in Oct/Nov-08...yeah It took me 4 months to install it. Procrastination is not just my hobby, but its one of my major talents. These curtains are in the living room, they are my MIL's (mother in law) choice, I luved them:

These are in our bedroom, the orange color shines amazingly in the sunlight, the whole room gets an orange glow...My husband Enn chose them. Luv his choice:

And these are in our guest bed room. These are my choice :)

Also on one of our walls, we have these lovely piece of embroidery, which is from Rajsathan(India). I absolutely love its colours, and figures and the whole feel...

We also got this rug from IKEA (absolutely love it..!!!)...again its the color that invited me. It just pops in the creme backround of our home.

Alright so these were some upgrades which we did recently and we were planning them from a long time. And well should have done it loong back. But everything comes with a plan of its own, it happens when it has to.

Collage

Well let's face it, I am not a good painter, but...that does not stop me from decorating my home...so I painted these small abstracts(4x6), and put them in small frames and arranged them collectively on our living room's wall.
Worked out-not bad....

yeah, they r skewed a bit...

Catz

I came across these cats, and luved them...I thought I'd make them for Enn as a valentine's gift...but...yeh...

Image Source : www.fotosearch.com

Salt Dough

Salt dough is an nice medium to make some sturdy, and not so delicate pieces.
Its recepie and method is pretty straight fwd.

According to a user of Orkut Community- crafts out of scraps 's forum -
2 parts flour,
1 part salt,
1 tsp oil
water as reqd..
knead for 15 mins to make a pliable and flexible dough..
mould it, shape it, bake it and paint it with any colours of ur choice- fabric, acrylic, poster, water..

Following are few of my experiments on it:

Glass Painting

I loove to paint glass...the transparent glass effect with color is simply splendid.
I got the following bottle/vase/ I don't know what to call it from Crate&Barrel, its liek only 3 inches, & was soo cute cud not resist it, and jsut made red flowers on it. BTW 5 petal flowers-that's all I can draw.I don't think this photo does it justice, but well...

Also I found these small white vase @ Kroger lying in a corner for $1, so I piked them up and pumped them a little.

Random Paintings

These were some more paintings that I had done in the past.
They are still trying to find a wall in my home.

Image source: www. fotosearch.com

The Chair

This is my version of the famous Chair - by Van Gogh. Clearly it is just an attempt.
Van Gogh, mentions that some days the thing of inspiration can be just a chair.

Originally this chair also had a pipe, which was later added by the artist, but umm I am satisfied with what I have done so far.

Cherries on canvas

This was my first shot at canvas, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. The ease of painting on this surface was splendid.
Though now I have gifted this to a friend E, it was in return of her teaching me knitting.
I thought I have ages to perfect knitting, but a painting will be a quick return gift.

Image source: www. fotosearch.com

More note books...

I absolutely love making note-books, the very use of this craft makes it even more exiting. Its lke you are creating a media to record your life. Well not necessary you will user it to record your life's journals, but still...in the world of e-mails and blogs, I still love writing with an ink pen in a beautiful note book.

Some Play dough

Few days back was randomly having fum with play-dough.And made a couple of pretty flowers. Of course it was play dough, this means those flowers are no more :(