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....  

The Connector Craft Shop....Closing down!!!

As known to many craft enthusiasts here in Dubai, the good old Connector Craft Shop very often addressed as 'Elves & Fairies' is closing down. After their 17 years in the business they have finally decided to call it a day!
I was having a chat with the owner, who now lives in Australia and found out that the shop was never named Elves & Fairies at all! It was the name of the previous owner's shop which retailed kid's apparel! When the craft shop took over they let the sticker of ' Elves & Fairies' be on the glass and so the name stayed on that even the craft shop's brown paper packets carry the name!
Anyways the important information is that they are closing by 26th of March and have 50 to 70% off on all their products!!! So all you craft people rush as the stocks are already getting over! 
Sad that they have to close down. :-(

Shell Craft

I am inspired by the shell crafts by Martha..... Having a lot of shells which I have being collecting since long, I would like to try out some soon!!!
Check out for DIY instructions at Martha's website here.

'Potli' ...Educational Art & Craft Kits

The 'Potli' activity kits by Kadam are awesome DIYs for the younger crafters. They have a range of traditional Indian tribal craft and art to choose from. It gives the children a good knowledge about the arts & crafts and they really enjoy doing it. A part of the earnings from the kits goes to benefit the village artists. Wish they had kits like these for us as well. Find more about them here.

Comes with instructions and a brief history about the art/craft.

My daughter...at it. Not perfect but its ok as she enjoyed it and wants to do more. She is eager to try the others.