Showing posts with label Folk Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Folk Art. Show all posts

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Friday-Free Patterns


Sorry folks I am again late in posting my free pattern. I am not keeping good health and it is quite hot here. So it is really difficult with the frequent and prolonged power cuts to attempt any thing at all. For the past three days, I have been trying to upload my pattern and because of power cuts, I had to try again and again and I finally gave up.

Today power just returned so hopefully I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can at least post today. Any way here it is:

It is dancing women once again. Folk/tribal motifs. 

Singing and dancing during celebrations is quite a common feature with various tribes and rural folk. These people work very hard and are very simple at heart. They lead simple lives too away from all the hustle and bustle. Their day starts early with the sun rise and ends with the sun set. During the day they work hard practising their traditional occupations of agriculture, cattle rearing, basket weaving, pot making or something like that. 

They sell their produce in the local markets on the market days. With what little they earn they buy those things which they cannot produce themselves. 

At the end of day, they eat what little they have and enjoy a drink or two. In olden days the only entertainment they had was singing and dancing in groups. Now perhaps some may have TV sets. Still singing and dancing are a must in celebrations-whether it is a marriage or a birth or festivals.

So their art-usually on the walls of their mud huts reflect their daily chores or  dancing etc. These motifs are from Bengal, painted on a sari I bought. Very simple but reflecting the folk art and culture.

Hope you like them....


Friday, March 18, 2011

Friday-Free Patterns

Its Friday once again and I am late in posting the Free Pattern. Here it is:

It is Peacock once again. This time it is a folk motif from India. As you can see the artist has designed it stylishly. We don't know the artist as many a times many artists from old times, might have carved this in stone on temple walls. That might have inspired the weavers or other artists. I guess this has been made into a wooden printing block as I found it on one of my saris. 
                Peacock Motif

This looks very simple and easy and can be used for fabric painting as well as embroidery. Chain stitch would look good. This can be used on saris, blouses, dresses to give that ethnic and unique look.

Hope you like this. So watch for more motifs and patterns.......


Friday, March 4, 2011

Friday-Free Patterns


Its time for free patterns. So here it is:
                 Free Pattern-Fowl

This is once again Folk Art or Tribal Art. This motif is that of a bird. To me it looks like a fowl or a Rooster. Indian villages towns or even small settlements across the country have almost similar lives. People are dependant on agriculture and allied industries. Those who are a bit well off possess cattle. Every farmer any way has to have a pair of bullocks, for working in the fields as well as for transportation of his produce to home or market. Cows and buffaloes are also quite common-the number depending upon the financial status of the farmers.

But most of them have a few fowls. Their eggs provide them with nutritious food and their meat is obviously a feast. 

The above is a representation of a folk/tribal artist. This can be painted using fabric colours as well as used for embroidery. I feel this would go well with Crewel Embroidery. What do you say?

Friday, February 18, 2011

Friday-Free Patterns


It is Friday again. Time for a Free Pattern. Here it is.
          Free Pattern-Indian FOLK Motif

This is again from Folk Art of Bengal. Looks like a Camel to me. But I am not sure. Anyway this is suitable for painting as well as embroidery. So try it out.

Keep watching for more patterns....

Friday, January 21, 2011

Friday- Free Patterns


I could not post last Friday. However here is one pattern here for you.
                      Free Pattern
This is again a folk or tribal pattern from Bengal. This looks like a horse to me. But I am not sure. Still it is looking cute. Looks good whether painted or embroidered.

This would look great for children's clothes. But I feel it would look great on saris or blouses if you want that ethnic look. 

Try it out and show us the result....


Friday, December 31, 2010

Friday-Free Patterns

SWAN
This is a motif of Swan.  Though the tail part looks like that of a peacock. This is a stylised, traditional or classical motif.

Swan is known as "Hamsa" in Sanskrit and Telugu and "Hans" in Hindi. It is  a very graceful, beautiful and mostly silent bird. It is pristine white (most species) in colour. They are also mostly vegetarians. Its graceful long neck, the way it silently glides on the water, its posture while in water or on the shore all add to its beauty. 

In Hinduism a Swan symbolises highest form of wisdom, spiritual knowledge, ethereal beauty and purity. It is said that a swan can separate milk from water and drinks only milk. So also we humans living in this  world are blinded by materialism. We should separate materialism from spirituality (like a swan separating milk from water) and follow the spiritual path to attain the "Moksha" or liberation of soul.

