October 29, 2008

Floored!

For me, the most exciting part about Diwali is making a rangoli. Everywhere you go in India, you find a unique style of floor art or rangoli. This tradition goes back to 5000 years in India. While certain designs are created for special occasions such as weddings and religious festivals, a majority of the time, the only limitation is the artists' creativity. 

Traditionally there are two forms of floor art. While rangoli, characteristic of Western India (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan) is a rainbow of colours, the other side of the spectrum are the floor art of Eastern India - Bengal, Orissa, Himachal where they use Alpana, a line drawing in rice powder paste. Since I'm more comfortable with the brush, I prefer the later, though with a difference. Instead of the traditional rice powder, I make use of gheru - powdered red clay. 

Ever since we shifted to the new house (some 10 years back), our rangolis have become bigger and more experimental. Afterall, floor is one of the best canvases an artist can ask for! 

Here's a showcase of what I've been doing since the last few years. 

I'm a big fan of warli painting and tried to use it in this rangoli.




Next year was a bigger, geometric design.





This one's done by my elder sister. She applied gheru on a chart paper and made this neat design with poster colour. The flowers and diyas completed the beautiful design. 




The best part is that this design mat is reuseable!




And this one's one of my favourite. Inspired by mehendi design, I made this rising sun which made best use of the entrance space. 




The mirrors, the decoupaged matki and the diyas gave it a very pretty look at night.





And this year....




my younger sister gave me a helping hand :P




Measuring 9 equal squares was quite a task


But the final product surely brought a smile on my face :)




Hope you all had a beautiful Diwali!






17 comments:

Anonymous said...

very cool.
by chance, any of the pictures taken with a 'new' camera ??

bhumika said...

Thanks girish. The earlier pics were taken with a film cam and scanned for this particular post. Those of this year's rangoli are taken by my olympus. Still haven't got my new cam :P

pink dogwood said...

Wow - simply amazing.

Sherri said...

Love the one your sister did! And also the mendhi one is gorgeous also. Do you get so sad when you have to "dismantle" this lovely work? How long do you keep it?

MASALA CHAI said...

Wow , you're very talented. I tried doing rangoli last year and I must say it isn't very easy at all...these look gorgeous

~mE said...

beautiful :)
very recently a friend introduced me to warli..i had seen it before but never knew it was called warli..im in love with it now :)

~ ॐ ~ said...

Literally floored !!!

cheeti hai tu bhoomi !!!

Mana said...

Wow.. Lovely Rangoli designs :) Liked them all..

Piggy Little said...

i know y u are, in true sense of the term, an artist.

coming for ur bday. be prepared :)

love lots and lots and lots and lots. :)

n.

Unknown said...

oyeee meri jaan mera toh naam tumne badal diya hai..Itz roshan nw...Mera naam roshan kar diya heroin...Meri aankhein hi bhar aayee yeh sab dekh k n jo logo ne wah wahi kari hai aapki....
Seriously u r succha talented babe..Nxt yr se start takin up orders :P

bhumika said...

@pink dogwood

Thank you :)

@shireena

yes, my elder sis is quite a perfectionist :) We keep the rangoli for 5 days after diwali. And when it comes to washing it away, it's really a sad site...

@masala chai

Thanks for your appreciation :) Like i said, i'm better at 'painting' a rangoli than using the powdered colours. The later is quite a task for me too.

@sharanya

warli is definitely one of the best art forms from India. I've always been awed by the intricate line work and am glad that even you found it interesting.

@om

haha! that's quite a comment :)

@manasa

thank you so much :)

@neha

I wouldn't want to claim that title as yet. but you know how much i love to indulge in art :)

abt the b'day plan - it couldn't get better than this :))

@shipra aka roshan

nautankibaaz...aakhir mere blog ki yaad aa hi gayi tujhe! aapki taarif ke liye dhanyawaad. aur rahi baat rangoli order lene ki - what an idea sirji :P

Veda said...

Really good bhumika! I love the front door space u have! is that a row house like?

bhumika said...

@ Veda

Welcome to my blog! Ya, we have a huge space in front of the main entrance - perfect for large-size rangolis like these :) And yes, we live in a row house.

Anonymous said...

I love the camels by the main door. Where did you buy it. Are they affordable.
on the side note- I looooove entrance so much that I want to see more of your house decor (I could use some tips on decorating) thank you

bhumika said...

@anon

Thanks for your appreciation. The camels were bought from a market here that sells old wood work and were then restored and painted. I will definitely try to share more very soon.

Rekha said...

Loved all the rangoli designs, Very creative.

bhumika said...

@Rekha

Thanks for your appreciation. Loved your blog and will surely visit more often :)