Some Bulky SuperHero Stuff

Its been quite a while since I last posted my work on my blog. I have a new one to share with you all. Its for the superhero lovers. Personalized superhero inspired bedroom door plaque for boys or girls bedroom door.Theme HULK.

When I am in a mood to create something, I usually call my son and ask, what would you like to see…so its his imagination, my hands……

 

Hulk, aside from being incredibly bulky, is also incredibly strong. Most people know him as the mean, green, fighting machine of Marvel.

Kids will love celebrating their favorite superhero with the Avengers Hulk DoorSign. Designed in the green of the Hulk’s iconic anger, this funky Doorsign displays a miniature Clay doll of Hulk and the Name of child. It can be hung out side the child’s room or on the door.

The story of Krishna, and the many-hooded serpent demon Kaliya

The following is a short extract from the great stories of our Lord Krishna (कृष्ण) which caught my eyes for a very long time while reading an online book. Perhaps , Thats the “mahima” of our Lord Krishna !! I am sharing today the story of Krishna, and the many-hooded serpent demon Kaliya, which is very well known. I tried to make the scene using some bright colors. I began with the pencil Sketch. That’s the first pic I took.

Kaliya (कालिय) was the name of a poisonous Naga living in the Yamuna River, in Vrindavan. The water of the Yamuna for four leagues all around him boiled and bubbled with poison. This created a great problem for the residents of Vrindavan and their cows. No bird or beast could go near, and only one solitary Kadamba tree grew on the river bank. The proper home of Kāliya was Ramanaka Dwipa, but he had been driven away from there by fear of Garuda, Garuda had been cursed by a yogi dwelling at Vrindavan so that he could not come to Vrindavan without meeting his death. Therefore Kāliya chose Vrindavan as his residence, knowing it was the only place where Garuda could not come.

Krishna means ‘All attractive’. A person is attractive if He possesses unlimited beauty, knowledge, strength, fame, riches or renunciation. Krishna is often depicted in murtis as black, and is generally shown in paintings with blue skin. The lotus-eyed, dark skinned Krishna is the complete and perfect understanding of God. He was tackling a poisonous serpent with a hundred and ten hoods and yet so calm and poise. I took special care in drawing Krishna’s body, eyes and posture. That’s my depiction progress so far :

Once Krishna and herdboys were playing ball, and while playing Krishna climbed up the Kadamba tree and hung over the river bank, the ball fell into the river and Krishna jumped after it. This enraged the hideous monster Kaliya & he rose up with his hundred and ten hoods vomiting poison and coiled around Krishna’s body. But then Krishna soon was reminded of His divine powers and exercising His powers He uncoiled Himself from the serpent and forthwith climbed up the hoods of Kaliya and assumed the weight of the whole universe. The pressure of Krishna’s feet crushed the towering pride of the myriad-hooded monster. When the heels of Krishna strike the hoods, some break off and then got replaced by new ones. All this while Krishna keeps playing his sweet flute. Kaliya lowered his hoods and vomited blood. But the Dance of Krishna did not cease. Snake Kaliya with its numerous hoods symbolizes the numerous desires we have. When one desire gets fulfilled, another arises, like the new hoods of Kaliya. The hoods keep breaking and forming, but Krishna is unperturbed. He keeps playing His flute, denoting the power of discrimination, of wisdom, of the focus on the bliss of Self. Kaliya was found tottering towards death when his wives came out of the river and with palms joined in prayer begged Krishna to spare the life of their husband.

I usually read the complete story before attempting to make it. However, I have heard of this tale quite a few times as it is a famous one. I had in my mind a complete picture of what I was going to draw. It took me 3 Hrs to complete the sketch. I was ready with the Black and White look of my sketch. It was gorgeous !!!

The prayers of the wives of Kaliya who had faith in Krishna moved the Son of Nanda to have mercy on Kaliya. Krishna now desisted from His terrific Dance on condition that Kaliya was to quit the river at once and to betake himself to his original home in the island of Ramanaka. Krishna assured Kaliya that after seeing the marks where He had touched Kaliya’s head with His lotus feet, Garuda will not disturb Kaliya, as Garuda would respect the print of Krishna’s Feet on hoods of Kaliya. The water of the River was now rendered immune from all poison and became as sweet as it was before the advent of Kaliya. Kāliya, recognizing the greatness of Krishna, surrendered and promised he would not come to Vrindavan again and would not harass anybody. So Krishna pardoned him and then let him go free to leave the river and go to Ramanaka Dwipa.

