Friday, November 28, 2014

Pink Flamingos & Picture Quote Cards

There's no denying the fact that God is the greatest artist! This stands true when one looks around and finds content, peace and bliss in Nature. We artists find inspiration too along with other elements. We can just merge and be one with this positive energy. If only everyone of us tries to understand this energy....! 

Pink Flamingos below are done with watercolor and acrylic inks. Love the fluidity and intense colors of the acrylic inks. 

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 Pink Flamingos 
Watercolor and acrylic inks on Daler&Rowney watercolor pad


Now onto a simple DIY---I am into something new---making picture quote cards.

These are some cards I had bought from Dubai (almost all of my materials are from there...love the quality). As you can see that I have taped the card around onto my favourite small art board. I have hand-drawn a simple outline of the daisies and applied masking fluid. You can see a roller too to apply the blue paint.

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Now apply the blue paint. Let dry and remove the mask. Apply colors to the flower and the stem. I have applied yellow and gold in the middle of the flowers. Love the golden touch :)

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Now, write a beautiful quote with some fun Lettering!!! And you are done :)

I have been browsing through varied types of lettering and I think it's such intense play and fun...extremely creative too. Trying my hand at lettering in my quote cards.

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 The color gold isn't clear though!

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 Number One

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I Dream

Linking it to Eva & Kristin's PPF to meet some awesome artists :)

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Madhubani Art - Twin Peacocks

Folk art is something I can always go back to and I enjoy every bit of it. I love to dabble with paints, paints and paints. Whatever genre I resort to, I love all of it. For the past few days I haven't been able to indulge much due to various personal reasons - mom's health, daughter's cultural fest rehearsals etc. Glad to announce that my girl & team won second place in group dance competition. They did every iota of it without any teacher's guidance and it was my lil one who taught them after learning it from a CD herself (bearing in mind that they are just 10-11 year olds with not even a month's time to practice!)

This particular piece is something I made for a dear blogger-friend, Wyanne, as a good-will token. She means a lot to me and so it flew her way :) 

No more talking from me today, my pictures are to speak...and that would suffice I feel ;)

What is that one thing you resort to???

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 Twin Madhubani Peacocks

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Thanks again everyone for taking time, visiting this space of mine and for leaving wonderful comments :)

Linking it to Eva & Kristin's PPF!


If anyone's interested in the dance that the Lil girls presented...click HERE. The one standing in the center is my girl :D


Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Tholpavakoothu Pulavar - Meet An Artist (Family)

It was the time when the youngest, Mr.Vipin Viswanath, who carried forward the tradition had gone to China as the sole representative of India to participate in the 4th International Folk Festival when I had gone to interview the family. He was invited by the Chinese Government to conduct seminars, workshops and demonstrations. Though engineering was the area that he wished to gather his knowledge, unlike the usual families, his' wanted him to pursue something else that would help him to carry forward their traditional art too and that’s how he completed his M.A and is currently pursuing M.S.W. Their daughter, Vijitha, now married is also a torch-bearer of the tradition lives in Dubai with her husband.

Tholpavakoothu (Shadow Puppet play) has been in the family for the past 15 generations and according to Mr. Viswanatha Pulavar – who heads and runs the show, a Post-Master by profession, they know the past six generations by name. His brother - Mr. Lakshmanan and wife - Mrs. Pushpalatha, also helps him in running the traditional art. One of his father’s disciple and the now Guru was also present during this informal meet, Mr. Ramachandran, who is now 77 yrs old and the oldest of the Tholpavakoothu tradition. He had been in this art since he was 22 yrs old.

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Pushpalatha, Viswanatha Pulavar with Guru Ramachandraji


The Origin

The story goes that when Bhadrakali defeated the asura (demon) Dharika in the Celestial world, Lord Rama defeated the ten-headed Lankasura, Ravana upon earth. Lord Shiva spoke of the fearsome battle that took place on earth when Bhadrakali reached Lord Shiva with the head of the vanquished Dharika. When she heard of this grand conquest she came upon a great urge to see the battle. Lord Shiva asked to seat herself in Kerala, the blessed land, where her devotees will perform this battle as a shadow puppet play each year and thus witness this enticing epic. The Goddess accepted the advice and has been watching this magnificent episode every year.

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Tholpavakoothu – The Where and How

The art is said to be 2000 years old and is traditionally performed for 7,14,21,41 or 72 days at temples dedicated to Bhadrakali. A performance would normally begin at 10 pm and would go on till 6 am. A traditional art of Kerala, Tholpavakoothu portrays the tales of a mythical age and the superlative battle where the good won over the evil.

Traditionally Tholpavakoothu is performed in Temple stages (The screen that displays the shadow is usually 42 feet and the back is lit by 21 lamps made of coconut halves. The play begins by breaking 11 coconuts each day. One person holds one puppet and there would be around 10 -15 people apart from the musicians. The accompaniment is by percussion instruments like chenda, madhalam, elathalam (kind of cymbals), ezhupara and the wind instruments like the conch and the short pipe called the kurumkuzhal. Chilanga (anklet) is the most important piece of the ensemble.

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The puppets that cast the shadows move across the screen illustrating the tale in all it’s grandeur and majesty. Behind the white curtain which represents the sky and the black or red curtain which represents the earth, the puppeteers move their characters to the recital of the Tamil poet Kamba’s version of the Ramayana. The language used is a mix of Tamil, Sanskrit and Malayalam. It is usually in the form of questions and answers.

