Thursday, November 14, 2013

Child Art - Painting on White Board

Eight year old's painting on white board

What do you feel when you look at this painting ? What style will an art critic categorise this in ? What is the medium ? Don't worry, I am not going to ask these questions or answer these questions. Just wanted to share a painting done by an eight year old girl, my little daughter.

This is a painting which she made on white board using paint and paintbrushes. Sometimes, she gets into the mood of painting and just creates something on her white-board, not on paper. I click some photographs and keep. I have given her drawing sheets and notebooks, but I things she prefers her white-board as a canvas and then wipes it clean after a day or two. her first canvas was the wall of our living room where she had started scribbling and drawing when she was one. Then we had bought a white board for her, to write on to learn alphabets and spellings, and of course to draw and scribble as much as she wanted.

My last two posts also showcased child art, some creations of my eight year old daughter, play dough / clay creations (flowers, burger, candle) and a multicolour caterpillar. Very often, child art can be quite fascinating as well as inspiring for us adults.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

A Multicolour Caterpillar Made of Play Dough/ Clay

A Multicolour Caterpillar made by an eight year old

My last post had some colourful creations made by my daughter, who is eight, using play dough / clay. Here is one more of her creations - a multicolour caterpillar displayed in her colour-palette, making it already look like a butterfly. Children do have wonderful imagination and creativity :) 

A Multicolour Caterpillar - displayed like a Butterfly

A Multicolour Caterpillar of Play Dough/ Clay

A Multicolour Caterpillar Made of Clay Balls

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Child's Play - with Play Dough/ Clay

Play dough / clay is a wonderful medium for children to create new and beautiful things and experiment with shapes, forms and colours. I have seen my little daughter enjoying working with it and creating different things since she was very young. Recently I gave her a book showing how to create different products and models using the clay. Since she is eight now, I want to encourage her to read and use books for her creative projects. Here are some of her colourful creations that she displayed on her new butterfly shaped colour pallette. So the creations as well as the display of products is done by her. Hope you like these :)

Play dough / clay creations and display by a child

Play dough / clay flowers, candle and burger

Flowers, burger and candle created using play dough / clay

Thursday, November 07, 2013

Diwali 2013

Diwali or Deepawali, a festival of lights, is one of biggest festivals in India. I saw that not only in the northern parts of India, it is celebrated with great enthusiasm in the sourthern part of India as well, as this year I was in sourtehrn India. Sweets, fire-crackers, lights and a general mood of festivity was there for three days, starting with Dhanteras, Chhoti Diwali and Diwali.

Diwali crackers - Chakras

Diwali crackers -
Anaar or the Flower Pot

Diwali crackers -
Anaar or the Flower Pot

Diwali crackers 

The entrance of the house is decorated in various ways and lighted with diya (a traditional oil lamp usually made of clay) or candles to welcome Goddess Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth. Some decorate the entrance with Rangoli, some with Alpana or Aripan. I decorate with Aripan floor decoration every year. These are all folk art forms of India used for floor decoration, specially during various occasions and festivals.

Lighted entrance of house decorated with Aripan

Entrance of house decorated with Aripan and diya

Entrance of house decorated with Aripan and diya

Some earlier pictures of Diwali are here. I had a wonderful Diwali with my family and I hope those of you who celebrated Diwali, enjoyed it, too.

Photos: Seema and Shikha

Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Sunrise at Sea Beach

Moved to a new city that has a beach. Decided to go for a view of sunrise at the sea beach. Surprisingly, the beach was already full of visitors, joggers and other people. Here are some random photographs that I clicked.

Sunrise at Sea Beach

Sunrise at Sea Beach

Sun behind the clouds

Sea without the Sun

Sunrise at Sea Beach

People at the sea beach at Sunrise
Photos by: Seema Kumar

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

Visit to the Government Museum at Egmore, Chennai

I visited the Government Museum at Chennai with the students of Foundation Programme, National Institute of Fashion Technology, on On 22nd October 2013. The museum is quite big with many sections like artarchaeologynumismaticsgeologyzoologybotanychemical conservation, and children's museum.

Government Museum at Egmore, Chennai
Photo by Seema Kumar

Government Museum at Egmore, Chennai
Photo by Seema Kumar 
 This Museum, established in 1851, is located in Egmore, Chennai and is the second oldest museum in India, the first being the Indian Museum at Kolkata, started in 1814. It is also one of the largest museums in South Asia. Quite rich in archaeological and numismatic collections, this museum has the largest collection of Roman antiquities outside Europe. Many of the buildings within the Museum campus are over 100 years old. (Source: Wikipedia)

Stone sculptures displayed outdoors at the
Government Museum, Chennai
Photo by Seema Kumar

Stone sculptures and fossil tree trunk displayed outdoors
at the Government Museum, Chennai
Photo by Seema Kumar

Government Museum, Chennai
Photo by Seema Kumar

Architecture at the Government Museum, Chennai
Photo by Seema Kumar

The national Art gallery at
the Government Museum, Chennai
Photo by Seema Kumar

The national Art gallery at the Government Museum, Chennai
Photo by Seema Kumar

Attraction for Children at the Government Museum, Chennai
Photo by Seema Kumar



Cannon at the Government Museum, Chennai
Photo by Seema Kumar

Cannons at the Government Museum, Chennai
Photo by Seema Kumar
I particularly liked the art section which has many original paintings by eminent artists like Raja Ravi Varma. The Bronze figures at the Archaeology section had many statues of interest, including the Nataraja bronzes. Thanks to the management who took time to give a talk to the students and took them on a guided tour to the different sections of the museum.

Natural conservation at the
Government Museum, Chennai
Photo by Seema Kumar