Window Shopping....!

Oh! See what I found while window shopping! Absolutely adorable stuff from Plumo!

Treasure troves at the Blue Souq.

The Blue Souq(market/bazaar in Arabic) in Sharjah is not the traditional souqs you see in this part of the world. It is more of a shopping center mostly catering to the middle class Arab, African...Asian crowd. The building by itself is an architectural splendor. It's a good example of Islamic Architecture with beautifully designed blue tiles decorating its exteriors and so the name. I think I need to do a separate post on it in my other blog. :-)

In the souq one can find anything from clothes to electronics, gold to cosmetics...and so on. My visit was mainly for what all tourist visit the place, the antique, silver and handicrafts shops located in the first floor. Could not cover much because of lack of time but the 2-3 shops that I visited were enough to take me back again! My.... they were treasure troves in true sense! All the stuff from western & central Asia, middle east and the Indian subcontinent. The antiques were amazing! Have a look at them....

A,D- antique sculptures unearthed; C- an antique kettle; B- this looked like the tea bag box that Rajee had posted in the tea party which she hosted...here 

A&B head gears at war and at peace;C&E suzanis;D Afghani jewelry.

Silver wonders from all over!

Antique kitchen 

A&B swords as old as the Mughal era!; C&D daggers with carved ivory handles! 

A&B antique medallions; C antique Rolex and pocket watches. 

Coins from every era! Note the special silver coin with Saddam Hussain's head in pic A

A- the lovely lapis lazuli vases as tall as my daughter! B- antique gold jewelry.

      

Happy Mother's Day

Few works of the Greatest Artist of all times Leonardo Da Vinci. He was brought up by his father who took his custody soon after his birth and his mother moved on with her life else where. Maybe that is why we get to see such beautiful depictions from a person who yearned 'Mother's Love'!

Door Paintings

A year back while holidaying in India, I had come across the brilliant art works by this artist....K.R.Santhana Krishnan from Chennai. His work known as 'Door Paintings' are inspired by the entrance to houses in the agraharam(place where the bhramins live) on his way to his college, in his home town of Kumbakonam. It's amazing to note that every little details has been worked out so well, be it... the advertisements or the oil stains upon the lamp spaces on the walls, the house number, the turmeric or kumkum marks on the door, the texture of the walls etc.! And its all about what you see when you peep into a house. My special liking is towards his mixed media work which could be a replica of real doors! Done on wood with accessories like lock, knob/handle etc. they look real! And he does these in various sizes from a 12 x 18 to almost life size! I am inspired! You have to check his works at Door paintings.

 The acrylic  paintings...

 The mixed media wonders....

     My favorites! Do you notice the peacock handle in door 1 and the lock in door2? And what about the sculptures carved on the door frame? Wonderful..... aren't they!

Water colour .....Indian brides.

These water colour paintings of Indian brides by Cate Parr are really adorable!

  

Images of the paintings are from Etsy. Must check out the rest. The illustrations of women are wonderful!

Elephant tea pots are considered to be lucky in the South East Asia. To me they are irresistible! Have a look at some....

They are all from here.

O'de Rose

OK.. today has been such an exciting day! A phone from my daughter's school clinic....ah my heart sinks every time this happens! Any way, nothing serious. A trip to this wonderful store, O'de Rose and an afternoon spent well at Cafe Ceramique raised my spirits. Also overwhelmed by the post by Harshi in Colours Dekor about my home! Check it out here.
Now about this store O'de Rose owned by three Lebanese cousins. It predominantly stocks creation of artists and designers from the Arab world. Though browsing through the store, I did find some wonderful stuff from India and elsewhere. Check them out here.

The entrance of the villa/store.

    Suzani furniture, jewelery from Turkey, Lebanon, India etc., wonderful brass trays in silver and gold finish!

 Stood awed !!!....with the display!!!

What can I say? They are sooooo gorgeous!!!

The Indian kitsch!!!

The backyard where they have a pantry and a workshop & lots of stuff for the exteriors.
.  Click on the pics to view them larger....