DIWALI 2017

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

DIWALI

Diwali decor is very close to my heart , my home goes thru a flurry of activity , days before the festival .The brass and silver lamps are all given their due cleansing and polishing. Its one of the festivals in India which is celebrated with a lot grandeur . Below are some images from my home during this festival . Being passionate about home decor , this festival brings out the best ideas i can create ,around my home . Vintage silver , antique brass ---they are all out for the discerning eye. Hope you are all inspired by these images i have put together.    

HAPPY DIWALI   HAPPY FESTIVITIES !!!

JANAMASHATAMI 

At Templebells

Janamashtami is celebrated all over India , the birthday of Lord Krishna .

This also heralds the start of festive season . Homes are busy cleaning 

& sprucing up for the up coming festivities.

When I was a kid , I remember my mom getting busy -days before the

festival . The yummy sweets and savouries , the aroma wafting thru our

home , makes me drool even today . 

My home decor gets fresh makeover ,with all my Krishna paintings & the

brass idols are out , clean & shining ! The fragrance of incense sticks & 

the flowers makes my home ready for divine celebration.

Sharing some pictures of my home during Krishna Jayanti, over the years . 

The first picture is the decor this year on my console , in my living room .

                                                                                2018

2017 

2016

                                                                           2015

Here's wishing everyone Happy Festivities 

See you soon 

CREATING  MANDALA

Mandala in Sanskrit means circle representing the universe .

It is a spiritual symbol used in Hinduism and Buddhism .The term Mandala appears in Rigveda 

as the name of the section of work and vedic rituals use this symbol in various spiritual traditions.

In modern age Mandala has assumed many avatars and used extensively as art .

All said it is a great stress buster and an amazing form of meditative art .

Several creative ideas pop up during my afternoon siesta & one such idea was to create 

a mandala using my tanjore designs . My idea was to create something different from the regular ones

The Ashtalaxmi & Dashaavatar designs took a lot of time & after a trashbin full of rejects ,
 finally ended up with these .After hard work good results are soul satisfying ---though I feel I could have done it better !!

Materials used are paper ,pen and ink ,watercolours and sharpie pens 




                                                               Ashtalaxmi Mandala 

               
                                                       Cross section of the mandala

                                                                     close up


                                                                 

                                                    the same design in watercolours   

 Dashaavathar Mandala

Art of Baking.......

When children fly the nest , many mothers get into "empty nest syndrome"

I too went into this phase ,though i had my painting to fall back on , 

i needed to learn something new to divert my mind from the emptiness .

A chance meeting with an acquaintance , who was a good baker ,got me hooked

on to the art of baking . One demo class was enough for me to start on my baking trials.

I wanted to bake with healthy ingredients ,not with heavy creams /butter .Some internet 

browsing on healthy baking ,gave me many ideas to bake  what i wanted '

So now i bake using organic ingredients , brown sugar , whole wheat flour  instead of maida

healthy oils instead of butter 😄😄

Here are some pics of my baked goodies ........

 whole wheat cookies 

 healthy energy bar

chocolate lava cake

whole wheat choco brownies

Hope I have inspired a few moms 

Until next time.... Ciao.......

Spring / summer in my small garden 

“ I love not man less , but Nature more —-Lord Byron 

“ In joy or sadness ,flowers are our constant friends “ —-Kozuka Okakura 

There are many such lovely quotes on Nature and all I can say is that Mother Nature 

Is the biggest gift to mankind !! 

With the ever growing concrete structures around us ,having a garden has become a luxury 

to many . But I wish that more people would create some green patch  in space available in their 

homes . 

Being an ardent lover of nature , I have created my ‘ lung space’ !

It’s a visual delight especially during spring & early summer to see the fresh blooms in many colours The bees , birds & butterflies fluttering around in my garden gives me my daily dose of happiness.

Sharing some pictures of my small garden ........

diy name board with the rangoon creeper growing around it 

Exora

Plumeria, my favourite 

Rangoon creeper aka madhumalathi 

A vignette with my jasmine flowers 

Periwinkle 

Oleander 

Jasmine 

Jade bonsai 

A vignette with some greenery indoors

Hope you enjoyed this spring /summer pictures of my garden