Sunday, May 18, 2008

Some Color....


Ok, so my blog looked pretty dull today and so I decided to add some personal color to it :




Those are my brand new tulips. I LOVE tulips and my favorite dream is running a mile between rows & rows of Tulips in Holland... a pretty Bollywoodian dream ;)



And these are my 'Astadhatu' figurines. 'Ashta' means eight and 'dhatu' means metals. These are made of an alloy of eight metals. I love my little iron... er...brass..er... bronze...well Ahatdhatu Men ( Tony Sharp still has a chance, he is HOT ! ;) )



Then again, these are Indian musical instruments made from metal alloy. The stringed one is called Veena and the two drum like instruments are called Tabla.



A Side view....
But wait.... are they really musical instruments?
Can you guess what they are???? ;)




Surprise!!!

This is a After mint & tooth pick serving set!





And this box is my family heirloom! It belonged to my Mother- in- law . It is a handcrafted sandalwood box, with some finest craft I have ever seen! I just love it! :)




Top lid view! That is not very clear in the picture here. It is a pastoral scene of deer grazing in the forests! It reminds me of the scenes on John Keat 's Grecian Urn!




In inside view :) to show you that this is a really really old box being handed down in the family!




And this is my green marble dinning table; inlayed with granite, lapiz lazuli, white marble and some other stones. The coasters you see there are hand made with flat wooden beads colored and strung together with a strong string.




A closer view!



My green marble coffee table hand inlayed with granite, lapiz lazuli, onyx, coral and white marble!



A close view of the design and potpourri :)



She ( does not) sell sea shells on the sea shore ;)
Those are some shell I collected from a beach from South India




Ariel view!




Well this is a sad story. My rooster's faithful hen died . He broke a leg trying to save her but could not ( there you see her lying by at his feet while he is grief stricken and is unable to look. He is leaning on the wall crying his heart out ( Sniff!) ) The whole host of animals heard him crying and came running to see what the matter was. You can see the whole giraffe family there trying to console him and the parrots are observing two minutes of silence. The mother & father horse came with the baby horse too and the deer family came a running as well. The ambulance could not reach on time because of the traffic jam caused by humans, so the bull ran to get his bullock cart. But he could not reach there on time to save the poor hen. (you can see the bullock cart reaching only after the sad demise!
Please observe two minutes of silence even if you are cooking chicken at this moment! Thank you!




This is another sad story. The milkmaid is so sad here, because her cow has been stolen ( really it is the truth. The cow was stolen by one of those painters who came to paint my house, along with a Walkman and some of my son's toys and T- shirts)
In reality , this is a salt & pepper cellar :)



I sometimes dabble with paint on canvas too! :)


& this is acrylic on canvas ...


And this is again oils on canvas




Ok, there is not one but two of these, serialised ;)




And this is where I decided to add some color to the ugly ventilators of my skylight





& this is another story. It was a fancy dress handmade by me for my son's fancy dress competition.It was made from scratch. At eight o Clock in the evening, my kindergarten going son started bawling . When asked why he was crying, he said he needed a dinosaur dress for the competition the next day. He made us rush to the market. all I could find was some green plain material and some fabric paints. I came home armed with these and set to work, using sewing machine and scissors and soon the body suit with a tail was ready. Stuffing tail with cotton made it too heavy and it failed to stay in place. So I finally had to stuff it with rolled up old news papers. And yes, before that, I had to paint those yucky red & yellow spots on the suit. Then I set to make the head. I had to cut two similar heads out of cardboard (teeth & all) and stitch them up to a cap. Then I had to cover the cap with another strip of cardboard , and then paint the spots and the fierce red eyes. I had to stick cones for claws on his fingers too!
All this took me the whole night long! You can see the result for yourself!



And this is Heavy Indian silk with gold and colored beads hand embroidery. This is usually used to make Indian Bridal dress!




And this is Mona wearing the self same Bridal dress on her wedding! :)




& Remember? I told you a long time ago that when I was a kid I was a " candle stick with matchsticks for hands & legs" ( No prizes for guessing which one is Mona out there ;))




An Ideal camouflage to hide "bad legs" ;D



Only Nanny could pull her ears and get away with it!