Finally, I tried some digital combinations and then used acrylics to color but I guess I am bad at coloring , so sharing the digital one 😉

                           

The Making of Kali Maa

Today, I am going to share the the making of my Kali Maa.

Kali Ma, called the “Dark Mother,” is the Hindu goddess of creation, preservation, and destruction. The pictorial representation of Mother Kali , at first glance, is strange and bizarre to the eyes and minds of westerners. She is the most misunderstood Goddess. I will perhaps share her story in my next Kali Maa post may be in Madhubani style. So, I started my sketch by deciding the layout and the form of art to make this. I choose the line art initially with a mix of Kalamkari. I have recently tried my hands on kalamkari and I am liking what I have drawn. Kalamkari literally means, Kalam – pen and kari – work, i.e., art work done using a pen. Vegetable dyes are used to color the designs applied on cloth. The art is popular in several parts of South India. I am of course not doing it the traditional way.

 

When I say Kalamkari, I mean their style of making figures, their style has such round and fuller bodies with beautiful eyed faces. I am also fascinated with the single toned shades of colors they use. I read about it and found that the color pattern used in kalamkari is unique and follows different themes. This is one of the main features of kalamkari art. Women figures are always depicted using yellow colour, Gods in blue, and demons in red and green. The backgrounds are generally red with motifs of lotus. However, Kali Ma has a black complexion. Maa’s black complexion means that she is inscrutable and cannot be known by wordly people full of ignorance. Darkness stands for ignorance. I choose a blue black color for her complexion and then picked a very dark grey for the background. By the way, I am using Sharpie to do the outlines and using an acid free Carson for watercolor sheet with acrylic colors.

I took some pictures of the outlined drawing also. It in itself is a complete line art of Kali Maa. So far I was very happy with the way it was coming up. I started adding the colors. Usually the God figures made in Kalamkari are very loving and poise. Kali Maa is represented with perhaps the fiercest features amongst all the world’s deities. Kali Maa’s fierce form is strewed with some awesome symbols. Her three eyes represent the sun, moon, and fire, with which she is able to observe the three modes of time: past, present and future. This attribute is also the origin of the name Kali, which is the feminine form of ‘Kala’, the Sanskrit term for Time. Her white teeth show her inner purity, and her red lolling tongue indicates her omnivorous nature.

  

Maa Kali wears a garland of skulls and skirt of dismembered arms because the ego arises out of identification with the body. In truth we are beings of spirit and not flesh. It symbolizes that she is completely beyond name and form, completely beyond the illusory effects of maya (false consciousness). Her nudity is said to represent totally illumined consciousness, unaffected by maya. Her sword is the destroyer of false consciousness and the eight bonds that bind us. I knew a few of the symbolization of Kali Maa and read about the rest before starting to make her. I finally chose a shade of yellow/mustard and green for the background and see how beautiful it turned out to be !!!

I just didnt like how the skulls came out to be. Is it looking out of character ??

Eight up: Super Aryan!

My son was turning 8 and he is a MARIO MANIAC. What kid doesn’t love Mario Brothers? I’m sure there are kids out there that don’t, but they’re certainly not one of mine and he asked for a Mario birthday party, I thought its going to be easy … as easy as the Spiderman theme last year but to my surprise there was absolutely NOTHING out there as far as party supplies go, so I had to put my creative gloves on and make everything. I thought I must write a post about how I planned. If you’re planning a Mario birthday party, this might be of help to you.
He celebrated his birthday twice… yes that’s correct. He celebrated it twice. Once at home on his Birthday, it was falling on a weekday and then later we threw a party at Chuck-e-cheese. I’m going to share with you my tricks for fun and easy parties at home.

Eight up: Super Aryan!

I will start with the Banner. I made these out of the Foam Sheets in Super Mario Fonts and Colors. Instead of Super Mario 3 It said Super Aryan (my son’s name ) 8. Confused ?

See how beautiful it looked…..

Then the Balloons. The White BOO Ghosts balloons were hung with Cello tapes with only two sides. I Switched the fan on and the balloons kept wiggling a little all the time. Confused again ?? Did not make the video but see the picture will give an idea of what I am talking about. I could have done much more with the balloons but I was running short of time.

The coins were left hanging and were made of the yellow disposable plates. The cheap and best option I would say. I used ribbon to hang the plates.