In Hindu Mythology, Swan is the vehicle of Saraswathi-Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom. Hence it is considered to be a very smart or wise bird.  It is also believed that "Golden Swans" considered to be Divine birds exist. They come from heaven and visit the famous "Manasa Sarovar in Hymalayas".  Folklore, and other classic literature associated with this bird have many stories to tell. One such story is that the famous Love story of Nala and Damainthi. The righteous, most handsome, most eligible Emperor Nala and the most beautiful, virtuous Princess Damayanthi were brought together by a pair of golden swans. How they love each other and marry and the story that follows is known as "Nala Charitham". It is a beautiful tale of two lovers.

Now the bird Swan inspired many painters, like Raja Ravi Varma. Here it is:


These birds have fascinated weavers too. Different motifs of these birds are painted, block printed, woven or embroidered as motifs or on borders and pallus of Saris. One can find them on temple walls. They are more stylised and very classic in design. The design or patterns vary with the sculptor or the artist.


I have many such patterns of Swan. I will be posting some in near future.



Sunday, December 19, 2010

Friday-Free Patterns

Elaine thank you so much for your comments. I am glad that you follow my blog and I am glad to know that you enjoy my posts. My thanks to all my friends who follow my posts and also leave comments and suggestions . Your comments motivate me to post more and more.

On Elaine's request I am posting the examples of these motifs (I have so far shared with you) used as designs. Well these have been painted on my sari. These are paintings on fabric as folk/tribal art.  I have a cotton sari cream white in colour which has got these motifs al lover it. 



It looks like these motifs have been first block printed (outline) and then when they have dried out the inner part is filled by using  block printed with required colour. Why I say filled by block print is that if you see it closely, some of the filling has gone askew or come out of the outlines. May be some of the motifs have been filled in using brush. The paint used is fabric paint .

Hope it is clear now Elaine. I like your suggestion. Next time I post motifs, I will also post these used in a design.



Saturday, December 18, 2010

Friday-Free Patterns

Here is one more folk or tribal motif. 
This is a warrior on his horse. The folk art depicts every day life and all those events which occur in the lives of the people. This includes, fishing,  hunting, agriculture, dancing, marriage, festivals, etc. Motifs inspired by legends and folklore also are quite common.

This motif can be painted or embroidered. Chain stitch running stitch etc many be good. How about Redwork? I think that will also be good.

Hope you like this. Keep a watch for more patterns and motifs to come....



Saturday, December 11, 2010

Friday-Free Patterns

Friday again. Time for the Free Patterns. Here they are..

The above two are folk or tribal designs from India. Motifs of trees, crops, leaves, flowers etc are quite common and popular in folk and tribal designs. These are used to decorate the mud walls.

The above can be painted or embroidered.  Stitches like Running, Chain, Lazy daisy, Satin can be used for this design. These motifs can be used on blouses, saris, bags, cushion covers, or bed linen, Kitchen linen, purses etc. A single motif or a series of motifs can be used. You can enlarge this motif or reduce the size as you like.

Hope you like them.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Friday-Free Patterns

Dancing Girls

OMG! I just forgot that I promised you something. But then what is new in that? I keep on forgetting so many things these days. Hmm with heavy work load I just don't have time to do any thing at all besides the daily routine and some of it also gets left off. So with so much pressure on me, I do tend to forget.

Any way friends I want Friday to be Free Pattern Day from now on. I will keep sharing the patterns with you.

Mind you most of these are of my own creations, inspired by the sculptures on temples, designs on Indian textiles, or on the walls of the houses or huts in the villages, tribal or folk art etc. But some of them yes I have copied or noted down the original because I liked them very much. So you will find very old, traditional Indian motifs which are as popular as they were once. They may be from folk or rural or classical ones. I will try to write about the motifs and what were my inspirations.

But I would be grateful to you , if you can send in your suggestions/comments and if you have used these motifs, a picture of them, so that all of us will have a look at how it turned up.

So here we go...

Well these are the dancing girls. Obviously these are from the tribal or folk art. These figures are painted onto the mud walls of the huts in the villages, used for decorating the walls. But these days, these are being painted on papers and also on saris, bags, fabric folders, mugs, greeting cards etc. 

I feel that these motifs can be used for painting on fabrics, either, dresses, blouses, chunaris, saris, also on cushion covers, bed linen, kitchen linen, greeting cards, on the walls etc. One can use a single motif or a pair or a series of motifs looking like a group of dancers. 

How about painting one on your wallets, hand bags or purses? 

These can be painted -just the outline with a single colour like black, red, blue or fill in the motif too with a single colour. These can also be embroidered using Running stitch, Chain Stitch, Knotted Stitches etc. 

Do you have any other ideas? Do let me know please.

Keep an eye on my blog...I may not wait till next Friday to post another free pattern....