Simple Warli Tree of Life tutorial

 Hello everyone,

I plan to do some simple Indian folk, tribal painting tutorials on my blog. And to begin the series, today I'll show you how to draw a simple Tree of Life painting in Warli style.  

Things you need for this painting

• Black/White  Cardstock Paper 
• Scale
  
• Pencil
• Eraser  
  
• Round Brushes -000 & 9 number 
• Uniball Pen in Creamy White(since I'm using black as my base) 
• Unipin Fine line Black pen if your base is white
• Acrylic Color - White

Drawing a border

Sketching the artwork

Drawing the tree with a pen

Drawing with paint and brush

Filling colours

Painting roots and rocks

 Drawing a Warli Bird

Adding birds 

Painting Warli figures

Making Borders

Your painting is ready!

Do give this painting a try and do let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

warm wishes,

Brinda.

Hello! After 6 years of hibernation!

 Yes! you read that right! My last post here was 6 long years ago!!! For whatever reasons that kept me away from blogging, here I'm and hopefully for good!

There's often a lot going on in my mind that I feel like documenting but the newer platforms of social media somehow don't always give you that kind of freedom. In terms of restricting your words to a fixed number or the attention span of the viewer. 

So the best way to get around this problem is to blog! Hoping to document my thoughts, my pictures, my art journey and snippets of my life in general here. Also hoping to see you all here!

Warm wishes,

Brinda.

 

this & that...

hello people,

I have been wanting to put an end to the inertia that seems to be creeping in every now and then!!

So here I am doing just that!
We are in the middle of moving homes(yaayyyy!!!) and have been pre-occupied with a million things for the last few months.
I'm eager to share this journey with you guys...but that's for later.

For now I'm sharing some random pictures of this and that, which i did manage to take, with no particular theme or idea in mind.
So here we go....

a painted pine cone

simple white asters=simple pure love

sour roselle flowers

shooting star or just a jet!!

a red moon!

 That's all folks!

Will see you soon with my updates on the new home.

Till then...

warm wishes,

AFHS.

ALL IMAGES PERSONAL.

Home is where the heart is...

With two growing boys, my home is constantly sporting what I call the 'tornado hit" look.How much ever I try and bifurcate areas for each of their things it still keeps spilling all over the home.From boxes to closets to corners to even an entire room... nothing seems to contain their ever growing paraphernalia.

And the living room seems to have the maximum action.
All the homework, pretend play with cars(yes they still are in that stage), colouring, craft projects, everything primarily happens in the living room...!!

When I am in a more generous/forgiving mood{which I rarely am ;-)} feel this adds a lot of warmth and character to the home!!
But there are times when I also yearn for that clutter free space!!

I am anyways not that 'rooms-straight-out-of-a-magazine' type and have always wondered if anybody actually lives in such homes..!?!
And believe me, my boys have lowered that bar for me even more!!

So ....I have come to terms that although my home can never be picture perfect all the time..(who cares about that anyways) it can still look organised and lived in!!

And so I set out to gather some inspiration by looking around homes which balance this, just right!!

via

via here & here

via

 via here & here

 via

via here & here

I love the busy-ness in each of the rooms!!

And more importantly it feels like real people ...people like you and me...must be living in these homes!!

And look what i found....

via

via

 ....Just what I was wanting to say...!!

warm wishes,

AFHS.

compliments of the season and a happy 2015!!

warm wishes,

AFHS.

happy weekend!!

Have a wonderful, wintry weekend!!

warm wishes,

AFHS

Shoma's atypical home

I am super delighted to start my home tour series with this beautiful home shared by Alvin & Shoma and their teenage daughter, Aloma!!

In times where most suburban houses look boringly similar or are a gaudy display of pomp, this subtle home exudes simplicity, warmth and uniqueness.

Shoma, a self confessed home decor enthusiast and a flea market scourer, has an uncanny knack of sourcing stuff for her home without burning a hole in her pocket!!

You will not find a single piece of furniture that is typical or artifacts that are factory made or anything that is too matchy -matchy!!!

Like for instance, the place below the t.v., where one would expect a standard storage unit , she has used 'chira' or laterite stone commonly found in the Konkan belt of Maharashtra, that not only serves as a place to keep her t.v. peripherals but also gives it a fire-place-ish look!!

Or the wall above the dining with beautiful Kutchi 'lipan' art, which she got customized from an artist visiting Mumbai for a workshop.

More of 'lipan' art...

Every object in her home has a story to tell.

The wooden almirah  (**covet, covet) from one of her many travels, serves as her crockery/bar unit and she tweaked it a bit by doing away with the wooden doors!!

Or the octogenarian tribal lamp guy in her living room which she got all the way from Indonesia during one of her visits.

Little green things add to the earthiness of the home...

 

The open plan kitchen with a colorful back-splash must be taking away all the boredom from her everyday cooking because not only is she a great cook but a very innovative one too!!!

This pretty coffee table from Gujarat was actually a 'chakki' - a  mill- whose top she replaced with glass!!

The teenage daughter's room is lively with little pops of colour!

Simple and functional.

The  master bedroom has an earth red wall colour with an unusual reed head board.

And a chair sourced from a local exhibition years ago!

Warm Christmassy glow ...

 
Shoma's home is like an ever changing canvas where she constantly keeps moving, adding or changing little details here and there- be it through her collection of masks, plants and planters or simply bottles!!

Isn't it an atypical home in every sense??

How did you like it?

Let me know!

warm wishes,

AFHS.

ALL IMAGES : PERSONAL

DIY wooden tray

hello there!!

After weeks of inertia I finally pulled myself into doing something I had been wanting to ever since I saw the DIY Tray makeover 

post on 

Patricia's awesome Colours Dekor. 

It featured originally in an another lovely blog by Reshma Sanjeev 

@ 

weekendtweaks.blogspot.com

Back in July during the annual monsoon sale I had spotted this wooden tray and had picked it  up thinking that I would paint some warli designs on it.

It just sat like that for a couple of months.

I was wondering what I would decoupage the tray with till I remembered that I had some wallpaper left from my living room renovation!!!!

Now all I did was get some Modge Podge from Hobby Ideas, sanded the tray lightly, gave it a coat of acrylic colour and left it to dry.

Measured the tray/wallpaper, put some Modge Podge, carefully placed the wallpaper and smoothed it working from the centre towards the ends to avoid any air bubbles.

Once it had dried, applied 3-4 more coats of  Modge Podge over it for the paper to embed well,  allowing it to dry after each layer.

So here it is....after the makeover!!!!

What do you think??Has it turned out good?

Let me know...

warm wishes,

AFHS.

Images: Personal.

Kashmir in pictures (& in my prayers)

This post was long due.

I had'nt put up much pictures or mentioned about the place, here on the blog, after our holiday in Kashmir.

I kept thinking what could be said or written about a place, steeped in history & beauty, that wasn't said before!!??!!

Nothing sounded befitting!

But now when the flood situation in the state is really looking grim, I think I owe this one.

Mughal gardens on a crisp, sunny day...

Locals selling their fare...

A day in their lives..

Arches & entryways

Intricate woodwork, ornate chandeliers...

The picture perfect vistas...

Of faith ...

and hope..

The enormous Dal lake..

dotted with  house boats...

Women maneuvering their way through the lake

Calm, idyllic...

a street in Srinagar

With its share of turmoil over the years, the last thing the state should have suffered was nature's fury!!

Hoping & praying with all my heart that normalcy returns to the valley soon.

Amen.

warm wishes,

AFHS.

Images: Personal.