Tholpavakoothu is now available in an abbreviated form where the whole epic is condensed to a short episode that showcases the technique in a span of an hour or thirty minutes without losing its essence. The shorter version was first introduced by Late K L Krishnankutty Pulavar, father of Viswanatha Pulavar. He had received the National award twice in his lifetime. Viswanatha Pulavar has received Grants and Fellowship (Junior and Senior) from the Ministry of Culture.

The team has staged over 5000 performances in India and abroad. They have expanded their repertoire by including tales from the other Puranas like SriKrishnapuranam, Prahaladacharitham and Panchatantra. They have also made unique performances like the life of a Jain saint, Lanka Lakshmi with the NSD (National School of Drama) and the most recent Shyama Madhavam directed by Jisha Palakkad, based on Prabha Varma’s award-winning work, with the backdrop of Tholpavakoothu which has been described as a fascinating and magical experience for the viewers.

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'Shyama Madhavam' with Jisha Palakkad
Behind the actors can be seen the Shadow Puppet play


The Shadow Puppets

The puppets are colored with natural dyes and sometimes with even acrylics for brighter colours when they need to be taken abroad for several performances. The natural colours also are said to have medicinal properties. The intricate designs are made with specific iron tools that serve the purpose. Extremely detailed and intricate patterns are carved out efficiently. It is these holes that give the magnificent effect when the light passes through it; their beauty is enhanced being behind the lamp-lit screen.

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There are puppets to represent 71 characters in 4 main categories - Sitting, Standing, Walking and Fighting. Besides these puppets, forms to depict scenes from nature, battles and ceremonial processions are also used. The puppets all have one movable arm and hand and some have other movable parts.

They have small as well as big puppets which take from one day to one month to create depending on the design involved. I even had the fortune of running my hands (fondly) on an 800 year old puppet and I literally had goosebumps!!! Imagine the centuries-stored tales that it would have to tell !!!!

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The puppeteers would fast for 21 days before the performance as a ritual as the procedure itself is considered divine and auspicious.



Spreading the Tradition

They are also taking the effort to spread the tradition by helping those in research on the subject and by holding workshops and classes to create awareness among the young and the artistically inclined. Their home is a literal treasure trove and to be walking there was like walking amid scholars…of present and past. It requires intense learning of the shlokas from Vedas and Puranas if you need to become a performer of the art. They have the original manuscripts from which the lessons are taught. Their home acts as the Gurukul for the craving learners.

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Contact

The puppet is also available for sale. You can contact them directly.

THOLPAVAKOOTHU SANGAM
Koonathara (P.O),
Kavalappara (via) Shoranur ,
Palakkad PIN- 679523 , Kerala ,
India. PH: +91 - (0)466 2227927
Mob: +91 9645816900, +91 9847358668
Email: keralapuppetry@gmail.com/tholpavakoothu.kerala@gmail.com


This is not a paid post. This is out of my sheer interest to portray the traditional arts of different places particularly my home-town that I took the trip to Tholpavakoothu Sangam and featured them here. I personally feel that they are doing an amazing job! 

Many thanks & love to my hubby, Sunil.M.S, for having helped me to do the feature :)

Linking it to Eva & Kristin's Paint Party Friday.


Thanks a lot for visiting Hues n Shades...Please do leave your comments and suggestions. It means a lot to read your feedback!


Photo Credit: A few photographs were sent to me by the family while some others were clicked personally by me.

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.

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Saturday, November 8, 2014

Mandakini

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This week has been an interesting one for me personally! I got to meet and be in the presence of an extremely talented Mohiniyattam danseuse, a non-Malayalee at that but I found myself really scintillated at her presence and performance! The feeling was indescribable!!! I am speaking about Gujarat-born, Mumbai-settled Mohiniyattam exponent Smt.Mandakini Trivedi. She is also author of books like The Yoga of Indian Dance, Sutras of Dance and Nepathya (Behind The Curtain).

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Mandakini Trivedi
Photo credit: NateshvariGurukul Website

A workshop was conducted here in Palakkad for the kids by Gowri Creations, under the guidance of Mr.Dinesh Koduvayur and Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi, paving way to enrich the kids in classical dance forms. The workshop was the basics of Bharathnatyam for a fun-filled, enjoyable week of mudras.

My daughter enjoyed every bit of it... hectic schedule during the school-time though. She "didn't want the class to end." A soft spoken and smiling lady, as gentle as anyone can be...she filled the hearts of the kids with much warmth and love.

The artwork below is something I created for her in two days as a token of our love, respect and appreciation for her. It was after Mandakini mam's performance that I came up with this idea and so I had to hurry through in two days! I got almost 8 hours for it. I am not a person who can wheel through in hours coz of a few health issues (which I don't normally speak much ;) )

"Aesthetic, Symbolic and Yogic" these are the words that mam uses to describe her art. That is what I have tried to recreate here... It's not a realistic painting but an interpretation of my feelings. I have incorporated the elements like air, water, earth and fire (that's the passion she has towards her art). The lillies' pattern is something I had seen somewhere while browsing; it stayed, and now I remembered it while sketching.

From sketch to the painting:

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Sketch work
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 "Mandakini"
Acrylics, A4 size
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 Close-up :)

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Braided thread to tie the painting roll


Thank you for stopping by. It would be Great if you could share what you feel by leaving your comments :)

Linking it to Eva & Kristin's Paint Party Friday :)

Please do not use/reproduce the content (words as well as images) without the written consent of the author.