I swear this is just one girl! She is preparing for a beauty pageant!Her cocktail dress and her evening gown are not yet ready!



Buddha having the last laugh!

19 comments :

Charles said...

Wow, eclectic set of pictures, but very nice. You have a beautiful home, and that table is gorgeous. I like your work, especially the painting of the flowers. It's very stylistic.

Trée said...

Mona, thanks for sharing. Love that coffee table and it is so nice to see some of your paintings. Your post is like a rainbow of memories, colorful and bright, sparkling with personality.

NYD said...

setting yourself on display is something totally unexpected. there are so many images to comment upon, I hope that your cow has found a happy home

buffalodick said...

What beautiful objects you have collected! I'm sure beyond their obvious worth, all mean quite a bit to you in memories...

Serena said...

Mona, what a collection of stunningly beautiful pictures. They speak to your exceptionally good taste, too. Lovely!

G-Man said...

Mona....
What a wonderful display of color and taste!
Thank you so much for sharing your home and bits of your life with us!
xoxmrxox

snowelf said...

Mona--WOW!! Where to start....You know how much I love Indian art/Style! I could kidnap your whole home and feel at ease! :)
I love your table-it's gorgeous and your 'Astadhatu' figurines are some of my favorite peices!!
The dinosaur costume story made me laugh! And the poor chicken comment made me laugh even harder. It reminded me of my post when my dear King Ayumma-yumma fell and was broken. (I never did have the heart to dispose of him, he was too precious to me. :))

Thank you for sharing these pics with us!

--snow

lime said...

how wonderful. i really enjoyed that tour, mona. i did not know you painted. i think i loved the picture of the horse best. the look so free and wild. the spirit in them captivated me.

and the dino costume...ah what we do for our children at the last minute. i can remember throwing together a cat costume out of paper bags and permanent markers and glue at the last minute when i had no money or other materials. it came out very cute.

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing those grand photos of such wonderful things.

deepsat said...

Thank you for sharing these beautiful colors of your life!!

Nanny holding your ears is so sweet!!!!

Take care!!

;-))

SignGurl said...

Mona! Your pictures a simply stunning! What taste you have. I am in love with your beautiful table. You must never want to cover it.

Your painting skills are amazing. How wonderful that you are able to use more than one medium.

I must add that you are simply the most stunning beauty in all of Bloggdom. Gorgeous!

PeterParis said...

This was a good surprise post! Thanks for showing us all this! I'm especially impressed (but not really surprised) to see your artisitic gifts! You are a very talented painter!! (I don't know which one to "choose"!) Do you paint a lot, find time?

... and another question: Do you play the Veena? I have listened to a few records recently. Maybe I don't really undertand this music, but I love it!

Anonymous said...

I am holding my ribs because I am still laughing with Buddha. It is a nice look at your life which is quite different from mine. We have photography in common and for that I am grateful.

Bilbo said...

Very colorful and interesting pictures...your home is gorgeous! Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting on our similar approaches to chickens today! I hope you enjoyed your visit and will be back again soon! Best wishes, Bilbo.

James Goodman said...

Wow, what a colorful home you have. Thanks for sharing this little glimpse into your life with us. :D The pictures are fantastic. :D

S said...

How fun that was to see a bit of Monas life and home and the stuff she collects!

Of course you have inlayed tables....because of where you live, the inlay capital!

I wanted this table there one year, but the shipping was more than the table itsself.

They are just lovely Mona.

BTW, you wouldnt believe it, but I am nearly out of the textiles that I bought in India this year, and yes, it is cheaper for me to buy indian cottons in Berkeley than India, as there is no shipping and I pick it up myself, just a 70 minute drive away, however I can only get solid colors there, no prints.
And yes, I do Mona! I make everything. I am a good suji, arent I?

:P

krystyna said...

Thank you Mona for sharing your private space and moments.
I'm so glad that I visited you today not only as a writting way!

You are inspiring and you make a difference!

no.good.at.coding said...

Those are really nice pictures Mona! You've got great taste and quite some talent! The paintings are very good and that dinosaur costume was incredible!

Keith's Ramblings said...

Thank you for inviting us inside your home. I really enjoyed my visit!