There were many games related to the theme. One of those was a Mario Moustache Cup stacking game. Kids enjoyed a lot ! Then there was a small Mario cutout hung on the wall and Kids had to use bow and arrow to aim for the shot. I had the mustachos on the sticks for picture taking.

 

The Pinata….ahhhh…I made two. Yes two pinatas. The first one was pretty simple. It was the yellow Question mark box. I used an empty carton and covered with crepe paper roll.

The second one was’nt that simple and took more time because of its shape. Yes, that one was a mushroom. I will post the DIY soon.

 

There were gifts for the winners of the game. That I could get from partycity. Phew, atleast there was something that came easy. Those were Mario theme candies.

The party favor bags were loved by children. I love to throw my son’s birthday party — maybe because it’s a chance to be a kid again. But sometimes party planning for kids can go too far, and you end up being stressed out for an hour and a half of kiddie fun. LOL !!!

 

It was a lot of work, but it was a raging success, he loved it and still talks about it today, so definitely worth it!!

The Buddha

The foundation of the Buddha’s teachings lies in compassion, and the reason for practicing the teachings is to wipe out the persistence of ego, the biggest enemy of compassion. That is why they say a bad day for your EGO is a Great day for your SOUL.

On that note I have a wonderful Buddha Painting that depicts the same.. to all what you see and all what you live with…with all the surroundings and within all the sufferings…you can still find inner peace. Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or diversion, it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow anything effect your emotions.

 

 

 

 

Puppy Love

Its time for the amazing feeling of being loved…

 

When you feel tired and distressed, when you have a heavy heart,
when your eyes are filled with tears and you need a new start….
Nothing else but a puppy love is what you need….
Nothing less than a warm tight hug….
Nothing less than a wet lick on your face….
To give you the strength for the new chase…

The Story of Goddess Durga

I am so fascinated with Making Durga Ma, I have shared several posts showing the creation of Durga Maa..I thought of sharing the story of HER.

Goddess Durga according to popular Hindu conception is the divine daughter of Himalaya, and his wife, Menaka, a Manasputri of Brahma, the Creator. It is said in the Markandeya Purana that though she pervades the Universe, and is co-extensive with creation, yet she manifests and incarnates herself on special occasions with a view to help the Devas in the performance of their divine work. Though thus manifested and incarnated, she is neither limited nor conditioned but is Nitya or Eternal.

 

 

 

 
The goddess is also known as the wife of Lord Shiva and the mother of Laxmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartikeya. She has ten hands out of which she holds different arms in eight of her hands and conch and lotus in the rest two. Even the Pauranic Durga or Uma has been described as the Mother of Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva, and yet she has been depicted as the consort of the last-named God of the trinity.

 

 

Goddess Durga as worshipped by the Hindus, is the Primordial Energy of the Universe that creates upholds and destroys. It is through Her that a vision or glimpse of the Absolute and Infinite is possible. She is neither the Dawn, nor the Night, nor the Sun, nor any beautiful and wonderful phenomenon of Nature; but she is the very essence on which everything that is subsists. She is the Brahmamaya through which the Universe has been manifested. The Hindus try to realise this grand conception of Her in their life by symbolising Her in a figure of clay, and worshipping Her as the Primordial Energy of the Universe-the Mother of the Gods and of all Creation.

 

 

In West Bengal Durga Puja is celebrated with great pomp and show. She is considered to be a form of Shakti. The legend holds that Goddess Durga visits earth once in a year and the people treat her like a daughter. In other parts of the country the goddess is worshipped but in a different form and different way. This is because the goddess is known among the Hindu in various incarnations and forms. As per as the figure of the goddess is concerned she has ten arms, three eyes and each of arms bear a weapon. Ten of her arms represent ten directions in Hinduism and it signifies that the goddess protects her devotees from all direction and all harms.
She has three eyes. (I have made only two). The left arm represents desire, the right eye represents action and the central eye represents fire. The goddess is bound on a lion. A lion on the other hand symbolises power, determination and will. Thus it can be said that as the goddess has made the lion her slave it is obvious that she has power, will and determination which is suggestive of the fact that unless an individual possess the all the three qualities one will not be able to win over the demon of ego. All the arms which she holds in her ten arms is also symbolic and each has a separate meaning associated with it.
Thus it can be concluded saying that Goddess Durga with all her accessories is a way with the help of which the devotees are inspired to imbibe within them the spirit of power and determination of mind and character.